Wish you all a very happy, prosperous and healthy new year! The ideal script of the day was for us to thrash Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge so we can all say that we are back to our winning ways and that the new year has brought us some much needed luck. As ideal scripts go, we got beaten.

Only hours earlier, Man Utd were beaten at Old Trafford on Fergie’s 70th birdthday so I was all charged up for our game. I guess we don’t need to worry about the Manchester teams anymore. We’ve officially joined the ‘also-rans club’ where we constantly peg ourselves to the league leaders but have no chance on earth to catch them. I don’t care what happens to the Manchester clubs anymore. From now until the end of the season, I’m only going to be concerned about also-rans – Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal.

I’ll do you a favour – I won’t talk about the match. I’ll talk about something bigger and more relevant. I’ll talk about where were we, where are we, how we got here, where do we want to go and how do we get there. What better time than the new year eve to reflect on what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong. Also, the idea is to put things in perspective so we don’t get all hysterical and suicidal in these circumstances. So, here we go!

Where were we?

When Ancelotti left Chelsea, the signs of the limitations of the squad were visible – ageing players, lack of creativity, lack of pace and lack of meritocracy. I was pretty critical of Carlo for not getting the best out of the squad. I still stand by it. Granted, we had some issues with our squad but with what we had, I didn’t think he got the best out of it. Best part of the last decade, we were in the top two in the league. As soon as the new Man City emerged, we should have conceded that real title contenders are three and not just two. All other things being equal, you’d find Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea occupying the top three places in different order in the coming seasons. At the beginning of the year, we were at a stage were we realised that Man City are here to stay and if we don’t act quickly, we could lose out. That’s where we were.

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Didn’t this game have 1-1 written all over? I mean even before the game kicked off, there was a 1-1 looming all over West London. We are not a great December team. All season we fight to offset a bad December. We get some winnable matches and mostly home games but still struggle to take full points. Playing Fulham at home on Boxing Day, it had to be a 1-1. I even remember telling my mates the day before that this is gonna be a 1-1.

Either it’s our famous lack of urgency or poor balance in the team or bad finishing or just simply this being the month of December. Have we ever had a good December since our title winning seasons under Mourinho? We have always dropped silly points this month to make things difficult for ourselves. Why did I think that this could be a 1-1?

Lack of Urgency: This is big. I mean, this is BIG. This is also slowly becoming a bad habit. Football is a 90-minute game. For Chelsea, it’s a 30-min game that starts at the 60th minute. It’s just no good enough. You can’t go through your motions for an hour and throw everything in the last half hour and expect to come away with three points, at least not everytime. Fulham enjoyed too much possession, too much freedom and too less pressure – all thanks to Chelsea. Last week, this very Fulham team were demolished 5-0 at Craven Cottage. And here we are, at the Stmaford Bridge, treating them like they’ve just won the champions leauge.

If anything, this was the type of game where Chelsea could have played like they did in August and September. This was the game were we should have played a high line, pressured them into mistakes and choked them to a big defeat. We could have shown all the swagger and style along the way. That was always AVB’s plan A, wasn’t it? For this game though, we chose to revert to plan B – deeper defence, low pressure, allowing possession and wait for opportunities. Very wrong. This was the game where we should have gone and created our own opportunties from the word go. This was the game to remind the league how ruthless we are and how versatile our playing style can be. We chose the plan B and boy, didn’t Fulham take advantage of it?

Poor balance: When the team sheet was announced, I was quite pleased. I was happy that Torres was starting. I was also happy that Romeu is picked ahead of Mikel. It was a very good starting line-up. I was wrong. Lampard’s unfortunate ineffectiveness in the middle kind of ruined the whole balance. With Romeu being a holding midfielder, you don’t expect him to provide the killer balls through the middle. Meireles was not known for it either. And that’s where we want Lampard to come alive. See, Lampard’s role has changed over the seasons. He’s no longer expected to be the goal scoring midfielder that arrives late in the box. He’s now expected to run the midfield and create opportunities – to be a playmaker. Some might argue that he’d never be one. But then, that also shows how much more of him we can see here at Chelsea.

When Malouda came in for Lampard, it changed the game for better. The problem then was you had Malouda left flank and Sturridge on the right flank, Torres and Mata in the middle – all of them expecting distribution from Romeu and Meireles from the centre. They can’t do that while Ashley Cole and David Luiz are on attacking duty. But I must admit, the Malouda substitution was a good one indeed. He brought in a much needed steel and pace – things that this Chelsea team needs very badly. It’s just that we started suddenly throwing everything at Fulham instead of trying to break them down with smart moves. The smart moves are not going to be possible without the right balance in the team.

Couple of special mentions. I did miss Ramires. We needed his pace and doggedness. His absence was really felt. When you replace a pacy Ramires with a slow Lampard, it’s going to show up in the pace of our attacks and it bloody did. Torres had a good game despite again not having great service. He did brilliantly well to create a great chance but couldn’t score. But his assist under pressure was smart work. Also I thought David Luiz had a great game. I don’t think his style has changed one bit. He’s just become more focussed and a bit lucky probably. His defending was a treat to watch. His anticipation was top notch and I love when a Chelsea player dismisses his opponent with his physical play.

Our crosses aren’t great. We do score from crosses but we are scoring only half of how many we should be. With the quality of crosses, more often than not I hope that we work the ball through the middle and then ask myself ‘who’s gonna do that?’. Can Mata be that attacking midfielder in the middle who can give that much needed balance for the team. Think of this midfield – Romeu, Ramires and Mata. You’ll have Mata right behind Torres and also in front of the D for some decent long shots at the goal. So who’ll be on the left wing? Don’t know. That’s why we have the January transfer window. We can nick an orthodox left winger.

I was hoping for two wins out of two this week. Not to be. AVB has felt the heat already. You heard him say that Chelsea are out of the title race after this draw. He didn’t say what’s the revised target for the season. I’m sure we’d all take a top four finish quite happily. Come tomorrow we could drop out of the top four. For the first time in I don’t know how many seasons, we could finish outside of top four at the end of a calendar year. Not a great situation to be in. Very reminiscent of our ‘bad moment’ same time last year. Luckily for AVB, the press has been very kind to him. For the kind of form Chelsea are in, you would expect the press to start the rumour mongering about how dressing room troubles, the mutiny by senior players, the options for new managers, Roman’s secret meeting and what not. None of that is on the papers. Probably, if Man City weren’t this good this season, we’d have got some bad press. There’s two sides every damn thing.

One thing I’ll give AVB is that, he’s been trying a number of things – not everything has got him the success he wanted. But he’s not a ‘let me try the same thing and see if something different happens’ kind of manager. He’s prepared to make changes, he’s prepared to shake things a bit and he’s ready to gamble. I’m sure this Chelsea job has been a great experience for him. It’s here AVB will mature into a top league manager. Like I’ve always said, he’s made some really great decisions already. To name a few: (a) Buying Mata (b) Buying Romeu (c) Buying Meireles (d) Using Sturridge as a regular starter (e) Dropping Lampard to the bench (f) Dropping Malouda to the bench (g) Transfer listing Anelka. There are a few decisions that I did not personally like – (a) Not buying orthodox wingers (b) Not using Torres well enough (c) Not using Josh McE at all (d) Not developing alternatives for Ashley Cole and John Terry (e) Tactical disagreements – aggressive where he should conservative and vice versa. But he’s trying.

We have another game to get through this year. Home game against Aston Villa. Looks like a 0-0 written all over it. Please Chelsea, prove me wrong. Not with a 4-4 or something, with something like a 3-0. And then, we will see how the January transfer window can rejuvenate Chelsea. Hope we end the year on a high. KTBFFH!

Good performance. Bad result. We had to win this one. While Tottenham haven’t managed to put daylight between them and us, Man City and Man Utd have pulled away from the possibility of Chelsea challenging them for the title. Had we won this game, I’d have felt that we are still in the title race, given than we still have an opportunity of beating Man City at Etihad and beating Man Utd at Stamford Bridge. Everytime we drop points, our expectation is that we start a winning streak and hope the other results go our way. It’s possible that other results might go our way but I don’t see us putting in a winning streak that would take advantage of other results.

I must say I was quite pleased with our performance though. I had written in the pre-match post that I’d love to see us defend deeper and not go gung-ho on attacks. I think we did that. When Chelsea chooses to defend like that they are such a hard team to beat. AVB must have been repenting his idea of playing otherwise earlier and losing some matches which he could have draw or even have won. That’s a costly learning for the boss.

I think AVB has found an interesting balance here. If you take yesterday’s match, Chelsea allowed Spurs to play their football and didn’t pressure high up. Chelsea allowed Spurs to enjoy a lot of possession and build their attacks up. Despite this, Chelsea had more attacking moves, more opportunities and were more dangerous in this difficult away ground. So the balance here is, defending very strongly without compromising our attacking instincts. Normally, the more you attack, the less you defend and the more you defend the less you attack. It’s a matter of mindset. It’s a matter of what you consider as priorities for the game. Interestingly, Chelsea have found a way to defend strongly and also retain their attacking instincts – like the old days.

When the team line-up was announced, I couldn’t hide my disappointment. Why not Torres and why Mikel? I’d never understand these two decisions. Of course, you can come up with pros and cons for not playing Torres and playing Mikel. I must say both Drogba and Mikel did a good job but why are we investing so much time and effort on them? See, we are not even offering a contract extension to Drogba. I don’t see Torres being out of form. If anything, he’s out of sync and he can’t get in sync all by himself. He still doesn’t get good service at the right places. He doesn’t get enough time on the pitch. For Gawd’s sake, he should get a decent run of 90-min matches to get himself tuned to the team and he’s not managed to get that since he joined this club. You can say that Spurs had big burly defenders and we wanted someone like Drogba to deal with them. What’s our plan after Drogba joins Anzhi in the summer? Plus, we almost sound like Torres is new to the premier league and he’s never played or scored against Spurs. This is a guy who took the premier league by storm. There aren’t many players who have been as proficient as has been in the la liga and the premier league – I don’t even know who can compare to him in this measure.

Also, if AVB rated Mikel so well, he would not have bought Meireles AND Romeu, and not send Josh on loan. Mikel is not really the first choice defensive midfielder at Chelsea, leave alone first choice midfielder. Yeah, it’s a big game in an away stadium and all that but Romeu has proved to us that he’s no rabbit. He’s a proper midfielder with an intelligent football brain and lovely skills to complement it. In fact, he’s very unlike what we’ve got. Mikel has done a great job for us. I’m always a fan of Mikel for playing such a difficult role from such young age. It’s never easy. But now, we’ve got someone who can do a better job and can contribute more and better.

Still it’s quite clear that this is not AVB’s dream team. He’s gotta make a number of changes and I expect him to do those in this January or in the summer. You already see that Lampard is not first choice anymore – it’s such a big decision given Lampard’s stature in the club and how expensive he is. He hasn’t been too bothered about keeping a £50m Torres on the bench. He’s made Sturridge a regular starter and it’s paid off. He’s sidelineed Malouda and Kalou completely. Really, he’s made a number of changes without making too much hoo-haa about the same.

The game in itself was a typical end-to-end premier league game. With both teams wanting to win and at the same time not wanting to lose, it was a bit basketballish – if you know what I mean. Both teams had somewhat similar approach to the game. Both teams allowed the other team to have the ball and build up their play. When Spurs had the ball they weren’t trying to rush in whereas Chelsea were trying to build their attacks quicker. Spurs’ passing streaks were longer than Chelsea. Hence the difference in possession stats.

Both Spurs and Chelsea had a strong left side which meant goals coming from the left for both the teams. Bale was buzzing from the go. It was only a matter of time before he was going to score or create. But the goal we conceded was pretty lame. Three defenders and a goalkeeper in our box and we could not stop one Spurs striker from making contact with a not-so-quick low cross. I’ve been writing about Cech’s problem with his close range keeping and this was another example. Meanwhile his save from a deflected shot was just world class. We’ve seen both sides of Cech’s form in the same game.

Even before Adebayor could come into the picture, Bosingwa had Bale coming at zone from about 15 metres ahead and still could not position himself to make it difficult for Bale. Why did not get closer to him to at least induce a mistake from Bale? If it was David Luiz, wouldn’t he have gone for a tackle – clumsy or otherwise – and might have given a free kick instead of making it all too easy for Bale. And the Chelsea fans would be screaming at David Luiz for conceding a stupid free kick in a dangerous area and all that.

Our goal also had to come from the left. Drogba and Ashley Cole did some smart work to see Sturridge make a close range finish. We might think it’s an easy finish but you have to give to Danny for being at the right place at the right time, all the time. We also had some injuries to deal with and had to make a couple of subs in the first half. Ivanovic having to go in the middle of the first half was a real bummer. But Paulo Ferreira came in and did a job. The strange thing about Paulo is that he knows that he’s only a squad player and may even spend a season not playing at all. But whenever he’s called upon to play, he’s done a splendid job. He’s not your 9/10 rating defender. He’s certainly a 6.5/10 and being consistent at that. Of course, he’s been training with the team all the time but it’s quite odd to be suddenly thrown into a competitive match in a difficult away ground and still produce a very good performance against a particularly dangerous and productive winger and wing back. Good job there.

John Terry. The man’s resilience personified. He’s been through adversities like very few footballers have been. Be it the Moscow miss, the extra-marital affair, the England national team issues, his family issues, the racial abuse allegation, his hate-hate relationship with media and non-Chelsea supporters in general – he’s been through a bloody lot. And it takes someone with balls of steel to get through all these adversities and still produce quality performance. Of course, his form has not been great but resilience is not about not going down. It’s about going down and picking oneself up from the dumps and delivering the goods. John Terry has done that time and again. Yesterday’s game was classic John Terry. You almost feel like this man is ready to die on the pitch for Chelsea. That’s how much commitment he puts in. That’s how much you think is at stake. Man of the match for me.

Still two more matches to go to finish this eventful year. We should get 6 points from these two games at Stamford Bridge. And then we have the transfer window in January. Looks like we could be busy next month. We might need a centre back and a pacy winger who can use both feet. The situation that we are in means the minimum that’s expected of us is to win our games – especially the winnable ones. In order to do that, we need centre back cover and some flexibility and options upfront. Once we get a couple of players this January, we can restart our campaign and do our best. From this moment on, the mantra is “do your best, hope for the rest”.

See I told you I’m back! Probably I’m back at the right time. With December looking so busy for Chelsea, the blog’s gotta be equally busy. In our fight for the third place, there’s no bigger game than the one against Tottenham tomorrow. This is another one of those ‘must beat them’ games. Having beaten Man City earlier this month, a win against Spurs would put us right back in the mix. I think an opportunity to beat a surging rival is the best way to address the gap so this game is quite timely. A defeat against Spurs would put us 5 points off them while they would also have a game in hand. That’s effectively 8 points off the third placed team in the league. A defeat is unthinkable right?

I’m always nervous when we play Spurs. I’m quite okay about the matches against the Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal or Liverpool – but it is the game against Spurs that does something to my heart beat. Spurs have a very good squad and are a dangerous team. In fact, I do think they have been underachieving despite having a good squad/team. On paper, this Spurs team is better than Arsenal and Liverpool. There’s no way they can finish below those two teams. In fact, I get this feeling that this season’s top four would be exactly as it is now – hopefully not in the same order. I do see Arsenal and Liverpool dropping out of top four with Man City and Spurs replacing them.

The last Chelsea manager to win at White Hart Lane was Jose Mourinho. Now that must tell us something. It’s not an easy place to go and play your expansive style of football. Spurs are pretty quick and sharp and can hurt you if you mess around too much. Chelsea has been messing around too much indeed. In fact in the last few matches, I see some hints of pragmatism from Andre Villas Boas. He’s either learning from his experience or has proved a point to someone in terms of what this team is capable or not capable of. In any case, pragmatism is good. Especially in a must-win game in a difficult away ground.

Chelsea don’t have any problem of regulars missing or being doubtful except that David Luiz may still not be available. Depending on which side of the fence you’re, this can be a good or a bad news. Personally, I’m a fan of David Luiz and his brand of football. He is such a live wire that I’d love to play him every single game. Of course, he’s got something to learn but he’s got the raw talent and huge potential. Pretty much like Andre Villas Boas himself then. Some of your very unique and special players in football have at some point been very annoying and frustrating. That’s the maturing process. I know David Luiz is not some 16-year old but still he’s young enough for defenders in general.

I’m not in favour of David Luiz playing as a centre back though. He’s best suited to be a right back while Ivanovic can pair up with Terry in central defence. The interesting battle in this game would be Chelsea’s right vs Tottenham’s left. If David Luiz and Gareth Bale do start (both are still doubtful), it could be a great spectacle on that side of the pitch.

It’s becoming quite hard to predict AVB’s starting line-up these days. He’s taken some gambles – some have paid off and some have not. At least, he’s ready to take those gambles. Not that I’d agree with him with each one of those but respect that he takes risks on and off the pitch. In my opinion, Torres must start every single match. Drogba should be a super-sub. Sturridge and Mata are also sure starters. In the midfield, Romeu and Ramires pick themselves. The other slot is Meireles, Lampard and Mikel – in that order. In defence, Terry and Ivanovic in central defence. Ashley Cole and David Luiz as the full backs.

AVB has been relying on Drogba over Torres and the idea did work and paid off. Still I would like to see Torres starting more often. Why would you have our 27-year old proved premier league striker bought for £50m sitting in the bench and play 34-year old over-the-hill player to whom we may not offer a contract of his choice? The more Torres plays the better for us. He is the future for Chelsea, at least for the next few seasons. AVB has come out and said that Torres is not going anywhere and he’s firmly in his plans. So I don’t know why Torres is not getting his pitch time? See, there was a time this season where Torres was in fine form – scoring and creating goals and opportunities and then managed to get himself sent off.

I’ve said this a few times on Twitter – when Torres plays as the lone striker flanked by Mata and Sturridge, we play very good football. And when Drogba plays, we are more reliant on route one football, winning free kicks and the like. For the kind of ideas AVB has, Torres is surely the man. But if he finds Drogba more reliable than Torres then playing Drogba is understandable because AVB is also under pressure because of the recent results. If Torres starts against Spurs tomorrow, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The midfield problem is being addressed very well by AVB. He’s managed to pick players on merit. He’s been benching Lampard and Mikel quite regularly now. He’s brave enough to pick a 20-year old Spanish player over Lampard, though in different positions. This is not easy to achieve and this is exactly what Carlo struggled to do. So, it’s clear that AVB’s got the balls to take big decisions. He also seems to know exactly what kind of players he wants which is proved by his purchases of Mata and Romeu and also his decision to use/retain Sturridge in the first team.

So, we do have a good team to take to White Hart Lane on Thursday. Spurs too have a good line up. Adebayor has found his touch at Spurs after an unsatisfying time with City and an impressive stint with Real Madrid. van der Vaart was probably one of the best deals of the season in Europe. He was transferred for about £8m. Look at his contribution and value to the team. He’s the kind of guy that can sneak into our central defence. The hole that we’ve managed to put in our central defence is very famous now for these top players not to observe and plan for. Then there’s the organiser in Modric. You might know that I’m a big fan for Modric and I was hoping that he joins Chelsea. He can split our defence like David Silva does for Man City, despite playing deeper than him. Modric is still their best player even after falling out with the club administration during the transfer window. Then there’s the probability of Bale playing. And then, Scott Parker being himself in the centre of the park. It’s going to be one cracking match.

I expect Chelsea to play like they played against Man City. Cautious approach over the cavalier type. If Chelsea play on Thursday like how they played in September and October, they’d be playing into Spurs’ plan. Harry would love to see us defending up and committing all players in attacks so they can cut through us with searing pace and have a player or two sent off in the process. I’m sure they will let us have the ball and lull us into the feeling of a superior team only to rip us open in a few seconds. I really hope that we don’t play into their hands. Just play like we did against Man City, everything will be fine.

Ah wait! John Terry’s racial abuse allegation comes up to the courtroom in February. If the Suarez incident is anything to go by, it’s quite dangerous for us. These are not identical instances though. I still believe John Terry’s lawyers will establish that he said ‘blind’ and not ‘black’ (still doesn’t make it any noble in my eyes). If John Terry is found guilty, he would have to miss 8-10 matches in Feb, March and April – probably the most defining matches for this seaon. AVB would do well to get a central defender (Gary Cahill?) on loan or even better as a replacement for Alex. Anyway, that’s for later.

Some interesting games tonight with Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool playing away while Man City host impressive Stoke. If the Manchester teams drop points tonight that will be a great set up for our game tomorrow night. If things work in our favour, we could be only 6 points behind the table leader, which is not an awful thing given that we’re only in December and that we can only get better. Won’t make it to BC Shout but you can catch me live on Twitter @bluechampion.

Do you know that BlueChampions Blog turned 5 this September? Yup, on Sep 1, 2011, this blog completed five years of service to Chelsea FC and its fans. In internet terms, 5-year completion calls for some golden jubilee celebrations. I’ve been so busy that I didn’t even do a blog to celebrate this proud moment for us. Last few months have been quite difficult – family, work, fatigue and travel. I’ve been too tired to even tweet regularly.

Do you know that 80% of the blogs are abandoned within the first month? And that the average lifespan of a blog is only 4 months? So if this blog has turned 5 years, it’s quite special and we should be extremely proud for nurturing and growing it. In the last 5 years, there have been numerous challenges that have threatened the existence of the blog. It has survived all these tests because you have continued to come back and support through its good and bad times.

Maintaining BlueChampions Blog has always been a pleasure for me but then it does get challenging by the day with progression in my career and family. No matter how casual it is, writing a few paragraphs does need some time and focus – both are at a premium now for me. But trust me when I say that the blog will go on – as regularly as it used to be.

Though I haven’t been active on internet but have been watching the Chelsea games. Last week I was in London. I was keen to see the Chelsea vs Man City game at the Bridge. But it was so cold that I feared that I could fall sick and I didn’t want that on my work-related travel. Saw the match in a pub and as always I was the lone Chelsea supporter but that didn’t stop me from my pump-fisting, incident-applauding and yesss-yelling.

Thought it was a very good game. You can see that when this Chelsea team decides to drop deep, they are so hard to beat and they have so much to gain. Against Valencia and Man City, it was bloody obvious that the depth of our defensive line made a telling difference. Having seen us play Valencia that way, I kinda expected AVB to play against Man City the same way. We just couldn’t risk losing that game.

By the way, below are couple of my very relevant tweets on the Man City game:

Before the match:

Back in 2004-05, the team that stood between Chelsea and an unbeaten league season was Man City. Fast fwd to 2011-12. You know the rest.

After the match:

What did I say? Arsenal beat Chelsea. Man Utd beat Arsenal. Man City beat Man Utd. Chelsea will beat Man City to complete a full circle!

I couldn’t see the Wigan vs Chelsea game as I was in the flight. Got to see the highlights later. When you drop points like that in an away match, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for AVB. The guy has been giving his best. Of course, he’s made some mistakes but you can’t doubt his commitment or passion. It’s not great going. That’s for sure. Having shown the league that Man City can be beaten, we should have finished off Wigan. That would have made today’s Man City vs Arsenal game quite interesting. We could have had a chance of being only 4 points away from Man City. After the game tonight, we could be at worst 9 under par.

What is my preferred result today? Anything but a Man City win. Yes, that includes a painful Arsenal win too. For the greater good of the season, I don’t mind Arsenal winning this game. But then, I’m okay with a high scoring draw too – the one where Arsenal go 4-0 up in the first half and concede four in the second half with a stoppage time equaliser. That would be something.

Meanwhile, the champions league draw happened. While all the group toppers were looking to avoid two teams – Napoli and Milan – we got one of them. It’s going to be a really tough tie. Napoli could beat any of these champions league contenders (barring Barcelona and Real Madrid who are in a separate ultimate league). Topping the group means we would get to play the second leg in Stamford Bridge and that’s a plus. I expect to see Barcelona, Lyon, Benfica, Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern and Marseille in the quarter finals.

Before I wrap this one up, few words on my whereabouts. One sure shot way of reaching me is Twitter. I’m almost ALWAYS on Twitter. So reach out to me @bluechampion if you’re on Twitter and want to ping me or check my tweets. Catch you soon! Cheers!