Chelsea In Champions League Final

I was in one of my old jaunts on the King`s Road to see last night`s semi-final of the European Champions League between Chelsea and Liverpool. What a game. I havent been that much excited by a match in a long while. Even partook in some Chelsea chants , most of which i`d rather not repeat here. We won. Deservedly so. Chelsea showed more hunger and desire. Drogba was relentless as Essien was industrious, Lampard was resolute and composed dispatching the penalty kick that gave us the lead with utmost precision. If the dead do see us living im sure his recently deceased mum,Pat would have been proud of him. Matter of fact each and every Chelsea player stood up when it mattered.
Everytime the camera beamed Sir Alex Ferguson`s face the whole place erupted with chants of `who are you`? I think the psychological advantage lies with Chelsea in the final against Manchester United in Moscow. Why? Simply because we beat them in our last encounter with them. A game we totally dominated and was unlucky to gift them a goal due to lack of concentration. Having said that you know what they say about footballl being unlike mathematics. I am, however, optimistic that we stand a good, nay, a very good chance of bringing the Champions League Cup to Stamford Bridge from Russia. Blue is the colour!

Chelsea Wins The FA Cup

Honours were restored and respect shared when Chelsea won the FA cup yesterday by beating Manchester United 1 goal to nil.

It is of my strong opinion that had we not been plagued by the Petr Cech/John Terry drama we would have done the double. No question about that. That`s water under the bridge now.

The final analysis is that we ended the season with two major trophies and that can't be too bad.I wonder why Drogba made the front cover of the day`s official Chelsea Match Programme.Any guesses ?

PS: How come the old Wembley had a decent pitch and the new one can't.Telephone number sum spent on a playing field and the grass goes up in clumps like we witnessed yesterday? What is going on ?

Manchester United Wins The League

Yes United won the Premiership title today as far as im concerned. Chelsea gifted United the title by failing to beat Bolton . We started well enough and so confident was i in the balance of play that i wasn`t the least bothered when Bolton went ahead. Was taking a call from Morag then and i said `Hold on Bolton just scored but go on it doesnt matter we will beat them`. True we pulled one back then went ahead. Only heavens know what Mourinho said to them at the interval. Chelsea were just flat in the second half. Why did he pull Shevchenko off so early like that? It was a different team that came out in the second half. I was even getting embarassed when it seemed all we were doing was sending long balls to Drogba. Completely bereft of ideas.

With three games left in the Premiership season there is no way we can catch United now. A glance at the rest of Chelsea`s fixtures and United`s is enough to quell any fantasy or illusion of turning the tables against The Red Devils. We have Arsenal,United then Everton to contend with while United have ourselves and two of English Football`s finest, Manchester City and West Ham to deal with! See why i said United got the League today?

Personally i think we showed some spirit to be where we are now in the Premiership. The League was lost way back in January. I said so in my post then. Lets hope we play better against Liverpool in the Champions League return leg.

Manchester United 1-Lille 0

Last night`s Champions League match between Manchester United and the French side Lille proved to be a good showpiece for the game. Well as far as i am concerned. It proved what i have always said to those who claim there is nothing worth appreciating in a bunch of overpaid millionaires chasing after a piece of inflated leather. The game of football is as good as any opera.It's of such dramatic richness even Shakespeare would be appreciative of. Every genre of comedy is well represented in the game. Not only the players are on stage, the coaching staff and the fans too take part in this interactive open air affair the Romans would have envied.

Take what happened last night in Lille. First the French team had a seemingly legal goal disallowed in the first half of the match. Then came the free kick towards the end of the game. Luis Saha was fouled just outside the Lille 18 yard box,the referee whistled for a foul and as the French were just building their defensive wall Ryan Giggs whipped the ball straight into the net without waiting for the go ahead by the referee. Goal disallowed? Er er no. Were the Lille players in place,ready to defend the kick? No. Did the referee signal the go-ahead? Er er No.Were the French players right to feel aggrieved ? Yes,naturally.
So aggrieved were they that their coaching team signalled to them to leave the pitch. Which they did. Alex Ferguson was mad at his players for milling outside the field with the French players. He even seemed to shove Gary Neville. According to him Lille should be dealt with seriously by EUFA. I beg to disagree with Ferguson on this. Yes there were missiles thrown at United players after this but missiles probably would have been thrown anyway without the Lille bench calling their players off the field. They were angry at what they perceived as poor officiating with regards to the disallowed goal and the dodgy goal by Giggs. So i dont see why Eufa need to take any special action against the club. Of course emotions were high but that to me was quite logical given the events. If anything it just added to the whole entertainment value.

There is going to be a lot of pressure and temptation on the new Eufa President Michel Platini to use this match as a warning of what to expect under his regime.I know the game needs some cleaning up but this is not the occasion to flex any muscle Michel

Chelsea Can Kiss The Championship Goodbye

Jose Mourinho is not one given to pessimism or humility but anyone who saw his interview after the Reading game last week would see his countenance was that of a man on the verge of despair and hopelessness. The Special One is not that special after all. Jose said that much,well according to some redtops.I however heard him question the quality of his players. He said it was only one player scoring and playing well (most definitely Drogba) and that it was obvious that Chelsea lacked quality players. His hopelessness was expressed in the cynical way he touched on Joe Cole`s injury. He wondered if the injury was going to go on forever.

Oh my! But same players won the title twice Jose. The new ones that aren`t playing well you bought them remember? Forget all the talk about Chevchenko being pals with Abramovich , if Jose did not want him i dont think Chelsea would have bought him. Jose would have us believe anyway. Might be it was just a wrong choice of word. Or Jose meant that the quality of display was low and not that the players lacked quality. Anyhow something is clear, Chelsea are not playing well this stretch of the season. The sale of Gallas is now haunting the team.Injury to John Terry is another pain in the neck. Not to mention the Petr Cech drama. Juxtapose these and what you get is a potent potential for calamity.

Perhaps more than any other unit, the need for total understanding between the defence is crucial to match results. An understanding born out of playing together day in day out. This is lacking in Chelsea at the moment. That own goal by Essien in the Reading game says it all. What was he doing there ? What was Ashley Cole trying to do? There must have been more understanding in the Tower of Babel.
Of the regular back four we play now,with due respect only Carvarlho can be regarded as an experienced Chelsea defender(Championship winning back four). Ashley Cole is [money grabbing twat or not] quality but new and needs some time to really gel with the unit.Geremi is not a defender, he is a midfielder now seconded to defensive duties. The rest i dont rate!

So we have a situation where arguably the best goalkeeper in the world is out of action, midfielders are used as defenders, a new left footed defender thrown into the fray and a proven quality defender with driving force is crocked. Basically Chelsea have a back problem: Acute Spinal Paralysis. A problem so grave it might have cost us the Championship already.

In all frankness and honesty the Championship was won and lost on teusday night when Chelsea could only manage a goalless draw against Aston Villa. Manchester United may as well go ahead and place an order for the celebratory bubbly. Tons of it . For come the end of the season, the League title is heading north. Sighs

Chelsea 1 Manchester United 1

Honours were shared yesterday when we went down to Old Trafford.Were they? Probably not.I think we won. Of course Mourinho reflected this view too. By drawing at Old Trafford Chelsea gained a point on Arsenal while staying `as you were` with regards to United. Ferguson would have loved to win that match most than any other encounter.Peter kenyon`s remarks earlier in the week that Chelsea was leapfrogging United in the world stage was not well received by the old soldier. So to win at home would have been a salient way of showing United were still a potent,dominant force. But they didn`t. No matter what Fergie says to the Press, he knows there are new boys on the block or should that be on the throne.The facts are evident,Chelsea won the last two Championships back to back and are favourites to retain the trophy.

With Arsenal languishing in sixth position and Liverpool stuck in mid-table this season`s trophy is a two-horse race{United and Chelsea}
and i bet my bottom dollar that come end of the season Terry will be holding that cup.