From a winning position to a suffocating losing position where Jose has to make his emergency SOS substitutions of taking out the left back for an attacker reared its ugly head once more and this time at our own Stamford Bridge home. A place where gallants fall, Schalke had been put to the sword there less than 72 hours ago and the victory of over City could still be smelled around. West Bromwich Albion led by Steve Clarke, the man who was there with Jose when the Fortress was being built had come to town to attempt collapsing it. Over the past two years they have directly being involved in the sacking of two successive managers; AVB, had his “project” come to a halt and got the sack after losing to them. As if that was not enough, Di Matteo played his last local match against the Baggies before getting his sack. This time, a sack was far from Jose but equally the thought of a loss was also far and a bit unimaginable. But there we were, with barely 30 seconds to go in added time and the scoreboard still showed 1 – 2. This was the suffocating moment we found ourselves and when you even compound it with the Jose unbeatable home record coming to an unexpected end right before you, then the blood pumping to and fro your head can boil an egg. So, when the famous Ramires stumble in the box occurred and the whistle went for a penalty, it was the least to rescue us from that agonizing high-blood-pressure moment but it was enough to cling our life to it. This made the Hazard penalty kick, as important as any important penalty kicks you can think of. When the young Belgian kept his calm and slotted the ball coolly in the net, I enjoyed it shyly knowing a draw wasn’t enough but hey, a loss would have been devastating on the psyche of the team. That, not so expected one point we bargained for on Saturday, apart from saving us from the ridicule Jose and the rest of the team would have been subjected to, later proved to be more than just a point after the events on Sunday. It was just not a point, in fact it was a precious point after all.
The Super Enjoyable Sunday Matches Later The Following Day
We were the only team which played in Europe (and on Wednesday) that were made to play on Saturday. Jose, being the man who pays attention to details, pointed out to the public to my admiration. It highlighted some inconsistencies by the fixture makers who are not there in the training ground with the manager and the players to understand how difficult it is to prepare for two important matches within a week and how it can affect performance. Then, after they have successfully being able to aid in our capitulation on Saturday, we just had to sit back and enjoy the more special European competition teams including Spurs who played against a team called Sheriff play on Sunday. I thought I would just hurt my feeling more by paying attention to these matches but, boy, Tim Krul’s Newcastle just changed my mind. If getting a point at home is not good for you, then try to be a Spurs fan just for that Tim Krul Sunday only and you will appreciate what we just did on Saturday. The Stadium of Light later followed with an interesting course of event that went to relieve us more of any disappointment When Sunderland had to repeat the same dosage they have been serving Manchester City in the last couple of seasons. So it was a typical moment of “if you think the kitchen is hot, try being in hell” where comparison of events make your bad look good in front of the worst.
The November Champions Couldn’t hold their Own at The New Trafford
We just into the first week of November and their 5 unassailable points lead has been slashed to two unreachable points gap after just a visit to The New Trafford, “The Chosen One’s” New Trafford. The days when it was Old Trafford it was a fearsome place to be but today, it is one of those ordinary venues under Moyes and of you call yourself a serious title contender, you go there to prove to the world how serious you are. I believe even under the current Moyes regime who has struggled to win at the New Trafford, Arsenal managed to show how serious they in winning the title by just not having the balls to take the ball to United and force De Gea to make saves. They were content passing the ball around their own area and just around the area of United. If you want to be called a serious contender, Old Trafford is a good place to prove it. Chelsea did it severally and City just desecrated the whole place by their 6-1 demolition two seasons ago to show a statement of intent. This was the time Arsenal needed to prove their mettle but they just melted after the hype the media did following their win at Dortmund. I even just realized we have closed them up by a point thanks to that priceless point we fought for.
KTBFFH!
By Seth Adusei (twitter @sethaadusei)
[…] Azonto Epistle 27: It Was A Precious Point After All […]
I think it is hightime Mourinho started using Mikel. If we take a critical look at the game we have played so far, you will agree with me that Mikel has been maintaining stability in our midfield in so many occasions.
I am not saying this because am from Nigeria but other fans across the globe have also agitated for this and I think it will pay us if the combination of Mikel and Ramires is adopted.
Lampard, he has contributed enough to the achievements of the team but age is not on his side which denotes that he doesn’t deserve to start every match as this is causing us more harm than good.
i agree 2…one of chelsea underrated player
Most important thing is to analyse what is wrong with the team when playing EPL. Why are we easily concedibg silly goals? Man United when to cover and defend their only game of the match unlike Chelsea who can’t. I think the players are losing the pace. Mourinnho is also part of this downfall b checking his way of selection. How on earth can he play a RB at LB? Oscar will never be as creative as Mata. Ivanovch is never as good as Azplicueta at RB. Luiz-Cahill works better and Mikel-Ramires also. Rafa Benitez had made a good team but now Jose is spoilng it instead of improving it.
“Jose Mourinho has tried his best to ruin all the good work Benitez did towards the end of last season”
But I still think David – ramires as defensive midfielders and Cahill – ivanovic as centre defenders is the best way against defensive team like west tam, crystal palace, Cardiff….. This is what Benitez did 5 months ago and we win against team who play 11 players at back.
Against NO defensive team LIKE arsenal, tottenam, city, utd, piverpool:
I still think Mikel – ramires as defensive midfielders and Cahill – Terry as centre defenders is the best way against No defensive team.
Mourinho will be gone at the end of the season if he continues this non sense style. We are playing very very poor and boring against defensive team. We cannot continue this “tiki taki” passes at the back an expect to win against DEFENSIVE TEAM. It doesn’t exist.
Oscar is tired, let us forget about D GUARDS(Lampard,Terry,Cole) they may leave us next season.
“Jose Mourinho has tried his best to ruin all the good work Benitez did towards the end of last season”.
But I still think David – ramires as defensive midfielders and Cahill – ivanovic as centre defenders is the best way against defensive team like west tam, crystal palace, Cardiff….. This is what Benitez did 5 months ago and we win against team who play 11 players at back.
Against NO defensive team LIKE arsenal, tottenam, city, utd, piverpool:
I still think Mikel – ramires as defensive midfielders and Cahill – Terry as centre defenders is the best way against No defensive team.
Mourinho will be gone at the end of the season if he continues this non sense style. We are playing very very poor and boring against defensive team. We cannot continue this “tiki taki” passes at the back an expect to win against DEFENSIVE TEAM. It doesn’t exist.
Yeah!! It was a precious point earned to the less ambitious people but not someone like me,, we can’t win the league by dropping valuable points against smaller teams. Is time we did something about it.. What if the big clubs did’nt drop points last weekend, would we have been saying all this?
yeah, the draw helped us alot, it was too humiliating to lose in yet another weekend buh am not convinced of mou idea of playing Lampard Ramires combination game in game out, yes we agree that lampard wont make a mistake just that way buh he his too exhausted and have got little to add to the clud
if you can analyse the lampard we knew, he cant be traced, he cant score, he cant have those threatening shoot as always did, so according to me, let drop him, use Essien, Mikel, Ramires then he can come now and then buh not always
I don’t know how some Cfc faithfuls see Mourinho. He is a coach just as any other coach on this earth, no more no less so when he is not performing we should be bold, frank and fair to point it out. Give the person the praise when he is due and rebuke him if he deserves it.
Wat’s so precios about this aviodable point(1) to be precise. Is time we call a ‘spard a spard leave the shovel and collect the rake’mou is up n down. Let him stop all this experiment and put the merited players. Abramovic spare no one better get that. Winimg is all we need. Up chelsea.