Chelsea season ticket holder, Clayton Beerman, tempers expectations of Chelsea winning the title in November by reminding us that we have won nothing yet!
A wet fish
According to everything I’ve read and heard Chelsea won the Premier League this weekend. Having checked the calendar I realised that I hadn’t suddenly become an extra in Back to the Future and it is still November. Don’t get me wrong this was probably one of the best results weekend I can remember but even so, Champions Elect, really, in November?
I recently wrote a blog about my expectations as a fan and prior to Saturday’s match I was nervous. I anticipated that whatever happened, Jose would not lose at Anfield. There was too much personal pride at stake with one of his students. I did however think that fate would lend a hand and had nightmares imagining Slippy G sliding in front of our fans having scored the decisive goal. It had to happen.
What I hadn’t however taken into account was exactly how poor Liverpool are. A lively 10 minutes and a deflected goal and that was it. Too many of their players are ordinary or simply not inspired by David Brent speak. If Henderson is England’s midfield general going forward….. The tactical genius of Brendan also helped having removed Couthino the one player who looked dangerous every time he ran at us. As Liverpool scored I just muttered “too early”. They’d tweaked the lion’s tail and that did them no favours.
All this did not stop me screaming at the TV in the last 15 minutes that we were dropping too deep, again. I was visualising another late equaliser and with Cahill’s help
Photo by @cfcunofficial
they may have had it. He is now a marked man, he’ll need to keep those arms in from now on. Thankfully however no further dramas and 3 points obtained for the second year running.
There was the inevitable moaning about the penalty decision but strangely not a sound about the Liverpool handball in the first half. I was amused at the irony of Liverpool not getting a penalty at the Kop end which back in the day was a given. Breathe on a Liverpool player back then and it was a penalty, how the mighty have fallen. These things do have a habit of evening themselves out but whereas the media said Manchester United deserved their equaliser, the media readily accepted that Liverpool got what they deserved.
As the weekend progressed the results all went our way except Southampton who keep winning. No one is taking them seriously but in the same way we haven’t won the league them being ignored is just disrespectful. It’s also interesting to note that a win by Manchester United does not even register. Albeit their 1 nil thrashing of the Colin’s men was still a victory as we know, wins earned whilst playing badly are good wins.
Anyway I digress. The amount of people who are now giving us the league, at this time is in my experience unprecedented. Will we go unbeaten? Are we the best Chelsea team ever? Excuse my French but what complete bol*x. Ask me in April 2015.
We have started well but not as well as 2005-6 where we won 10 out of our first 11 games and drew the other. We then lost our 12th game and won our next 10. So by January we had taken huge strides towards winning the title. In that season however we had Fergy to deal with and Arsene before he became a parody of himself. We will go some to emulate that team and the sheer ruthlessness it possessed.
Perhaps this is the difference. Last year when Jose returned we looked at our main contenders and looked at their rookie managers and again with the exception of Arsene it appeared as if Jose would have the experience to outwit and out think them. It didn’t happen but maybe 12 months on he has introduced enough doubt into the minds of others that there is at this time lack of a credible opposition. We are another year down the line and have bought better than others in the summer. The aura is back (almost).
We have also been helped by an “easier” Champions league group. It however is not our fault that all the other English teams have made such a complete Horlicks of their own participation. This doesn’t discount our victory on Saturday was achieved with 24 hours less rest than our opposition and with a longer flight back. Potentially post January things will be easier for the other 3 although we must hope that at least 2 end up in the Europa League. Whereas the likelihood is we will still be battling away in that completion.
We all know th
at our crowning as Champions is a media invention. They are building us up to knock us down. There hasn’t yet been a bounty offered to beat us. In that 2005-6 season one national newspaper offered money to the first player to score against us. Answers on a post card as to who it actually was and where are they now? If our run continues there is bound to be some other “challenge set”. The invincibles talk will continue but Jose more than anyone will not let the players believe it. Can you imagine any of our players taking things easy?
That being said it’s put yourself in the position of an opposition fan (virtually impossible I know). If I supported someone else I would look at our squad our manager and a January transfer window if needed and perhaps feel a little disheartened. November has historically been our Achilles heel; so far so good but our fixture list for December looks brutal in terms of the number of games.
It’s a fantastic start and nothing more. I’ll relax when we have more points than anyone else can get and not before. Personally this is always the competition I want to win more than any other. I grew up in an age where we were simply not a participant most particularly when we were “the boys in Blue in Division 2”. Looking back at the endless procession of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal titles we were simply not involved. A Chelsea team winning the league was also impossible to even imagine.
So let’s not yet book the open top bus just yet. I appreciate there may be a rush in London for said buses with the spreadsheet parade around about the same time but let’s get the job done first. There is a long way to go and many things can happen.
So, I hear you ask where does the wet fish come in? Well, if you hear any Chelsea fan believing the hype and declaring Chelsea as Champions, remind them of the date and then take them to a fishmongers and repeatedly hit them round the head with a large piece of wet fish to bring them back to their senses. Perhaps this course of action is slightly extreme but very necessary in my opinion.
Follow Clayton on Twitter @goalie59
