And the Oscar goes to…

Clayton Beerman gives us his thoughts on Chelsea’s opening game of the season…

Saturday was great, seeing loads of familiar faces, catching up on summer trips, drinking, gloating about the Ashes and going back to Stamford Bridge. I also ended up watching a great game of football albeit not the result that I would have liked.

Having seen the Community Shield I was slightly wary about what to expect, we looked very sluggish and undercooked. The friendly against Fiorentina did nothing to dispel that thinking but as everyone said the real thing started on Saturday. So it was great that we came out of the blocks so well.

So in no particular order my thoughts are as follows;

How great was Oscar? He has shown flashes of what he can do since he had been with us which has always been part of the frustration with his recent performances. It is clear he is a class act and hopefully now he can step up and be that player on a regular basis. I thought he looked our best player until unfairly substituted.

Following on from that I was not best pleased when he was taken off on Saturday following the sending off. I don’t think many will disagree but Cesc was not having a good game but he was spared the hook and it would be great if someone had the guts to ask Jose what his thinking on that was. I can only imagine it’s the trust thing, Jose does not yet trust Oscar. He is not and does not look like being one of Jose’s trusted players. It was interesting that when Oscar went off our manager ignored him but when Cesc was substituted he got the look and the handshake. I am not looking for conspiracies or trouble but there is no other reasonable explanation for his withdrawal on Saturday.

The trust thing may also now be hurting the team. I’ll talk below about transfers but the fact that some players have what appears to be no competition for their places is perhaps making them perform at less than 100%. It is very early in the season and so my comments should be taken in that context. It would however have been interesting to see whether Branna would have been on for the second half if we would have had another right or left back on the bench? No one who was at the game will forget poor old Joe Cole and Paulo Ferreira being hauled off after 30 minutes in one game. Our manager is not afraid to take those sort of decisions but he does not have the options. Which raises the question as to why no Ake on the bench. There were several poor performances around the pitch but it was things like misplaced passes and missed tackles, all pointing to fitness.

When all is said and done we got a point on Saturday which I would have taken after TC got sent off. For some reason we didn’t seem awake at the start of the second half and a very good Swansea side took advantage. I was slightly surprised that the fantastic Montero was substituted and that they didn’t go for the win but all credit to us for the fantastic spirit we produced to hold out and let’s be honest dominate for the final 20 minutes, that is why we are Champions.

I know he cost £8m but having Begovich on the bench is very good news. An experienced premier league keeper who “sadly” is already in line for a run in the team. I thought he looked good when he came on and he can certainly cover the Cech size hole in terms of cover. I have no Hilario/Turnbull like fears with him taking over from TC at Manchester City on Sunday.

Fitness aside I am concerned that we have hardly created a chance for our forwards. Much talk about whether Falcao is going to cut the grade. I can not think that one clear cut chance he’s had. I don’t count the shot from the edge of the area on Saturday. The boy Costa looked lively which is good news. As long as he stays fit….

What of Eden? He missed an easy chance against Arsenal but was otherwise anonymous. Against Swansea he didn’t really get going until about 30 minutes from the end. One thing as I mentioned in my last article without him buzzing around we are not the same team. Sadly when he did got going he just got kicked. No booking until it was too late.

One thing which appears to have been missed and not mentioned (I haven’t listened to any podcasts yet) was the atmosphere on Saturday. The late kick offs means that drink may have been taken which always leads to a louder ground normally. I was really encouraged that the MHU was again in fine voice especially for the last 30 minutes when the team needed us most. The chants of Matthew Harding’s Blue and White Army rung out again. I don’t know who the guy who gets it started but he deserves a big pat on the back.

So what about Sunday? A tough ask but don’t we always do something special when least expected? We will have another week’s fitness training under our belt. In addition I’m hoping we will have another full back at the club so we can bolster our ranks. It’s impossible to know what is going on at the club at the moment but Jose will not want to be 5 points behind City before we have even left August. I hope that he will again confirm to us why he is the Special One.

Yes you can’t just throw money at players and expect things to change. The £27m spent on the hapless Cuadrado proves that but it would be good for everyone’s morale if one or two came in. Personally a forward in addition to the full back would be nice but we shall see.

Finally thanks to asg ndd for his kind comments on my last article which according to him was “self serving crap that is shamelessly biased”, I think the name of the website is the clue!

Clayton Beerman 

Follow Clayton on twitter: @goalie59