Birthday boy, Clayton Beerman gives us considered thoughts on the Battle of Stamford Bridge…
Following the draw with THem, I felt the elation of stopping a rival. The petty snarling slagging off our celebrations is sour grapes and what would THey have done, had they stopped Arsenal in the same way? So why am I so angry?
The date of the game was 2 May 2016 and the league season started on 8 August 2015. Where the hell have most of our players been during the intervening period (I exclude both
Willian and Cesar)? I am angry because had we played like we did in the second 45 minutes of that game for the majority of the season we would have won a hell of a lot more games than we have, or at least competed.
Where was that passion and will to win or at least not to lose when Jose was clinging on to his job for dear life. I tell you where, nowhere. Those players have given very little this season and quite frankly it’s inexcusable. I am not saying we would have won anything but we would be a lot closer than we are now.
Where was that aggression and spirit when we limped out of the FA cup at Goodison Park one of the most passionless gutless displays since our exit to Swansea in the League Cup a couple of years ago. Had they shown some of that fight then we might be looking forward to Wembley instead of 3 meaningless games.
We have known all along that these players had the ability. So why this game? Was it just to appease the fans who they know they have let down this season? Why hasn’t Guus been able to get this sort of performance from them until now?
The only line of defence is that in the second half of the game we had a fit Eden Hazard. I have defended the guy both in blogs and on the podcasts. I have said that he has not been fit for the vast majority of the season. Against THem he was being kicked again, proof if it were needed that he is back to his best. Too late for us but ready for the Euros and hopefully next season?
Protecting the 26 years unbeaten run was achieved, the taunting delivered, the twitter meltdown and ludicrous statements flew. At the end of it all the players 
showed pride. I have seen it said that it is unlikely Guus gave the half time team talk and I think that must be right. It was probably the man being shown the door who probably rammed home a few home truths at half time. The man who brilliantly put on his instagram account after the game #notonmywatch. I also suspect that Cesc with his Arsenal hat rather than his magic one was equally vociferous. All great but we seemed to have won (or drawn) the battle but lost the war.
Now I have got that off my chest what about the game itself? It was a throwback as the challenges flew in and for those of us of a certain age it was back to the “good” old days when men were men and didn’t roll around because someone stood on their hand. That being said some of THeir tackles were bad. The referee was awful as usual but now the game has finished part of me is glad that there were no sending’s off. Less excuses to fall back on. My view may well have been different had we needed to win the game and the opposition quite inexplicably kept 11 men on the pitch.
I had been listening and reading with interest about what some of our fans thought we were going to do against THem and how we were going to let Leicester win if that was what was required. Really? Have you seen us play this season? Nothing other than their own nerves would have stopped Leicester getting whatever they needed at the Bridge. They are simply a better team than us this season, team being the operative word. This is now a non point as they come to us as Champions and as we know anyone who achieves that deserves it.
Our second half display should not paper over the cracks. We were listless with no creativity in the first half, picked off at will by a better team. A flat defence breached for the first goal and a gift for the second. The game had been fairly even up to the first goal but with two defensive midfielders starting and not much coming from either Cesc or Pedro things were looking bleak at half time.
I could understand Guus’s thinking in trying to keep it tight initially but on the basis Eden had played a full 90 minutes 9 days ago, I was confused as to why our best player was on the bench. Apart from one snapshot, Diego appeared to have retreated into early season mode where he was loitering on the wing but he was feeding off scraps with no support.
I thought that Willian was disappointing but still full of effort. The funny thing was the chant implying that he was not very good followed by him pointing at his Champions badge seemed to give him the kick start he needed. After half time he like the others was back to his best. Although we still looked vulnerable at the back their tough tackling seemed to galvanise us and once Cahill scored THey looked nervous.
To describe Eden’s goal as good is doing him a disservice. It was similar to the goal he scored against them last season, cutting in from the same wing but the interplay with Diego sublime. Quite naturally the Bridge went wild and from that point onward if anyone was going to win it would have been us.
I’d like to specifically pick out Cesar for praise. I thought he was immense. He at no stage looked like he had given up and we are lucky to have him. Maybe under 
Conte he will continue at left back.
I feel that if the highlight of our season is stopping a rival winning the league that says it all. I will not keep on about Jose but I would interested to know the clubs ambitions when he was sacked. Presumably more than 2 home league wins (only 1 under Guus). Perhaps further in the cups and higher in a bang average league? I do not believe that Guus’s brief was avoiding relegation. Qualification for Europe must have been the expectation. We all know that Jose was not blameless but I still do not think that we are in a better place now without him.
So this mess of a season draws to an end. We still have 9 points to play for and the final day of the season homage to Emperor Claudio. I have no great love for the guy. He didn’t have the easiest of tasks but got us into the Champions league as the pre-cursor to the Abramovich era. Yes he showed an enormous amount of class when he left. He gave us that night at Highbury which will live long in the memory but he also gave us Monaco. I am not sure all of the players loved him but Frank has paid tribute to him and so I will pay my respects.
Finally, however much as Monday night meant, in my opinion we should never chant the name of another team in our stadium. As for that cardboard banner saying we should do it for Claudio….no, we should do it for us first and last, end of.
