Regular Chelsea FanCast columnist Clayton Beerman gives us his thoughts on a mixed week for Chelsea supporters…
Three completely different games and emotions in the last week. I find it quite bizarre that within the space of 7 days there can be so many changes of emotions but that’s the beauty of football.
Joy
Photo by @cfcunofficial
So first up were the “mighty” spurs. Outside the ground was interesting before kick off. I got corralled in with the procession of very angry and noisy spurs fans. It was a real throwback but I have to say having seen what they have to watch every week I really am not very surprised at all at how angry they are.
For the first 20 minutes we were on the back foot but once JT had marauded forward things changed. I have to say I thought he was particularly good that night. His impetus seemed to spark something in the team and as the famous chant goes “normal service was resumed”. A fine performance by Didier and in the blink of an eye we were 2 up. The rest of the evening was a great joy culminating in a fine rendition of “you’ve had your day out now kindly go home” or something like that. They are the team I enjoy winning against most. Its historical for me as to my antipathy towards them but to go unbeaten against them at home for 24 years is beyond my wildest dreams. The fact that this is probably the worst Spurs side I have seen in years gives me no pleasure……
I, like many that night was perplexed by Didier starting ahead of Loic. Both are great strikers but I’d like to see more of Loic. That being said I have been completely wrong about Didier. I should have known that our manager does nothing out of sentiment. When DD re-signed I thought it was ridiculous and part of me still wants the likes of Bamford to get his chance but he has proved me and many others wrong. His fitness has returned and that night took his goal superbly. This is why I am not manager of a premiership team, well that and many other reasons!
Despair
We then travelled to the North East. I say travelled, I was on my sofa. It was a frustrating afternoon made virtually unbearable by Darren Fletcher and Michael Owen. The former more in love with his own voice and the latter a world champion in stating the bleeding obvious. For someone who has played the game at the highest level Owen’s lack of reading a game is quite breath-taking. They annoyed me so much the mute button was used in several occasions.
So much as I’d like to I can not blame those two for us losing. Law of averages is that in some games you just don’t get the breaks and here was prime example. I 
cannot be critical of an opposition who do nothing and then hit on the break or when they can. We won a European Cup doing very similar. That being said Pardew seems to have the indian sign over Jose. The very sight of St James Park seems to turn Jose and the team into some other entity. The Cahill slip and hitting the post were the margins. Its also fascinating how some players seem to spend their life scoring against certain teams. Pappa Cisse who on the whole is an average forward seems to score every time he sees us. He joins Darren Bent, Hernandez and Louis Saha. They always seemed to score against us irrespective of who they were playing for.
If I had one concern on the back of the Sunderland game it is that in two fixtures we had hardly drawn a save out of either keeper. It’s a bit of a throwback to last season and to be fair in both those games there were 10 sets of stripes behind the ball for most of it. I don’t think it’s a major worry but interesting how teams are now lining up against us at home, as well as away.
I was interested to see how the introduction of Luis increased our attacking options. There was certainly more delivery when he came on albeit Newcastle were being pushed further back. Some have looked at the lack of Matic being a major factor in our loss. I disagree, it was a tough game and unlike others thought Obi did OK. He seems to be the perennial boo boy which is patently unfair in my opinion.
So thankfully the invincible tag has gone. Open top bus parades in North London that this little piece of history remains in tact, much celebration whilst being destroyed by Stoke. How the mighty have fallen. Personally I did not meet one Chelsea fan who was in the slightest bit concerned with going unbeaten. The independent pressure it creates is just not worth the bother. If we won the league losing the most of amount of games and conceding the most amount of goals I wouldn’t care.
Frustration
The next game was home to Sporting Lisbon. Its incredibly rare to have a game that means nothing. Except there is no such thing to our manager. He wants to win every game and there is nothing wrong with that. I suspect all managers do but ours normally achieves what he sets out to do.
Photo by @cfcunofficial
So at the press conference what a joy to see Ruben Loftus Cheek and we are told he is going to make his debut. Fantastic I am really pleased. I have been banging on (see Clayton’s article ‘Wasted Youth’) about what appears to be a fairly pointless academy if we are not going to give them a chance, as I said what’s the point? So what a let-down the team sheet was. As predicted Zouma was in and how well he played and the rest of the team was strong. I was hoping for RLC to start perhaps naively but was still hoping he’d get on at some stage. I‘m aware the youth team played earlier that day and so there are some split loyalties within the club as it would have been good to see Brown or Solanke as per pre-season . I understand Ake and Baker are injured.
As for the game it was strange. A team which needs to get a draw to go through playing so limply or were we that good? Great to see strong performances for both Shurrle and Salah. Both needed game time and hopefully they can continue that form when they next appear undoubtedly against Derby . I wasn’t quite sure why with both doing well they were both taken off but as we know Jose knows best.
Thought Zouma was top drawer again. I know he hasn’t been massively tested but he looks good. Again Luis looked good going forward but I do have concerns about his defending. For their goal their winger just got past him easily and put the cross in. There was similar weakness when Palace scored. I like him a lot so maybe lack of match practice? It was great to see Cesc further forward, so glad Arsene is a plum.
So why was I frustrated you ask? Why was RLC not put on until the 82nd minute? We are 3-1 up with 30 minutes to go against a poor opposition in a game that didn’t matter. He looked great when he came on and certainly would have benefited with another 15-20 minutes. I know there are factors we are not aware of but Jose’s comments sadly seem to be paying lip service to our youth players.
Clayton Beerman @goalie59
