SFSG

SFSG - So Far So Good.

I have been pondering if I should keep on blogging, at times it seems as a colossal waste of time, then again it's hard to just shut up and say nothing ;)

We've started year quite well, considering we have Drogba, Kalou, Essien and Mikel missing. It's unfortunate that Essien went under a knife. He will be missed. Ballack will have to play role of defensive midfielder, he is not suited to be a winger due to lack of pace, getting old.
5th round of FA Cup has been secured, we've trashed Sunderland 7-2, our biggest win of Abramovich era! Interestingly enough, Carlo decided to play 4-3-3 vs his beloved diamond... guess diamonds are not forever ;)
Youngster Sturridge has 3 goals in 2 FA Cup matches, good production from a good prospect.. only if he'd be more humble! His cockiness can be very annoying.
Anelka is fit again and as good as ever, he has found his home and playing arguably best football of his life, but there are rumors of his contract negotiations stalling. I do wonder if it's just paper talk vs reality. Speaking of contract talks, Joe Cole is also dew new contract. There are rumors of his potential move to Spurs... yeah right, dream on Spuds fans :)

I was also thinking of sharing articles that catch my attention, not necessary Chelsea related, football in general. For example, I found it amusing Jose declaring, "We could only have lost by having six people on the park, as even with seven, we would have won." Read more

We've briefly dipped to 3rd in the league due to match schedules and a postponement but after beating "Unbeatable" Birmingham yesterday we're back in first place with game in hand, SFSG :)

UEFA Diving League has started!

Have you noticed how fast Eduardo's ban has been overturned? Watching first games from the UEFA Diving Legue, oh I am sorry, Champions League made it all clear. If they'd ban Eduardo, they would have to ban at least 10 more players... Not sure whom should be getting Gold medal for best dive though. Seria A always put out strong teams full of capable divers followed by strong contenders from Portugal and Spain. We all know whom the usual suspects are, there is no real need to mention them again and again. Seriously, why is so called best league in the World is a showcase for divers and sub par refereeing?
In any case, the show is on the road. First points have been earned, we've earned our is an ugly display against Porto. Past couple of years we have been known to start slow, this time it was weather and few suspensions to blame. It's been a while since I was cursing at the players during the game as much as this game. Way too many missed passes, awkward tackles and unnecessary yellow cards. Ref's performance was descent, don't think he can't be blamed for any yellows.
Nicolas Anelka has made his mark and scored all important goal. On the night he was one of the better players. His pace troubled Porto's defense and it was quite nice touch to score on the rebound. Petr Cech also was one of the stars of the night. He made number of key saves to keep his well deserved shutout. End of the game was a bit alarming to me. Porto was pressing for equalizer and we've failed to keep the ball. I also thought that we actualy lacked pace. Ballack's performance was great but his age is starting to show. Bosingwa was certainly missed.
Carlo said it's good to win ugly, how true.

Ballack as a makeshift winger

Against slower Fulham FC, it might have been stroke of Carlo's genius by using Germany's captain as a makeshift winger. I was a bit surprised to be honest. To me, he seems to drift to the middle of the pitch a bit too much, thus end up out of position and not provide required width. Overlapping runs by Bosingwa made things less painful and somewhat effective. I certainly cannot complain about Balalck's work rate and his defensive ability, he's nothing but a class act and deserves his spot in the starting lineup.

With Joe Cole not being able to play, Sinclair on loan, Carlo doesn't have much choice but to experiment. Kalou is probably best choice due to his pace.

Essien seems to be preferred to play in holding role perhaps Zhirkov could be played on the right? Probably not as he is left footed. Does this mean that we could be in for a right wing player as a potential transfer target? Harry Redknap seems to be keen on our Joe, rumors of 20 million dollar bid popping in British papers like spring flowers. If that is the case, I wonder why there is such delay? To see if Joe' rehab is completed successfully?

Question is, who will start on the right side of the diamond against Burnley? No chance it would be Matic, could it be Deco? Most likely it will be Kalou, he must be getting used to this position by now.

Speaking of Matic, I should welcome him aboard, glad that yet another non 30+ year old has joined CFC. Hopefully he will get his first start soon!

United fans showing true color?

Wow, I can't believe all of the vile that comes from Manchester United loyal. Surely not all of them, but it seems that way. One would think that Ovrebo was a ref and they just lost important Champions League game!
Controversy is due to Ballacks "elbow" on Evra whom went down like a sack of potatoes "injured". You see, Fergie and so many others believe that ref should have stopped the game as he did earlier when Evra stepped on Ballack. 2 incidents have been dissected more than once and are not the same.
First incident, Evra retained the ball, second ball came to United player who not only didn't kick it out of bounds but tried to continue attack, it just happened that he lost it and in the end Lampard scored.
After the game, Fergie even confronted ref and later on said it should have been a red card, well I suppose it's lucky for Chelsea that Fergie was not refereeing game himself, surely he'd be best ref to ever step on the pitch.
Word hypocrisy comes to mind. If United would go on and score, would we hear even one word about this so called "elbow"? I don't think so. You see, United lost! We didn't bow in front of their greatness and ref had different point of view than Fergie. The fact is, ref saw challenge in plain view and chose not to call it. If anything Chelsea fans have learned from Ovrebo, is to live with refs decisions, no matter how hard it might be. Perhaps Fergie and United fans should try that instead of being so arrogant and whiny. Some even went on to call Ballack a "Cheating C**t"...
United fans showing their true color?