 Tuesday, 11th Mar 2008 13:51 Dumped out of the League & FA Cups, unlikely to win the league, does anyone feel sorry for Chelsea? Chelsea v Derby County They are still going well in the European Cup however and are unlikely to finish out of the top four so perhaps we should keep our sympathy for ourselves? Chelsea are a team in transition. That transition is from the team of José Mourinho to that of Avram Grant. It’s fair to say that Grant is a radically different type of coach to the Chosen One. He’s renowned for bringing younger players through at the expense of seasoned professionals. Many fans haven’t taken to Grant’s style and still protest the departure of Mourinho. Should Chelsea fail to win anything this year, they may have a stronger case. What’s gone wrong? Chelsea have lost three games, crucially two of them were to title contenders Manchester United & Arsenal. Perhaps more crucially, Chelsea have drawn seven games – and that isn’t title winning form. The problem seems to be in scoring goals. Chelsea have only managed 42 in the Premier League and that’s the smallest number in the top six. When you consider the strikers on the books at Chelsea, that’s a poor return. Leading scorer is Frank Lampard with only 6 League goals while Didier Drogba only has 5. Drogba has the excuse of the African cup of nations but not the other Strikers. In the game at Derby, Chelsea struggled to break down our stubborn defence and with a bit more luck on our side we might have got a draw. We saw a similar pattern against Barnsley. Chelsea struggled to find a cutting edge in front of goal. If the Derby players watched the game and could stop feeling sorry for themselves, then maybe we could make Grant a bit more uncomfortable? Current Chelsea Squad No. Position Player Last 5 games Olympiakos 0-0 Chelsea Danger Men If you’d been living in a cave on Mars for the last three years you’d still have heard of Didier Drogba, Andriy Shevchenko, Frank Lampard et al. Those are clearly the danger men as far as we are concerned. There are no reported injuries in the Chelsea camp though Avram Grant may rotate his squad. The Rams Seeing as Paul Jewell seems to be shipping out players now, it looks as if he’s pretty much given up on winning any of our remaining games. That’s really a slap in the face for our travelling support who spend large amounts of money and time travelling to support the team. This is a midweek match in the middle of London against a team we have little chance against and yet you can bet your bottom dollar that the regulars will find a way to be there. If they are lucky they will get a perfunctory clap from the team before heading back north. That really isn’t good enough. Jewell should learn from Barnsley and even his old team Wigan. Barnsley went out with two strikers and attacked Chelsea. They never gave them time on the ball and they harried them for 90 minutes. Wigan have never taken one point from Arsenal. – Never even looked like it under Jewell - and yet on Sunday they managed one more precious point towards survival. Building a team for next season is all well and good, but we have to break the negative attitude that pervades the club now. Jewell claims there’s a losing mentality at the club – what is he doing to break it? Telling the players they aren’t good enough and 6-7 are coming in to replace them will hardly inspire confidence. The fact is some of the current team will form part of his Championship squad – he needs to install the battling and winning attitude now. Cards on the table; Chelsea and Manchester United next you’d expect very little form these games yet on both occasions when we’ve faced them this season, we’ve played reasonably well. If we can do the same in the next two games then whatever the results, the fans will be happier and we may believe in Jewell enough to invest in season tickets for next season. Mick’s team: Carroll, McEveley, Moore, Stubbs, Edworthy, Pearson, Savage, Jones, Sterjovski, Miller, Villa. What the Bookies think The odds on Chelsea winning are a ludicrous 1/10. You can get 7/1 on a draw and 25/1 on the Rams. I don’t think even Barnsley were that insulted by the Bookies. Information for travelling fans Driving: It's 140 miles to Stamford Bridge and about 3 hours drive on a good weekday. Take the M1 south until it’s junction with the M25. Take the M25 anti-clockwise towards Heathrow and join the M4 into London at J16. Join the A4 to Hammersmith. Go over the Hammersmith flyover and after about 1.5 miles, take the turning for Earls Court. Go past Earls Court station and through the one way system until you reach the Fulham Road Junction. At Turn right and after about half a mile, you should see the ground. Parking: The local area around the ground is covered by residents only parking and it’s fair to say that you will probably struggle for parking. A more sensible suggestion is to park at one of the underground stations with parking and take the tube to Fulham Broadway on the district line. Drinking: Most of the pubs on the King’s Road are fine as long as you aren’t wearing colours or making a lot of noise. If you arrive by tube, The Slug & Lettuce outside the tube is your best bet. Mick’s Prediction I don’t expect us to win or even draw. I don’t think our players have any fight in them and our manager doesn’t seem to believe they are capable of anything. Prove me wrong guys.
Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
   Derby County Polls[ Vote here ] |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
