Another Cup Defeat

Barnsley 1 - 0 Chelsea

Starting Eleven:
Cudicini
Belletti, Terry, Alex, Bridge
Essien, Ballack, Wright-Phillips
J.Cole, Anelka, Malouda

Scorers: Odejayi(66')

Some defeats leave us with nothing much to say, nothing much to comment. The scoreline says it all. Rather than a complete review of the match, I am borrowing some lines from what Tony Glover wrote in chelseablog.

"Malouda, Essien and SWP were very poor, but on recent form who would be surprised about Malouda and Essien. With Malouda we’d be better replacing him with a sho window mannequin and as for Essien….well it’s like Invasion of The Bodysnatchers…..somewhere in SW6 there’s a room with a withered husk of the real Michael Essien locked away."

"The bigger issue is the fact that the players failed as a team unit. They looked like 11 individuals and the lack of chemistry between them was obvious. Ballack looked less effective without Lamps, Anelka drifted to the wings and has yet to build the understanding with the excellent Joe Cole. I think the spirit is so low Anelka might be falling down the morale-vacuum already. How dispriting for a player to come in, do well and then be made second favourite to a great but increasingly disheartened and demotivated returnee. This was his first start in 5 games apparently. And Avram Grant calls that good man management."

"Bridge played well but was severely at fault for tracking the overlapping man instead of the man with the ball for the cross leading to the goal. Cudicini’s mistakes are rare but all that really happened was he was outjumped for the goal. There is no way that can be claimed as a foul. Riccy was immense despite getting hard time from Odejayi. JT defended well but finished like a …..well defender. Joe Cole ws our best and looked really upset…just like a fan should…when the game was over. So, yes, the players do shoulder SOME of the blame, but ultimately the leadership and inspiration comes from the coaching team."

"Look at Steve Clarke, the body langauge says it all….he doesn’t want to be there. Ten Cate is an enigma because as yet I have failed to see what improvements he has bought to the style of play. Avram Garnt seems a nice chap, but I don’t want a nice chap. No-one ever accused Fergie of being ‘nice’ - look at his bad loser mentality encapsulated perfectly in his post match comments yesterday…remind you of anyone? Look at Wenger’s vile post match (since retracted…but let’s face it that’s like a judge telling a jury to ignore the previous comment…once it’s said..it’s said) comments about Martin Taylor and his obvious irritation at Mourinho’s comments this week. That’s what I want…someone to get up the noses of Fergie. Wenger, Tubby Benitez, the FA, the press and the TV pundits. I had become a little irked by JM’s constant press baiting comments..but you know what…I realise what it did for the club, the team, the fans…it galvanised us..it built the fortress mentality…no-one liked us and we didn’t care…..except stupidly some of us did care and now that the universal loathing of us is subsiding, so is the defiant puffed out chest obstinacy and refusal to accept defeat mentality of the players which in turn is feeding us fans with indignation, fear and doubt, which feeds the other clubs with hope and spirit."

"Finally, news today was that the players were ‘holding a meeting to discuss the failure’ yesterday. Now let me see…is that 3…4…5 player meetings since Jose left. Did they ever even have 1 when JM was around? If things were so right…then surely the need for such player meetings would be negated? Isn’t this the equivalent of the pupils marking their own homework? Have the lunatics really taken over the asylum?"

"Even if as the board appears to think, Me and the many other fans are such ****wits, then why have we all reached a similar conclusion? Are we all wrong, but 5 or 6 people are right? If we were all shareholders in a PLC…do you think they’d get away with this? I think an example is Sheffield United, where it was pretty obvious that fan power played a major part in Bryan Robsons depaerture…not completely…but certainly a major factor. One wonders what lengths we’d have to go to in order to instigate a managerial change. Are we really into the realms of Megastore boycotts? Silent protests. Anti-Avram chants? What would it take?"

"It’s time for change, if not now then after our last game in May. You might just be able to pick up the slightest hint that I’m annoyed and just a little frustrated!"

Roman, do something, something sensible this time for a change!
True Blue forever.