Portsmouth 0-1 Chelsea: It Is Official, Hiddink is Turning Things Around

Guus is turning our season. Our winning run continues. Didier Drogba continues his good form. We still don’t concede. The guy with the head gear is indeed Petr Cech.

This is a superb win. This was a tough away match made tougher by the conditions. It was raining heavily, the ball wasn’t rolling all that well on the waterlogged pitch plus there was this noisy, hostile home crowd. This is a very more important win because Liverpool and Arsenal won too. I hear you saying 0-0 can’t be a win. But the buggers did win.

Don’t you feel Chelsea have picked up some pace? The team which was popularly called as old and slow, now looks a bit young and fast. Look at our attacking moves. We move with pace and purpose. Suddenly we look very dangerous on counter attacks. We don’t seem to congest the midfield or attack any longer. Which is why we create a lot of chances. We get a lots of shots.

For long periods of time, we were all over Pompey. Guus did not have Anelka yesterday but when he is available, I want him to try 4-4-2 with Anelka and Drogba. I’m sure he must want us to start scoring the second or third goals too. I know Man Utd nicked a dozen 1-0 wins. Let that not be a benchmark. As of today, they have a better defence and their 1-0 might be a little more comfortable than ours.

From a zero-chance, zero-shot 90 mins, we have improved to create chances and get shots on goals. We have also improved to score goals and win four matches on the trot. The next level must be to score the elusive second goal that could kill the game. 4-4-2 could be that solution.

With Essien coming back, there is a very strong case for going 4-4-2. Now we are in a position where we don’t have to use Essien as a defensive midfielder or a defender (remember those days?). Essien can come back as midfielder or an attacking midfielder alongwith Lampard. Both Lampard and Essien are box-to-box midfielders. They can be getting a shot on goal on moment and throwing themselves to block a shot the next moment. When they both are playing together, we may not need a defensive midfielder.

My idea of a 4-4-2 is Drogba and Anelka as strikers. Essien and Lampard as central midfielders. Quaresma and Kalou as wide players.

Coming back to this match, I thought we defended rather well. There were some nervy moments but we defended very hard. It was a very good team effort. We were very determined and we wanted to win this match. Did you see how Drogba and others celebrated that goal?

They wanted it and they knew they deserved it. Drogba’s celebration was fantastic. And you could see that at the final whistle too. Cech, Terry, Drogba, Lampard—all of them.

We play Coventry City in FA Cup this weekend. Now I get a feeling that we would play them like we should. What I mean is, I don’t think I would be wondering if it’s Coventry City or Barcelona that we are playing. We should beat them comfortably. I’m just waiting for the second leg of the Juve tie.