Tottenham 1-0 Chelsea | It Had to Happen One Day...

Bosingwa. Ballack. Alex. 1-0 to Spurs. It was a poor performance but Spurs were poor too. In fact this game was a poor advertisement for football.

Very early on it was clear that the one that makes more mistakes or the one who makes the worst mistake would be the loser. That had to be Chelsea.

Spurs’ idea was quite clear. They were banking on the counterattacks. They had pace. They know that our back four (minus Cole) is not that pacy. All the game, they were depending on counterattacks. That’s not a bad idea especially if it gets you three points against a top four team.

From Chelsea’s side, I thought we had too many culprits. Bosingwa was a mess today. He was poor in attack and horrible in defence. He still thinks he is Lionel Messi. When he goes out of position dribbling the ball more often than not, he loses the ball and he lacks the pace/sharpness to then react and get back. He was the culprit for that goal. I wonder what was he thinking then? Actually, his mistakes could have been more expensive. I’m losing my patience with Bosingwa. Mancienne is not too far away. I won’t be surprised if Guus plays Mancienne in the next match.

What can I say about Ballack? I love this guy so much! He’s been poor, not days or weeks, months I’d say. He is no longer a 90-minute player. He is way too lazy for Chelsea. Occupying a crucial midfield role, the way he loses possession like he loves doing them, is attrocious. Ballack was so very disappointing that I was hoping that he gets subbed.

It’s not that he is an untouchable or something. Obi Mikel in place of Ballack today would have made a world of difference. Is Alex looking for a summer exit or something? He is a good second choice for Carvalho but there are times when he drives you mad. Today he had too many such moments. Few minutes into the match, I was sure that Alex was gonna commit a shocker.

Petr Cech had to make at least 4 or 5 saves in the first half to keep Chelsea in the game. It was Alex and Bosingwa than Spurs who kept Cech busy all the match.

Drogba was not sharp but he tried his bit. Anelka was invisible except for that fantastic shot. Our midfield as such was very weak. Sad to say this because I’m talking about a galaxy of Lampard, Essien, Ballack and Belletti.

Ballack repeatedly put the rest of the midfield in trouble. We could not attack freely because few of the players were having a really bad day. I was waiting for Quaresma to arrive and he turned out to be such a failure today. Even Lampard and Essien were very mundane because of the support they got. Belletti and Ballack not doing well meant half of the midfield. Alex and Bosingwa underperforming was half of the defence. And there was Drogba and Anelka.

That’s Hiddink’s first defeat as Chelsea manager. Hiddink is a very intelligent man. I’m sure he’d have seen what went wrong today. I don’t expect him to slate individual players but I’m sure he would do the needful.

We had about 60% possession at White Hart Lane and we had more than a dozen shots. 1-1 would have been the proper result for this match. We should have scored. I thought the approach was good but it had to be better. Spurs were sitting back in the second half but we took too much time to put full pressure on them. Here’s Hiddink:

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"We talked about it at half time, that they [Spurs] would come from the start, and we emphasised on this. But it was very sloppy defending for the goal, and then the team woke up and we took over. But we told them to get through the tough period in the first 10 minutes before half-time, and then we could get through the game. But we didn’t and that is very disappointing.

"Sometimes when you are gifted player there are circumstances where you cannot always look for the beautiful solution in the dangerous part of the park. So we have to clear these balls every now and then. The way we lost 10 minutes after half time, as professionals with so many international games, you must know when there is heat in the kitchen and extinguish the fire.

"This was a huge opportunity, knowing that Man United is 2-0 down and you have a great chance to really chase them. We lost a great opportunity. These are the typical days at the top of the league, the key moments and if Man United are losing, those are the moments to strike and we didn’t."

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And yes, I loved the way Man Utd bounced back from their Liverpool defeat. It’s so annoying to see that we couldn’t take advantage of it. Even a draw would have helped us a wee bit. This could be Rafa’s dream day. I hope Villa beat Liverpool tomorrow.

I have a feeling that Man Utd and Liverpool could still lose games. I’m still confident because I feel that Hiddink is good and he knows what he is doing. He is a very reliable manager.

Liverpool will lose tomorrow. Villa will beat Man Utd next week. Go Villa Go!