Chelsea 1-0 Porto: We'll Do Well During the ANC

A winning start to the trip to Bernabeu. It appears that’s all we can take from this match. As you know I didn’t get to watch this match. The ones who got to see the match are saying that I didn’t miss much.

Our players were tired. It was raining hard in London. Last thing we wanted was an injury in those conditions. All we wanted was a win. And that win came with no addition to the injury table. I’d take this any day, especially on match day one  in champions league group stage.

That said, there was a lot of talk and press about how much we missed Drogba and how much we would miss him in January. Someone like Drogba would always be missed. Some days back I wrote about how unique Lampard is and why there are few or no exact replacements for Lampard.

In a way, it applied to Drogba too. Anelka is a different type of player. I certainly do not expect things from Anelka that I’d expect from Drogba. Because Drogba is unique and special, we are always going to miss him when he’s not around. That’s does not necessarily have to reflect on Anelka’s ability to spearhead our attack.

When it comes to Anelka, it is always about the efforts or the lack it. The less efforts he puts in, the more we’re going to miss Drogba because he is such a monster on the pitch. But if Anelka is not going to do the job in Drogba’s absence, we don’t need an Anelka. But is the golden boot winner of 2008/09. Let’s believe he can do the job.

Anyway, at Chelsea, we don’t let the striker take all the burden of goalscoring. The striker being at the end of an attacking move is almost a coincidence for our style of play. Be it attack or defence, everyone has responsibilities of attack as well as defence over and above their roles.

Let’s not overplay the challenge during the ANC. When Drogba, Essien and Kalou are away, we would be playing Hull, Sunderland, Burnley, and Birmingham. Those are the fixtures in Jan 2011. I don’t know when the Africans would return to London. If they don’t return by mid February, we might have to play the goners at the Bridge without them.

Now, don’t you think these are winnable matches without the Africans? I certainly think they are. I’m very sure that Anelka would score against these oppositions and he might even relish the opportunity. So, let’s relax. ANC won’t be such a big problem as it’s made out to be.

The big news is Peter Kenyon steps down from the role of the Chief Executive of Chelsea FC. Please note that he is not leaving Chelsea as he continues in his role of non-executive director of Chelsea FC. There are various theories around why this has happened and on the timing. Bruce Buck’s views on Kenyon’s exit clarify very well:

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"Peter has done a fantastic job for Chelsea in the last five-and-a-half years and has been absolutely central to the success on and off the field we have had during that time. Without his football knowledge and business acumen Chelsea would not be where we are today. Everyone at Chelsea thanks him for that contribution and although he will not be with us on a permanent basis he will have an important role to play as a non-executive director and in the various roles he holds in European football bodies.

When Peter first joined us we knew we were recruiting a top executive from business generally, not just football. With that always came a certain inevitability he would eventually want to seek a new challenge and I am sure that is what he will do. Whatever his next permanent job we wish him the best of luck in the future. He will always be welcome back at Chelsea."

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Some key things are: (a) Bruce is very generous with his compliements for Peter (b) Bruce suggests that it was Kenyon who wanted to seek a new challenge (c) Bruce says that he will always be welcome back at Chelsea. Therefore, let’s not entertain any nonsense on behind-the-scene stories. You know how much the press bays for the blue blood.

Oh yes, I can now link you to the news that the rumours around Roman’s respiratory problems during his trip to Mt.Kilimanjaro are completely false. And Guus was never a part of that trip. I wonder who invented that!

Okay now, the Inter vs Barca match would kick off in a while. So, I’ll sign off now. Oops, I didn’t get to talk about BC Huddle. That’s all right. I catch up on that later. Cheers!