Chelsea-Blackburn Preview, Plus More Champions League Discussion

Blackburn vs. Chelsea | March 21 @ 16:00 UK

Wow! Lots of reactions for my last post. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect them. Before we go on to the bits about today’s match, let’s look at the unfinished business.

It’s my opinion that Jose Mourinho ate us alive. True. I would never have to go back on this because this is my observation of the game. Some of you might want to think that Ancelotti ate Inter alive. That’s your view.

The way I saw it, with a weaker team on paper, JM out-thought Carlo, just the same way Rafa did to JM himself few seasons back. It’s not because we are aging, not because we were not mentally strong etc, we were out-thought.

We were surprised from the word ‘go.’ Let’s look at how Chelsea prospers: attacks from the flanks primarily from the full backs, Drogba being at his best, Lampard connecting with Drogba, some interesting runs from Malouda. This has been the story for many matches now.

The weaknesses are Anelka’s form, one of the midfielders certainly being useless, our centre backs struggling in the air, our defence being shaky at set pieces...again, based on the recent matches.

Now let’s look at how Jose Mourinho knocked us out. He surprised us straightaway with his team selection. As far as I know, nobody, I mean nobody, expected that Inter team to start and in that formation.

I don’t know if Chelsea had trained and prepared for the possibility of facing Eto, Milito, and Pandev as the front three. The full backs were not in the attack because Inter played with three strikers.

Our full backs were always concerned of their positioning as they were worried about the three high quality strikers in the Inter line up. It is a risk that JM took and it paid off.

Drogba’s significance was considerably brought down by Inter’s defence. There were always many men on Drogba (some being tactical and some being physical) but getting the job done. They kept Drogba quiet. They absolutely did.

If you look at which of the two Chelsea players Inter respected the most, it was Drogba and Lampard. While Lampard was not as heavily marked as Drogba was, his options were seriously cut down, making him to do only the harmless sideway passes. Malouda did escape Inter’s defensive vigilante.

The one period where Chelsea dominated was the last five minutes of the first half, because Inter played like all JM teams do. When you have won the first leg at home 2-1, and you’re 0-0 at the away match at 35-40 minutes, the one thing that you have in mind is to end the half with 0-0.

That’s what Inter tried and that’s when Chelsea got stronger. That was a mistake from them. Luckily for them, they didn’t have to pay for it.

We should not have started with Anelka. That’s bloody clear and easy. The man’s mind is not on the pitch. Anelka being so out-of-form and so many chances falling to Anelka – is that a coincidence?

I call it tactics. It’s an age-old tactic for God’s sake. Reducing the effectiveness of the opposition by allowing their weakness to show up and play up.

Inter were all right to give the ball to Anelka. It is not a guaranteed tactic. It was a risk. It was a risk worth taking because, on current form and track record, the probability of Anelka hurting Inter is much lower than Drogba doing the same. It was a risk JM took, and it paid off.

Also, Inter were trying chipped passes all night. JM knows that we’ve become weaker in the air and that could be something to be exploited. Of late, see how many times Chelsea players have come second best in aerial battles in key areas.

In the second half, Inter repeatedly drew the Chelsea defence forward and attempted to chip it over the defence, because our defence has been shaky in air and there’s a third choice keeper to be beaten in a one-on-one situation.

Drawing Chelsea forward was a risk, one that may not always pay but JM took the risk and it paid off.

JM left Mario Balotelli at Milan because of disciplinary reasons. In a match of this kind, he is a great player to be sitting on the bench. But he was left behind. JM didn’t like his behaviour and did not want ‘anything’ to affect his preparations for this big match.

He took a risk of not taking him and it didn’t hurt him. Probably, it worked in their favour as they could keep the focus on the match. He also distracted the press from a great scoop on Mario. He focused on where he should. These are little details but they make a difference.

Contrast this with the fact that John Terry going out of form because of his personal issues but we continue to play him. A little break for JT would have helped him as well as the team. It takes a huge personality to tell someone like JT to sit out until he sorts out.

I still think Ballack starting the match was a blunder. It almost looked as if we had won at Milan and were trying to hold the lead. Joe Cole should have started. I know that Joe Cole did fuck all in the second half but still I’d have given more time to Joe Cole than to none to Ballack.

I’m not the biggest fan of Joe Cole but he is no Lionel Messi. Joey needs some time to get his feet moving and start making an impact. The way the game was poised when he came on was not the best timing from his point of view.

Also, look how similar the Man City match and this Inter match are. Ask yourself who learnt more from the Man City match – Jose Mourinho or Carlo Ancelotti. If I look at the Inter match, it was a match that JM wanted to win and that was bloody obvious.

I didn’t see anything in Carlo’s team selection or tactics that told me that we badly want to win the tie. Once Inter scored at the 78th minute, hand on heart, how many of you thought we’d score two goals in the next 12-15 minutes?

How many of the Chelsea fans gave ourselves the chance? I don’t think even the players wanted to give themselves a chance. We lost the match when Eto scored and that’s bad for a team of Chelsea’s European stature.

We could have finished Inter off back at Milan. When you have Carlo playing Malouda as the left back...he was not sending the right message and was only hurting our chances to pound them.

I absolutely blame Carlo Ancelotti for this defeat. I won’t blame anyone else. He made some wrong decisions. He did not prepare our team well enough. The buck stops with him. As they say, victory has many fathers but failure has none (or one).

Some seem to think that I was suggesting we sack Ancelotti. That’s a load of bull. Either you don’t understand or you don’t want to. I never suggested that Carlo should be out. My stance with managers is always the same. I’m game for stability in management provided we see some hope of a better future.

I never got it with Grant or Scolari. I believe that the team has, on the whole, improved under Ancelotti. With Carlo, I think he is a top manager. He deserves to get his time.

I’d love to see him here for many seasons if the team improves under him and gives us the hope. But that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t say anything when he makes blunders and knocks us out of the champions league first round against a team that’s weaker than ourselves.

While we are champions league favourites, Inter are not even favourites to reach the quarterfinals. They were to be eliminated at the group stage dammit! Rant over.

With that rant out of the way, let’s talk about the premier league match today. You might think it is stupid to have talked a second time about a match that was over. The matches against Wigan, Man City and the two legs against Inter are very key.

Sam Allardyce has already said that he’s looking to find patterns in these matches to find the chink in Chelsea’s armoury.

I won’t be too worried about Allardyce. Anyway his team is no match to Chelsea . . on paper . . oh my God, it’s only on paper. Let’s see how it turns out on the pitch.

We travel to Ewood Park in a very interesting day of football. It’s made interesting not because of our match but because of mid-day kick off at Old Trafford.

I don’t have to tell you how important the result of this match between Man Utd and Liverpool could be for Chelsea. A draw or a defeat for Man Utd is a massive boost for Chelsea. I hope Torres scores again and inflict a damage to Man Utd.

Meanwhile, our Ewood Park fixture is no less important. With just nine matches to go and no clear favourites for the title, every match is a final (sorry for the cliche). I hear that both Cech and Hilario are back in training but Carlo may not want to risk them in this match.

Plus, Turnbull did very well in the Inter game. By the way, why is that our goalkeeper injuries are always in pairs?

Why is that we always have to play the first choice or the third choice goalie every time? By the way, Paul Robinson is not playing today so that’s an opportunity for us. Di Santo wouldn’t play against us because of the loan rules.

I don’t want to see Anelka start. Even if Anelka starts and scores a hat trick, the feeling that I have NOW is that Anelka should not start. The chance must go to Sturridge or Kalou. Ballack must not start as well.

My team for the day would be Drogba, Kalou and Sturridge as the front three. Malouda in left midfield, Lampard in the right and Mikel in the centre. The defence would be Terry, Carvalho, Ivanovic and Zhirkov. Turnbull on goal.

In this team I suggest, we have ball players and dribblers while we also have gritty players like Lampard, Mikel, Terry, and Carvalho.

We won the last leg at the Bridge 5-0. This match today is highly winnable. We must just go at them with force and settle the issue. The last thing I want us to do is to give Blackburn more respect than they deserve.

More after the match. I expect Liverpool to hold Man Utd while Chelsea beat Blackburn by 2-0. I want no heart attacks. I just don’t have the health for nervy finishes. Please, please put Rovers out of sight by the first half. Will this be a super Sunday?!