Having been lucky enough to watch the 4-2 victory to Chelsea over Tottenham this Saturday, something didn’t quite feel right within me afterwards. It was a feeling I haven’t felt for a while and something my body and brain almost refused to acknowledge. My body was rejecting it so much I began to empathise with Renton when he goes cold turkey in Trainspotting. I had to admit it, I enjoyed watching Chelsea.
Since Roman Abramovich took over, I have actively hated the team that ‘bought’ all the silverware they parade as being won through hard work. I have literally despised the hypocrisy involved with a team that considers themselves to have a zero tolerance policy against racism but has a captain that was guilty of racial abuse according to the FA.
I hated the foul play in recent years by such bullies as Michael Ballack, Ricardo Carvalho and that man again, John Terry. I went from liking Fernando Torres at Liverpool to hating his huffish attitude that has now become him in a blue shirt and on top of all that they have ‘Cashely’ Cole, arguably the most ignorant, self centred and detached from reality footballer to have ever been hated by the masses of the beautiful game. All this would bubble up inside of me whenever they played a game of football but after watching the game on Saturday something changed.
So far Chelsea have played well against decent opposition and even though they beat Arsenal at the Emirates they scored from two set pieces and with only 3 attempts on goal, this was to be the clash that would force the hand of Roberto Di Matteo and he didn’t disappoint. From Gary Cahill’s smashing volley to the wonderful intricacy between Juan Mata, Oscar and Eden Hazard, Chelsea were a joy to watch and deservedly won an excellent game of football.
You can say that of course they looked brilliant considering all the money splashed on their midfield and yes you can but I defy any genuine lover of the game not to watch Mata’s second goal without swooning at not only the finish but the running of the Spaniard and the delicate yet clinical one touch pass from Hazard to send him through.
It wasn’t just class on show either as once Defoe scored a lovely poacher’s goal to make it 2-1 only minutes after the restart I thought the game was Tottenham’s for the taking but to come back and in the way they did was just shows the spirit they harness.
I never thought the words would leave my mouth but I really like Juan Mata, I really like Oscar and I really like Roberto Di Matteo. There I said it and I must admit I feel better.
Obviously the way they handled the John Terry situation has been very poor, to punish him confidentially and not even strip him of the captaincy makes a mockery of their zero tolerance stand against racism. If anything it probably helped that he wasn’t playing against Tottenham on Saturday as even if you don’t like David Luiz his resemblance to Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons is uncanny.
On the pitch though Di Matteo deserves a lot of credit for what he has done. Not only has he got his team playing great football but this is now their best start to a season ever. Time will tell if they can keep it up but for now I do really like Chelsea and enjoy watching them play, until John Terry comes back of course.
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Outside of the Chelsea faithful themselves, the words ‘Chelsea’ and ‘likeable’ should never be put in the same sentence.
The words ‘Chelsea’ and ‘likeable’ should never be put in the same sentence.
What hypocrisy.
You say you hated the team that “BOUGHT” all the silverware. Well, erm, excuse me, thats exactly what they are still doing. They have a ten year “history” bought with oil zillions. Money that YOU give through your purchases of gas, oil, and electricity.Take that away, and they are still just Chelsea. Also rans, for the want of a better description.
Well, whether you still hate them or not, make no mistake, everybody else does.
No. Everything people dislike about Chelsea remains.
They are a club devoid of class – both the players and the fans. I see nothing to like about them.
Chelsea will always be unpopular because time and time again they reveal their true colours. They should have sacked John Terry and made a statement that their are no longer the club people remember them as. They have no class and lack integrity. Only one person i can remember has ever transended my personal hatred of the club and that was Zola, a fantastic player at the wrong club.
All of these comments are biased based on support for another football club. Who are the people outside ChelseaFC to say that Terry should be sacked or stripped off his captaincy? The man was cleared by the court of law who involved lawyers and judges. You can’t top the court of law. Secondly,the players of the club has no class?! What utter crap! Mata,Hazard,Oscar,Torres,Mikel,Ramires,Lampard,Cole,Luiz,Cahill,Ivanovic,Sturridge and Cech (currently best shot stopper in the league) are all international selected players for their respective countries. Rio Ferdinand was and will never be at Terry’s level of class and it’s clear he hates it that he was also 2nd best for England. I might sound biased now and I admit that I am. Before Roman bought the club,Chelsea was already in the top 4. Stop hating and focus on the football on the pitch. The excuses won’t get you anywhere in this modern world where money matters. Look at Liverpool,they have decent money but spend it poorly. Andy carrol,Stuart Downing and Jordan henderson are the perfect examples. That’s 75 million on 3 players in a small space of time who turned into flops. Chelsea won the Champions League and used that money to buy Hazard and Oscar,players who are performing excellently at the moment. Marin,Moses,Azpilicueta were bought with the club’s own money.
Of course the comments are biased, what do you expect it’s a football blog! It’s nice to stick the boot in on rival clubs, and its better done on here than anywhere else really. List as many players as you like, it doesn’t mean a thing. No one has said the players aren’t good, Mata is the best player in the league so far this season. It’s your club that lacks class the way it’s run its attitude and your defence of Terry only further makes me think that. Anyone that read the transcript to that court case and read the magistrates summoning up of Terry knows he got off by the skin of his teeth and it was more to do with a technically.
I also find it interesting that you actually think Terry is better than Rio, don’t see that one bit! Chelsea fans should also never talk about other clubs spending etc, the overinflated prices of some players today is in part due to the absurd amounts of money the likes of chelsea and man city can burn away. Marin and Moses should be at clubs playing football not bench warmers. Yeah it’s fair to say i don’t like anything your club does.
Was Rio ever a complete player? I don’t recall him being an arial threat like great centre backs are known. Huth and Shawcross are second rated defenders but still they are better than Ferdinand. Rio is lucky to still even be playing for a world first rated club. Like I said,Rio was never be the player Terry was when both were at their peak. Martin Tyler agrees and in a public poll,people voted Terry as the best centre back England has ever had. Moses and Marin are squad players. Oscar,Mata and Hazard can’t play all the time so Marin and Moses are there for quality depth. I’m critizing other club’s spending because they just buy without doing proper homework and I used Liverpool as the perfect example.