Didier Drogba affirmed his status as the King of Wembley on Saturday with his eighth goal in as many competitive appearances under the new arch.

Keen statisticians will have noted that the decisive effort came courtesy of his supposedly ‘weaker’ left foot, and in fact, exactly half of his Wembley goals have come in that manner.

In honour of the goal and of another fantastic moment in his Chelsea lore, we present five of the best left footed Didier Drogba strikes:

Chelsea vs Liverpool, 17th September 2006
Drogba receives a long pass on the edge of the area before turning and rifling an unstoppable effort past a helpless Jose Reina.

Stoke City vs Chelsea, 12th September 2009
Drogba latches onto an exquisite reverse pass by Frank Lampard and shoots first time on the turn into the top corner.

Chelsea vs Everton, 12th December 2009
Ricardo Carvalho wins possession back in the Everton half and feeds Lampard, who simply touches the ball towards Drogba, and the first-time finish is exemplary.

Chelsea vs Arsenal, 3rd October 2010
Of his thirteen strikes against Arsenal, a number of have been impressive left-footed strikes but few surely as impudent and deft as this backheeled effort after fine approach play by Ramires and Ashley Cole.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea, 15th April 2012
One of the strikes at Wembley, Didier dominates for strength against William Gallas and sends a quite sensational shot rocketing past Carlo Cudicini.

Feel free to suggest your own left-footed Drogba classics, and let’s hope there’s one more special one saved up for Munich on the 19th.

Goals in consecutive Wembley FA Cup ties. An astonishing chip and key assist in home and away clashes against Barcelona. Relentless enthusiasm and energy impacting game after game.

Chelsea fans hardly need to be told about the impact of Ramires on the 2011/12 season, but as the campaign reaches the business end it has become more and more apparent that the Blues have another amongst their ranks who produces when the stakes are at their highest.

As Didier Drogba added to his Wembley lore and as Frank Lampard continued to extend his remarkable legacy, the Queniano Azul was busy at work affirming his status as one of the club’s best footballers.

It’s not just in the last month that he’s turned up when it matters most either. En route to the big game in Munich in a fortnight’s time, Chelsea faced win-or-bust ties at Stamford Bridge against Valencia, Napoli and Benfica, and on each occasion Ramires put in a sterling performance with a decisive impact.

He was directly involved in Branislav Ivanovic’s spectacular extra-time winner against the Italians, and his trademark lung-bursting running was there for all to see with the second goal against Valencia in December.

The Brazilian ensured that the road to Wembley got off to a good start with a brace against Portsmouth a week after grabbing a stoppage time winner away to Wolves at a time when the club’s league results and performances were decidely shaky.

He took some time to settle, and there were more than a few doubters during his first few months at the club, but as last season wore on he began to show signs of being the player he has been all season.

A superb solo effort against Manchester City was voted the club’s Goal of the Season and it’s a title he could well retain this time around with his exquisite chip in the Nou Camp.

Versatile enough to have been used in almost every midfield position required by Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di Matteo, he has been your prototypical box-to-box midfielder yet has also been the tactically adept winger able to retain shape and nullify the pronounced threat of attacking full-backs like Daniel Alves.

Unfortunately, the man with no song will be missing in Munich and whilst Branislav Ivanovic, Raul Merieles, and John Terry are all big omissions in their own right, it speaks volumes that Ramires is considered to be the hardest loss of all for Chelsea fans.

The way he’s played of late, it’s not hard to understand why.

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was print. James A. Catton was the earliest significant figure in football journalism, writing for the Preston Herald in 1875. Forty years later, he recalled “”In days long ago when Association football players wore beards and breeches, instead of being clean shaven and donning shorts or running pants, newspapers, as a whole, took very little notice of matches.

The reports were brief, and there were none of the personal paragraphs, garrulous items, and more or less sensational news which are now part not only of weekly periodicals, but of morning and evening newspapers.” In 1886 James A. Catton began to write for the weekly “The Athletic News” under the pen-name “Ubique”, later calling himself “Tityrus”. He subsequently became editor of The Athletic News and was acknowledged as the most important football writer in Britain.

As interest in Association Football increased, so did the coverage. One of the most important sources of information for supporters were the Saturday evening “pinks”, with their emphasis on local teams. Sadly now a dying breed, these were often the only way of finding out how other teams got on and were usually printed within minutes of the final whistle being blown at games.

A technological revolution was born in January 1927 when BBC radio broadcast its maiden commentary, featuring a game between Arsenal and Sheffield United, with the FA Cup Final being broadcast for the first time that same year. By 1931 the BBC was broadcasting over 100 games per season. Radio ownership was in its infancy at this time, with only approximately 30% of households owning a “wireless”. The Alan Green of that era was George Allison. He devised a system to help listeners understand what was going on, consisting of a diagram with a football pitch divided into squares which was published in the Radio Times.

Allison’s broadcast assistant would call out the number of the square where the ball was being played, and when the ball was deliberately passed back to the goalkeeper (a legal if time wasting tactic up until 1992, for the benefit of younger readers), Allison would announce “and it’s back to square one”, thus originating a phrase which would become part of the English language.

The horrendous economic conditions and poverty of the late 1920s and early 1930s led to a fall in match going, and radio coverage of league games was blamed. As a result, the Football League banned live commentary of their games, a dictat which continued until after the Second World War. However, the FA Cup Final continued to be broadcast throughout the 1930s, with the fixture becoming part of the fabric of the nation, due in part to increased ownership of radios, with over 70% of households owning a radio by 1939. Football broadcasting resumed after the Second World War, with the BBC showing the first non-Final FA Cup game between Blackpool and Bolton in the 1947 5th round.

The early 1950′s saw British audiences treated to their first taste of overseas football at the 1954 World Cup, and in 1955 the fledgling Independent Television broadcast games from the first season of the European Cup, which might have featured Chelsea, had it not been for the club caving into the FA over their participation. In the same year, BBC started showing highlights from First Division games for the first time in Soccer Special.

It was however in 1964 that a seismic shift took place with the birth of a national institution – Match of the Day on BBC2. Originally broadcast in black and white, colour transmissions of football hightlights started in 1969 and by the time Chelsea faced Leeds in the 1970 FA Cup final, the game was played out before a record audience of 20 million. By the early 1980s the Football League had signed a contract for regular live games on TV, but the broadcasters weren’t to know that the decade would see an unparalled era of crowd trouble, and that poorly maintained grounds all over the country would eventually claim the lives of scores of fans.

By the middle of the decade, football fans were generally perceived as scum, especially by the Government. The Minister for Sport, former Olympic rower, Colin Moynihan, and originator of a proposal to bring in compulsory ID cards for supporters, described fans as “the effluent society”, and a leader in The Times of 18 June 1985 described the game as “…a slum sport, watched by slum people”.

It was around this time, inspired by the culture of music fanzines which had sprung up in the 1970s and early 80s, the first football fanzines emerged. “When Saturday Comes” was launched in 1986 and is still going strong over 25 years later, with the same editor. Suddenly, if you had opinions and had access to a photocopier, you could start a fanzine yourself. All you needed was a few mates to help distribute it. And some of the titles were, and remain glorious – WSC used to list those available such as Gillingham’s legendary Brian Moore’s Head Looks Uncannily Like London Planetarium, which is still going, albeit online these days. There used to be a wonderful shop in the Charing Cross Road called Sportspages, where you could buy fanzines, and whenever I was in London in the late 80s, I’d go there simply to read.

And as befits a club which has long had a creative, imaginative, talented fanbase, Chelsea fans were swift to embrace the concept of the fanzine. “The Chelsea Independent” was launched in 1987 and was a fixture on the Fulham Road until 1999, being replaced in 2000, in the very early days of the internet, by CFCNet. However, after the print version of The Chelsea Independent ceased, help was at hand for those seeking a physical fix for the tube or the train with the launch of Matthew Harding’s Blue & White Army, which subsequently became the legendary and much loved CFCUK (which is, as everyone knows, is still available on match days for only a pound. Urry up).

At the dawn of the digital era, one of the single biggest changes in how football fans interact was created by the BBC. In 2003, they put together a collection of internet forums for each club in the Premier League, togethe with forums for the lower divisions and Scottish football via the BBC website under their “606″ banner. This provided a first opportunity for many football fans, including myself, to publicly put forward their views, not only on their club, but on other clubs too. It is fair to say that 606 changed my own life as I started writing about football for the first time since my early teens, when I used to sit down at my Corona typewriter on a Saturday evening and write my own slant on the day’s scorelines.

However, due to the BBC’s strict moderation rules, and the fact the boards closed at 10pm, just minutes after midweek games, dissatisfaction set in quite early, and as a result those fans with the necessary technical know-how began to drift away to start their own forums, where membership could be denied to those perceived as “numpties” (numpties of course being the forerunners of trolls). With relatively low running costs, independent forums, run for fans by fans, sprang up all over the place. CFCUK launched their own website, as well as remaining in print. CFCNet remains the behemoth of Chelsea forums, with membership running into thousands. The After Hours Football Club was one of the first descendants of 606, started by an enlightened Gooner, but with sections for individual clubs.

This site hosted a particularly lively Chelsea forum, many of whose members congregated in the So Bar on matchdays, at the end housing the toilets, dubbing themselves “Bog Enders”. The BBC 606 forums sadly closed their doors for the last time on 31st May 2011, at a time when blogging has become increasingly popular. Organisations such as “Word Press” have made it possible to produce highly-professional websites at minimal costs, and “TheChels.Net” is one such blog that’s benefited. The beautifully-titled “Plains of Almeria” is the home of the cerebral blogger, attracting some of the highest calibre Chelsea writers around, and the fledgling “Mowing Meadows” has in a short space of time become a hugely-respected part of the blogging scene.

And of course, it’s not just the written word that’s available to Chelsea fans. Regular readers will recall that I spent a memorable evening in Putney recently with the Chelsea Football FanCast team (other pods are also available), and coupled with the club’s own in-house TV channel and media outlets, you have to ask yourself where the future lies for traditional media.

If you’re a Chelsea fan, with all the above options open to you, why should you waste your time on old media? Why listen to the bile on TalkSport when you can listen to your fellow-fans talk about the action on a podcast?

Why should you read what are still known, even online, as “the papers”? Why subject yourself to the bile of, say, Patrick Barclay, when you can read Joe Tweeds or Tim Rolls? The latter gentlemen are as informed about the club as Barclay, and what’s more, they care. And they’ll have paid for their own match tickets.

Why is Martin Lipton more relevant than Dan Levene of the Fulham Chronicle? Dan is a paid journalist, but at least he genuinely cares about the club and is the only professional worth following on Twitter.

Basically the difference between a journalist and a blogger is money. A journalist gets paid. A blogger does it for love and enjoyment, in their spare time.

The problem with the self-appointed righteous brothers of the former Fleet Street is that they believe they are still running the game. Hence the witch-hunts against those they perceive as sinners (certain players, certain club) and the paeans of praise for their favourites (again, certain players, certain clubs).The sole remaining area in which the hacks still have any kind of real influence is the England team, simply because there’s fewer new media resources dedicated to the national teams. The traditional journalists are dinosaurs, and extinction is coming. Another 50 years, and like the Saturday evening “pinks”, they’ll be consigned to history.

Acknowledgements
Contrary to popular belief, I do occasionally research these articles and I’m grateful to the following resources:

Spartacus Educational for background on the early history of football journalism and broacasting

The next web.com for a potted history of the now-sadly defunct 606

Soccerlens.com for Hugo Steckelmacher’s excellent article on the evolution of the fanzine on March 27th, 2008

Recommended Links

There’s a lot of good reading out there:-

 plainsofalmeria.co.uk

mowingmeadows.wordpress.com

www.cfcnet.co.uk

transparentsport.com/cfcuk

Recommended Forums

ahfcchat.com

chelseafancast.com/forum

Social Media

AHFC and ChelseaFancast are both on Facebook. ChelseaFancast are also on Twitter, where you can find bloggers referred to above (@mowingmeadows @JoeTweeds @tim_rolls ) and many more, together with Dan Levene’s account, @BluesChronicle.

You can also follow me @BlueBaby67

Chelsea are only one perfect performance away from heading to Munich. One performance away from having a chance at finally lifting the UEFA Champions League.

This more than anything is what we want most. It’s the one Terry and co. haven’t won. The one that has eluded us through refereeing ineptitude, wild controversy and plain old bad luck. The side that progresses will be the one that wants it more.

We’ve been here before. We have shown that we are capable, if any side in europe is? We can beat Barcelona. We did it last week, and without allowing Barca an away goal. And that means we don’t have to win on this most vital of Tuesdays.

Let us put the past behind us though, but who can forget the most impressive opening of any Chelsea side with Duff slotting home. Or the sublime goal of the ever impressive Frank Lampard from an impossible angle that he maintains he did intend. Or even Ashley Cole crossing to Drogba who spun and smashed the ball home. Maybe we shouldn’t forget the past, lest we doom ourselves to make the same mistakes.

It doesn’t take a talismanic Ivorian forward to know that we’ve been robbed in the past against this over-hyped Barcelona side, and ‘f***ing disgracefully’ at that. That doesn’t matter though. We can only try control what we actually can control. We can’t control the fact that commentators the world over will fail to objectively report the game. We can’t control the referee. For large parts of the game we won’t control the ball.

Chelsea haven’t changed much from the side that saw Iniesta steal that goal in 2009, but neither have they. Barcelona play through the middle. They have no real width. They have no true striker. They lack a truly world-class goalkeeper. They have revolutionised football without ever having a plan B.

Messi can be stopped, he has never scored a goal against Chelsea. Xavi can be stopped, I call it the Mikel effect. Before the first leg Pep Guardiola, who is no Special One, just very familiar with the Catalunyan way, admitted difficulty in formulating how to create scoring opportunities against Chelsea. He wasn’t bluffing. He now claims he has no doubts they will prevail.

Now he is bluffing, as even the happiest married couple will tell you, there are always doubts. It won’t be easy, as playing any great side is never easy, but we are a great side too. Even if we aren’t thought of as such. If we lift The Champions League trophy in Munich that might change though.

We must be dynamic. We must be at the top of our game. Barcelona will play their pretentious form of anti-football that monopolises possesion, but we have to play the Chelsea way. The defensive discipline, the decisiveness in front of goal and the refusal to lose. Cech and Mikel have returned to form. Mikel’s interception of Robin Van Persie’s little disguised pass on saturday was nothing short of brilliant.

Gary Cahill and John Terry need to be immense again, and continue displaying a solidity that must have the english FA licking their collective lips. Ivanovic cannot be caught out as often as he was in the first leg. Didier Drogba’s one man campaign of terror must continue, on his day he is simply unplayeable. Ashley Cole must allow the world to see he is the best left-back on the planet, yet again.

Mata cannot drift out of the game completely for long periods. Frank Lampard must once again prove ageist sceptics wrong; yes, he is a better player than Steven Gerrard. Ramires must put in a yet another player-of-the-season performance. If we play to our strengths and do what we must do, we can do what too many don’t believe Chelsea can.

If we can somehow nick a goal and maintain our shape for the entirety of the match we will go through to the final, but we can’t play for a scoreless draw and we can’t waste possession when we do have it.

The team that wants it the most will progress. Has the Barcelona bubble popped? Are they about to experience the joy people have in tearing down heroes and making them villains? Will we have a shot at ultimate glory come the final or will we once again rue what might have been? I think the final result will be 0-0 in the Camp Nou.

Mission Possible. As always blue is the colour. See you in Munich.

For the last few weeks I’ve been intending to publish a piece on the merits of keeping Roberto Di Matteo as Chelsea manager.

Doing so now might appear reactionary after the excellent result against Barcelona, but if I begin by prefacing the entire article with the notion that his body of work as manager – at least in terms of ‘just’ results – isn’t close to being top of the reasons why, it might go some way to assuaging those notions.

Undoubtedly though, he is riding the crest of a wave after a sensational past few days and now, more than ever, Chelsea fans will be firmly backing the 41 year-old Italian to become a permanent fixture in the Stamford Bridge dugout.

His record is eerily similar to that of Guus Hiddink when the Dutchman acted in the same capacity a few seasons ago, with just one defeat to his name, a strong performance in the Champions League and a spot in the FA Cup Final.

Few would have a problem with Roman Abramovich handing the job to Hiddink, but when you consider the work Di Matteo has done with what is arguably a weaker squad, he certainly stacks up on this front.

Nicely juxtaposed with the charlatan Andre Villas-Boas, rather than attempt to assert his own style and demands upon the team from day one, Di Matteo knows the value of remaining understated, and more importantly understands the strength of the tools at his disposal.

Yes, Chelsea have some players who are getting older, and perhaps they’re not quite what they once were. However, that does not, in any circumstances mean that they have nothing left to offer.

Di Matteo has brought cohesion, balance, unity and a collective direction back to the club when it was most needed. These are simple qualities easily adhered to and ones which are easily continued should he get the permanent stewardship of the club.

The process of ‘overhauling’ the first team squad has been underway for two seasons now, and will continue this summer. Critics will level a lack of experience in the transfer market against Di Matteo, but at Chelsea, this is less of an issue as it might be at other clubs.

It’s well known that a group of half a dozen or so men working under the title of the ‘Football Board’ drive the club’s transfer activity and whilst the manager has a certain input, he is, for most intents and purposes, a coach.

If Di Matteo has been able to achieve short-term success with this squad, it stands to reason that he is well placed to take the next step with new players to work with.

His time at West Bromwich Albion also may apparently work against him, but previous accomplishments should be well down the list of criteria to be considered. A former World Cup winner failed spectacularly in 2008, whilst Villas-Boas fared little better despite very recent and relevant success.

Mourinho and Ancelotti came very well qualified and proved to be just that, but equally, the club somehow found itself in its sole European Champions League final under Avram Grant of all people. The right person will be the right person because of their leadership and coaching qualities, not what they might have won before.

Pep Guardiola at Barcelona is a perfect example of someone who was very clearly the right hire despite having almost no notable coaching experience. Whilst it would be foolish to suggest that one example speaks for everyone, Guardiola in particular leads me into my next point, one which is worth considering for the long-term future of Chelsea.

Guardiola understands Barcelona. He grew up there, he played there, he has been a Culé for almost all of his adult life. Managerial longevity is growing scarcer by the season, and whilst the days of a reign like Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger or David Moyes may no longer be relevant, the former player may very much be the way of the future.

Di Matteo understands Chelsea. He is one of very few people involved in the playing side at the club who have experienced pre-Abramovich and current Chelsea. It might sound clichéd and it definitely isn’t something which is always positive, but it helps create an identity, something the club has lacked since Mourinho (and arguably still identifies most with his approach).

Managers with a connection to their club appreciate the small details; the use of the academy, the development of home-grown players as a part of the team’s core, the importance of the backroom staff. Eddie Newton’s return may have been a secondary story but he is an excellent coach who has played a big role in this season’s revival.

Mourinho’s entourage were all adept in their roles and brought something to the table, something their manager would often take on board. Christophe Lollichon aside, those who have filled the seats on the bench since 2007 have either been promoted to fill a gap or have been sycophantic yes-men with little remit but to agree with the boss.

How valuable Steve Clarke appears in his absence. How appreciated Newton has been since his return. Di Matteo didn’t have to bring his long-time assistant with him, but he appreciates the value of colleagues and appears to believe that a collaborative effort is a successful approach.

At the end of the day this is as speculative as it gets, but if we come back down to the raw facts, we’ve seen that Di Matteo has gotten exceptional results in a short period of time simply by utilising players in their best roles.

Football can be as complicated as you want to make it, but is at its most successful when simplified as much as possible. There is a lot to be said for that, and it’s something that the Italian’s predecessors have apparently forgotten.

Yet at the same time, subtle tactical nuances have been evident throughout his brief spell, displaying a learned understanding of the modern game and where each opponent’s threat lies. Utilising Ramires as a left winger last night to dampen the threat of Daniel Alves is the most recent example of a seemingly small move going a long way towards success.

If Di Matteo is prepared to go forward as he has done since March, he’s arguably favourite to keep his job. He’s certainly a leading candidate.

Plus, he’d come cheap. That’s always worth a point or two in his favour…

Yesterday’s goalless draw at home to Tottenham put a serious, perhaps fatal dent in Chelsea’s aspirations of a top four finish and a Champions League place for the 2012-13 season.

With the Blues facing a five-point deficit and a much harder run-in to the end of the season, questions must now be asked as to what the club’s approach to the remaining eight weeks of the campaign is.

The first leg of a very winnable Champions League Quarter Final tie is next on the agenda, whilst the FA Cup will prove more than just a pleasing distraction as it too carries the guarantee of European football, which is far from being secured in the league.

Roberto Di Matteo stopped short of completely writing off catching either Arsenal or Tottenham yesterday but admitted that qualifying for UEFA’s elite competition is a tough ask at this stage, and so attention now turns to Tuesday’s trip to Lisbon.

Winning the Champions League might well be the most realistic route into next season’s competition, but Benfica are a capable outfit whilst Barcelona or AC Milan await in the Semi Finals.

Does Di Matteo now have to put all of his eggs in that particular basket and do little more than attempt to get by in the league and hold onto fifth place, attempting to stave off the advances of Newcastle United?

Saturday’s starting eleven offered little insight into the Italian’s mindset as he picked a very strong team for such a decisive match. However, there was no place for David Luiz or for John Obi Mikel, two players who have performed exceptionally well of late, nor was Branislav Ivanovic risked after a muscle injury sustained at Manchester City on Wednesday.

The trio are all likely to play in Lisbon, with Fernando Torres also likely to return ahead of Didier Drogba.

Should the game not go to plan and leave Chelsea requiring another second-leg turnaround, look for Di Matteo to rotate his squad for the league matches against Aston Villa and Wigan either side of it. The Wigan game in particular should see opportunities for the likes of Salomon Kalou, Raul Meireles and maybe even the likes of Oriol Romeu and Romelu Lukaku as the first of two games in three days during the Easter Weekend.

Successful progress past Benfica will leave the Blues facing a potential four games in eleven days against Tottenham or Bolton, Barcelona or Milan and then a trip to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal before jetting back off to Europe for the second away leg of a European Semi-Final.

How Di Matteo rotates his squad for these four fixtures will undoubtedly reveal the club’s aims. Will key players be rested in the cup and in the league to allow for a full-on assault on the Champions League or will a balanced approach be taken in the (probably ill-advised) belief that the club can still fight on all fronts?

Failure on all fronts will leave a spartan May fixture list away to Liverpool and at home to Blackburn when the best anyone can hope for would be to see some of the younger generation given minutes in meaningless fixtures. This being Chelsea, of course, makes that a fairly unlikely proposition in the first place.

Those eleven days will make or break this season and shape the future for the club. Potential new managers will be enamoured with a place at Europe’s top table and not the Europa League, but the reality is that they may well have to settle for second best.

David Luiz is undeniably a cult hero around Stamford Bridge.

His flair-filled performances have won many admirers, who leap to defend him in the face of what is often unwarranted criticism in the media.

Sure, he’s a little unconventional and has made mistakes, but equally, he’s put in some very good performances, none of which get the credit they’ve deserved.

However, over the last few matches, there’s been a noticeable change in how the Brazilian deals with particular situations. Simply put, he is playing under the old idiom ‘if in doubt, get it out’.

Now, since putting together a series of clips takes time and will likely be taken down for copyright infringement anyway, we’ll have to make do with statistical and anecdotal evidence, but it’s certainly been noticed by many a Chelsea fan.

Last night against Napoli, for example, Luiz made nine clearances, of which seven were successful and the majority of them were simply put into touch to allow time to regroup, as well as minimise potential mistakes.

There was more of the same in the second half against Stoke, and it was most evident against Birmingham on a shocking pitch.

It’s too soon to suggest that the change in how Luiz deals with these situations is down to Roberto Di Matteo, but it is possible to suggest that he was advised to adopt a different approach after the first leg in Naples.

Then, as you’ll remember, what could have been a simple clearance into touch became a loss of possession in his own box and led to Ezequiel Lavezzi making it 3-1 to the home side.

Of course, it is very much the Chelsea philosophy to attempt to retain possession under pressure in defensive areas and play out where possible, and this extends all the way down the age groups in the academy.

However, there comes a time where the ball simply has to be cleared. Whether it came from his own particular playing background, or instructions from the manager, or any number of other possibilities is unclear, but Luiz more than any other Chelsea defender was less inclined to do so.

As we’ve seen of late, he is now doing so, and in those three matches just one goal has been conceded.

Whether it’s a long-term change or just a brief one to steady a stricken ship and boost confidence remains to be seen. At the very least, it’s something to watch out for in the coming days and weeks.

Shortly before Christmas, off the back of a poor run but following qualification for the last 16 of the CL, this column wondered if the season could turn out to be something special (see Special Ones Too). And it certainly has, but not in a good way. A slew of defeats, players who don’t seem to be bothered about putting in a shift but are only too happy to collect their 000s of Ks every week, and continued reports in the media of problems in the dressing room culminated in yesterday’s abject performance at West Bromwich Albion, resulting in the dismissal today of Andreas Villas Boas, less than 9 months after his appointment as Chelsea manager.

As someone who has never received football coaching in their life, it is difficult for me to comment on the mechanics of a performance. All I see is players passing the ball. Whilst I’m au fait with systems and styles, like a typical woman, I prefer incidents to statistics. In spite of being there, I couldn’t tell you who scored our goals in the 3-2 defeat at Man Utd in September, but I remember Ian Marshall of Leicester pulling a hammy whilst trying to nutmeg Albert Ferrer in front of the still unroofed West Stand and getting celery chucked at him in about 1999. So I’m not really the one to say whether AVB didn’t know what he was doing on the tactics front. All I know that he failed to pull on a shirt in any of our games recently. Whilst the buck stops with the manager, our players have to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves how much they have contributed to letting the fans down.

It is not the first time player power has hastened the demise of a manager at Chelsea. As long ago as 2000, Gianluca Vialli lost the dressing room, and at the time when a revised Bosman ruling was being threatened resulting in contracts no longer being worth the paper they were written on, Ken Bates and Colin Hutchinson were presented with a “him or us” ultimatum by a number of players (this was confirmed to me by the respected Italian journalist Giancarlo Galivotti several years ago). Whilst Franck Leboeuf attracted most of the opprobrium directed at the players on this occasion, he was certainly not the only one involved and even tried to offload the blame on Gianfranco Zola – in a radio interview on the day of his last game at Chelsea, he commented “Gianfranco has much more power at Chelsea than me”. Indeed, Vialli’s own comments on Twitter today hint at a frosty relationship with the club’s new caretaker manager, Roberto di Matteo.

Stories about player unrest have abounded in the press recently, usually attributed to a “senior player”. I hope whoever he is, he will now expend his energies for the rest of the season in galvanising his team-mates to get their fingers out. The decision to appoint di Matteo as caretaker manager until the end of the season is an indication that Chelsea have a clear target in mind but need to wait until the end of the season. Were that not the case, either Benitez or Capello, both free agents, would have been appointed today. Given Jose Mourinho’s very public visit to London last week, combined with news of a further alleged visit on Monday, and information provided by a source to this column that Mourinho and Abramovich had dinner at a top London hotel last week, last week’s article “Return of the Special One” may yet prove to have been barking up the right tree.

As usual, the ones suffering most at this time are the fans. I know people who set off for Albion at 6am and reckoned they weren’t going to get home till midnight. Approximately 1600 hardy souls travelled to Napoli two weeks ago. As I write, Chelsea lie fifth in the premiership and no doubt there are those amongst the inter-continental support (and possibly one or two in the UK) who have decided that the club are so last decade, and transferred their support elsewhere. These are the very people that our CEO is keen on cultivating at the expense of those who invest their time and emotion, not to mention maxing out their credit cards, on supporting CFC in the flesh and not through the medium of their television.

I think the last time I felt so low about a manager was, surprisingly, the day Ruudi was sacked (when Jose left I was in an emotional maelstrom, and when Luca was sacked I was so ill that if Ken Bates had turned up to announce the news in person I probably wouldn’t have turned a hair). However, we Chels are a resillient lot. Whilst I’d be surprised if we sell out Birmingham away, the faithful will be out in force and giving 100% of their passion to the cause. Let’s hope the players can do the same.

 “They seek him here/they seek him there/those Frenchies seek him everywhere/Is he in heaven?/Or is he in hell?/The demn’d elusive Pimpernel”
The Scarlet Pimpernel – Baroness Emma Orczy

The arrival of The Special One in London this week on a not so secret visit has sparked a frenzy of speculation amongst the media, who are linking him with not only every post at the top end of English club management but also the national team job.  We at The Chels aren’t averse to a good speculate ourselves, and if you look behind the pictures, a pattern is starting to emerge.

1. Other than the widely circulated pictures of fans he bumped into on his visit, it emerged on Twitter yesterday (I know, I know, but it’s amazing how much useful stuff gets in to the public domain via that particular medium) that the man pictured with Mourinho is called Mark Foley.  Mr Foley is allegedly employed by Chelsea FC in a role which assists club staff in sourcing accommodation.

2. Chelsea TV showed a “Best of Jose” compilation last night.

3. The club yesterday announced that they would be touring the US next summer.  Jose’s pre-season tour of choice.

Coincidence?  Possibly. 

Today’s stories in the media have reported that Jose told fans on Tuesday that he wasn’t returning to Chelsea.  However, when Sir Percy Blakeney was quizzed as to whether he was Scarlet Pimpernel, he denied it.  Of course Jose isn’t going to cough up that sort of information.

This week’s events have further ramped up speculation as to where his Specialness will be plying his trade next season.  One thing pretty certain is that it’s unlikely to be Madrid.

Derek McGovern of the Mirror, a man whose “tips” are usually so wide of the market he really should be had up under the Trades Description Act, says William Hill are offering 3-1 for the Bridge to be Jose’s next stop.  For once, he might be on to something.

Follow me on Twitter @BlueBaby67

Oh Fernando. You were, and quite possibly still are, one of the most talented strikers in football.

The performances shown for Atlítico Madrid, the Spanish national team and, to the greatest annoyance of all Chelsea supporters, Liverpool, have proven this point. But then why do you fail to replicate these performances for our beloved Chelsea?

Is it just a dramatic loss of confidence? Failing to settle in a new town? Don’t like a blue kit? Or maybe, as some highly educated tacticians say, your change in hair style/colour?

Obviously I will not be the first person, or the most qualified person to ask this question, but we can always hope I’m one of the last- otherwise a divorce may be necessary.

In my humble opinion, the relative failure of Mr Torres in the Royal Blue should be narrowed to two vital points; either he isn’t as good as we thought, and he can’t handle playing for a title challenging team (Liverpool annoyance intended). Or, the rest of the team isn’t playing well enough to induce your fantastic performances once seen across Europe.

Firstly, is he still the player ‘he used to be’? In the first half of last season, his performances for Liverpool were criticised even by the most die-hard Anfield followers for ‘lacking passion and desire’. Despite this, he still turned in the goals and assists- most poignantly, the curling effort that saw off Chelsea.

Then after various forms of transport been reported he turned up at the Bridge just in time to make the deadline on the 1st January. His first appearance, a very misguided decision, even stupid, was against Liverpool. The proceeding failure against 11 old friends was most certainly not the best confidence builder for ‘El Nino’, but then, it’s just one game isn’t it.

To make it worse, we, as Chelsea fans, sang his name in a tune to which the Liverpool fans had created and even copied their flag (leaving the Shankley gates on it); this did not help. The rest of the season showed a staggering, stuttering, passive pace to Fernando’s game, but still, we could justify this with ‘settling-in’ and ‘the pressure of his price-tag’.

This season, where he was declared to be a new man and back to his best, blonde locks and all, has still been disappointing; but maybe for different reasons. This season, his inconsistent appearances early on and now where he has taken the full weight of been the main striker on his shoulders in Drogba’s absence, have shown a different Fernando. He has regained some pace, a sharp turn, the ability to control the ball and, most importantly, some desire to get hold of the ball.

Despite this, although improving his performances and contributing to the team, as AVB would say, he has still not been prolific in front of goal. Is there something else stopping his progression?

The more and more I watch this Chelsea team, the more I think that the problem may be deeper than just one misfiring, highly rated and highly paid striker. Looking back a couple of years, when we went into every game full of confidence. You remember the days? A solid defence, dynamic midfield and most importantly for this point, a crushing forward threesome?

Well, the forward three in those days, involved two flying wingers and in Didier a striker with enough physical presence to outwit defenders when the crosses weren’t perfect and the though balls were over hit. This system does not suit Fernando Torres. Fernando has been used to, and requires, midfielders that will slip in a through ball to feet and create enough space in behind him to allow him to perfect his ‘touch, turn and shoot.’ This is the link between his success at previous teams, and his failure at Chelsea.

The purchase of Mata and Meireles and development of Sturridge seem to want to change this, but it seems that the squad is set in playing in their Mourinho-esque 4-3-3 style. The desire to change may have been too quick or, dare I say, against the wishes of some squad members.

The old guard are perfectly capable of playing in this way; Lampard for instance, is fully capable of setting Torres free with a quick through ball.

The other view would be that some players simply don’t want to change- Malouda, Mikel and Kalou, seem reluctant to change their ways and sometimes even reluctant to pass to Fernando, in what would seem like a playground style jealousy of falling from Mr Abramovich’s grace.

Whatever your view; whether you think Torres has simply ‘lost it’ or you think it’s more of a deeper crack within the team’s style and desire, all Chelsea fans should agree it’s a problem that needs to be resolved quickly. Fernando was an expensive purchase, but the cost of the relationship, if performances continue to stutter, or drop further, could be a lot more than expense of the divorce.

Chris Lackner
(@ChrisLackner03)