Chelsea Terrace Talk – Irish Examiner Article By Trizia
Watching Chelsea is a bit of a chore at the moment – it’s so dull. We have some of the most creative players in the Premiership and yet our passing is laboured and our “attacking play” would be seriously challenged under the trade description act. The win against Sunderland was met with a huge sigh of relief – we had managed for once to avoid the new managers curse AND to take advantage of Tottenham dropping points – more due to luck than any judgement it has to be said. But given the way things are at the moment – I’ll take points whichever way they come about.
The Jose rumours seem to be gathering pace and I am excited and terrified at the same time. They say that you should never go back but many of us feel that he has unfinished business with Chelsea. I would imagine that he has two provisos – one is in the lap of the gods and one is down to Abramovich. He will want a side in the Champions League and he will want full control over team matters. Given the owners level of interference has only really increased over the years rather than lessened – it will be a hard ask – but it will be the only way he would return.
There is no question that the majority of Chelsea fans want him back – the chants for him can now be heard at most games – no matter what is going on in the match. It would be the quickest way of repairing some of the bridges between board/owner and the fans. Towards the end of Jose’s Chelsea reign some fans believed his departure would herald an easier time with the press and the various governing bodies – believing that he had been the catalyst for the ever-present circus surrounding our club. We now know that not only was that not the case, but that if anything, Jose ensured that any bad press was directed at him rather than at the club as a whole or the players.
Should Jose decide to give a return to Stamford Bridge serious thought, I wonder whether he would also insist on a new contract for Lampard? Now no one is advocating that he should play every game nor indeed start – but, what logic is there in bringing on Benayoun when you have a goal machine like Lampard on the bench? Especially against a side where pace isn’t such an issue.
I am not saying that Lampard should be given any special treatment – but he is good enough to play 20 minutes against Sunderland and I say gives you more than Benayoun. It will be criminal if he misses out on the goal scoring record because of some sort of effort by club/interim manager to prove that he is not worthy of a new contract, When he goes, I wager we will never see his like again.
The next couple of weeks will give us a much clearer picture as far as Champions League places. We will have played our game in hand over Tottenham and given the fixtures, we will have a game in hand over Arsenal – it will be a critical time. I am very uncomfortable with Benitez’s constant tinkering with the team – it is something he has done all through his career and no matter how unsuccessful his constant churn has been – he has persisted with it.I know that we have a lot of games, but I think stability in a side is the most important thing when you are getting to the business end of the season.
So semi-final this weekend and I have to say that City’s attacking options do scare me, especially given that ours are so limited but we do have an affinity with Wembley given we have been there so often in recent years – far more than any other side. In fact there is a joke doing the rounds in SW6 – Chelsea fan goes up to the bar in the Wembley concourse – the barman says “the usual?” Although not the number one priority, I would like to win the FA Cup – it’s a good day out and its a bit of light relief from the pressure of the Premier League. It is also a further addition to the history that apparently we don’t have. Anyway – not long left under the Interim One – thank the lord – then back to happier times – come on Chelsea!!
Posted by Trizia
(You can see all the Terrace Talk articles here)