How & Why Chelsea Lost The Title This Season
During the season, we always talked about why this was a completely wrecked campaign. We’ve experienced all those Murphy’s laws in just one season. I’ve just grouped below the major reasons in my opinion, that have resulted in Chelsea ending up 6 points lesser than Man Utd.
Injuries
The most popular, most logical and most correct reason. I once took the entire squad list to see how many did not get injured this season. I could count with my fingers in one hand. People say that we are not the worst hit by injuries as there was also Newcastle etc but c’mon, they could climb by two spots at the max.
I know that injuries are part and parcel of football but what happened to us looked like to be a curse by a red nosed witch. There were quite a few times this season I thought ‘god! this is unreal’ - especially, when two goalies were knocked off within 90 minutes, when Bridge got injured without even seeing his effort cross the line, when Scott Sinclair got injured etc. The red nosed witch put the spell so perfectly that even the ex-Chelsea players such as Gallas, Duff, Gudjohnsen etc got injured badly (may be the code was slightly incorrect!).
I dont think even the non-Chelsea fans would deny the fact that there is no English club team can beat a fully fit-Chelsea. I’d even extend that to the whole of Europe.
Insufficient/Inadequate back-ups
This is just a corollary of the earlier point. The second choice will never be as good as the first choice and that’s why first choice is first choice and second choice is second choice. The quality of the back ups in the team was good but not good enough to sustain for long periods of time with consistency and certainly not good enough to get us 90+ points.
The maximum points lost per game was under Hilario’s goalkeeping. He did quite decently and played as well as you would expect him to. The lack of trust on Hilario’s goalkeeping pulled back the defensive line and it did impact Chelsea’s game. When we are on all-out attack, we are almost unstoppable and we saw that many times this season.
Psychologically, there was an air of caution and fear in everyone’s mind which restricted Chelsea’s game and there was no surprise that whenever we were pushed to the wall, the real Chelsea came out blazing.
The ‘Just Arrived’ Club
It’s not uncommon to see five players playing in their first season for a club in another league. What could be uncommon is all these players having to play crucial roles and play/start lots of matches and be disturbed constantly by injuries. In the order of their success - Ashley Cole, Ballack, Shevchenko, Hilario and Boulahrouz - all had a challenging season.
There were instances where all these five had to play in the same match. Though few of them were all meant to be first teamers, I would not put all these players in the same team, time and again in the first season itself. But Jose had no other option and he had to do this. It certainly impacts the team’s playing style, mentality and team chemistry.
Compare this with Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal. How many first season players, the other clubs had to play in the same match and for long did this continue?
Man Utd played well (grrrrr. . .)
Yes, credit to them. I always thought they would crumble under pressure. They played well together as a team and they played with a mission to accomplish. They had their slices of luck, which we will discuss later, but I’d never be able to say that they did not deserve to be champions this time.
Remember, the same 89 points would have still kept them as runner-up in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Like they say in Cricket, ‘it was not a winning total’. Luckily for them, when they improved their tally, we helped them by slipping about 10 points.
Fixtures, penalties, favours from buddies, brothers, uncles & aunts
The ‘randomly’ generated fixtures list was so damn dubious that it looked superbly handpicked by a Man Utd well-wisher. Mostly they played before we did and put pressure on us and when we got a chance to play first, we won and they lost. FA allowed the premiership dates to clash with FA Cup dates and had to move the Stamford Bridge match against Man Utd from mid April to May. Had we beaten them in mid-April, anything could have happened.
Truly, Cristiano Ronaldiver was in supreme form in all those unique skills of his. He had a great season but he knew what to do when things dont go as planned - just race through, do flip-flap, feint-double feint and when the defender gets closer enough, fall down like he was shot by a sniper. Can anyone compute the worth of his dives this season? Wouldn’t it be more than 6 points?
We gotta read Howard’s contract to know why he didn’t keep against Man Utd. May be, he is too straightforward in his approach and thus may not have been helpful. May be he should learn from Phil Neville. Looks like the Neville family was keen on winning the title, while one Neville couldnt even dream about it atleast he can help the other Neville lift it. For a defender, that was a superb finish. Well done bro!
The Chelsea Civil War
The mid-season confusion on Jose’s future was the second worst thing to happen this season after our injuries. It took the minds of players and staff away from where they should have been. Players rallying around the coach and also expressing concern about the happenings. I’d never be able to concentrate on my work if I’m unsure of what might happen to my job next week.
The ego clash or ‘I am the boss’ exercise also meant there were no reinforcements in January when we needed them the most. Finally, it was all clarified by Kenyon few months later, by which time the Press had eaten Mourinho’s head.
The Quadruple Dream
This was the secret dream of many Chelsea fans. We had the team that can do it and the coach that can lead them to do it. Due to the injuries, the squad size shrunk to two-thirds, which was simply not enough to win four trophies. In the last 4 weeks of the season, you could see that Chelsea slipping away only because of the fatigue factor.
In hindsight, it would be easy to say that we should have played for only two or three of the competitions. With all these trouble we have still won two cups and came close in the other two. Not bad for all that had happened this season. May be with some luck, we could have had it all. If the first team players had played only in Premiership matches and Champions League matches, I bet we would have won both, but again this is hindsight and this is biased guess in a hypothetical situation.
Next season, I’m curious to see which of the above would not repeat. Point 5 could repeat as it has done for more than a decade. I dont think the other points could repeat for Chelsea the next season. It was a peculiar season which even by the law of averages should not repeat in the near future. If these do not repeat for Chelsea next season, you can image what we can accomplish!
This post was published at Blue Champions on 09-Jun-07.
- Chelsea won, Manchester United lost
- Chelsea should be praised for their resilience
- Arsenal expose flaws in Chelsea’s game-plan
- Manchester City gunning for Europe, Chelsea gunning for Respect
- Chelsea v Arsenal v Liverpool v Manchester United - Who Can Handle Injuries Better?
Discussion - 53 Responses
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What a biased comment. Considering that United have had their whole defensive line-up sidelined towards the end, while Chelsea have had everyone fully fit towards the end of the season meant something. When it was down to the crunch time, Chelsea just didn’t perform, like United in the past three years. And besides, the winning total will be above 90+ if the team weren’t busy celebrating rather than hacking Tevez down.
Do not discount our victory this year, because over the previous two years when Chelsea won the league, there is an element of luck in it too. You really have to consider the amount of injuries we have had during those two years Chelsea won the league and I’ll admit that we’d lost on both accounts fairly if you admit Chelsea LOST!!!
get over it mate … Man U were simply better ..period
and am giving you your number 6 for next season - African Cup of Nations
Sounds a bit like sour grapes to me. Yes chelsea had injuries but so did Manchester United. To even suggest that the draw was fixed and the boys upstairs were looking after Manchester United is rubbish. At the end of the seasoon Manchester United had more points then Chelsea and that is all that matters. Better start writing your excuses for next season because it looks like Manchester United will be the team to beat again.
A very accurate account of the season. To even suggest that Man U had similar injury problems is a joke. Dave says that Chelsea hardly had any injuries at the end of the season, you obviously don’t even watch football? In the Cup Final Chelsea were without ballack, sheva, carvalho, boulahrouz, essien (from midfield), and j cole, a cole, robben and mikel had to play with injuries because we didn’t have anyone else. Chelsea despite all these injuries still managed to beat a full strength man u team. no-one in their right mind can argue that man u are better than chelsea. Despite all those problems man u only finished a few points ahead of us, and never beat chelsea last season. Next year we’ll win it easily because it is impossible to be as unlucky as last season.
Well Why dont u chavs publish a book
“1000 Reasons why Manutd should not have won the cup ”
&&
“1000 Reasons why Liverpool Should have not have defeated us in the 2nd Leg”
Still the phrase runs across my mind :
“We are the team which tried to win over the entire 90 mins and the other team was just there .. WE made tatical subs even in extra time with the Motive to WIN ” - JOSE
rick - “1000 Reasons why Manutd should not have won the cup ”
that would be the prem, not the cup.
Overall, a good analysis of what Chelsea needs to fix but I’d disagree with the fixtures and refs moan. You’re free to whine any way you want to, but the moment you start holding other teams responsible for your own’s shortcomings, you open yourself to a whole new level of criticism. The fact that you’re bloody wrong there is just icing on the cake.
Howard’s situation was a non-contractual agreement between the two clubs. A verbal agreement, if you will.
Oh, and self-delusion is the trait of all fans, so I won’t say too much about why you’re wrong about how ‘Chelsea would have won if this or that hadn’t happened’
Yup Sorry Ahmed the Essien`s quote got into my mind “It was a vital 3 points ” :)….
okay, i must admit, the injury to Scott Sinclair was devastating for the club. Oh and lets remeber of when Ferdi and VIda got crocked, we were on a self destruction course and chelsea had full team those days; did not really affect the champioship race did it?
the reason Tim Howard could not play is because he had not officially joined Everton on a permanent basis because he signed outside of a transfer window (rmember Roy Keane?) And u seriously cant blame in on poor Phil, his brother was dying to get that 9th trophy… no really, it would have gone in anyway. And besides we scored another.
oh and SHUT UP ABOUT THE DAMNNED INJURIES, it always happens but did u hear Wenger cry like a baby? no he didnt, Fergie cry like a baby? no he didnt, Roeder cry like baby? nope, neither did he (and he had most to cry about, it cost him his job).
and finally that ‘row’ in january was probably made to give the fans a reason as to why they failed to win the title…
i think that the only valid reason you gave of why chelsea had a ‘poor’ season is the new arrivals, Mourinho changed his style of play from his sucessful 4-3-3 to a less succesfull 4-4-2-with no wingers. And please dont cry about ronaldo diving, it wasnt half as bad as drogba the previous season.
BOO HOO HOO!!!!! Poor Chelski. 500 billion pounds couldn’t buy them the title. BOO HOO HOO!! Oh they had injuries and team unrest all season long. BOO HOO HOO!
The fact of the matter is they were not as good as Manchester United, who had serious injuries derail their chances for the Treble. Losing your back four like they did could have destroyed most teams, but Man U found a way to cope and made no excuses for their end of season failure. This wasn’t the 100 metre dash, it was a marathon and Chelsea came unprepared for that. Their bench was woefully thin and weak and that is why they lost. Other than Drogba and Cech when he returned, I challenge you to name one other
superstar at Chelski that had a good season? Man U on the other hand had big years from Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs, Scholes, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick etc. They deserve their championship and with a bit of luck should have walked away with the FA Cup as well. Fatigue to both sides killed that game off and it really came down to just one lucky break. Finally, Man U play a great brand of footy and unlike Chelski, they are a credit to the game, whether you support them or not.
ho ho ho let’s sit down and talk.
Dave - It’s a biased comment. How true! Obviously I’m not a Sky Sports correspondent who pretends to be neutral gets hyper-excited when his team scores. I’m just a fan, who happens to have a blog and write for a blog. Being biased in a ‘fan thing’. So, you’re right.
And what about Chelsea losing to Blackburn and Newcastle in the last two matches of the last season and still ended up with 91 points? And in 04-05, drawing with Newcastle on the last match and still ended up with 95 points.
Vazoo - I liked your sense of humour. Keep it up.
Farny - There is a difference between ‘excuse’ and ‘reason’. How you’d see it depends on who you support. It’s quite natural you know.
John - You’re my kind of guy. Dont go away.
Rick - .
Ahmed - If there was documented agreement on Howard, it would have taken a different course. Anyway, it’s not that Howard would have got us 7 points from Man Utd. I just mentioned it as a sample of Fergie’s incredible influence in English Football. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, I’m just saying it’s there. If Fergie & Jose were in Portuguese league, Jose would have the edge.
When I look back why we couldnt win the title, I cannot stay away from talking about the things that helped Man Utd win the title. While there are reasons why Chelsea got only 83 points, there are reasons why Man Utd got 89 points and that cannot be outside the purview of this discussion. You know that Madrid won the title with just 76 points, not because they played well but because their opponents couldnt better them.
Andrei - The discussion is not sbout who cried the most but who was impacted the most.
Anyway guys, keep it coming. Some good news for some of you - Drogba is unsure about starting at Chelsea for the coming season!
While I agree with some of the points:
- United had their injuries too. The whole back 4 at one point , yet survived (although the AC games could have gone differently). So IF Chelsea had more depth at the back they would have won? What IF United had more depth in midfield or attack last season?
- Chelsea blew it- That game against Newcastle and the two games after could have won them the title. Instead they bottled it when they had their best chance.
United won the title this season, through staying ahead from day 1. Chelsea didn’t lose it.
Well, even as a UTD fan I would agree with most of what you have written even though bits are biased but thats expected. I can honestly say that had Chelsea not had Petr Cech, Cudicini and Terry out at the same time, in all probability, they would have probably won the league again. Thats the simple truth
“When we are on all-out attack…” - this was the funniest comment because that just never happens mate
Well Sorry Blue Champion had replied to U in a bad way !!
Fixtures aint computer generated a lot of planning goes it into the Business Proposition the matches Bring .. and even this time Chelsea Manutd match is in the end :)… I guess there must be some reason behind that and keeping Utd Sunderland match on Dec26 this time …..
New players might be a factor but every one thought the likes of Ballack would not have to enter the transition phase..
I think the biggest Blow to chelsea during injuries was Khalid … Every one thought he will be a great RB AND CB but he turned out to be opposite …So Essien`s position had to be compromised ….
Well If we ought to analyze I think Cech injury was the major factor… He simply is the best goal keeper of the present and makes sure that he stops a Minimum of 2 Goals … Even in the FA Cup finals he showed the class difference between him and Saar …
But having said that , Do Chelsea have a good replacement for him in the coming season ???(Incase of a Injury)
Well I personally think Chelsea and Manutd are making statements to one another abt their respective squads .. Injuries wouldn`t be a major problem this time around i guess
“Cristiano Ronaldiver” + “When we are on all-out attack…”
…
that surely is something i guess u got from Jose
The biggest reason for us winning it was chelseas civil war and their lack of back up.
Manchester United were simply much better.
Chelsea bought some shite players (Sheva??)
Mourinho, again, provided alibi above alibi for his team
Chelsea were too arrogant
Chelsea had a high number of injuries
This is what it boils down to - whine all you want about fixtures etc., Manchester United would have still won the championship if Chelsea HAD been allowed to play all 38 games before they did, “putting pressure” on United.
This is a huge bias by a crying fan and I Can’t believe that you are talking about luck. What about Chelsie’s luck in winning so many games with one goal margin and scoring in the last minutes of the match.
Taron - As long as your player (not your ex-player) scores a legitimate goal for you, there is no element of luck even if it is in the last second of the stoppage time. The game is not over until the final whistle is blown.
By the way, I dont think I talked about luck. If Gary Neville scores a goal for you, now that’s lucky (well he did score beating Robinson!) and if Phil Neville scores for you, that ‘could be’ conspiracy and not luck. Anyway, I would never say Man Utd were lcuky to win their title.
I think that if you asked any neutral about the team that produced the best football throughout the year, the vast majority (if not everyone) would answer “Man United”. It’s true that you had lots of injuries, but it was the same for us the previous year. The best team won the championship and we’re eager for the next one. Cheers!
bluechampions you are funny. First of all Phil Nevilles auto goal can’t even be remotely a conspiracy just because the ball was going in any way (just watch the goal in slow motion) and secondly we didn’t win the EL on that day, but we won it on the day that you weren’t good enough to win at Arsenal.
P.S. It is funny to see how all Chelsea funs are imitating the bitching of their pathetic manager. My advice “GET OVER IT!!!!!WE WON and YOU LOST” And Yes I do think Mourinho is pathetic
1. Can’t loose with honor (and don’t even mention the “guard of honor”…we did it for you and you did it for us…it was our initiative)
2. Always happy to blame the whole world, but himself for his problems
3.Calling somebody that they are stupid just because they were from a poor family
Do I need to say more. But don’t worry “pathetic” is a very “special” word too.
“When we are on all-out attack, we are almost unstoppable and we saw that many times this season.”
Now I just might be speaking for myself but since Mourinho came I havent seen Chelsea go all out attack, At least not until they’re losing. how many times did Chelsea score in the first 10 minutes of matches compared to United.
You can call Ronaldo a diver, have you ever seen a Chelsea match? First there’s Drogba who with the slightest touch looks like an olympic long jump athlete, last season Robben won diver of the year in one of the papers. How is it anybody’s fault that Chelsea buy so many players just because they can that it didn’t go right this year.
You want 5 reasons why Chelsea didn’t win it this year? 1. Alex Ferguson 2. Cristiano Ronaldo 3. Paul Scholes 4. Nemanja Vidic 5. Wayne Rooney (I could put more but I suppose I should stop now…)
Taron
The title cannot be snatched from Man Utd (until April 2008) and I know that. What’s so sinful about reviewing our season? If you disagree with what has been written, I’m fine.
You were wrong about the date you won the title. You won the title on 14-Oct-2007.
See, I read/listen to each and every post-match comment and interivew by Mourinho. When Jose said “Middlesbrough thoroughly deserved their win”, it did not become news because it was not interesting.
And well, I hope Jose won’t learn from ‘you-know-how’ about the usage of hair dryer to make himself more respectful.
bluechampions the hair dryer joke is really funny, however I didn’t get the part in regards the 14-Oct-2007 can you please explain.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with reviewing the season I just think you concentrate on wrong things injuries were part of the problem and no there is no conspiracy. Russky shouldn’t have interfere with managing the team, so it was another reason. My opinion 25% injuries, 30% interference and 45% Man UTD had a good season. You can fix 2 out of 3. Buy a central defender and RB for cover and tell the Russky to just shut up and sign the checks.
Roman’s intervention is something like the 30-million signing of Sheva. Neither Chelsea nor AC Milan has disclosed the amount for which he was transferred. He was transferred for an undisclosed fee. The Press really caught on to the 30-million amount and has made millions of people to believe it. As of now, neither Roman nor Jose has not explicitly said accused each other but we are made to believe what the Press says. May be, it will all be there in the next edition of Jose’s autobiography!
Tal Ben Haim is already there. Alex is joining Chelsea after the Copa America. I guess Alex will be sold to Real Madrid and with that money, Chivu/Alves will be bought.
By the way, 14-Oct-2007 was the day Cech was ‘hunt’ed down.
bluechampions I don’t agree, but fair enough and btw the day should be 14-oct-2006.
Oops, I certainly dont want a repeat of that in 2007 . . .
OH OH….i think its time to call the WAAHMBULANCE
‘You didnt beat me! you were just….lucky! WAAHHHHHH
hmmm sounds alot like my 8 year old cousin when he loses at anything…lol
Just a bit of good natured banter mate
But in all seriousness, Jose REALLY needs to stop his whinning. And Chelsea fans need to stop believing his BS. Saying that Chelsea are still better when u lose (like when getting knocked out by Liverpool…twice…in 2 years) is nothing but sour grapes, and just sounds downright immature. So when you win, its coz your the better team, but if you lose its coz the other team got lucky/was helped by the ref/cheated/it was a conspiracy/parked the team bus in front of the goal/the list goes on and on and on. HILARIOUS….if it wasnt so sad and immature.
Injuries happen to everyone, you have to expect it to happen. And the fact that you have an open checkbook (up to now anyway) AND that you sign players JUST so ure rivals cant, makes any excuse about not having enough fit players laughable. But any excuse will do wont it…god forbid anyone actually think that Chelsea WASNT the better team
OH, and also…”when we are on all-out attack”… HAHAHA thats gold. Yeah, and Bolton are the most watchable team in the Premiership.
I CANNOT wait to see Jose lose again this season, i wonder what excuse he’ll come up with then. If nothing else itll be entertaining.
United backline was only missing for 2 or 3 premiership games, and a couple of Champions league games….Look how they crumbled.
Imagine having Van Der Sar and ur reserve keeper sidelined for 4 months….
And then ofcourse, the serial diver ronaldo…how can any one forgive him….he is ruining football.
At least Drogba gave up most of his diving.
Over the course of a season or even seasons - injuries, luck, ref’s decisions, individual mistakes, divings … will eventually even out.
The crux of the matter for Chelski is the general ill-feeling towards them that has created over the recent years - primarily : the large amount of money they have splashed on players (outbidding everyone along the way), and the non-stop interesting quotes from Mourinho.
For Chelski supporters, they may love what all these have brought the club to where they are today - and I understand why.
For many of the neutrals, Chelski’s PL & Cup wins may not have been seen to have been done with the grace nor was with general acceptability of their status as champions.
i dont care what are u jealous anti-chelsea people want to say.believe me,if not hit by injury,chelsea will be unstoppable.just look at mourinho,he won ucl without any star(at that time)
just wait for the next season when chelsea claimed EPL title which they LENT to man utd…
all chelsea haters can only talk about money and money and money.. do u realise who are the big spenders now?? so stop talking about money…
Even with all the problems, let’s remember still how great this year was: we were SO CLOSE to a quadruple.
We came away with two cups! We made the Final Four of the Champions League, losing on freaking penalities. We finished second in the Prem League by only six points, losing ONLY 3 games, and in three games against the league champion, won once and drew twice while only giving up 3 goals 2 goals in 300 minutes of football.
Chelsea definitely had the ability to win the league this season. However, Man Utd deserved to win because they put their opponents away. Whereas in a game against an opponent like Everton we would struggle to draw, United charges back and finishes them off 4-1 on the road. That’s the makeup of a champion.
It was all the draws that killed us this season, as a result of a club that was not quite deep enough to hold position with Man United that was dominating the league.
And yes, we got KILLEd by injuries. But so does everybody else, and it is a club’s job to build a roster of capable performers able to perform in the roles vacated by injured stars. We didn’t do it so good, and we lost a lot of points on games we should have won but ended up drawing.
Oh, and to give “T” some logical advice: Shut the f*ck up. United crapped out against Milan on the road after owning the goal advantage after the first leg. Your team didn’t do so well either, so I don’t know why you think that somehow our loss is worse than yours. Your comments are pathetic because you fail to see any bigger picture in the world of football. Grow up and learn to write soem coherent, intelligent comments.
To me it’s useless to look at what could’ve happened, if some other things didn’t happen… it’s impossible to look at things that way. You can only look at what happened and then try to do better next time.
Chelsea not winning the title last season comes down to 1 issue… Man United being the better side over the course of the season. You cannot look at it in any other way. Statistics don’t lie, and the table spoke of a 6 point gap and a +16 in goal difference, which is quite a lot (more than I can remember from earlier - even when Arsenal went through unbeaten, their GD was not even close to our’s this season).
Finding explanations (or excuses - it’s a thin line between these, when you are as biased, as you are, mate) in Man United’s luck or lack of missfortune won’t bring you the title next season. Making all your own wrongs right may do it for you, but even then it might not be enough.
I think ACN might prove to be too big a mouthful for you lot to cope with. It’s 6 weeks without Drogba (what will you do without him) and Essien (you have no replacement for this man). Good for you that Mikel isn’t going - could’ve been devastating. Kalou - I don’t know if he’s going, the same with Geremi. But when May comes next season, and you’re trailing again, I think the ACN obstacle will be prove of your club and manager not being prepared, and once again, you can look into yourself to find the reasons, why it all went wrong.
The problem for me starts with the title of the piece itself. Most chelsea supporters think it is their right to win the league and its not. It shows arrogance on their behalf. “Why Chelse lost the title?” they didnt. United won it and they deserved it and no one can say otherwise. While chelsea bitch about injuries, what about united ? at crunch time, the last 1 month of the season they didnt have neville, vidic, rio evra and not to mention out main striker saha. Inadequate backup ? your midfield is essien mikel ballack lampard diarra ballack robben swp and joe cole ! HOW THE FUCK IS THAT INADEQUATE BACKUP ? most chelsea supporters say defence was their big problem and mourinho was right in locking horns with the board over lack of money but the fact is is mourinho who decided to let huth del horno and the rest go .. not the board so it was his lack of planning that put them in a fix and abromovich has every right to close his blank chequebook. In the end chelsea did end up winning more than united and they worked hard for it. But what irritates me is that chelsea have found several excuses to blame this on but they just can accept that united were better this year like chelsea were in the last 2 and the arrogance of mourinho and chelsea has spread down to its fans when they say things like chelsea lost it and not united won it.
“I dont think even the non-Chelsea fans would deny the fact that there is no English club team can beat a fully fit-Chelsea. I’d even extend that to the whole of Europe.”
Worst. Comment. Ever.
If soccer was so predictable it wouldn’t be popular.
bluechampions - since its a biased comment, I can’t say much can I. Though one thing have to be pointed out, next season, Chelsea and United will be fighting out for the league yet again, and this time since Chelsea have enough back-up, injuries should not be an excuse no more.
A pile of garbage!! Chelsea had loads and loads of bench strength, more in some departments than others. And there is no point in cribbing about Ballack and Shevchenko’s presence when they are fit and about their absenct when they are injured. Typical Chelsea attitude-never accept that you were outclassed when you were. Moreover, ManU were really brilliant especially when their defenders were all fit. And you could expect them to give Chelsea a sounder thrashing in the next season due to some superb buys. Plus, Drogba, Essien and Kalou will be absent for a large time too. So pls save your article because you will have to paste the same pile after this season.
It seems to me that chelsea supporters spend too much time listening to jose’s post match interviews, and they have all turned into clones.
Its always excuses with you people, its never the fact that you played badly or the other teams played better, you are a bunch of unsporting, whining bad losers.
do you honestly think that the internal squabbles that are going on even now are going to ease up, the whole club has a schoolboy mentality from vicious press releases(gallas) to attacks on referees,(mostly before a game in the hope of gaining some sort of advantage).
I’m am so fed up of “we are hated because we are succesful”,
you aren’t you are hated because you are graceless in defeat and gloating in victory, your manager and team are petulant, your transfer policy is underhand, and as frank lampard has shown again this week you are populated by greedy, no loyalty mercanery’s.
oh yeh and your crap to watch as well
Mr.5yearplan
We are hated because we are successful.
#41 - Chelsea Fan - I strongly disagree, but it’s a nice delusion, so whatever works for you
Brian W is the only Chelsea fan who has commented and actually made sense and wasn’t just whining. At least he had the balls to admit that Man U were better and will the rest of the Chelsea fans just get over it.
P.S. United are spending big this Summer because they haven’t lost money in the transfer market since january 2006 and that was 11 million to buy Evra and Vidic who were both great this season.
Chelsea Fan, Chelsea are hated because they are boring to watch yet most of the time they still win, that’s the main reason. And out of your reasons it seems the only one that is true(other than Manchester United playing well) is about the injuries, it’s obvious that no-one expected so many players to get injured, but alot of the players that got injured still had replacements that were good enough, out of the season, Carvahlo, Cole, Ferreira, Bouhlarouz, Essien, Makelele, Wright Phillips, Lampard, Ballack, Drogba, Mikel, Diarra, Kalou and Shevchenko were available for most of the season, and with that team I’d be happy, and so even using injuries as a reason can be called an excuse, Chelsea just didn’t perform as we’ve been used to, basically.
And can I ask when did Ronaldo dive and this actually made a big difference? This is an actual question to people, and I’m not saying that he doesn’t divee, but he doesn’t dive THAT much, would be better if he didn’t at all, but it shouldn’t be that much of a problem if it doesn’t change a match…
Seriously speaking this should never have been accepted as an entry in this site .. am disappointed with soccerlens.com
i think it would be good ahmed if you made an article- How and why manchester united won the title
Horrified to see The Player of the Season as “Ronaldiver”… Every author is entitled to give his own opininion… But atleast the author should have made a point to preface the article with a disclaimer that he is a Chelsea supporter ( Credit to Ahmed Bilal in that respect ) and moreover As an article being read by thousands, the author should have refrained from using abuses to Players rather Legends from A Champion Team…
To BLUECHAMPIONS
Stop complaining and giving lame excuses,a fully fit chelsea team cant be beat,come on dude,then why havent they won the champions league yet,why didn’t they win it last season,and why is it that this is the first year they are winning the FA since morinho’s arrival?You are so full of yourself,Here is a least of teams that would beat chelsea to submission.
Arsenal
AC Milan
Liverpool
Bercelorna
As a Manchester United fan, I was very angry on reading this article, because you have not only rubbished what united have achieved this season but you have also accused a number of people of conspiring against Chelsea. I really don’t think it is right to accuse Phil Neville for scoring that own goal purposefully. I also don’t think that the fixture list could be tailored in any way to suit any one particular team. We could claim that it was rather unfair for Chelsea to play an exhausted Tottenham just a few days after their UEFA Cup game, or that United had to play against Manchester City just two days after the 2nd leg against AC Milan. How’s that for conspiracy?
Yes it is true that Chelsea had a number of injuries, but they were hardly the only team to suffer in that respect! Every team suffers injuries and what is important is how you cope with them, and I think United did magnificently when all our back four were missing. Of course, I’m probably just as biased in my views, but I don’t think Chelsea were as bad off as Newcastle. When they won the title last year, I doubt that any of their fans took into account the injuries United suffered.
Also, can no one, other than United fans, appreciate what Ronaldo has done this season without harping on about his alleged dives? I’d love to hear about even ONE instance where he won a match because he went down with absolutely NO CONTACT from the defender.
Chelsea lost the league this season because of cech’s injury and ronaldo’s form. bluechampion is a jose clone, having to make numerous excuses. people said when arsenal were first it was down to Henry, this season has shown cechs importance.
to he who says chelsea are hated because they are successful, you are only about 10 % right. They are hated because jose and the fans think to much of themselves, the real credit should go to ambramovich, and not so much to mourinho.
I remember a newspaper report a few years ago which said that the amount arsene wenger which spent at a championship winning team in ten years was nearly about a fifth of what Chelsea had spent in roman’s first two seasons. therfore why is there mumblings of a dispute between the owner and the manager. jose should be happy with what he gets, at least until he starts to dip into his own pockets- chelsea fans should just be happy that they are still a club, remember enrique de lucas.
“I’d even extend that to the whole of Europe.”? Yeah, you’re talking if Chelsea are fully fit and the other side are not. But if they’re fit too, I think AC Milan, Barcelona, Juve, Inter, heck, even Real Madrid, could bring the fight to Chelsea. And even in Premiership, a fully-fit Liverpool or an in-form Arsenal can match Chelsea (yes, a fully-fit Chelsea). And while Chelsea can claim that they win head-to-head record against M.U, are you 100% sure that when they meet again, fully fit and all on both side, that Chelsea for sure would come on top? I don’t think so. This article’s whining on why Chelsea didn’t win is like they’re the only one with problems.
hey blue champian what kind of freak are you?? Saying Chelski lost and not Man Utd won is pathetic. look at how many injuries Man Utd suffered! our whole defense was busted!! what a whiner!! Admit it Fergie outclassed Jose in every department this season! look at that shrewd loan of henrik! Anyway did fergie give excuses when man utd lost??
you are just a riggen biased fan! i bet you only loveed chelski cuz they won the EPL 2 years ago!!
your all gay