Its been three years.. yes three years. Two FA cups, One carling cup, plus a community shield but, nothing gives a pleasure of winning a 'Premier League'. Lot of things happened since we last won the PL in 2005-06. Biggest of those things must be the departure of the special one. Since I started following football & Chelsea.. I never imagined Chelsea without Jose Mourinho. So him & club separating ways was quite a shock for me personally. If 2004-05 & 2005-06 seasons where we won back to back premier league titles & 2006-07 where we won 2 domestic cups gane me joy & chance of celebrating with the team, next two seasons taught me how to lose.I'll give a little preview of what happened in last 2 seasons & why i'm giving such an importance to this year's Premier League.
Season - 2007-08 , 2008-09
This was the year where everything started to go wrong. Chelsea & Mourinho decided to part ways in mid season. Chelsea appointed lesser known Avram Grant as manager. Those were the days of media speculations, dressing room unrest, etc. etc. But one thing is for sure, core of a team never deviated from their goal whatever maybe happening off the field.If you ask me, 2007-08 & 2008-09 were the seasons where I became the 'Real' Chelsea supporter. These two seasons will go down as most heart breaking seasons in history of Chelsea. Be it Champions league final loss to Manchester United by a freakish slip of boot or Iniesta's injury time goal to deny a birth in final the following year... it was frustrating.
In picture - John Terry famously slipped while taking a penalty. Two inches.. we were two inches away from being european champions.
In Picture - on 92nd minute, Iniesta equalised to make it 1-1 & Barca winning on away goal rule.But this match will be famously remembered for chelsea were denied 4 penalties. The score could have been 4-1.
These are the matches which teach us how to accept defeat, how to prepare for next battle. Anyway by the end of these two seasons, Chelsea became a family. I got emotionally attached with her. I celebrated when she won, I cried when she lost... now was the time to look to the future....
In picture - Carlo Ancelotti - Current Chelsea Manager
Season - 2009-10
We all were looking forward to this season. Lot of things happened, Lot of things changed. We appointed a new manager in Carlo Ancelotti. With loads of experience behind & working at the highest possible level with AC Milan, Carlo came to chelsea for a new challenge. Challenge was to put chelsea back to summit of English football. Most of the Core team of title winning 2005-06 were same. In John Terry leading the way, Frank Lampard, Riccy Carvalho, Joey cole, Didi Drogba, Ashley cole, Brana Ivanovic, Michael Ballack, Alex & Florent Malouda. We had an excellent team in all aspects. As expected in 2009-10 season Chelsea dominated in every department. Weakened united were without C. Ronaldo & Tevez, Arsenal always looked an unexperienced outfit & liverpool just royally bottled it ( All hail Rafa ). Its now just 4 games remaining & this is how table stands...
Team Played Points
Chelsea 34 77
Manutd 34 73
Arsenal 34 71
Four more games & we will be champions. Arsenal are out of equation as thay are 6 points behind & I dont see us losing 3 out of 4 games. All comes down to this saturday. Manutd making a difficult trip to their neighbours & we going north to face spurs. If manutd lose or draw against City & we win against spurs, the title is in the bag, if not then it will go down to the wire. Fingures crossed... not nervous, just a bit nostalgic. Title is coming back to the Bridge... The title is coming where it belongs...
Keep the blue flag flying high !!!!
And I'll be updating my blog very soon on football gyan like today or something else... see ya till then. Take care & be healthy. Bye for now.
