Arsenal clash comes at worst possible time

I KNEW from the moment that I sent my copy to the editor last week, stating I expected us to win against Newcastle, that I had jinxed the game and ensured that three points would slip through our fingers.

That said, the scoreline does not tell the whole story of the match. The Geordies only managed 30% of possession and I’d wager that the majority of that could be attributed to Shay Given as he continually held on to the ball attempting to waste time from as early as the 25th minute. You could also look at the shots — 33 to two (both of theirs off-target) — or corners eight to one to give you an indication of what Kinnear and his men came to do.

Kinnear described it as their best performance of the season, their fans cheered liked they had just won the FA Cup, lottery and a date with a Miss World contestant and their players pumped their fists in celebration. All this from a team who barely made it out of their own half and had come to simply not concede, and made no attempt at scoring whatsoever.

Newcastle’s tactics aside, I would expect Phil to have a plan to address this type of opposition as it’s not the first time, nor the last, that the bus will be parked. And I was disappointed that once again we saw little change from first half to second.

As time stood still in West London, I nervously kept checking what was going on at Anfield, waiting for the inevitable 94th minute penalty — but it seems that Steevie Me had failed to pass on his goggles and Speedos to an understudy to do the necessary should the need arise. Shame that. For United to stumble too was nothing short of a miracle — the football Gods were sure having their fun last Saturday with no team in the top half of the table winning.

If the papers are to be believed, Manchester City are ready to make a £60 million (€71m) bid for John Terry. Now most Chelsea fans laughed at the sheer brass neck of the offer and the fact that City think we would even consider selling the Chelsea and England captain, and the man that singularly makes up a large part of the soul of our side. But of course very few clubs are in the habit of consulting its support when churning over the merits of an offer.

If one looked at the offer without bias, without sentimentality and without a passion for Chelsea, one could quite easily be swayed to accept such a proposal. After all, JT’s injuries seem to come thick and fast these days; we have Carvalho, Alex and Ivanovic, as well as Mancienne, and a couple of our other talented academy kids and with £60m (€71m) burning a hole in your pocket, you could probably have the pick of defending talent on the world stage.

But although you could buy another defender — another great defender even — you can’t buy the attitude, passion, loyalty, bravery and natural leadership that John Terry gives you. Just ask Arsenal.

I don’t want to rub it in (OK, I do) but Gallas demonstrates the point. In many ways Gallas, technically, is a better defender than Terry, but he lacks so many other qualities as a person that his talent becomes almost secondary.

Indeed, the irony is that the Frenchman needs a captain like Terry to get the best out of him.

However, we are playing Arsenal at precisely the wrong time — wounded animal, turmoil at the club, fans bickering amongst themselves, some questioning Wenger’s future — these conditions galvanise teams and despite our position we are playing far from well.

The timing of Drogba’s suspension, too, is maddening as he performs well against Arsenal. Too close to call in my opinion, but I’m not confident.

But first it’s Bordeaux tonight for a match that has become very important in the wake of the debacle in Rome. It’s a good job that we’re in such a great wine region as I have found that being under the influence of something very alcoholic is the only way to watch Chelsea away in Europe during the last few years. So I’ll raise a bottle or three to you all and hope that this important week, becomes a successful one as far as our season’s aspirations are concerned. Allez Chelsea.

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