Shock defeat to City could cost us title

THE difference in attitude throughout our two losses this past week tells you everything you need to know about priorities as far as the club and manager are concerned.

We left the San Siro defeated but with our heads held high as we put in the kind of performance that can easily see us overturn the first leg deficit at home. Indeed, had it not been for another useless European referee with the mandate of not allowing Chelsea to progress in Europe (paranoid, moi?), we may have had a second away goal.

That said, Mourinho knew that he had to neutralise Lampard and Drogba to have a chance, so that is precisely what he did. Ancelotti has a couple of weeks to think about how to oppose that, and deal with what will possibly be a typically Italian shut-up shop.

As I have said before, I can take or leave the Champions League so it was imperative for me that we continue in the same fighting spirit against Manchester City last Saturday.

To be honest, it didn’t even enter my head that we would lose this game – genuinely – so the fact that we were beaten so comprehensively, without much of a fight has left me fearing the worst. Just as when we won the back to back league titles, I could identify a game where I knew that the title was ours before it being mathematically certain, so the defeat against City is, in my mind, the game that has lost us this year’s title which was ours for the taking.

The panic attacks of Arsenal finishing above us or even God forbid, winning the whole thing have also started to manifest themselves and my mood was very black on Saturday.

I have always maintained that Hilario has never let us down when called upon – what a time/game to blow that out of the water. I could have walked down the five flights of steps from the East Upper, gone round the back of the Matthew Harding stand, come through the side entrance and still had time to save that first goal. I would also expect a park player to save the second – not that he was helped by the clowns around him on both occasions. I was reduced to a crazed, apoplectic nutter issuing forth a stream of expletives that would have made Wayne Rooney blush as we squandered chance after chance and Ancelotti looked on impassively from the sidelines.

When he finally made some substitutions they were puzzling to say the least and ineffective.

I am sick of talking about Bridge and Terry, but unfortunately following Saturday’s result against City one does have to ask oneself whether it is having an effect on the team’s performances.

A number of issues have come together: the obvious lack of confidence in the system, the ever increasing injury list of influential players (Essien, Cech and Ashley Cole being huge losses), the Terry and Cole headlines and Chelsea’s rather poor handling of the same.

What is unquestionable is that John Terry’s form has dipped, but dipped enough to be dropped? I am far from sure about that. For me is the general malaise of the team – that is for the manager to sort out and he is not doing such a good job of it.

It’s not just the team that has been affected by the Terry/Bridge affair and that was manifest last Saturday among the crowd. Wayne Bridge has caused a division even amongst Chelsea fans; he was always a bit of a fans’ favourite – the goal that knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League and his goal celebration against Portsmouth saw to that. Also most people, including Chelsea fans felt a certain amount of sympathy for him following the lurid revelations.

However, many Chelsea fans, myself included, have now turned against him following his stage-managed withdrawal from the national team. The timing looked very carefully set up – just as all the furore was finally beginning to die down, and just before the two sides met. If he wasgoing to withdraw, why wait until now? With Ashley Cole’s injury did he think he had some sort of leverage?

So some Chelsea fans booed him and some didn’t on Saturday, which led to a number of altercations between supporters – at least one of which got physical. Although I imagine what he went through won’t be a patch on what Terry will be subject to in tonight’s England game. I predict it will pretty unpleasant and will be a real test of his character – I would go as far as to say that this could make or break his England career. England fans have been deplorable to Lampard and he never did anything other than give his all for the national side so I imagine Terry will be in for a hammering.

Still, whatever your opinions on what John Terry did, to be questioned by Bellamy on any aspect of behaviour is galling in anyone’s book. It’s obviously not right to sleep with an ex-team-mate’s ex-girlfriend, but perfectly fine to batter a half asleep team mate with a golf club? Or to throw a chair at your manager? OK then.

Anyway, back to football – we win all our remaining games – we win the league. As the meerkat says, simples.

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