Cech yearning for stability after chaos

Chelsea 1 West Brom 0

In fact, the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge was so relatively flat that Rafa Benitez got to prove one stock line he regularly peddled before the now notorious press conference at Middlesbrough; that he is generally too focused on the football to pay attention to the chants.

That certainly seemed the case in the second half against West Brom when, with Chelsea fans imploring each other to stand up if they hated the Spaniard, Benitez unselfconsciously jumped to his feet to deliver an instruction.

There was still one moment, though, that might have stung a little more than others. As the match entered its tense final stages, the terraces sang Jose Mourinho’s name.

Naturally, that also brought a few questions afterwards. Benitez, however, didn’t so much evade the Mourinho issue as ignore it. When asked about the chants, he simply said he “was thinking about Demba Ba scoring the goal”.

To a degree, that was understandable given that the Senegalese forward’s 28th-minute tap-in was the only strike of an odd match that could have seen Chelsea utterly thrash West Brom but also awkwardly drop points to them. After Ben Foster had done so well to keep the score at 1-0 with a series of fine saves, it was up to Petr Cech to match him at the other with two hugely important stops late on.

And, afterwards, the Chelsea goalkeeper was much more forthright on the issue of Mourinho. With claims circulating that Chelsea have made contact with the Portuguese to take control in the summer, Cech admitted he would readily take his old boss back: “We had a fantastic success with him so why not? He is a fantastic manager.”

Of much more concern to Cech, though, is the one element that has been missing from the club in all the time since Mourinho’s departure: managerial stability.

“Whoever comes to take the job in the end, I hope he will have better luck and will stay. I have been saying that for six years. I hope the new manager will find the momentum and will stay.”

What hasn’t been missing throughout all that time, it must be said, is success. Indeed, during the last week, some at Chelsea argued that the constant change of managers betrays the fact that there is a stability behind them in terms of coaching staff and a core of players like the goalkeeper.

“It is a very hard question because you can argue with a lot of things but, in the same period of time, we won more or less the same number of trophies as Manchester United,” Cech said.

“They had one manager, we had eight, and we won the same trophies. We had the Champions League, there are so many positives. Arsenal had the same manager and it is a long time since they won something.

“Maybe if you asked them if they would rather have 10 managers and six trophies. I don’t know what they would say, but it is always relative.”

Cech’s professional detachment, though, is also related to his long stint at such a turbulent club. In short, none of this chaos is new to him.

“I have been here a long time and I have to say I have seen so many things that I don’t get surprised any more. I have the skill to adapt to anything.”

Although Chelsea were often rousing on Saturday — particularly Juan Mata — there was an element of restraint to them.

Interestingly, though, Cech believes that the robust training-ground rows that also received such attention in the last week are actually of benefit to the club.

“We have had a lot of success thanks to the honest and open mind everyone has in the dressing room.

“Obviously, we only have one boss. That is the manager and it is up to him if he wants to listen.

“We try to stick together, to find solutions, to work hard and to get through the difficult moment every time. We are not doing as we want to do [now] but everyone — coaching staff, us — are trying to change the situation.”

Change, however, has been a theme of the club. Against West Brom, at least, they just about kept steady.