TERRACE TALK: More questions than answers for frustrated Chelsea fans

Saturday’s win was greeted with stilted applause at the final whistle. It was another fragmented performance: some lovely passages of play mixed with some awful spells.

Their goal was down to a defensive comedy of errors, which is worrying given the meeting with Arsenal next week.

They may have had a hiding at the hands of City but they still scored three goals and missed a couple of sitters, which fills me with dread ahead of our trip to the Soulless Bowl.

There seem to be more questions than answers at the moment. But I know better than to question Jose’s motives for anything so I assume it’s all part of the bigger picture.

Given our defensive frailties we could do a lot worse than ask Steve Clarke to come back for a while and coach at Chelsea. Some might consider the move as a backward one after his axing by West Bromwich Albion but I think it would be a mutually beneficial temporary solution. However, I wonder if Chelsea’s extraordinary luck when sneaking a win cost Clarke an extra few weeks in the job.

It certainly has proven to be a hugely competitive league this year and it will be interesting to see if the team that lies top at Christmas or New Year will win the title, as has been the case more often than not in the past.

Even City with their devastating forward line look frail at the back, while United’s long overdue transitional season is giving fans sleepless nights and Liverpool, although doing well by their recent standards, still have some way to go.

And all the time these usual suspects at the top are having to stave off the likes of Tottenham and Everton, who are doing their damnedest to break the traditional stranglehold.

Whoever wins the league will have deserved it as they will have had to fight for it against more viable contenders than in a long time.

The papers keep trying to make mischief over the relationship between the Chelsea owner and manager with reports that we are heading for a another clash in terms of transfer targets and spending.

Given how the previous association ended, I’m positive that this issue would have been one that would have been discussed at length in the contract negotiations before Mourinho signed a new deal.

One of the parties would have had to compromise — we won’t find out who but my money would be on Abramovich. I can’t imagine that Jose would have inked a deal without that crucial responsibility within his armoury.

Now that the manager has had time to assess the squad, I think that his shopping list may have grown a little longer. Sadly, I still think that Mata does not feature in Jose’s plans and I imagine will be used as bait for a big fish.

I’m not quite sure what is happening with Ashley Cole any more. Maybe it is part of a ploy to keep Wenger guessing over the coming days. One thing is certain, I feel more confident when he’s in the team.

All in all, as long as we keep winning we can’t really complain.