Applauding Anti-Football?

Call it anti-football, call it ‘unjust’,  call it whatever you like really because we still managed to beat Barcelona with it.

It wasn’t expected, in fact, going into Wednesday night’s game I’d heard so many times how Chelsea ‘just aren’t good enough’ to live with ‘the best team on the planet’, you can only imagine so many neutrals tuned into it for the goal-fest they’d predicted we’d be on the receiving end of.  Life’s a bitch eh?

I mean Lionel Messi, the one who hadn’t scored against us in 6 meetings before the game, was going to rip us a new one – make that 7 games now – and yet it was his error that led to Didier Drogba’s goal against them.  Unjust? No,just football – whichever way you choose to play it – and as un-pretty as it may be to everyone outside of Chelsea, I’d say that given the result, our choice was pretty much spot-on.

Of course, we’d be criticised for it – we might have beaten ‘the best team on the planet’, but we didn’t ‘entertain’ anyone – although I was pretty entertained if I’m honest. Didier Drogba spent so much time re-enacting tragic scenes from Platoon, it was like getting a blockbuster movie and top European clash in one night – absolute bargain! But whilst on any other occasion, I’d be criticising Drogba as much as the next man (or woman), this time I’m going to hold off.

I don’t doubt my take on his ‘performance’ against Barca might raise a few eyebrows but to be honest, I couldn’t actually care less. Why? Because it’s Barcelona and as far as I’m concerned, they can whinge as much as they like but they bloody ask for games like that.  We all know what they’re like, right? Any game they lose – and there aren’t that many – it’s because there’s a conspiracy afoot. God knows if they have to concede the title against Real Madrid this season, it’ll be as a result of anything from bad officiating, right through the oppositions underhand tactics, and possibly even witchcraft. So, of course they were going to have something to say about us beating them – particularly since any dodgy goings-on in our meetings are generally in their favour.

For God sake, we ended the game with 11 men on the pitch for a start – bloody cheek of the ref! – although to be fair, one of ours did spend half the night taking unscheduled rest periods. But was Drogba actually cheating? He was certainly frustrating them and breaking the flow of the game, which for a side like Barcelona has to be bloody irritating. Cheating though? Well it’s not as if he was doing it in positions where we’d benefit directly, oh I dunno, say for example, a spot of simulation in front of goal….

Although we clearly did benefit from the ‘effect’ of it if nothing else – but so what? We were there to grind something out of the game and there aren’t many sides going to manage that against Barcelona by playing ‘the beautiful game’. Besides, ‘fancy football’ isn’t what the current Chelsea side is about – we haven’t got the resources in our locker right now. What we have got though is the sort of grit and determination we’ve missed for years. The collective attitude of a group of players themselves the subject of injustice – remember how many of these players fought back following Mourinho’s departure when we’d been written off?

Now of course I’m not suggesting this is about AVB’s dismissal, well not directly anyway, but they’ve come in for a lot of stick as a result of managerial issues this season – and were again written off way before anyone spotted they’d hung about in a couple of competitions more than most. So, they’ve clearly got some points to prove – and nobody ever won any scraps with a delicate little handshake.

So what if the neutrals don’t like it? The only thing they’d be happy to see is us bending over and bearing our arses to Barca anyway (so to speak) but we’re not in it to get patronised for ‘giving it a go’ or worse still, have the piss ripped out of us for taking a thumping, we’re in it for the good of our own club – and that’s what kills them!

You see, this isn’t about anti-football at all, it’s about anti-Chelsea – except Chelsea couldn’t give a toss. 🙂