(Stamford) Bridge Over Troubled Water

We may have lost at the Britannia, and been saved by a Willian free kick once again at home to Dynamo Kiev, but there are signs of improvement, and positives can be taken. It’s a cliché that’s often trotted out for teams near the bottom of the table battling against relegation; however considering that we’re 16^th after 12 games, it’s probably applicable. When looking at the games we’ve played since the last international break (and the last article I wrote with a song title reference), the performances have been slightly less dire, less infuriatingly poor.

Loic Remy hits the ball wide after his leap over Butland and subsequent slip

Chelsea 4-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv; Post-Match Reaction

Finally, Chelsea have got their first home win of the season, in last night’s Champions League opener against Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv. Former Chelsea players Tal Ben-Haim (of which there were two, the other one a striker), and Slavisa Jokanovic the Maccabi manager, didn’t have many happy memories of their time at Stamford Bridge anyway, and certainly didn’t add to them last night. 

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was awarded the Man of the Match award for his impressive performance

Panic on the streets of (West) London

The international break was both brilliantly and atrociously placed. Brilliant so Jose Mourinho can sit and plan how to turn around this poor start to the season ready for the game at Goodison on Saturday, yet atrocious as it has created an echo chamber on Twitter for moaning about the events of the season so far without the hope of a game soon to come up immediately.

Chelsea players look dejected after Joel Ward seals Palace's win late on

Papy Djilobodji: a buy by any other name would be just as panicked

The title for this piece is a play on a famous Shakespeare quote, but it’s still difficult to determine whether the saga that was Chelsea’s attempts to buy a centre back this transfer window were a tragedy or a comedy.

Papy Djilobodji in action for Nantes, who he left in a 3 million Euro deal

Vote For Pedro: Catalan winger already at home in West London

With under a week to go in the Transfer Window, and the Stones saga set to rumble on for the entirety of that, one comfort to the hordes of moaners on Twitter is that for the first time since the Double winning season of 2009/10, both of our first choice wingers are top class options. Despite not even being here for a full week, Pedro Rodriguez seems at home in West London already.

Pedro rifles the opener home at The Hawthorns

Community Shield 2015 Preview: Chelsea vs Arsenal

After being victorious in the first FA Women’s Cup Final hosted at Wembley, the men’s side could make it a double this weekend with a win in the season’s traditional curtain-raiser. This is Chelsea’s first Community Shield at Wembley since 2010, with the 2012 match vs Man City being played at Villa Park due to the Olympics, whereas Arsenal faced the Citizens last year. And while most may see this as an over-glorified friendly, it’s a chance for silverware at Wembley this early in the season, plus when it’s Chelsea against Arsenal, and Mourinho against Wenger, it’s very rarely friendly.

Chelsea lift the Community Shield after beating Manchester United in 2009

Asmir Begovic: Number 2s and cold Stoke evenings

“Can he do it on a cold Wednesday night in Stoke?” Whilst it may be the second most annoying buzz-phrase on Twitter, after reminding Gary Lineker about his upset stomach at Italia 90, it’s also an apt statement for the signing of Asmir Begovic for Chelsea, after 5 seasons at the Britannia. The Bosnian is about as solid and dependable as a backup keeper can get (other than Petr Cech last season), and in his interview with Chelsea TV seemed enthusiastic and ambitious.

Asmir Begovic holds a scarf at Cobham

Worst kept secret in Football confirmed: Falcao to Chelsea complete

It seems like one of those ballsy twists in a game of Blackjack, when you already have 19; get a two and it’s a brilliant move, get anything higher and you’re stupid. Radamel Falcao to Chelsea can go the same ways as that blackjack move. Rather than stick with Loïc Remy (seemingly linked with every midtable team in the League), Jose Mourinho has twisted by signing Falcao. Having chased him every summer in the past 5 years, Chelsea have finally got their man, but only time will tell if he’ll be worth the money.

Radamel Falcao in action for Colombia

Chelsea 2-4 Bradford City; Post-Match Reaction

So, after much hype of a Quadruple after the draw away to Liverpool in the Capital One Cup semi, any hopes of one occurring were shattered by a genuine shock, as League 1 Bradford came back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 against the Premier League leaders. A shocking performance by Chelsea, but credit has to go to Bradford for an astounding performance; better than that of teams like Maribor and Sporting who have visited in the Champions League. I can’t help but wonder if the Bradford fan I bumped into was gutted about his Chelsea to win 3-0 bet not coming off…

Petr Cech looks on as the ball has just gone in for Bradford's first

Tottenham Hotspur 5-3 Chelsea; Post-Match Reaction

The actual reaction to the match itself will be quite short: Kane good, Chadli good, Hazard good, Costa good, Tottenham defence bad, Chelsea defence worse. Phil Dowd for once had a decent game, and while Jose Mourinho may have blamed the loss on him not giving a penalty for a Jan Vertonghen potential-handball, even I say the decision was a correct one. However, so many players had shocking games: Matic, Fabregas, JT, Oscar, Willian, Ramires… even Jose didn’t have the best day with his subs. But two in particular stood out, and have done so for a while (and not in a good way).

Eden Hazard, despite having one of his best games this season, still ends up on the losing side