Way to Break a Girl's Heart

I am forever going to remember Xabi for his totally accidental goal tonight. That guy is cute, but I refuse to acknowledge any redeeming quality of someone who ended, albeit not singlehandedly and with certain amount of self-destruct involved, the unbeaten home record of Chelsea which survived for 4 years and 3 managers, even Avram Grant for God's sake!

I am not an avid fan of football by itself. Prior to my unexplainable and spontaneous loyalty to Chelsea (which can actually be summed up by one sentence: The guy who allegedly rejected Paris Hilton's advances is cute.), I can't last 30 minutes of watching a game on telly before changing the channel. But when Jose took over Chelsea, you could just see that the players were becoming a team. They weren't exactly the best players in their respective positions, but they worked hard each and every game. The fact that Chelsea did not have the tradition of ManU or Liverpool didn't matter. You can see the start of something new, and it was good.

Jose is not the nicest person in the world. He received a lot of criticisms, some of which I agree with. But damn, I miss him all the time. Jose is a diva. Everytime he opens his mouth, something always comes out that would make a good tabloid headline. A lot of people hated him and the players. But it just seemed that it just pushed them to bond more. They defended each other in press conferences and even, yes, to the referee. I hate goodbyes, and even if a player is not that good, I still find it hard to cope with all the news during the transfer period when they get chucked. Eidur, Duffers, Crespo, Gallas, Robben and the latest, which I feel is the biggest loss, Macca. I'd feel better when Essien returns to the pitch and perhaps take over the holding midfielder role. Never mind Sheva, I wasn't bothered by his departure at all. I don't mean to be, well, mean. I actually feel sorry for him, but look at the devastation he left on his path, and it wasn't worth it at all.

I can't really say anything bad about Big Phil, but since the team's Centennial year Premier League win, I just find that some things are lost throughout the years, as some things are gained. There is an effort to find the best player for each position, I mean consider the price tags of the new ones. But that's just it, the most talented player is not actually the best player for the position unless he works well with the others. And even team spirit cannot equate to consistency.

I didn't really feel the players were desperately doing everything possible to keep the home record. It just seem to me that they all lost hope after the goal in the first 10 minutes, which did not use to be the case. Sad to say even JT, and I am a big fan, who looked like he was going to cry or throw something or someone after the final whistle. I guess I'm a little spoiled after several equalizing goals during extra time and other miracles and answered prayers in the past. At least he tried to move forward several times. That used to drive me crazy. I would usually yell at him to stick by his mark so that he wouldn't have to deal with additional shtick thrown at him. You don't need to be a genius to see that Lamps was also devastated. But he used to dominate the pitch, to a fault, and it just doesn't feel that way anymore. Also, maybe I should include Ricardo and Petr, just because they were original Mourinho boys, and I'm biased.

Deco was pretty committed too, by the way, but I still can't get over all his diving for Barcelona. It is still weird to see him working with JT who once kicked a ball at Deco's stomach as Deco dramatically writhed from the pain of an imaginary injury. Kudos also to Bosingwa, who was substituted! I think Paolo, an original Mourinho boy, is cute and would usually want him on the right flank even if he makes all sort of mistakes, just to gaze at him dreamily, you understand, but Bosingwa is growing on me. Usually Anelka works on busting the moves to confuse the other team, but in this game the players were just walking, maybe resting, when they see that a teammate was already running for the goal. Allow me a short moment to reminisce and contemplate a different scenario if Jose was still around. Rest assured there would have been more shouting and dance routines at the sidelines. He would have been livid at the thought of 4 years work gone in a puff, and to the guys from The Kop at that!

So I'm pretty disappointed and hoarse and wailing. I had to force myself to watch to the very end, and that has never happened before. It's hard to say goodbye to that home record. But I always believe that loss often encourages one to fight more, and maybe this all mean that Chelsea will reclaim the Premier League trophy this season. That's a more comforting thought compared to thinking that the game was an omen of things to come.

To the other loyal fans, please don't hit me if you have a different opinion. I will still cheer for them even if they get relegated to League Two and lose week in and week out.