Taking the positives out of defeat

Well, so just as we had done in our previous two visits to Old Trafford at the tail end of last season we came away with defeat.  However, despite losing 3-1 it certainly does not feel like we have lost.  Whilst we may have fallen on the wrong side of the scoreline, our overall performance was decent. Perhaps we deserved to come away with at least a point, but the key factor in our defeat has to lie in the inability of us capitalising on the numerous chances we had while United finished off with the few chances they had to get their 3 goals.Football is a game that often relies on luck, and it is something we just didn't have today. 

I thought that we played reasonably well today and if we forget the result and just look at are overall performance we certainly will have a lot to look forward to for the rest of this season.  The only complaints that you can have is the fact that we failed to finish off good chances to find the back of the net, most notably the chance Ramires had in the first half and of course the sitter that Fernando missed in the second half that would have made the score 3-2 at that point in the game.  However, despite the shocker of a miss that is sure to make the back page headlines tommorow morning, I thought Torres had a good game and over the last few games he seems to be recapturing the form that promted Roman to part with £50 m back in January.  It was an interesting change that AVB made at half time when Anelka was brought on for Lampard, but this worked almost immediately as we increased the presence in attack, leading to Fernando's goal just after HT. On another day Fernando would have got a few goals, but it is good to see that he is improving and finding his form now, and I think that the new look squad with the likes of Merieles and Mata have a part to play in that.

I must say the feeling of defeat at Old Trafford is rather different from last season as there is a sense of optimism.  I have complete faith in what AVB is doing and judging by performance alone we should have a lot more to look forward to this season as we are still improving day by day.  Therefore, the overall picture does seem positive and we shouldn't worry too much about the loss.....after all it is still early days.  We will see who has the last laugh in May.....

Until then just keep the blue flag flying high!

Win or lose ....up the blues!

Who the f*** are man united??!

It has been a while since my last blog post, but here I am writing ahead of our trip to Old Trafford on Sunday.  It is a trip to the same ground which effectively ended our season in terms of both the Champions League and the Premier League, at the tail end of last season.  However this time we  face them 5 games into the new campaign, which I believe is good for us in the long run.  It is always an advantage to get a challengeing away day out of the way early on in the season, but one must not give in the the mass media hype over the 'exceptional' start that United have made to the season.  It seems as though we have already been classed as underdogs this season, with an awful lot of fuss being made over both Manchester teams. Yes, although it seems that they have started like a house on fire this season, one must not draw conclusions for the rest of the season purely from the first couple of games. Take for example the start of last season; we started with exceptional 6-0 and 4-0 wins, and some people were confident that the title was already headed to Stamford Bridge.  However, we all know that it wasn't to last long, as in spectacular fashion we faltered so badly with poor mid-season form that it effectively handed the title to United.  In other words only he who is a fool would already start drawing conclusions on how the season will end.  

So, whilst it is true that United, and also Citeh for that matter have made a good start to the season and may seem favourites in the eyes of the biased media, we will happily take the underdogs tag for this season's title race.  Ok, so far our start to the season hasn't been amazing, especially in comparison to last season's start, however, we have been getting the result and that's what matters.  Whilst United have been causing the media to get off on their large wins over the likes of mediocre opponents such as 5-0 against Bolton and a pathetic Arsenal side 8-2, we have been quietly grinding out our wins, with the exception of our opponing day draw at Stoke. At the end of the day, it is just getting the results that counts, and believe me we will improve as the season goes on as we are still finding out feet with a new look squad under AVB.  United on the other hand, may possibly run out of steam too early just as we did last year.  I think that whilst United are favourites, our squad definatley has the depth to challenge United and come Sunday at Old Trafford we are more than capable of getting a result.  AVB will ensure that the team are full of confidence ahead of the encounter and I have full faith that he will go all out to ensure we go for nothing but a win.  On Sunday we will see whether we come away with the 3 points or not, but one thing is for sure, we shouldn't fear them because we can definately match them and are capable.  A good start to the game will be key, and hopefully we will have that.

COME ON CHELSEA!

KTBFFH

Kunal Sapat (Chelsea Boy @SW17ChelseaSG)