Chelsea 2-1 Wigan - Defining match of the season

A controversial Ivanovic goal and an injury time winner from Mata gave Chelsea the much needed three points to close the gap on the top four. This victory takes us three points closer to Spurs and two closer to Arsenal who have a game in hand.

The boys snatched a vital victory at the death in what some would say controversial circumstances.Yes, Ivanovic's goal was a yard offside but this is the kind of luck the rest Of the teams have been having, when we were made to suffer. We deserved to be lucky from past injustice shown upon us. Having said that, the team played out a below par performance on David Luiz's 50th appearance in just 15 months. Let's break down the match and see what we can get off it.

THE GOOD:

On his first ever Premier League start, Ryan Bertrand put on a fitting, mature display in front of the home crowd. His professionalism almost made Ashely Cole's absence a matter to forget.But the world's most underrated and best left back must have been impressed with his under-study nevertheless. Bertrand looked comfortable defending against the likes of Mosses and at the same time provided a couple of delicious crosses. He was by far the most threatening player on the left flank even ahead of Malouda and Sturridge.

Though it's too early to say if he can replace Cole for the L.B position, he certainly is fighting to cement his place in the first team.

THE BAD:

Having made seven changes to the team that beat Benfica two days ago, Roberto Di Matteo would have expected a much better performance from the many fresh legs. Instead, Sturridge looked like he was under an invisible coat hardly being involved in the game, and the midfield,confused. Drogba often lost the ball many times which resulted in lost of possession. He needs to improve on his control if we are to move the ball around in the opposition half. They were a couple of chances but the end product as usual was lacking. If you look at it, the finishing is what differentiates us from the top four. Drogba had two clear chances, one to score and the other to square it to Sturridge. But he decided against passing it and a good opportunity was wasted. Guess Sturridge got a taste of his own medicine there- selfishness.

That's rotation and lack of communication is common as players wouldn't have played consistently enough with each other.

BEST MOMENT:

It has to be Drogba's clever lob to Torres on the far right who sent a stunning volley crashing against the left post only for Mata to be in a good position to tap in the rebound.

That might as well be the defining moment in our quest to secure a top four position for next season. And what a moment that was. Now for the upcoming games, let's keep this fighting spirit and momentum going.

KTBFFH!
Goals: Ivanovic 62, Mata 90+2 - Diame 82'
Veron.

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Why the new 4231 formation benefits Torres and how he can improve

Ever since Chelsea adapted the 4231 formation, we have not only seen better results, but also an improve in form of one certain lad from sunny Spain.Torres.

Players such as Luiz & Torres are tailored for this style of play, and it's no coincidence that both of them are in their best form of the season. Torres's body language says it all too. He has literally sprung into life. He looks happier than ever before to get out there and play for the team, while paying back the trust RDM has shown in him through such selflessness. The resurgent of CFC's no. 9 is good for the team, the players, the fans and of course for his place at the Euros. If a non-CFC or rather a non-Torres fan would watch Torres play now, they would sit there with envy. Let's face it, people envy Torres because they know he was & will again be the worlds deadliest striker. It's always us against the world, remember?

Another point to note is that Torres is now a different kind of a player. Don't you think so? He has become sort of a Trequartista. More of an advanced form though. Perhaps he has invented a new formation & we are safe to call it the Torresquartista!! Maybe, just maybe it may make a good name for a baby girl, or maybe not. But my point is, he has benefited from our style of play nevertheless. His passing has improved along with his movements (for which I credit AVB). The only thing he needs to get right is his positioning. He seems to be out off position a lot. He drifts wide and comes out to collect the ball way often than necessary rather than wait for THAT through ball we all wish our midfielders would provide. Look at Chicarito for an example. For a player who is not very good technically, he is still able to score many goals because of his clever positioning.

If only could Torres get that right...he would start scoring left, right and centre or rather the newly famed chant "he scores when he wants" would now do complete justice.

Now let me tell you all a little secret. I have criticized Torres before in the hopes of him playing well and so far it has worked at times. That's the silly superstition I have and am pretty sure most of you have sillier ones too! Hey, we are football fans and that's how we roll!

Sound off in the comments below on your superstitions, opinions and wether or not the 4231 formation has improved El Niño.

Veron.

You can follow me on Twitter here. 

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Why I Believe Roberto Di Matteo Is Perfect For Chelsea

One of the most speculated things in the football world is who will be the next manager of Chelsea Football Club. From Jose Mourinho to Pep Guardiola and everyone in between has been rumored to be coming to Stamford Bridge but few have considered the fact that maybe, just maybe the Perfect Manager is already here.

Roberto Di Matteo is not a big name. He is not a Legend, maybe not even a legend in the making but he has many qualities that fit the unique requirements that Chelsea demand. For one he has experience in the Premier League. Granted, it’s not the best we’ve ever seen but everyone has to start somewhere and he did an ok job at West Brom before being fired and they weren’t relegated under his watch. But this isn’t the reason that he should be considered our permanent manager. Here are just SOME of the reasons that Di Matteo should be given a fair chance.

He’s a former player who deeply loves Chelsea. He has the chance to be our very own Pep. Folks tend to forget that Guardiola was a controversial choice because a lot of people at Barcelona wanted to choose Jose Mourinho who was at that time a far more established coach. Would history have been as kind to Barcelona if they took the “safe” route everyone demanded? I highly doubt it.

Another reason that Di Matteo should be considered is that he can manage our volatile dressing room which is no easy feat as the litter of dead bodies can testify too. Chelsea is well known for having head strong, some would say stubborn, players who love power and know how to use it ruthlessly. They will not hesitate to let both the manager and the media know when they feel something is not up to their high standards and  are not impressed with CV’s or resumes. THEY are the ones who are ultimately in control.  Di Matteo has so far shown the ability to allow the players to feel they still are in control but he still changes things how he sees fit. That is diplomacy at its finest.

A most crucial thing that MUST be considered is the reactions of and relations with the British Media. When it comes to Chelsea Football Club they are brutal. Any manager of Chelsea must be calm with the media and don’t get caught up with battling them.  Even if you win the battle with them, which is rare, you’ll never win the war. The media always sabotages Chelsea at every turn so you have to learn to let things roll off you back (something Villas Boas had trouble doing). So far, Roberto Di Matteo has shown not to let them get under his skin even when they try to bait him at every turn.

Lastly and the most important reason is that Di Matteo should get the job is that Chelsea can’t afford a high profile coach. With Financial Fair Play (FFP) already in effect and the club deeply in the hole it would be foolish to get into even more debt over a manager and not a quality player that we need to upgrade the squad. I’m not saying that managers don’t matter because clearly they do, but that shouldn’t be our main focus. No manager at Chelsea has full control over the team. Never have and they never will unless Roman Abramovich gets bored so we need someone who understands that and is ready to deal with those unique (some say impossibly stressful) circumstances.  You will get players you never asked for and don’t really want. Roman will pop up to ask random questions or just to watch. The Board is for the most part useless, dysfunctional and predatory. I could go on and on but you get the point. Unless all these things are ready to be changed not many top name managers will be knocking down our door any time soon. Chelsea need a manager and relatively quickly with the shortened offseason due to the Euro’s and we also need to upgrade our squad. Now is the time to cross one thing off our long list and give the job to the manager who is uniquely qualified to take on this huge responsibility and that man is Roberto Di Matteo

I would love to hear your thoughts so please leave a comment and share this article. Thank you.

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The rarity that is David Luiz

How often do you find a player who would cause such outcry and riots (possibly bigger than the London riots) if he were to cut his hair? In fact, people would line up days in advance (like the queues you'd find at Apple Stores) to buy strands of curly hair. I know you want that curly hair too. Just admit it. As a matter of fact, we were that close to witnessing a riot (on twitter) when Luiz pranked us all on April fools. Honestly, I had never seen a hairstyle been given so much response & importance on a single day.

David Luiz who was once told he had no future as a footballer, has gone on to become some sort of a cult hero. A legend in the making. Fans took him to their hearts almost immediately, media sensed a good bait for their writings and rival fans wished they had him in their teams.

Luiz is the modern footballer who is technically and skillfully gifted. The focus more on technical though. If this was the early 2000s,the word flamboyant would be used for a Brazilian. But not any more. Football has evolved and so have the Samba boys. Now the focus is more on the technicality rather than strutting your stuffs like Ronaldinho in those Joga Bonito videos (remember those Nike ads?). Ramires is another perfect example of a technically evolved player for a Brazilian. Robinho on the other hand, has proved why being flamboyant wont get you success now and especially in England, where football is played more direct. And that's also the reason why the made-famous-by-Chelsea Neymar would not be able to replicate his style if he came here in my opinion. Sure he is the next best thing in football, but he has not been tested in common waters. Thats my only fear.

If someone asked Pep Guardiola what he would like in a good player, he would say technicality. The fundamentals and basics first. Without these, one cannot succeed in the long run. And it's no coincidence that Barca want the mini-me Carlos Puyol to replace the actual Puyol. Come to think of it; the runs, the passes, the style of Luiz’s play fits Barcelona perfectly. I mean he’s made for them. But having said that, even if they offer Messi to us in a different galaxy, we would kindly say thanks but (muahaha) no thanks. Okay, not too sure on that, but I guess you get my point right!?

That's how rare Luiz is and we should be thankful that we we have a gem of a player in our possession.

Now, back to Luiz's hair..... okay, I ll stop before I go into the over-obsessive mode on his hair!

Sound off your opinions in the comments below and share this post if you liked it!

VAMOS Luiz VAMOS!

Veron.

You can follow me on Twitter here. 

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2012: A Fairly Kind Year So Far

2012 has so far been quite prolific for Chelsea, wouldn’t you say? A fired manager, a new hired interim manager and a whole load of ups and downs. I think you could call that prolific.

(For better quality, click on the images) (All games are represented as points inc. cup games - 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw)

Despite all the doom and gloom going around, we’ve done pretty well this year. I guess the only reason people would say it’s been bad is because all the bad results seemed to come at the wrong time.

My complicated-looking really-quite-simple table shows that our form this year has actually been quite good. Take a look:

Click to enlarge

As I said, it looks complicated, but really is quite simple.

Let’s go through this one by one. Currently, the table is ordered by games played. It’s not so surprising that we’ve played the most games this calendar year (21) since we’re still in the Champions League and FA Cup.

The next thing to look at is the amount of games won, drawn and lost. We’ve won 12 out of 21 games which isn’t really too bad. It’s the most in the league, in fact. You’ve got to remember that we’ve played quite a lot more games than most. Not great, but okay. That is 57.14% of the games played. That’s the third best winning percentage behind Man Utd and Arsenal.

The percentage of games won it quite disappointing to be honest. Only 57.14%, the same as Newcastle. It’s especially disappointing since we've played so many games and only won quite a small percentage. Happily, it has been improving recently. It does give you an idea of why we’ve been struggling in the league though. The majority of the games that we have won have been in the Champions League and FA Cup.

Only 5 of 12 games have been won (42%) meaning only 19 out of 36 points (incl. Draws) which is 53% of the possible points. Not good enough I’m afraid. However, our runs in the cup competitions have been good. Of course they have to be good! Lose a game and you’re out. We’re still in.

But let’s look on the positive side of all this. On the table below, you can see that the non-losing percentage is 80.95%. That’s the best in the league. The team behind us is Everton on 78.5%. However, if Everton were to win there next two games (played equal games to us) they would have the same percentage as us. But what does non-losing percentage mean? That means the percentage of games not lost. Sort-of the unbeaten percentage - though of course not in a run.    

Click to enlarge

  

That’s good, especially as it means we’ve only lost around 19% of our games which is 4 games. Disappointingly though, 3 of those 4 have been in the league. Now depending on whether you’re a cup fan or not, it means that we’ve been going strong in the cups but not so much in the league. So what’s your priority? A probable question that Robbie will have to deal with when playing Tottenham then Barcelona in quick succession.

Perhaps the most disappointing of all these stats though is the amount of games drawn; 5 drawn games. That’s pretty disappointing. Looking back at those games, however, you remember the performances and that we didn’t really deserve to win. Look at Swansea, Tottenham, Wigan, Norwich and Birmingham (FA Cup). You’d expect us to win at least 3 of the 5 (Swansea very strong at home and, well, Tottenham were playing for a draw). Against Norwich we could have sneaked a win but there weren’t many clear-cut chances. Against Wigan we took off all our best players and we were lacklustre. And against Birmingham, well that was just an awful first half followed by a less awful second half.

So overall, 2012’s been good. The bad results just simply came at the wrong time and at the same time. When other teams were all picking up points, we were dropping them. And dropping them in a congested period of time. And the thing is we dropped them against opposition which (with no disrespect) shouldn’t really be too challenging.  The only time which it wasn’t “too” disappointed to lose was Man City away. Their record at home is pretty impeccable and we did well for the majority of the game. Then we just capitulated in the space of a few minutes. Proper Chelsea, that.

A good year so far but the fixtures are piling up no thanks to the extra two Champions League matches which surround a whole load of vital fixtures including an FA Cup semi final. I for one hope that we do continue to take the FA Cup seriously and play our strongest team vs Tottenham. Whether that will happen or not  - considering we play Barcelona on 72 hours later – I don’t know. Though if the players cannot get it on for two semi finals in two major competitions, I don’t know what they will. If I were a player, I wouldn’t mind. I’d want to play against the two.

Let’s hope that the rest of 2012 is just as good as it’s been so far!


Follow me on twitter - @lauera_n

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Our team

Writers:


Veron - founder, blogger and developer
I am the creator of The Chelsea Pandemic and I take care of the running of this blog. Been a Chelsea fan since the late 90s and also have interests in tennis and basketball where Rafael Nadal and LA Lakers are my favourites!
I built this site all by myself for the Chelsea family inorder to interacte and provide a unique blog different to others keeping in mind the new generation of passionate, curious Chelsea fans. Started this blog as a hobby and lets see where it goes! And, oh I live in Canada!
You can follow me on Twitter here. 


Justine- blogger


I live in the South East United States. To me there is nothing better than watching some footy while tweeting about it with my friends. Chelsea has way too much power over my emotions! I also love other sports and talking about world events and politics.
You can follow me on Twitter here.


Lauera- blogger and statistician
A girl. Living in her own world. A Chelsea fan of course, but the likes of tennis and F1 are of interest too. Baking is the best form of relaxation. 

You can follow me on Twitter here.

Visual Designers:


Varun Kumar - A Visual artist and creative mind behind the logos and the design. A Chelsea fan through and through and a massive Didier Drogba fan! 
You can follow me on Twitter here.


Mayed J.alqattan- An avid Chelsea fan from the United Arab Emirates and a supporter of the Argentine National team. I'll be providing edited pictures from match days and training grounds and also responsible for adding "Image of the week" pictures to the site.

You can follow me on Twitter here.

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What's in the name?

For those of you who are wondering, 'The Chelsea Pandemic' name is a fun take on the word 'Pandemic' which refers to an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across the world.

In this case, the disease being Chelsea! 

Meanwhile, see if you can guess who this is behind the mask! 

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