A blue day for the blues (From Haringey Independent)

A blue day for the blues

8:09am Monday 25th February 2008

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Despite being a lifelong Chelsea fan there’s no denying who deserved to win yesterday’s Carling Cup match against Tottenham at Wembley.

From the moment we stepped out of Wembley Park Station the Spurs contingent could be heard loud and clear. All the way along from the station to the stadium the sea of blue and white was willing Spurs on to win, while us pathetic Chelsea fans barely managed to make ourselves known. Spurs deserved to lift the cup. And that’s even before I talk about the match.

Spurs were hungry. Chelsea looked like they’d eaten a full English breakfast and left a few dollops of egg on their faces as they moved around the magnificent pitch looking sluggish and disinterested.

Grant’s team was all wrong. Where was Joe Cole? Why did Kalou replace Wright-Philips? Why was Drogba allowed to play the full 90 minutes plus a disastrous extra time when he should have been in a theatre practicing his amateur dramatics?

Everything was wrong about Shaun Wright-Philips. He seemed unable to keep the ball and was unexciting and uninspired in this so-called world class team.

Our only goal came from the only girl in the game, Drogba, who spent so much of the match rolling around on the ground in ‘pain’ I’m surprised he stayed vertical long enough to put the little gem into the back of the net.

We never looked like the better team that in reality we are. I sat in my seat (just yards from my football idol Gianfranco Zola – clearly the highlight of the day) and in all honesty felt that we didn’t deserve to win. Then Spurs equalised from an unfortunate penalty and suddenly all empathy went out the window. Who cared if they deserved to win. I wanted Chelsea to lift the cup.

The problem is I’m not sure the Chelsea players shared my desire. Their performance was wholly lacklustre. In fact the only shining light amongst the dross was Petr Cech who saved us from being two or three down in the first half hour. Except he then make a stinking mistake which proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s (or in this case donkey’s) back.

You know, perhaps the Carling Cup is the Tesco Value of the footballing trophys but Spurs were in it to win it. Chelsea were in it to get paid. And shame on them for that. On balance I’m glad Spurs won. It’s been a long time coming for the Lillywhites and they just put in an all round solid performance and rightfully came out on top.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m gutted for my team. But we’ve still got the Champions League, the Premiership and FA Cup to play for. Which is more than I can say for Spurs!

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