Chelsea FC: It’s Hard To Be A Fan Sometimes

Sometimes they make us laugh, other times they make us cry, but I will be a Blue till the day I die.

Nights like the one we have just experienced are the epitome of being a Chelsea FC fan.

This is how my evening of watching the Chelsea v P.S.G unfolded ……….

I started the evening with logical thoughts that we are better than PSG man for man, but then the old school part of the brain kicks in and I remembered the dark days when Chelsea FC were sh*t, and the doubts started.

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1 hour before the kick off and the team was announced, nothing drastic, a nice safe line up, yes everything was going to be ok. We’d be comfortable with that line up. Oh hang on, Oscar and Fabregas ……….

Oscar last year faded badly after Christmas and he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire this year after Christmas either.

Fabregas has a history of fading badly every year (at 2 different clubs) in the past, and his form has dropped since Christmas.

No, I won’t allow negative thoughts in! They will be fine, they’ve had a nice rest so fatigue won’t come into it, Jose Mourinho knows what he’s doing.

So, safe in the knowledge that this should be a relatively comfortable evening (on paper) the players kick off.

10 minutes in and it’s obvious that I am not alone in thinking this will be comfortable, the players aren’t showing any urgency, there’s no pressing, no tempo from Chelsea FC at all. And then the David Luiz show starts, Diego Costa and David Luiz come together running for the ball and 10 seconds later David Luiz collapses theatrically to the floor trying to get Diego Costa booked, here we go I think and sit up a bit more!

For the next few minutes the game raises it’s intensity and my interest a bit with Gary Cahill making 2 interceptions and a block. In the 19th minute Oscar loses the ball when through with a 4 on 3 man advantage and I realise that both Oscar and Cesc Fabregas are actually on the pitch!

Back to the mediocrity the game goes again, nice and comfortable as I had predicted with no real goalmouth action and Chelsea FC players strolling around, still not in danger or threatening any themselves though.

BANG!!!! What happened? Zlatan (another one who had been missing so far) jumped into a tackle with Oscar (remember him?), a red card was shown and handbags at dawn between the players started.

View image | gettyimages.com

So the scene was set, Chelsea FC could really just stroll their way to an even easier victory over the circus clowns who had just lost their ringmaster. Maybe, just maybe we could start to entertain the audience now and play up to the gallery ourselves!

It was certainly more enjoyable for the next 10 minutes or so until ……

YESSSSSSSSSSS a penalty, Diego Costa brought down in the box by Cavani after dribbling past 5 PSG players ……….

Except it wasn’t, the referee after having reviewed his harsh red card for Zlatan Ibrahimovic decided that 2 wrongs do make a right and waved play on!

Half time came and went with the usual Twitter banter and encouragement that nobody on the pitch ever sees, but it looks as though somebody got the message across to the players to step it up a bit because 2 efforts in the first 5 minutes boded well.

At this point I was enjoying a very mediocre game, now convinced that we were doing just enough to progress to the next round, who would we get next? Hopefully not Bayern Munich who were in the process of dismantling Shakhtar Donetsk.

Thank God!!!! Cavani when through clear on goal could only hit the post, hhhhhmmmmm maybe it’s not a good idea to think about the next round just yet!

60 minutes in and Chelsea FC’s players have slipped back into casual mode again and the Stamford Bridge crowd are getting nervous, not me however. I still believe that we have enough in hand to step up out of 1st gear if we need to.

Oh here comes the clown David Luiz again trying to get Diego Costa sent off by theatrically pretending Diego Costa had hit him. All it achieved was a yellow card for the clown and being booed roundly by the very same fans that use to worship the Geezer last year!

Credit: http://carefreelee62.wix.com/chelsealee#!Cahill Goal.jpg/zoom/c1p72/image_1g4l

Chelsea Fc win a corner in the 80th minute and after some head tennis the much maligned Gary Cahill swings his right boot and GGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!

The banging on the wall from the neighbours reminded me that I had been shouting and dancing round like a lunatic for a while and I’d better try and calm down a touch. I had informed the whole neighbourhood that Chelsea FC were playing tonight so they can’t say they weren’t pre-warned!

Barely had my heart rate started to recover when the inevitable happened, the Geezer David Luiz scored with a bullet header from a corner.

Here we go again, the Old School Chelsea Way, never easy, never straight forward, I won’t repeat here what I was shouting!

OK, extra time it is, again I was still feeling fairly confident.

PSG had played a mid week match, Chelsea FC hadn’t. PSG have 10 men, Chelsea FC have 11. It’s only a matter of time.

Credit: http://carefreelee62.wix.com/chelsealee#!Hazard Goal.jpg/zoom/c1p72/image_5vv

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS a penalty, and this time it was given!

This is it, Eden doesn’t miss, get ready neighbours …………………

I was a bit more respectful this time with the celebrations, mainly because as I said Eden Hazard doesn’t miss penalties.

That’s it, 24 minutes to go and we can finally say Bon Nuit to those pesky tired French clowns, now it is time to relax. Although we don’t have the traditional Mikel to close out the game, we are safe, let the celebrations begin!

Courtois made a final save from a Silva header for a corner, game over ……….. and relax.

BOOOOOM and the world ended barely a minute later courtesy of another Silva header from the resulting corner.

The anger was replaced with bewilderment and anguish, closely followed by the realisation that the next 7 minutes would drag as the game faded back into mediocrity once more as it was the players in blue appeared resigned to our fate.

This was back to the dark old days

We had lost.

We had been leading this tie 3 times and lost.

The ridicule from other fans whose teams can only dream of our success would be never ending.

Hang on a minute though.

Aren’t we the only team in England to have won a trophy so far this season?

Aren’t we the team that is 5 points clear in the Premier League with a game in hand with only 11 games to play?

Aren’t we the only team that can realistically do a double this year?

So maybe, just maybe this result tonight isn’t the end of the world.

Yes it hurts, it hurts like hell, but isn’t this The Chelsea way?

#KTBFFH

Original art by Madhouse At The Bridge

Next: Is Diego Costa Worth The Trouble?