In classic form, Chelsea – now that almost all is lost – have shown genuine character and passion in their last two matches. It would have carried them through the season had it been there all year.
The reason I started supporting Chelsea as a boy was because Chelsea were not Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool. All of these were clubs I respected, and certainly would have made for easier goings in my school in north London. But that’s not what I wanted. Chelsea are a massive organization under the ownership of Roman Abramovich and guidance of Peter Kenyon and Bruce Buck. Back in the day, though, that wasn’t true.
Chelsea were essentially who Tottenham are now. A London team, using the appeals of that, to try and punch above their weight. Ken Bates was ,at different times, a genius and a fool and the drama was always excellent. But what Chelsea had and what made them wonderful was fight. “Yeah, yeah United come down here with your Giggs, your Beckham and your Scholes we’ve got Desailly, Zola and (my personal favorite) Gudjhonsen” tended to be the spirit. And you know what? Often we would lose. But the spirit mattered.
That is what made that early Jose Mourinho team so special. They kept that spirit and then added quality with Abramovich’s millions – and they were brilliant, still (for now) the best team in Premier League history. Manchester City will likely surpass them this season, but the record has stood for 14 years. That is what made that team and Chelsea as a club so special.
Chelsea have genuine quality in the squad. But in order to be as good as they can be they need to have that spirit that pushes them. This season they have not had it. But maybe, just maybe, in heroic fashion, they’ll pull it together for the end. They’ve already shown it in the last three matches against Southampton and Burnley.
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No teams fight harder in the world than those about to go down. Many of the players will be taking pay cuts, some losing mistresses, some unable to afford the same schools for their children, houses for their parents and cars for their driveways. They are desperate men in a desperate place and always the most dangerous trip at the end of a season. Even without a comparison to a healthy, comfortable Premier League team for whom negligence has already set in, the real fighters are always those near the bottom.
Chelsea have shown they can deal with that level of fight again, which makes their early season glass-jawed histrionics so frustrating.
Olivier Giroud is the best thing to happen to Alvaro Morata since Alice Campello. Giroud is showing exactly what a big-bodied striker who simply tries and gives an s-word looks like. Morata, as we have all said, has the technique, height and pedigree to be a genuine 25-goal striker. What he seems to have only discovered is some fire. In recent weeks he’s finally shown he cares.
Morata must surely know that another move after an underwhelming showing for another big club would lead to a big downturn in his career. It would then be time for a reassesment of his ability. Maybe he looks like the striker he’ll never be? He’s already too old for us to be talking about who he can be. He has to start showing it. Morata is not the finished product, obviously, but 25 is when we start seeing who he will be at 28-29. He can be Lewandowski. In fact, he should be. Giroud can, in many ways, show him how.
Giroud has been a marvel since arriving at Chelsea. Is it because we know how to better support a big broad-shouldered striker with an eye for the audacious? Not entirely, though I like to think that’s part of it. Stamford Bridge was never going to be “The Library at Highbury.” Fighters, outcasts, bandits and bastards are loved at Stamford Bridge, while noses are turned up to them at Arsenal’s school of football.
It’s time that Chelsea show who they are. Twelve points. Four more matches. Let’s do this thing properly. Get the big men out there and fight for fourth place. It will be difficult. Chelsea are chasing a more spirited, in many ways more talented and more confident team. But that team is also Spurs, so anything can happen.
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If Chelsea can be who they were these past few weeks, then the team we love can do it. Or they could be who they’ve been this year and the rebuild will begin. The players must decide. Let us all pray they choose wisely.