Justified rage?
Mine and other CFC fans’ skepticism about the new manager’s credentials was justified when we opened the current campaign with a home defeat. Yes, it was against the reigning champions Man City but we should have shown more grit, fought for a point or at least stuck something in Ederson Moraes’ net. Little did I know that that was to be the only such loss we would suffer in the next 13 games. The only other one we would concede was a narrow 1-2 defeat at Anfield. Given the near-invincibility Liverpool has shown so far at home, that was an acceptable result. Apart from this blip, our results stats have been joyful reading so far. In fact, a week after our shameful capitulation at Stamford Bridge, we went to the Molineux and gave Wolverhampton Wanderers a six-goal spanking. The same Wolves who mauled us at the Bridge in our final encounter the previous season (it kinda helped that we snatched their mercurial attacking-mid Pedro Neto in the off-season).
The Impregnable Bridge of yore
Such results are a testament to the belief coursing through the veins of Chelsea players. It is also evidence of the chemistry that’s developing between them. And both these positive aspects of our beloved Blues’ play can be attributed to the man at the helm. The man we (or at least I) had such doubts about when he was unveiled in the summer. Thanks to him the Bridge is returning to the fortress it was when the likes of Michael Essien, Frank Lampard and John Terry patrolled its turf. “To come to this stadium and to think you’re going to win or compete without suffer or without some bad moment…it’s impossible. It’s impossible.” These were Maresca’s words, and clearly, the boys have taken them to heart.