Reminiscing Hassalbaink

Jimmy Floyd Hassalbaink took the EPL by storm. He finished top scorer in the league in his first season at Chelsea. Before this he was at Athlectico Madrid where he was top scorer in the Spanish league (it didn't help their relegation though).

He is one player I didn't want to see exit Chelsea. Especially being labelled 'surplus to requirement' with the other players to be offloaded is an insult. With Kezman still finding his feet at scoring and Mutu unlikely to play for Chelsea ever again, I feel we miss someone like Hassalbaink in the team. He is a proven prolific scorer. Initially he was always branded as a hard hitting striker, blasting in goals with thunderous strength. But at Chelsea he has evolved into a support player as well. Linking up with Gudjohnson so well both formed the most formidable partnership with more goals to rival the Yorke/Cole striker force of Man U. Many times Hassalbaink can be seen dropping back to suck in defenders and releasing midfielders like Lampard, Petit, Zenden and Gronkjaer into the box with exquisite passes into the box. His upperbody strength is tremendous to hold off challenges and shield the ball. He doesn't bend his free kicks like Beckham but he still scores them well. He has become an intelligent player and now plying his trade in Middlesbrough, I notice his game is still the same. Whatever he lacks in pace he makes up in work rate and precise reading of the game. And scoring a hatful of goals occasionally just affirm the fact that his services to Middlesbrough will only propel them to the top half of the league and a possible Uefa Cup placing.

Hassalbaink is a player with great determination and dedication to Chelsea. He is the best striker in the world and unfortunately it is a great loss to see him go. I now watch Middlesbrough matches as well this season for his performances. Here's hoping that Mourinho will come to his senses and bring back the striker who is so well loved by the Chelsea faithful.

Hot Stuff

Many punters and critics would love to see Chelsea fall. With our wealth of russian dollars and talents, we are drowning in the sweet water of Arsenal's and Man U's (and every other title pretenders and wannabes') envy. Although on paper everything points to the direction of success and trophies galore, but we require the results to affirm the fact that we are genuine title contenders and of championship material. Thus bouncing back from a dissapointing 2-2 draw against Bolton was necessary to keep our title hopes alive and to bridge the gap further.

So by thumping in 4 goals and keeping a clean sheet against Charlton, all is well at the Chelsea camp. To add the icing to the cake, Arsenal lost to an injury time stunner by Mellor and Liverpool claimed all 3 points. Credit to the Reds, they actually dominated the 1st half and scored when it mattered. Of course this will fire up Arsenal to maul all their opponents in their way in subsequent weeks but the damage has already been done. They are now 5 points below the consistent Chelsea FC. And they still have to win against Rosenborg to qualify for the Champions League whereas we will just relax and probably play Cudicini between the sticks. Not that he is a bad keeper but we need to rest Cech.

Charlton, to be truthful, was not that big a challenge. The Carling cup tie against Fulham in midweek would be more important. Fulham may want their revenge but our class and talent will prevail in the end.

Numero Uno

I started this blog for one main purpose. For purpose is what separates me from other bloggers who drone on and on about which tooth they picked after their sunday afternoon tea or gripe about the single-ply toilet paper during their bowel moving session and blaming it on the Grade A eggs they had in the morning. This is dedicated solely to the life and times of the greatest football club the world has ever seen, Chelsea Football Club. Blogs like mine will spare dear readers from all the weak ones, ie. the aimless, pointless and utter time consuming blogs that uses cyberspace for mindless ramblings which would be more fruitful and productive if it were dedicated to porno featuring Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani in a hot and steamy threesome. It is as though these people had a stomache, took a crap and out came a blog.

To be included in the blog from my perspective:
- pre/post match commentary
- players performance analysis
- random thrash talk on other clubs (esp Arsenal & Man U)
- drug test reports on targeted players (haha)

Numero Uno means many things:

One, it means this is the first ever post for this new blog. With the numerous weekend premiership matches, mid-week Carling Cup and Champions League matches, and the FA Cup coming soon, this blog I forsee, will be extremely active and exciting.

Two, it represents where Chelsea is on the table right now.. top of the league with the Gunners smelling our asses. Incidentally we're top of our group in the Champions League as well.

Three, it means that we, Chelsea FC, are the Number One club in the entire world. As the WWF legend the Nature Boy Ric Flair once said: To be da man (Woo) You've gotta beat da man. As our stats show, currently we do not know the meaning of defeat (except to Man City).

Alright, the next game on Saturday is against Charlton. We were thumped badly last season by them but I do not forsee any problems, though being an away game. Players have been rested and rotated and boosted by the return of Didier Drogba, it should be a walk in the park for us.

If ya smell, what Jose Mourinho is cooking.