Die Like The Rest

It is too early in the season to get cocky. But I can't help but laugh at the misfortunes of the others: Man U's draw and Arsenal's loss. Winning 2-0 is a comfortable victory in my opinion. The crazy international week before this, which resulted in a handful of doubtful players due to injuries and fatigue, had always been a problem for Chelsea in previous seasons. But luckily we were against a bottom club like Sunderland and needed this mini practice game before Anderlecht.

The game itself (especially the 1st half) was not exciting according to the press. They expect Champions to be full of flair and scoring 5-0 every week. But we are not Champions by being full of flair but merely being consistent thoughout the season, and that is what Chelsea had done which is good enough for me. I noticed Jose's gameplan against weaker clubs is always to increase the pace only after the 1st half as the opponent's fitness would have been drained as we tend to be better in that aspect. Jose plays to win the game, not to impress ignorant soccer journalists.

Geremi has great upper body strength and was solid during the 90 minutes. His technique, ball control and vision enabled him to score a great goal. His other goal was quite a while back which was actually a crazy long ranged effort. Drogba scored with his preferred way.. his head. He has a very powerful physical presence and was very quick on and off the ball. Impressive start to the season so far with 5 goals and with his 2 goals against Cameroon before this match, his confidence is improving greatly. Essien plays the holding midfield role very well and is very strong with the ball. Very much a multi-purpose player just like Geremi.

Against Anderlecht, Del Horno is unlikely to play. So I would expect Crespo to start up front with 2 wingers Duff and Robben, Lampard, Makelele, Essien, Ferreira, Gallas, Carvalho, Terry and Cech.

Subs: Cole, SWP, Drogba, Geremi, Gudjohnsen, Huth, Cudicini