Hey kids! Did you miss the 80s? We’d stream out of Stamford Bridge week after week and hop on the tube having seen Chelsea’s fancy Dans lose dismally to some lowly opposition.
The hair was longer, the burgers were cheaper and Commodore sponsored the shirts… but it feels like back to the future.
The Blues can’t win for toffee, the manager is under siege, and fans gaze in disbelief at a table showing the team just above the drop zone.
We’ll be fourth by December, predicted Jose Mourinho after the 3-1 home defeat by Southampton. Yeah, and Nostradamus said the world would end in 1999.
No team lying 16th at this stage of a Premier League season has yet managed fifth by the end. Chelsea are simply awful. No spark, no flair, no pace, no belief, no hope.
And yet. If defeat to Saints is the turning point, and Chelsea start building patiently from the back again, keeping clean sheets and turning possession into goals, fans may still look back on this dismal spell and laugh about it.
Jose was bullish in the teeth of criticism, ruling out resignation hours before Dick Advocaat and Brendan Rodgers bit the dust at Sunderland and Liverpool.
Jose is paid a fortune to manage. The three league titles he has won for the Blues earn him respect, and the right to resurrect this season, reviving confidence at the back.
The players trust him, the fans trust him, and Roman Abramovich, gazing down from on high, knows nobody’s better.
If the team need inspiration, they only need look at Chelsea Ladies, who have added the league title to the FA Cup they lifted in August.
Their 4-0 clinching victory over Sunderland was watched by John Terry.
Villa visit the Bridge after the international break. The Blues have beaten them home and away twice in three seasons. It can be the springboard.
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