‘Disappointed’ is a word I would use to describe the first half of the season for Chelsea.
Optimistic is how I feel about the second half.
And why shouldn’t I? We have plenty to be optimistic about. Guus Hiddink was a huge success in his first stint as interim manager in 2009, and there is no reason he can’t replicate previous success now, with an even better squad.
Since Mourinho’s departure, our beloved Blues’ are five games unbeaten: something that hadn’t been achieved since last season.
We are finally playing attractive football, and results are actually starting to look a bit better on paper.
But as fans of one of the biggest clubs in the world, we demand more. We demand more because we know our team is capable of more. We remember the dizzying heights our team reached last season, and we want to reach even higher.
Unfortunately, this season seems lost. Lost in an abyss of poor results, poor fortune, and players that, at one stage, barely seemed interested in pulling on the famous Blue shirt.
However, the tables are turning, and a push for Europe in the second half of the season suddenly doesn’t seem quite so ridiculous.
PSG will be fearing us in the Champions League as it is. We have the better squad, we beat them two years ago, and were unlucky last year. With a new manager and added fire in the players’, a shot at the Champions League trophy for the second time in our history seems a realistic route into elite European football again next year.
Our boys seem interested again, too. Willian is scoring naturally, John Obi Mikel looks like the solid holding midfielder he was when we first sign him in 2006, and even Branislav Ivanovic is looking more solid.
We are conceding less and scoring more: the key to success. Under Guus, we seem revitalised. We seem capable of reaching the heights of success that seemed so distant against Leicester City in mid-December. Back then, we looked like Premier League new boys, not veterans of England’s top tier.
We have the players, the backroom staff, the know-how and the support to better the record that we have agonisingly endured so far this season. We have stuck with our players, and they are final giving back.
I remember thinking, “things can’t get much worse.” They haven’t. Our flair, passion, desire, all the things that make us great, are being introduced once again by one of the most underrated, undervalued members of our team.
The season will push on, points will be won and lost, but such is the life of a Premier League club. I predict clubs like Leicester and Arsenal will fall off the pace like the latter does every single season which will give us an opportunity to make ground.
