By only 1 point!

[Barry Bridges]

I keep hearing this phrase in a lot of the threads as if people here believe it was a fluke we won the league.....well actually I believe it has been expressed (not saying this is the general consensus, but some seem to hold this view) that we didn't "win the league" but rather we acquired the trophy through default by our competition being so bad.

Lets recap this trophy. Was it not won with the most goals in EPL history(most league goals by any European club for the season too!)? Was Chelsea FCs goal differential not the best in EPL history also? Now never mind these weren't the only "good" records our Domestic Double winning club set this season, but do those 2 achievements alone describe a team that was "lucky" to win the season just by one point?

Perhaps we are forgetting other factors here.....maybe....just maybe we only one point due to a combination of some bad luck/unavoidable circumstances and our competitors having some great luck!

Lets look at our bad luck/unavoidable circumstances first. We could (some will say should) of essentially wrapped up the league before Christmas....but we obviously didn't. Now perhaps this is because we had just acquired a brand new manager who was trying to implement his own style/system. Remember how we kept using the diamond? Remember how many points we dropped using it? Remember how we stared dominating teams once we got the 4-3-3 involved in the rotation? Considering we have a world class manager, do you think this will be a reoccuring problem or perhaps just a transitional blip? I'm thinking the latter, Carlo has earned my confidence.

Also, did we not have a tough go in the injury department? We essentially played close to a whole season without one of our most influential mids(arguableY best in the world at their position). We also lost for large parts of the season the best LB in the world, and a person who makes our 4-3-3(and diamond) so deadly with their runs and ability to create/score goals. Also our Right Back Bossy who has proven a world class ability...actually we had a torrid time with injuries(though the media always focused on other clubs bad luck injury runs and not ours from what I saw. Our lads missed a total 307 games, heres a break down.

Games missed due to injury and illness - 307

Bosingwa 44, Hutchinson 41, Essien 30, Alex 21, Deco 20, A Cole 17, Zhirkov 15, Belletti 14, Carvalho 13, Mikel 13, Sturridge 11, J Cole 9, Hilário 9, Bruma 7, Ferreira 7, Ballack 6, Anelka 5, Cech 5, Matić 5, Kalou 4, Ivanovic 3, Lampard 3, Drogba 2, Taylor 2, Borini 1.

I'm not even going to bring up (oops I lied) about what can be described as our "12 man opposition": the media. We had 2 of our most influential players get slaughtered the whole season by the media and their "sheeple". Their class showed them the way through, but it did have an effect.

Now, lets take a look at our oppositions good luck.

The team we beat, only by 1 point!!!!, also had the most own goals(10) in EPL history! Now I went through their fixture list and figured out how many points they won due to OGs (My formula? A win by 1 goal with an OG = 2 points, a draw with a OG = 1 point, a win with an OG that was won by multiple goals = 0 points). Man U claimed 7 points due to OGs alone (2 single goal wins, 3 draws, 5 OGs that didn't effect points ...but may of affected the game). They also got a freebie vs Wolverhampton when Mick McCarthy fielded his reserve squad...I don't blame Mick, he did what was best for his club as any manager should, but it doesn't take the fact away that Man U received a massive advantage to claim 3 points that game.

Now there are other intangibles (bad penalties/late goals/other such dodgy decisions) that I haven't included as we all get those up and downs, however in my opinion I think the "Only by one point" claim is deceptive as to how the season should be judged. You have to expect points being dropped when transitioning a manager into a new club trying a new system with players he had never worked...in a league he has never managed in before! He has learned fast (in 2009 Carlo dropped 15 out of a possible 54 points, 2010 he only dropped 13 out of a possible 60) and I don't expect him to repeat those mistakes that brought us a slow pre-new years start.

Perhaps I'm a bit daft, but when I look at the table I think "Wow, I cant believe we won the league by only 1 point.....it should of been way more!"..... I don't think "OMG, we only won by 1 point? We need to revamp this squad or we're not going to win a thing next season!".....the circumstances just don't show that this a team lacking anything major!

Now I'm not advocating we should do nothing in the transfer window, but I feel a "chicken little the sky is falling syndrome" has set in on some people making them feel all is lost unless we capture some huge singing s. I'm hoping this post/thread will help show people that even if Yossi is our only "impact" signing this window, that we are still in a good position. We played through some tough circumstances and I expect we will claim more points next season (barring the extraordinary again) for reasons I have explained and I don't think our main competitors(Man U) can claim they will catch more points as they have done nothing to strengthen their squad, they really have a bigger problem with the age/form of key players than we do, and I don't think they can expect as many free goals or bank on another game vs a reserve side.

Anyways, just my thoughts..... yours?

[loz]

My overall thought is that I don't give a toss what people say - we won the league and the only disappointing thing is that West Ham weren't relegated, Liverpool finsihed as high as seventh and Tottenham weren't found guilty of smuggling 12 year olds in from Taiwan to save on staff costs.

However in the own goal issue I actually don't think that is a particularly good argument for claiming Man Utd had good luck. OK if a centre half hoofs a ball back to the keeper whilst under no pressure and the keeper does a Bruce Grobelaar impression and drops it into the net then that is certainly good fortune. However the majority of own goals come about through teams buckling under pressure and the very creation of that pressure is not through good luck but by playing well.

[Barn]

Best thread ever award goes to Barry Bridges. There's me basking in the fact that the Brilliant CHELSEA won the double - something no average team has ever done! Whereas people on here as you say seem to buy into the press stories of us winning by default. We won the double people enjoy it while you can.

[topdrog]

However in the own goal issue I actually don't think that is a particularly good argument for claiming Man Utd had good luck. OK if a centre half hoofs a ball back to the keeper whilst under no pressure and the keeper does a Bruce Grobelaar impression and drops it into the net then that is certainly good fortune. However the majority of own goals come about through teams buckling under pressure and the very creation of that pressure is not through good luck but by playing well.

it is a good thing someone started a thread on this :) I am one of the few here who is apparently a 'prick' to think that we should have won the league by more...you've made some good points i must admit but there a couple of arguable ones in there as well. If you look at some of the own goals manu got in their favour, its clear they weren't flukes and that manu were dominating the game and had the other team with their backs to the wall (point made by loz above). Giggs and nani made it sure they drove the ball across the box which is something we dont really do often primarily because we have better aerial threat hence the crosses from our fullbacks. As for the injury aspect, counting injuries of bosingwa (im sure people on here would have second thoughts on having bosingwa back in instead of iva-i doubt bosingwa would have performed better), ferreira (i was actually glad he was absent for those 7 games, he got ripped apart in the few games he even took part in), hutchinson/matic/bruma/borini/taylor (really??), belleti (how many games do you think he actually started even when he was fit). As for injuries to players like alex, carvalho, ballack and mikel we were actually lucky to have them such that we we had cover e.g. when alex was injured-carvalho and vice versa, ballack for mikel or deco and so on! Compare this to manu who practicalliy played three weeks without two centrebacks (they actually started against fulham with fletcher as a cb). The only player we really missed was our bison -essien. Take arsenal, missing fabregas and playing an almost entire season without van persie (they started with arhsavin as a forward). I know you'll come back saying thats down to our squad strength but do bear in mind that this cover was provided by players like belleti, deco, ballack, carvalho(?), j.cole who have now left! Take their experience away in games where we missed our other player e.g ballack towards the end when we were without essien and mikel (against manu, liverpool, spurs and the list goes on). I really do feel most of you need to seriously reasses how much contribution our young players will make this season...i mean ive seen starting lineups here with kakuta, matic, bruma! Do u really think we can cope with next year's madrid, barca, city, milan etc! We have lost invaluable experience and if we want to win anything, we will have to do better than benayoun. I recently saw a repeat of liverpool vs madrid (last yr europa semi) and i can hardly remember benayoun getting a touch before his goal, i lost count of the times he ran straight into a player expecting to go past him..i know you cant judge a player on one game but still; just because he performed well against us in the previous seasons doesnt mean he'll do the same to stoke or madrid! Plus he is aging and will lose his pace which is his key asset.

As for the point about the media crusade against terry and cole, give me a break! Its not just our players who get this. Do you really think media would have left gerrard alone had he slept with glen johnson's wife being the captain! Regarding ashley cole, the guy cheated on nations sweetheart...i know its not fair and media shouldn't really interfere with their personal affairs but unfortunately thats the downside of being a celeb ;)

[Hutch]

i've been saying much the same for some time. particularly in answer to those bitter Manc idiots who will swear blind that we only won the league because of a single refereeing decision, conveniently forgetting all the luck they had (blatant penalties against Man U not given etc) and the times luck went against us, blatant penalties that should have been given, goals against us that came from foul throws and so on.

[topdrog]

And one more thing, we scored 39 goals in 6 games which is 38% of our season's tally. Mind you, this was against teams like portsmouth (were lucky not to have two red cards for elbowing), villa (who admitted to giving up halfway through the game), blackburn at bridge, sunderland, stoke, wigan (last game where again they were down to 10 men after which they simply gave up). Besides, we conceded around 10 more goals compared to our last two seasons!

Dont get me wrong, i was over the moon when we won the double but Im not naive to think we weren't helped by luck such as games against liverpool, manu, portsmouth...

Edited July 20, 2010 by topdrog

[loz]

topdrog

Everyone has luck over the course of a season - sh*t decisons, good decisions, lucky goals, bad decisions by refs etc etc etc. If you are a credible title challenger then your objective is to win the title, it isn't to win it by X points. I find it staggering that a Chelsea fan can look back on last season and say 'OK we won the league but we should have won it by more' - it is like saying 'OK I got lucky with the F1 groupies but I could have done with a big mac and a pint to finish the night off'

Cups can be won with luck but leagues are won by being the best side over the course of a long season.

We are the champions and it doesn't diminish it one iota if we did it by one point or 19 points.

[Hutch]

it is a good thing someone started a thread on this :) I am one of the few here who is apparently a 'prick' to think that we should have won the league by more...you've made some good points i must admit but there a couple of arguable ones in there as well. If you look at some of the own goals manu got in their favour, its clear they weren't flukes and that manu were dominating the game and had the other team with their backs to the wall (point made by loz above). Giggs and nani made it sure they drove the ball across the box which is something we dont really do often primarily because we have better aerial threat hence the crosses from our fullbacks. As for the injury aspect, counting injuries of bosingwa (im sure people on here would have second thoughts on having bosingwa back in instead of iva-i doubt bosingwa would have performed better), ferreira (i was actually glad he was absent for those 7 games, he got ripped apart in the few games he even took part in), hutchinson/matic/bruma/borini/taylor (really??), belleti (how many games do you think he actually started even when he was fit). As for injuries to players like alex, carvalho, ballack and mikel we were actually lucky to have them such that we we had cover e.g. when alex was injured-carvalho and vice versa, ballack for mikel or deco and so on! Compare this to manu who practicalliy played three weeks without two centrebacks (they actually started against fulham with fletcher as a cb). The only player we really missed was our bison -essien. Take arsenal, missing fabregas and playing an almost entire season without van persie (they started with arhsavin as a forward). I know you'll come back saying thats down to our squad strength but do bear in mind that this cover was provided by players like belleti, deco, ballack, carvalho(?), j.cole who have now left! Take their experience away in games where we missed our other player e.g ballack towards the end when we were without essien and mikel (against manu, liverpool, spurs and the list goes on). I really do feel most of you need to seriously reasses how much contribution our young players will make this season...i mean ive seen starting lineups here with kakuta, matic, bruma! Do u really think we can cope with next year's madrid, barca, city, milan etc! We have lost invaluable experience and if we want to win anything, we will have to do better than benayoun. I recently saw a repeat of liverpool vs madrid (last yr europa semi) and i can hardly remember benayoun getting a touch before his goal, i lost count of the times he ran straight into a player expecting to go past him..i know you cant judge a player on one game but still; just because he performed well against us in the previous seasons doesnt mean he'll do the same to stoke or madrid! Plus he is aging and will lose his pace which is his key asset.

As for the point about the media crusade against terry and cole, give me a break! Its not just our players who get this. Do you really think media would have left gerrard alone had he slept with glen johnson's wife being the captain! Regarding ashley cole, the guy cheated on nations sweetheart...i know its not fair and media shouldn't really interfere with their personal affairs but unfortunately thats the downside of being a celeb ;)

i think i need to make it clear that i wasn't agreeing with you - not at all. your last point: do you really think there would have been the unprecedented campaign against Gerrard .. oh for God's sakes here we go again. "with Glen Johnson's WIFE" you say. how many times does it have to be said:

John Terry allegedly slept with his ex-team-mates ex-girlfriend. this was distorted by the media and every other Chelsea-hating muppet in the land, as "JOHN TERRY SLEPT WITH HIS BEST MATE'S WIFE".

in other words, it's garbage, much like the rest of your post.

[topdrog]

Fair enough. To put my view into perspective lets say the linesman had given the blatant offside for the second goal or that wigan hadnt got that harsh red card which opened the flood gates, we would have lost the league by one single point. Now can you honestly tell me you would have then turned around and said that we were the better side throughout the course of the entire season despite losing the legaue. In other words, one single game could have decided the eventual champion despite all the chances we had of wrapping up the league up with all the injuries to manu before christmas.

[topdrog]

i think i need to make it clear that i wasn't agreeing with you - not at all. your last point: do you really think there would have been the unprecedented campaign against Gerrard .. oh for God's sakes here we go again. "with Glen Johnson's WIFE" you say. how many times does it have to be said:

John Terry allegedly slept with his ex-team-mates ex-girlfriend. this was distorted by the media and every other Chelsea-hating muppet in the land, as "JOHN TERRY SLEPT WITH HIS BEST MATE'S WIFE".

wow, he was the captain of the national team ffs at that time. Lets make it easy for you, bridge would have shared the dressing room with terry at the world cup!!! I just dont get all this hype about these overpaid prima donnas who think they can do anything they want (im talking about most football players here, not just chelsea ones). If i was a liverpool supporter, i would have openly condemned gerrard had he done such a thing! I support the club who pay these players...im not obliged to support their every feckin action lilke you do! Let me guess, you thought terry criticizing the club over the j.cole saga was right amongst all the bs he came up against capello in that press conference!

Edited July 20, 2010 by topdrog

[loz]

Fair enough. To put my view into perspective lets say the linesman had given the blatant offside for the second goal or that wigan hadnt got that harsh red card which opened the flood gates, we would have lost the league by one single point. Now can you honestly tell me you would have then turned around and said that we were the better side throughout the course of the entire season despite losing the legaue. In other words, one single game could have decided the eventual champion despite all the chances we had of wrapping up the league up with all the injuries to manu before christmas.

In the same game Man Utd were given a goal that shouldnt have been given.

One single game never does and never will decide a league because the league is won based on points won. Three points won on the last day of the season is worth no more than three points won on the first day of the season.

[ws6blue]

a win is a win as they say.....................biggest contrbutor was beating the top 3 (so called) home and away..........oh & a fair amount of pens in our favour

the big wins were easy, but we had some battling wins too, like stoke away in last 2nd - I can remember that malouda goal celebration!

only slight downside for me were the losses at wigan, mancity, everton and spurs when we didn't turn up - now if we could iron out the reasons for that!

carlo will get better now he knows the PL

last point - imagine beating arsel 2-0 & 3-0, scouse 2-0 twice, & mancs twice - best I can remember

[loz]

wow, he was the captain of the national team ffs at that time. Lets make it easy for you, bridge would have shared the dressing room with terry at the world cup!!! I just dont get all this hype about these overpaid prima donnas who think they can do anything they want (im talking about most football players here, not just chelsea ones). If i was a liverpool supporter, i would have openly condemned gerrard had he done such a thing! I support the club who pay these players...im not obliged to support their every feckin action!

Why do you care about their every action? Are you a football fan or a relationship counsellor. When it comes to personal lives footballers are entitled to do whatever they like just as you and I are. I am entitled to shag whoever I like behind my wife's back without losing my job for it. I am a prick for treating my wife that way and I deserve everything she throws at me but what business is it of people I have never met and, more importantly, why do they care? Aren't all our lives busy and complicated enough without worrying or caring about what people we will never know are up to?

[Hutch]

wow, he was the captain of the national team ffs at that time. Lets make it easy for you, bridge would have shared the dressing room with terry at the world cup!!! I just dont get all this hype about these overpaid prima donnas who think they can do anything they want (im talking about most football players here, not just chelsea ones). If i was a liverpool supporter, i would have openly condemned gerrard had he done such a thing! I support the club who pay these players...im not obliged to support their every feckin action!

so?

it seems we have to go through this whole tired argument all over again? it would seem so.

- Wayne Bridge had no problem being in the same squad as John Terry before the story hit the press

- the story was immediately distorted, the phrase "slept with his best friend's wife" being used as often as possible.

- condemnation is one thing. this was an unprecedented media campaign that undeniably affected John Terry's form.

- the press conveniently overlooked the fact that Vanessa Perroncel was Eidur Gudjohnsen's girlfriend before she was Wayne Bridge's/

- the press conveniently and repeatedly neglected to report that Vanessa Perroncel denied that any affair ever took place.

and yet LOVE RAT JOHN TERRY SLEPT WITH BEST FRIEND'S WIFE was plastered all over the front and back pages for months.

do you honestly think that Steven Gerrard would have suffered the same level of treatment in the media had it been him and an ex-Liverpool player's ex-girlfriend?

if you do you're a fool.

[topdrog]

In the same game Man Utd were given a goal that shouldnt have been given.

One single game never does and never will decide a league because the league is won based on points won.

You're contradicting yourself :). One single game did eventually decide the final outcome since we had to win due to the difference between manu and us being only one point going into the final game! Never once did i say winning the last game was more important than the first one but it did prove to be more crucial since we didnt take our chances of wrapping the league with games to go :) I'll say it again, had things not gone our way on 9th May, that last day would have decided the title...

[loz]

But the point you are missing is that if we had lost game X 16 weeks earlier then we would have had three points less so you could argue that that game effectively decided the title since effectively we needed those three points to win the title.

[Hutch]

You're contradicting yourself :). One single game did eventually decide the final outcome since we had to win due to the difference between manu and us being only one point going into the final game! Never once did i say winning the last game was more important than the first one but it did prove to be more crucial since we didnt take our chances of wrapping the league with games to go :) I'll say it again, had things not gone our way on 9th May, that last day would have decided the title...

yeah and if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle. if we hadn't had a bad run of form after the ANC we'd have been streets ahead. it's all if's and's and but's and in the end it's all irrelevant except for the fact that over a 38 game season we finished with more points than any other team. we also had a higher goal difference, goal average and overall goal count, meaning that even if we were level on points we would have still won the league.

[topdrog]

so?

it seems we have to go through this whole tired argument all over again? it would seem so.

- Wayne Bridge had no problem being in the same squad as John Terry before the story hit the press

- the story was immediately distorted, the phrase "slept with his best friend's wife" being used as often as possible.

- condemnation is one thing. this was an unprecedented media campaign that undeniably affected John Terry's form.

- the press conveniently overlooked the fact that Vanessa Perroncel was Eidur Gudjohnsen's girlfriend before she was Wayne Bridge's/

- the press conveniently and repeatedly neglected to report that Vanessa Perroncel denied that any affair ever took place.

and yet LOVE RAT JOHN TERRY SLEPT WITH BEST FRIEND'S WIFE was plastered all over the front and back pages for months.

do you honestly think that Steven Gerrard would have suffered the same level of treatment in the media had it been him and an ex-Liverpool player's ex-girlfriend?

If that ex player would have been in the england squad, yes i do think it would have been the same! If you think all that was just rumours (and you actually believe her coming out with that denial was after the reported payment by terry was just a coincidence), then m8 you're the fool! btw, never got to read what you think of his criticism of the club! Oh and do you mind explaining the video where your beloved terry was seen taking payments for special tours of the bridge! He is a great captain and leader on the pitch, was our best defender but never never has been and never will be a leader/role model off the pitch...sorry to burst your bubble!

Edited July 20, 2010 by topdrog

[topdrog]

But the point you are missing is that if we had lost game X 16 weeks earlier then we would have had three points less so you could argue that that game effectively decided the title since effectively we needed those three points to win the title.

And that exactly is what i am arguing! The point is we did lose these game X's (6 in fact, record for a title winning team) so they could have all decided the title had we not had luck on our side in games against manu (home and away), liverpool, portsmouth!

[Hutch]

If that ex player would have been in the england squad, yes i do think it would have been the same! If you think all that was just rumours (and you actually believe her coming out with that denial was after the reported payment by terry), then m8 you're the fool! btw, never got to read what you think of his criticism of the club! Oh and do you mind explaining the video where your beloved terry was seen taking payments for special tours of the bridge! He is a great captain and leader on the pitch, was our best defender but never never has been and never will be a leader/role model off the pitch...sorry to burst your bubble!

you miss the point entirely. the fact is the way the media laid it on as thick as they could, never mind the facts of the case. the "reported payment by terry"? file that with the "reported abortion".

and now you want to attack my attitude to John Terry. "my beloved Terry" you say. I don't have to be John Terry's biggest fan, in fact i'm not, to recognise the inordenate and unprecedented level of malice that was behind that particular media campaign.

similarly with Ashley Cole. The Sun deletes in reporting that he was booed at Sol Cambell's wedding. The Sun also delights in publishing his school report cards to prove what a bad bad boy he is.

your initial point implied that our players, in particular John Terry and Ashley Cole, get no better and no worse treatment than the players of any other team. to contest this does not mean i believe the sun shines out of anyone's arse. it does mean i believe the press to be a bunch of scumbags, and that there is an ant-Chelsea bias.

no way would Steven Gerrard have been given the same kind of treatment under similar circumstances.

[topdrog]

ummmm still waiting for what you think of his criticism of the club over the j.cole saga (and no my dear friend this is not just made up b.s, he said this live on air) and the video clip (and no it wasn't photoshopped)

[loz]

And that exactly is what i am arguing! The point is we did lose these game X's (6 in fact, record for a title winning team) so they could have all decided the title had we not had luck on our side in games against manu (home and away), liverpool, portsmouth!

So all of those games could have decided the title - surely then all the games we won could have decided the title. Just as the game where Utd had luck could have decided the title and the games where they didn't could have decided the title.

So it isn't actually one game is it.

[topdrog]

The Sun deletes in reporting that he was booed at Sol Cambell's wedding.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/3059153/Crowds-boo-Ashley-Cole-at-Sol-Campbells-wedding.html :)

Just to make it clear, i dont support what the press do either (the school card reports were simple diabolical); they are scumbags in their own rights!

[topdrog]

So all of those games could have decided the title - surely then all the games we won could have decided the title. Just as the game where Utd had luck could have decided the title and the games where they didn't could have decided the title.

So it isn't actually one game is it.

lol, back to square one! Im sure you'll agree the title was too close to call right?

[loz]

Yes it was too close to call. Where we disagree is this idea that one game decided it.