Stamford Bridge, a fairly small-looking ground with little
character and zero atmosphere generated by the home crowd. Now, I know there
are no prizes or points for having the best fans, nor is there a relegation
get-out clause for singing the loudest, but I think the traveling Jacks would
put a good case together if there were! It really is disappointing to go to the
likes of Chelsea and witness 40,000 home supporters on their butts saying naff
all.
Before the game we went to The Mitre, a great little pub
which used to be my local when I worked in Fulham. We were the only Swans
supporters amongst plenty of Chelsea but the atmosphere was friendly and we had
a decent chat with some of their supporters.
The ground itself is in a really weird location, where all
the fans seem to have to bottleneck to get in and out. A policeman’s reply when
asked what would happen in the event of a fire was ‘I don’t know. Run?’ And he
was being remarkably serious.
On the pitch the Swans started well, battling for every
ball, but after 20 minutes Chelsea had most of the possession and it was really
only a matter of time before they scored. A fine piece of skill by Fernando
Torres gave the Blues a one-nil lead and a second shortly after following some
poor play which lead to a decent break away and finished off by Ramires. It
really does go to show that in this league, one small mistake will be punished.
Next up was Torres’ moment of madness. The man is a genius.
Or not, as the case may be. Why, five minutes before half time, two-nil up, on
the half way line, would you put in such a stupid tackle? Maybe he was
terrified at the possibility of Mark Gower skinning him, and the subsequent
ridicule by all Swans fans and probably Chelsea too? Or perhaps he needed to
get back to the training ground by 4pm in order to master his shooting from the
edge of the six yard box? Who knows? Perhaps you could tell us Fernando?
Anyway, just for being an idiot, get off the pitch. And why exactly the home
crowd thought a potential leg-breaker deserved a round of applause I have no
idea.
The second half saw us having a bit more possession of the
ball in the traditional Swansea way. Granted, Chelsea were down to ten men, but
hey. If Dyer’s deflected effort which hit the bar had gone in, it could have been
a very different game. But it didn’t, so it wasn’t.
We can take some positives from the game, and we did score
our first away goal which will give the team confidence and at least gave the
traveling support something to cheer about (and more to sing about).
Don’t get me wrong, I want the Swans to stay up just as much
as the next person, but I’m a realist too. This was Chelsea, away. No, the
performance was not fantastic, but the likes of Mata and Ramires did a fine job
of snubbing out our midfield, which stopped us playing. A lot of Swans fans
often complain that we are not given enough credit by the opposition when we
win at home. Usually we’ve outclassed a team and their manager comes out and
says ‘we were awful today’ when in fact it was us that made them look awful.
Today, Chelsea controlled the game and didn’t allow us to play, even when down
to ten men.
Ah well, we should be too despondent about this result or
performance. We don’t need to win games like this to stay up. Besides, we did
sing the loudest. Do we win a prize?
Next up at the Liberty, Stoke City. It going to be an incredibly tough game against a strong, physical side. Let's hope we can get three points and avoid any more potential leg-breaking tackles.
Jack
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