I think we can all agree we have had it rough so far this season. From being outstanding in games such as Bolton away to being ripped apart by Arsenal at home, it comes as no surprise that the media have had a field day.

It’s something we have to accept these days and is something we are only too aware of. A bad performance or result and there is pressure on the team and more so the manager. If things do not improve in the next game it builds and builds almost into a frenzy.

I was delighted with AVB’s comments after Valencia and the fantastic performance that saw us top the group and qualify for the round of 16. After stating that he felt the press had gone “Over the top” with their treatment of Chelsea and him in particular he added:

Isn’t that just brilliant from AVB!. To the point, justified and eloquent as usual.

So what of all the negativity that has surrounded the club recently. It’s been hard because performances hadn’t been good enough. Every single one of us had an opinion on things and could see what was going wrong. Through it all our manager has expressed his determination to work with the players, to work harder to put things right and stamp out errors that had cost us important points. At this point we looked like a shadow of ourselves, we are not used to seeing Chelsea concede so many soft goals.

To AVB and the players’ credit in the last two games, they have done exactly as AVB has stated they would do. There seems to be a real togetherness about the squad again and our confidence has come back.

We have scored 9 goals and have kept three clean sheets in the last two Premier League games and against Valencia and there are real signs that we could go on a run of games now to fight our way back to the top of the league.

There is no question we have suffered this season but looking like we are coming out the other side, I am just wondering “Has those bad times made us stronger?”

 

Please note : the views in many of our blogs are written by fans of Chelsea FC and are not necessarily the views of the club