The Man in The Shed

The Man in The Shed © GETTY 23rd October –  Crunch time If you are developing a young team and wanted to measure progress then the perfect test would be to pit them against Ajax – a team renowned across Europe for being a production line for young talent for generations. So this was our big test against last year’s semi-finalists. Lampard stuck with the youngsters again. We were still missing Rudiger and the now injury-prone Kanté so the back four and central midfield pretty much picked itself. Inevitably the first 15 minutes were tough with the home crowd whipping up the atmosphere. A Tomori mistake in midfield was not punished but overall we weathered the storm. As we grew into the game there were good chances for Mount and then Hudson-Odoi but Ajax were first to get the ball in the net. Luckily for us, and by the narrowest of margins, the goal was overruled for offside by VAR. By half time I was genuinely impressed by our performance. ...

The Man in The Shed 19 th October –  Park the bus Whilst the primary concern of most fans in the Premier League is the same return of their players it was a proud moment to see a reward for our young stars. With Tomori and Abraham joining Mount in the England squad it was one shining light amongst a torrent of negativity following the sad scenes in Bulgaria. With much credit  given to the actions of the England manager, his staff and all of the players it was still horrid to watch. The best possible response was of course to win the game (which we did well) but I fully expect to see a paltry punishment to a country already in the dock for racism. It reminded me that whilst far from perfect in this country, we are streets ahead of most other countries when it comes to our attitudes towards all types of diversity. Returning to football, there were several casualties of the Internationals with Christensen and Kanté injured. Giroud must be incredibly frustrated...

The Man in The Shed © Independent 6th October –  South coast blues So after a slow start the team were now building a bit of momentum. With three wins on the trot and a stuttering Southampton to play I was feeling optimistic. A settled back four and Kanté alongside an impressive Jorginho, the side were looking more solid. Hudson-Odoi was picking up where he had left off last season so there was plenty to be happy about. With goals from Abraham and Mount in the first half hour it was starting to look like the Wolves game until we conceded a very weak Ings goal. Undeterred, the team remained on the front foot and a wickedly deflected Kanté shot gave us a 3-1 half time lead. Little to shout out in the second half until our two late subs., Pulisic and Batshuayi combined for a late fourth. Strong performances from both Jorginho and Willian in support of the young players. Abraham is now joint top scorer in the league ! Another great away win. Sadly o...

The Man in The Shed © Evening Standard 2nd October – Must not lose Even in my most optimistic moments I would not expect 2019 Chelsea to have a serious chance in the Champions League. Advancing beyond the group stages was a good stretch target for our young team and then it was in the lap of the gods as to whether we get a kind draw or run into one of the “heavyweights” straight away. Following a sobering home loss to Valencia I was anticipating a new challenge with our first away fixture. Whilst Lille are not PSG, there is no easy away game at this level. Another new challenge for the younger players. Buoyed by a couple of wins I would have reckoned that an away draw would be a reasonable result. The manager’s team selection remained loyal to the younger players with starts for James and Tomori alongside Abraham and Mount. No sign of Barkley after “chipgate” (choosing to fill the floor of his taxi with food on a night off and then refusing to compensate the...

The Man in The Shed 28 th September – Time for a league win Having thoroughly enjoyed our first home win of the season it was now time to deliver a home league win. After completing some impressive away performances it was time to redress the balance. Warmed by the glow of positivity surrounding the club right now I had tried to imagine how this “New Chelsea” was being received by the wider football community. I suspect nobody who classed us as the team who “bought” the league in 2005 and then splashed Roman’s cash at every opportunity could quite believe that :        We had appointed an unproven manager        Had given an Englishman a chance         We were using several youth team players        Most of the youth team players were English Of course the $64,000 question that can never be answered is “What would have happened without the transfer ban ?”. Well who cares...

The Man in The Shed © Evening Standard 25 th September – Bring on the boys Such is the change in attitude at the Bridge these days that the idea of watching the youngsters play in the Carabao cup was something worth looking forward to. And by sensibly pricing the game at £10 for a ticket it had attracted a large crowd. With Grimsby having taken up the whole Shed end I was left to find myself a new home for the evening. So here I was, 4 rows from the back of the East stand with a slight dose of vertigo preparing myself for the game. With Caballero, Pedro, Batshuayi and Alonso the “seniors” for the night there were starts for James, Gilmour and Guehi alongside veterans Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi. That was 11 changes to the starting line-up from the previous game ! Once I’d overcome the nosebleed and settled down I realised that it was a pretty good spot to get a real “complete game picture”. You could really see exactly how a game panned out – helped of course by ...

The Man in The Shed 22 nd September – Hello VAR When you are three quarters of the way through September and still awaiting your first home win of the season is it a good thing or a bad thing to have the form team in the league turn up to play ? OK, so we were one penalty short of matching Liverpool in the Super Cup but they had swept all before them ever since. I was finally back in my rightful place – Shed end Upper Gate 8. A chance to watch the new generation first hand. I was delighted to see Tomori in a back four with Emerson, Christensen and Dave with Mount (fit again) and Abraham up front. As kick off approached I was delighted to hear plenty of noise from the home support although there still seemed many empty seats with kick off only minutes away. And then I suddenly feel I had been drawn into a time warp as a large Eden Hazard flag floated across the Matthew Harding Upper. Well we started OK and held or own for the first 14 minutes before concedi...

The Man in The Shed 17 th September – Back in the big time There must have been plenty of butterflies in the dressing room before this game. With many UCL debutants in the squad it was a new dawn. My initial thoughts when the draw was made were that our group was not too bad. Further down the line I was not so sure. OK, we had avoided a “big gun” from the 2 nd pot but both Valencia and last year’s surprise package Ajax, were good quality sides. Valencia had continued a historic trend in sacking their manager - just a few days before the game too (looking at what he had achieved I couldn’t understand why – winning the Copa del Rey and back in the UCL was clearly not enough). So surely tonight was a good time to play them – right ? Yet again I had to make do with the highlights on TV. How could my (less than hectic social life) have gotten in the way again ? Highlights are never the most reliable way to judge a game but it seemed a spark was missing from the B...

The Man in The Shed 14 th September – Muzzle the wild animals Considering our soft centre and an impressive first season back in the EPL for Wolves I was not optimistic about this game. In our favour was that Wolves’ participation in the Europa league seemed to have become a noticeable distraction and their league form had suffered. Having lost Emerson to injury during the international break and Kanté still struggling to stay fit it was reassuring to welcome back Rüdiger for his first start. Lampard seemed to acknowledge Alonso’s frailties in a back four by bringing Tomori into a back three to play 3-5-2. After half an hour’s play I don’t believe anyone (including the scorer) could quite believe it as Tomori’s shot sailed over the keeper and into the net. Followed up by two further Abraham goals before half time and the travelling fans were in ecstasy. The loss of Rüdiger at half time was a worry but the momentum continued after the break as Abraham compl...