The Man in The Shed 22nd March 2022 – Retire the shirt ? Standing in the Shed watching The Blues rolling over Lille I couldn’t help but ponder how to solve a long-term Chelsea problem – one that goes back many years. How to fix the curse of the number nine shirt ? In the Abramovich era Chelsea have spent millions of pounds on a variety of centre forwards. The moment they choose to wear that number nine jersey it seems that is the kiss of death to their career. Romelu Lukaku is just the latest to appear to have succumbed to the curse. After a reasonable start he has looked seriously off the pace since returning from injury. OK, we have to factor in “that” interview in Italy but it may require his exit before we really know what was has been going on. The latest outburst from the press about those seven touches against Palace may be the source of the criticism but to be honest, watching the big Belgian even when he first joined us, I was thinking that he wasn’t chasing around much o...