The Man in The Shed © Dylan Martinez/Reuters 25th January 2020 – Hull
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The Man in The Shed © Bob Thomas Sports Photography 6th January 2020 – Retro Much of the lead up to this game (from a Chelsea fan perspective) was the 1970 retro kit. As a man of a certain age I could remember watching the 1970 cup final on TV so to realise that 50 years had passed since our first FA Cup win was a sobering thought. Checking out the kit in the shop before the game I liked the very subtle sponsor logos (barely visible from a distance) to keep to the retro theme but I just wished it had come with a 1970 price ! The more prominent publicity was for the mental health video which was shown before the game – whilst agreeing with the continued positive publicity I was just sad that you couldn’t really hear the messages in the ground. The manager had named a very strong team (unlike the Carabao cup sides) although there were still 9 changes from the last game. Forest included former Premier League players Dawson and Jenkinson in their defenc...
The Man in The Shed © Dylan Martinez/Reuters 1 st January 2020 – Rocked in Brighton A new year, a new decade and for most football fans – new hopes. The cloud of smoke which apparently obscured last night’s London firework display seemed to have blown down to the south coast for the early kick-off. It was a cold and misty day and I was glad to be sitting with a hot coffee in the comfort of my own home for once. Yet again the teamsheet had only a couple of changes with James and Pulisic back in the team. The first few minutes were fairly uneventful before both teams created a chance. Then a Chelsea corner was headed back by Zouma to Abraham to shoot and Dave taps in the rebound. It has been really obvious in the last few games how much more aggressive Azpilicueta has become at set pieces and it was paying off. James is a real presence when he plays. Technically adept, providing probing crosses and physically strong. He appears to be like an old sch...
The Man in The Shed 29th December – Back to North London So another game already and another game in London ! Such have been the problems for Arsenal this season that I was struggling mentally to categorise them as still being a top six team. It was yet another game against a team who had just sacked a manager; I was hoping that the “new manager bounce” would not be in evidence today. The Chelsea team was relatively unchanged yet again. You are mentally geared up for 4 or 5 changes each game over the festive period – a nightmare for all of us Fantasy Football players. The main point of note today was tactical with the 3-4-3 formation again being set up. The less said about the first half an hour of the game the better. Whilst the previous away game was all about dominating Spurs this was the exact opposite – with Arsenal seeming to have the upper hand. Yet again Lampard gave up on 3-4-3 to try to wrestle the game back. This meant sacrificing Emerson (who h...