Media vilification oozes anti-Blues statement

[BlueLion. 21,491]

When Branislav Ivanovic scored from a blatantly offside position during Saturday's deserved 2-1 win over Wigan Athletic, it was Chelsea Football Club and not the match officials that took the full brunt of the inevitable media backlash.

Rather than focusing on what was - on the balance of play - a warranted haul of three points in the side's quest for Premier League redemption, the media had a field-day of a refereeing gaffe that could potentially resign poor old Wigan to the Championship. Supposedly, the Latics were robbed of a result, and it was some sort of great injustice that suggests the Premier League big-boys get everything their own way.

Bullshit.

Quite conveniently, the mainstream media made no mention whatsoever of a blatant penalty that Chelsea were denied in the second half. Furthermore, the various match reports imply that Chelsea were incredibly fortunate in their victory as their breakthrough was awarded to them only by refereeing incompetency. In some respects that is not far wide of the mark, but the Blues absolutely dominated their opponents and but for inspired goalkeeping by Ali al-Habsi, a repeat of previous six- and eight-goal thrashings inflicted on the northerners would not have been impossible.

Ivanovic was offside, that much is clear. But let's not make a massive thing of it, because in comparison to another blunder of gargantuan proportions at Old Trafford yesterday, it looks a great decision. Manchester United got their customary penalty as an offside Ashley Young went to ground under no pressure whatsoever. Shaun Derry was red-carded and the rest was a formality as the Red Devils took a massive stride towards Title Twenty. If the linesman does his job, there is no penalty, the red card stays in Lee Mason's back-pocket and a resurgent QPR have half a chance of a result against a United side that flatters to deceive. United will win the title this season, that is without question - but only because their competition consists of the weakest Arsenal and Chelsea sides in a decade and a Manchester City side that should be renamed Bottlers F.C.

Of course that does not mean I am trying to vindicate the Ivanovic offside call, but what goes around comes around. We've seen it time and time again; things even themselves out on a football pitch over the course of not just a season, but in three or four games, or in the case of this particular match; inside 90 minutes. No stone-wall penalty? No problem, we'll take the offside goal instead.

The repercussion are unfair on Wigan, but ultimately, this is football. They fought valiantly and with tremendous spirit. Diame's equaliser was an absolute stunner and a reflection in the scoreline was a fair representation of an impressive performance from a side battling to beat the drop. But let's drop the pretence that Chelsea Football Club and its players are the spawn of Satan. It was the officials that fucked up, and let's be fair - it's not as if that Ivanovic chance was the only opportunity the Blues had to open the scoring. It is just unfortunate for them that that moment was the one where the deadlock was broken.

Recent performances have been sub-standard from Roberto di Matteo's point-of-view. The intensity that we witnessed in the Italian Job against Napoli has rarely been replicated as injury and fatigue have caught up with Chelsea and its exhaustive fight on three fronts. For the match against the Latics, stalwarts John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole were all missing, whilst Daniel Sturridge and David Luiz featured despite being some distance from full fitness.

But any suggestion that they were effectively handed this result in a shiny box with a ribbon is merely the product of bitterness. The recent rise of Chelsea Football Club over the last decade or so has knocked noses out of joint, and people don't like it. The same can be said of moneybags Manchester City. Any chance the media has, and it will bastardise the new kid on the block without hesitation or remorse - which brings me back to my first point.

Why do Chelsea cop the blame? If Ivanovic thought he was offside, he wouldn't merely just kick the ball wide in a sense of sportsmanship. He'd chance his arm, put the ball in the back of the net and hope the assistant referee on the far side is visually impaired. What I don't understand is a player like Luis Suarez can be congratulated for being 'clever' for going down like he's had his legs cut from underneath him to win a dubious penalty, yet a Chelsea player does anything of the sort and the whole world takes to arms in light of a stunning injustice.

United get jammy decisions and no-one bats an eyelid. QPR were just 'unfortunate'; there was no sense of robbery at Old Trafford.

And as for the idiots who thought Juan Mata was offside for the winning goal - he wasn't. When Fernando Torres hit that volley, it took a deflection. If the ball had have hit the post and bounced in off Mata without Maynor Figueroa's slight intervention, the flag would surely have been raised. Yet the fact that the ball came off the Wigan player meant that at the moment of the deflection, Mata was in line with the last defender and his outstretched leg. Legitimate goal.

Yet rather than this being a complaint of sorts, I've actually quite enjoyed the barrage of abuse from opposition supporters. The funny thing is I had not one complaint from Wigan supporters; rather it was United supporters with a clearly cruel sense of hypocritical humour and Liverpool fans who feel the need to slag off other sides to remove the spotlight from King Kenny's crumbling regime. I wonder how the view is from down there.

Feeling riled, are we? Now think how Chelsea supporters felt against Barcelona in 2009, when we were robbed in what was the greatest injustice in modern football. Or how about Anfield, 2005? Surely that ranks a close second.

All the luck went Barcelona's way on that fateful night at Stamford Bridge; every last ounce of it. Liverpool too were the beneficiaries of incomprehensible good fortune in scoring a goal that didn't even cross the fucking line. This time around, it seems the footballing Gods are smiling on di Matteo and his charges, and with good fortune buoying resolve amongst the West London outfit at present, the thought of fucking teams over in such a fashion is a highly-appealing sentiment. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

The media see it differently, of course. The anti-Chelsea statement is as strong as it has ever been. Whilst fans of other English sides will happily admit to being behind the Blues now they are the Premier League's sole representative in European competition, the media - who have, all season long, revelled in our inconsistency and ability to self-destruct time and time again - are unable to recognise the efforts and endeavours of this club. Chelsea are the scum of the earth no matter the situation.

Yet the fact of the matter is this club revels in adversity. The more the odds are stacked against us, the greater the incentive to succeed. Victory tastes all the more sweeter when the media are seething. So if you truly despise the club and you enjoy basking in our misery, you would do well to take note of this wonderful habit the club possesses in making boisterous journalists look rather silly!

Any opportunity to bash Chelsea, and these pathetic parasites will bite. How some of the garbage they spawn constitutes professional journalism in the eyes of their editors is beyond me. Regardless, we are proud of our history and these moments of defiance are what will win us moral victory after moral victory come the end of the season. Every point we take is a middle finger in the face of the mainstream media, and boy, it feels good.

You have written off the players, the manager, the board and even the bottomless pockets of the owner. You have written off the supporters and discredited a respectable trophy haul. You said fourth place was beyond the egos, yet the resolve of the players has never been more apparent. You waved away any thought of an impossible comeback against Napoli, and we proved you wrong. Now you say we do not deserve Champions League football and that Barcelona will teach us a lesson.

Maybe you are right - but we will go down fighting.

Sometimes people just don't learn.

[Justin_3d 1,140]

I don't agree with the report.

And :

Quite conveniently, the mainstream media made no mention whatsoever of a blatant penalty that Chelsea were denied in the second half. Furthermore, the various match reports imply that Chelsea were incredibly fortunate in their victory as their breakthrough was awarded to them only by refereeing incompetency. In some respects that is not far wide of the mark, but the Blues absolutely dominated their opponents and but for inspired goalkeeping by Ali al-Habsi, a repeat of previous six- and eight-goal thrashings inflicted on the northerners would not have been impossible.

Sounds about similar what a Barcelona fan would say to justify the help of a ref.

[OneMoSalah 8,609]

Remember the two dodgy penalties United got at the Bridge in the 3-3 game and then the two awful non-existent offside decisions that should of been for Smalling's header and when Nani first touched the ball at Old Trafford before scoring in the 3-1 game? Then remember when Bosingwa got sent off for having his shirt pulled at QPR as well? Referees being bias to us.... really do some journalists and opposing teams fans think this...? Put this in perspective, the United penalty yesterday was fucking pathetic too AND they weren't ridiculed for it by the media, plus Andy Carrolls dive.. media briefly mentioned it but mentioned Carroll's reaction when subbed later more but still when we get 2 offside goals they want to gurn their arses off.. totally sick of it.

Anyway all Spurs and Liverpool fans can shut the fuck up supposing they are just cup teams! Lol

Really good article by the way!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

What don't you agree on?

As for the point you highlighted. We had plenty of golden opportunities, just so happens the one we finally took happened to be offside. Whether that sounds like a Barcelona fan or not, it's a fact. We warranted the lead and we took it, regardless of the referee's decision. As I said, you don't just pass an opportunity up just because it is offside.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Remember the two dodgy penalties United got at the Bridge in the 3-3 game and then the two awful non-existent offside decisions that should of been for Smalling's header and when Nani first touched the ball at Old Trafford before scoring in the 3-1 game? Then remember when Bosingwa got sent off for having his shirt pulled at QPR as well? Referees being bias to us.... really do some journalists and opposing teams fans think this...? Put this in perspective, the United penalty yesterday was fucking pathetic too AND they weren't ridiculed for it by the media, plus Andy Carrolls dive.. media briefly mentioned it but mentioned Carroll's reaction when subbed later more but still when we get 2 offside goals they want to gurn their arses off.. totally sick of it.

Anyway all Spurs and Liverpool fans can shut the fuck up supposing they are just cup teams! Lol

Really good article by the way!

Thanks for reading and commenting. And you make a very good point. Things do even themselves out over the course of a season.

[Justin_3d 1,140]

What don't you agree on?

As for the point you highlighted. We had plenty of golden opportunities, just so happens the one we finally took happened to be offside. Whether that sounds like a Barcelona fan or not, it's a fact. We warranted the lead and we took it, regardless of the referee's decision. As I said, you don't just pass an opportunity up just because it is offside.

I don't agree on the media thing.

For me media has been spot on for a while.

Their judgement does not comes from one or two games, but for an overall period of time.

They know that Roman is a trigger happy owner.

They know that AVB was a gamble.

They had the right to question all this.

And last, people complaint about Barcelona fans justifying refs help towards their team...yet those same lines i hear it over and over again, but not just from Barca fans, United fans, Liverpool fans, Arsenal fans etc etc.

[Strike 6,957]

Great article

[ulsterchelsea 3,213]

I detest in general the media but i think every clubs supporters believe that the media hate them and are out to 'get them'.....possibly even manure

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Thanks for reading and commenting!

[Strike 6,957]

i hate how the media thinks that Chelsea is the bully in the playground