Bouncing Back

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Even the most ardent of Chelsea supporters would have found it difficult to deny that Wigan deserved their victory on Saturday. And as Paul Scharner slid in to convert a low cross from Maynor Figueroa, you just have to think of the implications this may have on the Blues' title chances this season. True enough they have had a fantastic start, but this defeat will be a hard pill to swallow for Ancelotti's troops, who before Petr Cech's sending off at the DW Stadium seemed as invincible as José Mourinho's side did during the start of his reign of Stamford Bridge.

Did Chelsea play that badly? In truth, yes, they were poor. The passing was sloppy and big names - Michael Essien and Frank Lampard in particular - were below-par. It is unfair to single out the two midfielders when in reality there were few positives to take from the performance, but if ever Chelsea needed a rude awakening, they have certainly been dealt it. They were lucky against Hull; Drogba's fluke chip earning them all three points. 5 minutes added-on time meant Florent Malouda had the chance to win the game for Chelsea, which he duly took. On another day, Chelsea drop two points. The Blues have been lucky so far this season, and that makes the defeat at Wigan all the harder to digest.

When you analyse the key moments of the game, you realise that on another day the Blues could have won quite comfortably. Poor defending led to Bramble's opening goal; a fully-fit Michael Ballack would definitely have given Chelsea the additional height they were clearly lacking when defending Wigan corners. Chris Kirkland's save from John Terry's close-range effort, Michael Essien's well-saved volley, a ridiculous penalty decision - on another day, these key moments could go the way of the Blues. But in truth, we have been beaten fair and square.

Though the defeat has cost the Blues their position at the top of the Premier League, with Manchester United now sitting in first place by the benefit of a slightly superior goal difference, it is how Chelsea bounce back that will define just how strong they are. Chelsea have suffered painful defeats before and bounced back to show their quality. Last season, for example, just days after being beaten by Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, the Blues, under the tutelage of Luiz Felipe Scolari, went to Hull and beat them 3-0 before thrashing Sunderland 5-0 the following weekend. That was the response of Champions, and though the Blues went on to suffer painful defeats against Burnley and Arsenal during November, the club finished the season strongly and ended up with the FA Cup.

But under Ancelotti, would the FA Cup be good enough? A manager with top-class European pedigree, Ancelotti has lifted the Champions League trophy twice with AC Milan and only a Jerzy Dudek penalty save denied him the trophy in 2005 in Istanbul; Liverpool's finest European hour. Ancelotti's introduction to English football has been a revolution in itself; the Italian has formed Chelsea into a winning machine, and Saturday's blip at Wigan is something few of us will remember should the Blues go on to win a major competition this season.

We will see just how good Chelsea are over the next couple of days. Though they are relatively unheard of, APOEL Nicosia, the Champions of Cyprus, are very strong at their home ground, the Stadium GSP. Following the long round trip to face the Cypriot champions, Liverpool are the visitors on Sunday the 4th of October in what is the biggest game of the season so far for Chelsea and its supporters. The Blues have beaten Manchester United in the Community Shield and won London derbies against Fulham, Tottenham and Queens Park Rangers, but in Liverpool, Chelsea face an in-form, free-scoring team who drubbed Hull City 6-1 at Anfield on Saturday. Fernando Torres scored a hat-trick; his sixth, seventh and eighth goals of the season, and with a knack of scoring against the Blues, both John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho will need to be at their best.

The manager will be asking for an immediate response, and with a Champions League match on Wednesday there is no better opportunity to improve morale heading into the crunch clash with Liverpool. People will be considering it a case of 'how many' - and this is a suicidal underestimation of APOEL. This will be their first ever Champions League home fixture; their crowd will be fully behind them. It is a proud moment for Cypriot football and the nation will be supporting them. A 1-0 victory would be a very, very good result for Chelsea - three points is necessary with Atletico and Porto also facing each other. Three points would also do well to remedy Saturday's disappointments, and make sure the supporters have something to shout about after an embarrassing defeat.

Is the result harsh on Chelsea? No, Wigan were deserving of the win. The fact of the matter is that Chelsea have lost one game; their are 31 more Premier League matches this season, and a strong response over the next week will underline whatever credentials the team have. Chelsea want to win a trophy this season. We'll see just how likely they are in achieving that with how well they bounce back.

Keep the faith.

[Laylabelle 9,534]

Spot on!

Its September!

Its one loss and like said Wigan deserved it.We're generally shit against Wigan so on well! I dont think its embrassing not really.One goal was a pen the other when we had 9 men and Wigan arent a bad side.Their our boogey team.

We should bounce back.We did after the pain of Barca so a repeat of that.Wont be easy but hey ho.Lets get going again!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

On the contrary, as much of a fan of Wigan and Martinez as I am, I do think that for a club like us to lose to them is an embarrassing defeat; especially in the manner we lost through a generally poor performance. This is the kick up the arse we need.

[Laylabelle 9,534]

And just in time for Liverpool.Rather loose to Wigan then them.We've needed a kick for a while,been v jammy and its come at a pretty good time

[Term-X 7,891]

ancelotti should post a future champions league top 4 spot in the dressing room..

Man-utd

Man-city

Liverpool

Arsenal

Chelsea

see if that motivates them.

although like i said in the previous thread, if we lose the Liverpool game Ferguson's lifting the trophy yet again.. and Ancelotti's gonna be Italy manager by the end of the year.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Wow, so much optimism. United had a shocking start to the season last campaign yet they steamrollered to the finish line.

[Kez 2,727]

Makes me laugh we've lost one game and most people think its the end of the world.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I know, its absolutely pathetic.

[Badboy 1,526]

ancelotti should post a future champions league top 4 spot in the dressing room..

Man-utd

Man-city

Liverpool

Arsenal

Chelsea

see if that motivates them.

although like i said in the previous thread, if we lose the Liverpool game Ferguson's lifting the trophy yet again.. and Ancelotti's gonna be Italy manager by the end of the year.

I dont think the players are that dumb to fall for that one !

[Ollie 4,400]

Man Utd have had an identicle start as they have also lost to a bottom 3-6 team. They have bounced back exceptionally since losing to Burnley which was a bigger shock than what happened yesterday. We just have to show some bottle and beat the other members of the big 4 and Man City and change last seasons big match shit around.

We have 24 points to pick up from Man Utd, Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal. This will decide our destiny as every 3 points we get, the opponents get none so they are all 6 pointers.

Current Position of this latest Crisis = Joint Top

[Laylabelle 9,534]

We loose against Liverpool...means nothing!Except that we loose our lead.Sorry its September/October and who knows those two games could be the last 2 we lose.

Mean year we won the title didnt we loose to Fullham and Boro by stupidly large scorelines?And like said Man U had shit start to their season last year and look how it ended

If this was May..be a panic but its coming to Ocotber! We'd played what 8 games?! Long bloody way to go

Edited September 27, 2009 by Laylabelle

[Ollie 4,400]

Season's over imo, joint top is just gonna be too far a gap to come back from, and there's only 31 games to go. Hopefully man utd can surprisingly drop a point from now to may and we may have a chance.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

People can slag off Wigan for being a little team, which in fairness they are, but at the end of the day they played superbly and without a single doubt, they thoroughly warranted three points.

[Laylabelle 9,534]

Exactly! We've been so jammy against them in the past so this was bound to happen sooner or later.All matters now is we can bounce back from it

[Ollie 4,400]

Yep, Wigan did deserve the win, ive said that all along tbh. Even our goal was lucky as fuck lol (taxi for Kirkland!) and they had some luck too Cech getting sent off then getting their 3rd when we were down to 9 men. Shit happens, we move on.

After what Crespo and Robben did to them between 2005-2007, they sure have got us back aint they. Heskey's last minute goal in 2008 cost us the title n now yesterday, good on em "what goes around, comes around" It's a saying i've always believed and we owe some teams too. Barca got us last year after JT's goal in 2005 that was a blatant foul on Valdes by Carvalho and we got tottenham back last week for the penalty that was given in the CC final in 2008 when Robbie Keane went down and never got a pen. We've got man utd back in an FA Cup final in 2007 (after 1994), we got Man Utd back in a Charity Shield penalty shootout (0-3 in 07, 4-1 in 09). Wigan are just getting us back lol, we'll still win the League by winning at Anfield and we'll win the UCL either this or next year by beating both Man Utd and Barca. It's all about the future