Chelsea’s win was welcome but the next week will tell us a lot
A few minutes after the final whistle signalled Chelsea’s win over Wigan, the Stamford Bridge DJ played It Ain’t What You Do, It’s The Way That You Do It – the 1982 hit by Bananarama and Fun Boy Three.
That song choice felt somehow ironic to me, because while what Chelsea did – winning 4-1 – looked good on paper, the way that they did it was not so impressive.
For the first 20 minutes Wigan were the better side. They seemed to have more possession and spent more time attacking Petr Cech’s goal than defending their own.
Admittedly, the tide turned after that. Chelsea took the lead after 23 minutes and then bossed the rest of the half.
The advantage became 2-0 in the second half and as all Chelsea fans know, that has become a dangerous lead for the Blues to hold, having squandered it against Southampton and Reading in the past month.
Lo and behold, within a couple of minutes of Eden Hazard scoring our second, Wigan had pulled one back after Cech’s dubious decision to come rushing out of his goal.
Wigan had further chances and every Chelsea attack looked like leading to a Wigan break.
The way Chelsea poured forward in numbers at speed was at times reminiscent of the likes of Drogba, Anelka, Malouda, Kalou and Lampard doing so in Carlo Ancelotti’s double season.
The difference was that they were often three or more goals ahead by that stage, and Chelsea’s attacks on Saturday sometimes had a touch of headless chicken about them.
A better side than Wigan might have followed in the footsteps of Southampton and Reading and punished us.
As it was, the visitors were kept at bay – to the disappointment of their few dozen travelling fans – and two late goals clinched the points and meant the final scoreline flattered us.
Anyone who simply reads that scoreline will think it was a convincing win for Chelsea, but for me the malaise was still there.
So what happens now?
Chelsea are third in the table – not far behind second but also not that far ahead of fifth and sixth places. It has not been an enjoyable season – and as European champions it really should have been – and I for one won’t be disappointed to see the end of it.
We’re still in two cups – we play in each of them in the next seven days – and I’d love to win either or both of them.
But sadly I don’t have a great deal of confidence in Rafael Benitez’s Chelsea to do so. I hope I am proved wrong.
Really I just hope Chelsea hold on to a top-four spot, make a sensible change of manager at the end of the season and move on.
And obviously I hope more thought is put into that managerial appointment than the current one.
In that respect, what Chelsea do, and the way they do it, will be hugely important.
James Clarke is the author of Moody Blues: Following the second-best team in Europe
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