With Chelsea now eight points adrift of Tottenham with just seven games remaining, Thursday night football beckons and FA Cup glory is our only chance of mild redemption.
Tottenham came to Stamford Bridge without a win in 28 years and left shattering another of Chelsea`s proud records, winning 3-1. Chelsea`s Premier League title defence hasn`t fallen short just because of one defeat. Today, we were simply not good enough in any area of the pitch. The only positive being, it wasn`t the total capitulation that took place against Manchester City.
The first half of the game was going well after Alvaro Morata had headed us in front. Christian Eriksen`s goal courtesy of a Victor Moses error right on half time, swung the game the way of the visitors. Two goals in four chaotic second half minutes by Dele Alli secured Chelsea`s fate along with those who support the west London club. Antonio Conte appears to have washed his hands of this season along with half the team.
The buck, for the failure to defend the Premier League title, lies much higher than Conte though. The silence from those who run the club is deafening. We may not like to admit it, but poor Michael Emanalo was a scapegoat for so long, for those at the top, it`s no wonder they didn`t want him to go. At least Emanalo had pulled on a pair of football boots in real life, rather than his dreams.
Roman Abramovich`s failure to replace the Nigerian with someone with a football background as opposed to an account would have seen him fired from any normal business. The buck for this travesty of a season lies very much at the door of Mr Abramovich.
There`s no denying he`s been a force for good for Chelsea FC, but he`s in danger of turning our club into Arsenal, without the longevity of a manager. If he doesn`t arrest the slide he`ll become a laughing stock amongst those have for so long goaded Chelsea for being a club who buy their titles.
This season is now gone, the FA Cup is an irrelevance, it`s only the icing on the cake of something much bigger, unless you`re Arsenal. Come the summer, the owner has to put up or shut up. The latter is hardly likely to happen, which in many ways is a good thing.
In months gone by I`ve written that Roman is the perfect owner. He genuinely seems to support the club as well financing it. But he needs to avoid turning into someone who sees the club like any other sports based business. If he allows the money people to dictate the direction of the club, then Chelsea FC are going to hell in a handcart.
Antonio Conte is clearly gone, his ambivalence to everything that is occuring around him and lacklustre attitude clearly points to that. Abramovich has to install a football person to take charge of that side of the business, if he doesn`t trust or allow the manager to do so. He then needs to take a step back and allow them to get on with the job of restoring some of this season`s lost pride. After all, we`re supposed to be the Pride of London.
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