OPINION: Are Chelsea arrogant?



Suttle as ever from THE SUN

I was reading THIS article in the THE SUN the other day written by Rob Beasley after our defeat last week to Manchester City and it has had me thinking all week.

Just a few extracts from the article state:

THERE'S a thin dividing line between confidence and arrogance and Carlo Ancelotti's champions crashed through it last week. You can pin-point the moment. The fateful moment actually occurred at the Bridge against Blackpool last Sunday - and at 4.41pm to be precise.

The in-form Florent Malouda had just put Chelsea 4-0 up and the Blues were looking mean as hell. It was their 25th goal from just six games and John Terry and his team-mates had their swagger on.

But guess what?

The rampant, dominant Chelsea didn't score again - not because they lost control of the game but because they started show-boating. They got all flash and self-indulgent and missed a hatful of chances as a consequence. At the time the cocky Cockneys didn't care. But the whiff of arrogance that inevitably surrounds a Double-winning team of millionaire superstars had suddenly turned into a stench.

And the awful aroma quickly engulfed the entire squad, the whole club. Chelsea's shadow squad took on a second-string Newcastle on Wednesday night and were 1-0 up after just six minutes. You could almost see the thought process among them: "Here we go again, this is going to be easy, let's have some fun!".

Except Newcastle hit back - and hard. Three goals in 22 minutes wiped the smirk off the Chelsea faces. And not even a Josh McEachran-inspired comeback to 3-3 could save the day, Chelsea finally losing 4-3 to crash out. The reaction: Oh well, never mind. We've got bigger fish to fry, like Man City on Saturday.

The problem is once you begin to think you are big-time and invincible, it's hard to become all humble and hungry again. Which is what Chelsea found out at Eastlands. City wanted it, Chelsea expected it.

Being honest initially it really got me going, I was fuming and defensive as I found myself sucked in by yet another bashing from the press. It is what we come to expect these days. If it's not the team's performances then it's the players private lives, rightly or wrongly.

To me this was different and since reading the full article has really played havoc with my thought process. One minute I am feeling as I did straight after reading it for the first time, then as time goes by I am looking at our recent performances starting with the Blackpool second half, the City game, Newcastle game and for 30 minutes at the beginning of the second half against Marseille, to wonder if this guy is actually onto something.

We all have seen how poorly we have played in the parts of those games mentioned above and if all of you are honest, been frustrated with how we are playing. At a sudden lack of urgency, lack of fluidity to our game and it's at times, as though Chelsea have the mentality of the game is won and you won't score against us....NEXT!.

Is this really an arrogant side of Chelsea we have been too oblivious to see as we have been so caught up in our start to the season?. As at the time watching those games and having to wonder why or ask questions as to the reason, we now see it in black and white in the tabloid press. Or does this guy have us all wrong?, We really are just a classy side who can step up to another level that most teams are not able to live with?.

When you read this post on here I can promise you that your opinion will change on this from one side to the other and the reason?, because we simply can't bear the fact that maybe just maybe we have become arrogant as we are in fact that good.

The problem is, you have to draw the line at some stage and be professional. Each team we come up against deserves and rightly so, receives the respect from Carlo and the players. It's where the game is won early that the question will pop into your head. For example, the first 30 minutes of the second half against Marseille the other night.

Now some people will argue that in fact the game was over by half time and Chelsea cruised through those 30 minutes. Marseille never posed Cech any real danger and once we got our act together we could have scored three or maybe four more. Now is that being arrogant or in fact as JT said after the game, he admitted to the players "Saving themselves! with one eye maybe on Arsenal on Sunday".

Another game I haven't mentioned that will jog your memories would be Wigan away. Chelsea started slow against Martinez's side. I mentioned in my report of the game that SKYSPORTS' ANDY GRAY said in commentary of the game:

It's as if Chelsea are saying to Wigan, "Show us what your made of" and then when required they step into another gear!

In that game I believe he had a fair point but was that Chelsea being arrogant or maintaining their defensive shape and by doing so played the game at a much slower tempo than Carlo wanted?.

I would say that the Blackpool game for me really asks the question more than any. I said after the game it was a "Game of two halves" and I believe I was spot on. There cannot be in my opinion, any Chelsea fan at the game or watching on TV that wasn't disappointed by our performance in the second half.

Are we ourselves arrogant to even walk away feeling as though the second half was disappointing?. Did Chelsea just simply take the foot off the pedal knowing the game was won because they wanted to save themselves for the next game or have the players indeed become arrogant this season?.

Chelsea fans what do you think?

CAREFREE & KTBFFH.

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