Kalou missed a sitter to pile on the misery at Chelsea

The problems at Chelsea continue to mount as a draw in the North East allowed Manchester United to overhaul the champions at the top of the table for the first time this season.

With an important month in the title race about to begin injuries, backroom drama and poor performances have left confidence shattered at a club that has only collected four points from a possible fifteen.

Injuries and Suspensions With all the problems around the club it would be easy to forget that Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Alex and Didier Drogba have either been unavailable or not fully fit over the last month or so.

This constitutes the spine of the first team and it is clear that with the loss of Deco, Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Ballack the depth is not what it needs to be for the club to overcome injury blights unaffected.

Ray Wilkins Nobody truly knows what happened and the reasoning behind the decision to axe a winning back room figure, but it will clearly have drained morale and it must be a contributing factor to recent results.

With the next month or so crucial for the first time in over a year Chelsea look vulnerable something that was unthinkable just a few months ago, when the Blues raced out of the blocks with six wins in a row. Significant changes in luck around injuries and the defining moments in games are required if Chelsea are to remain in the title race come January.

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Just as the hype and excitement for the World Cup is building to a feverish pitch, over the last two days we have had to read devastating headlines about star players (most of them Premier League stalwarts or ex-EPL stars) going down to injury in exhibition warm-up matches.

Devastating because in the World Cup you want to see the best of the best out on the pitch, that is what this tournament is about, it is what makes it so special. But in the last 48 hours, the list of those that will or may not be in South Africa has become staggering.

• Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United):  Ferdinand had replaced John Terry as England captain after the Chelsea star’s unscrupulous affairs made international headlines, and was set to appear in his fourth consecutive finals.  But a clash with Emile Heskey on the training ground on Friday has ruled him out of the Cup.  His season had been tarnished with injuries (started only 13 EPL matches) and this just puts the icing on the cake.  The only ball-playing CB for England, it will be interesting to see how the Three Lions cope without their captain.

• Didier Drogba (Chelsea): Arguably the best striker in the world, Drogba is now trying to salvage his World Cup dream through emergency surgery after dislocating his elbow in a friendly against Japan. The 37-goal striker is coming off his best season ever, and is the heart and soul of the Ivory Coast squad. If he cannot return to action for the tournament, it could bury the Elephants’ chances of getting out of their “Group of Death” featuring Brazil, Portugal and North Korea.

• Michael Essien (Chelsea): Having been plagued by injuries all season long for Chelsea, Essien tried to play his way back to get into the Ghana team, but failed to prove his fitness.  Ghana’s best player, Essien’s absence will severely hinder any hopes of Ghana returning to the knockout round where they were eliminated by Brazil in 2006.

• Michael Ballack (Chelsea): Yet another pivotal Chelsea player, Germany captain Michael Ballack was ruled out of the tournamant after a vicious tackle from Portsmouth’s Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana) in the FA Cup final left Ballack’s ankle in smithereens.  So productive for his national side, Ballack’s injury leaves a gaping hole in midfield for the always-dangerous Germans.

• John Obi Mikel (Chelsea): Are Chelsea footballers cursed for this World Cup?  While it was always going to be difficult for Mikel to feature for Nigeria after injuries derailed his Chelsea season in April, it has been confirmed that he will indeed not be traveling to South Africa after an undisclosed injury this morning.

• Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich, formerly Chelsea): And now the news this morning that Arjen Robben, Bayern’s wizard winger who at certain points single-handedly took the Munich giants to the Champions League final, has suffered a hamstring setback which could very well rule him out for Holland. While the Dutch have a plethora of playmakers, Robben is instrumental to their setup, and will be sorely missed this summer if he is out.

So there you have it.  The above players would make any manager’s starting lineups in the world, yet they could all be missing from world football’s biggest stage this summer.

When Argentina and Portugal were struggling to qualify, I thought to myself how tragic it would be to deprive the world of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at the World Cup.  While not quite up to Messi and Ronaldo’s enormous stature, the players above are major international stars that will be sorely missed by not only their countries but by the whole world, because in a World Cup you want to see the very best out there in full health so that the greatest tournament possible is realized.

Sports can be so cruel sometimes.

You have to feel for a player of the calibre of Michael Ballack and for fans of Germany. Things haven’t always gone swimmingly for Ballack at Stamford Bridge since he joined in 2006, but there is no doubt he is Germany’s most accomplished player of his generation. Be it at Munich, Leverkusen or the national side, Ballack has been one of the most consistent performers in the last 10 years of European football.

My first reaction to the challenge by Kevin-Prince Boateng on Saturday was it was a nasty little challenge. Numerous replays have simply strengthened that belief and it was the end to a little spat that had been running for the previous 15 minutes in the F.A. Cup Final. Now, Boateng is not alone in having a spiteful side to his play, but the irony of the impact it would have on his and Ballacks summer is now becoming apparent.

June 23rd has now gained a new significance in the World Cup as it is the date that Ghana play Germany in South Africa. Now normally, any game which features a player going against a side who have lost a player due to a nasty challenge would be interesting. Add the fact that the player is Germany’s captain and talismanic leader and the stakes are indeed raised, but there is an even more tantilising twist to this tale.

You see, up until April, Kevin Prince Boateng was classed as a German international, having represented the national side at both Under-16 and Under-19 levels. Now he has been granted permission by FIFA to represent Ghana at full international level and is expected to make the cut for the World Cup squad named by Ghana’s manager Milovan Rajevec. It’s a new move and one that should be applauded, though I doubt FIFA had this kind of comeback in mind when they allowed him to join up with Ghana.

Now the game has a whole new dimension for both sides. It was always going to be a pivotal game for both sides, with the dangerous Australians and Serbia making up a tough group. I’m not one for advocating revenge, but I’ve a feeling certain members of the German squad will be gunning for Boateng. Not only for the injury that Ballack has sustained, ruling him out of the World Cup but for turning his back on his country of birth.

I appreciate the draw a country could have on a player, but the decision seems to be made based on taking the easier option for me. Boateng’s career has certainly stalled whilst he’s been in England, he has the air of a player that sometimes looks like he can’t be bothered. His appearance for Portsmouth against Coventry in this season’s F.A. Cup run was peculiar to say the least. At one point in the second half, he was too injured to run but magically had the ability to dribble and shoot when the ball was played to him.

Since being at Portsmouth, he’s certainly gained some playing time, but his spell at Tottenham was a dreadful indictment of the previous regimes slapdash transfer policy under Daniel Commoli.The only thing that shocked me was that Tottenham managed to get anywhere near the £5 million they paid out for him.

Poor Michael Ballack, suspended for the 2002 World Cup final, will now probably never play in a World Cup again. He’ll be 37 by the time Brazil rolls around in 2014, so time and common sense is against him. Boateng, all being well, could be on the cusp of a wonderful career for the Black Stars over the next decade or so. So all German eyes will be on Johannesburg on June 23rd as the two sides clash. By the way, did I mention Kevin Prince Boateng could be there with his brother, Jerome. Trouble is, Jerome’s been picked by Germany in their provisional squad. Talk about a twist having a twist.

With another FA Cup final, three games remaining on the Premier League fixture list and one point between Chelsea and second placed Manchester United, it may be a little premature for the Blue’s management and players to think about summer transfers.  Mercifully, as pundits and fans, we do not have to play Liverpool with the additional worry of the reigning champions snapping behind us, and can afford ourselves this idle speculation.

With an ageing but still potent team, Chelsea should only look to replace one member of the starting eleven – Michael Ballack.  The German captain has played plenty this season, but has routinely looked average and tired when on the pitch.  While he is still a fine midfielder, he should no longer claim a starting berth over Lampard, Essien or Mikel.  The reasons for this are simple.  He doesn’t bring the athletic dynamism of the Ghanian, the assists and goal return of the Englishman, or the youth and adequate defensive shielding of the Nigerian.

Essentially he is an old utility midfielder, a player who can be trusted to make the right pass but who can no longer run for ninety minutes, a player with an ego that demands stroking but increasingly, doesn’t deserve it.
But Chelsea have an excellent replacement ready should Bayern Munich prove to be willing bartering partners.

In Bastian Schweinsteiger, the Blues have a flexible player able to take on almost any role in the midfield position, much like his international Captain Ballack used to be able to provide.

“Schweini” could star as a direct replacement for Die Mannschaft captain in the central role, especially given his excellence in this position for his Bavarian club this campaign.  He has displayed both the ability to spread the ball around and to work very hard to win the ball back for his side.  But his abilities and uses are far greater than just being a hard working trooper, a man willing to run down opponents and lay off passes to the creative attacking types.

He can also function as a wide midfielder, and though lacking the pace and intricate dribbling associated with natural wingers like his teammate Arjen Robben, Schweinsteiger can put in enough accurate crosses to force any defense to adjust to this menace.

With Flourent Malouda, Ashley Cole and Yuri Zhirkov wreaking havoc on the left, Chelsea’s right has appeared tame.  Branislav Ivanovic can be counted on for a couple of good crosses per game on top of his usual solid defending, but the right just does not have the same threat for the Blues that the opposite side carries.  The right wingers in the Blues’ 4-3-3 – Anelka or Joe Cole or Solomon Kalou – are not as naturally suited to this role like Malouda is on the left and thus, the wide right attacks suffer.

Adding the German international to the right would improve Chelsea’s options in attack and force any opposition to consider how to contain both flanks equally.  A tactical change to a 4-4-2 to include both Anelka as a pure striker and Schweinsteiger’s wide play would certainly give pause to anyone in Europe.

But, as mentioned earlier, Schweinsteiger has become one of Europe’s top central midfielders this season, and could therefore also fill in that role in Chelsea’s 4-3-3 or Ancelotti’s old favorite, the 4-4-2 diamond.  With now constant injuries to Essien, Schweinsteiger could very well claim his place in the starting XI.

Additionally, he has shown for Germany that he can be a very good attacking player, although the presence of certain French and Dutch footballers on his club team seem to have prevented the repetition of his fairly impressive German goal return for Munich.  Given more room to attack and fewer defensive responsibilities however, he should be able to knock in a goal every few games or so for the Blues.

Further, his relative youth means his performance would not dip so dramatically as both games and the seasons wear on.  While not an explosive player, he certainly won’t visibly deteriorate during every ninety minute match.  In the generally epic, tri-pronged (at least) campaigns Chelsea have involved themselves in over the past handful of seasons, the importance of players with sufficient energy come April and May should not be underestimated.

Lastly, his ego does not seem to reflect his quality on the pitch.  While this might not seem to be so important, it could be argued that one of Chelsea’s biggest flaws of the past few seasons has come from the generally unpleasant attitude conveyed by some of their megalomaniacal stars.  While this is by no means true for the entire squad, having another player who won’t add to this image can’t hurt.

While some might yearn for Sergio Aguero or Luis Suarez or some other player who can help add a cutting edge (although why another forward is needed is still a mystery to me), “Basti” is probably the player Chelsea need to become younger and more competitive in an area that needs instant repair.

The club should make the bid before the World Cup, as his price tag will shoot up come July if he repeats his excellent performances for Germany as he has done for most of his career.  The chance to do so is now; come August, half of Europe may be splashing out on the midfield star.

Michael Ballack's behavior on Saturday shows Chelsea has more than one problem player at Stamford Bridge. (Photo: ZumaPress)

Michael Ballack’s Saturday performance has been heretofore overshadowed by the traumatic injury suffered by Aaron Ramsey, but while there has been a debate as to the fairness of Ryan Shawcross’s tackle on the Welsh protégé, there can be no doubt about Ballack’s embarrassing attack on Carlos Tévez.

The score was 3-1, Manchester City in the 81st minute. Ballack was carrying a yellow card, had avoided another that should have resulted by attempting to punch a ball into Shay Given’s net, and had continued his disturbing practice of referee intimidation (see picture).

But late in Saturday’s match Ballack descended to an embarrassing low when he went launched himself into Carlos Tévez, coming from behind, targeting the back of the knee, wrapping his legs around the Argentine and taking him to ground with no attempt to play a ball that had yet to arrive.

Video and more analysis of Michael Ballack’s tackle on Carlos Tévez, after the jump.

Forward the following video to the 11:45 mark to see the tackle.

Call Ryan Shawcross’s tackle reckless, call it an act of blind aggression, but you would be stretching to call it an intent to injure. Ballack’s tackle, however, was either an intent to injure or, at best, an malicious act without regard to a player’s safety.

My partner Ray Curren at Set Piece Analysts did a good job of summarizing the Shawcross versus Ballack debate. Here I wish to focus on Chelsea’s problematic German.

Ballack may have been defending John Terry, who Tévez had embarrassed earlier in the half , but Michael Ballack has no need to fight John Terry’s battles (however much of a “battle” this was), let alone fight it in such a cowardly, cynical manner.

As this year has progressed, Ballack has come to embody all of Chelsea’s problems. He is aging, slowing, and fragile. When he was playing on the right side of the midfield diamond, he has been unable to augment the width the Blues have lacked since José Bosingwa went out.

Even Ballack’s virtues are becoming marginalized. On a team where Didier Drogba is having to shoulder an increased scoring load, Ballack’s decreased goal output represents a further limitation. When Branislav Ivanovic plays, Ballack’s aerial prowess is less needed, and Drogba’s emerging dominance of direct kicks overshadows another potential Ballack contribution.

Whether this confrontation precipitated a Ballack motive to send Carlos Tévez a message, the German midfielder's actions are indicative of a bigger problem. (Photo: ZumaPress)

With Ballack foul-prone through the middle of the pitch and Chelsea’s problems defending set pieces, the German is quickly becoming a negative contributor.

Beyond his play, Ballack’s attitude is a problem. His decision to excuse himself from Saturday’s match by forcing the referee to give him a second yellow was tantamount to quitting on his team. While players like Drogba and Frank Lampard continued playing, and even the struggling Terry attempted to fight through increasing problems, Ballack – with his team already down to ten men – quit, getting dismissed with nine minutes of regulation time remaining.

Can a Chelsea-supporter be comfortable with Ballack’s decision to cripple their slim comeback hopes?  It’s not as if Chelsea is in a title race or anything.

Going forward, should Carlo Ancellotti and staff maintain their confidence in Ballack? When Micheal Essien returns, it may be helpful to consider keeping John Mikel Obi in the lineup and permanently putting Essien in a more advanced position.  Granted, the limitations of the young Mikel have been evident during Essien’s absence; however, Ballack’s decreased standard of play and his embarrassing behavior warrants this consideration:

Is Ballack a better choice than Mikel?

Chelsea’s success during this glorious era means the Blues have had to deal with very little adversity.  With the possible exception of the Scolari era, Chelsea has not had to fight through a crisis of confidence into which they have now been thrown.  We saw Carlos Tévez directly attack their leader, looking dead into the face of a man whose eyes show a fire that’s dimmed through his public trials.

With their leader unsteady, their team disorganized and their results waning, does Chelsea need the additional problem of starting a player upon whom you can not rely?

Ballack’s play has not been good enough to let him act-out as he did on Saturday, but even if it were, playing with such disrespect for other players is something a club should not tolerate.

After the tackle, Tévez rose with a limp, played a few more minutes before being subbed. Hopefully Tévez – one of the great stories of this season – will not see his campaign sacrificed to petulance.

It’s time for Carlo Ancellotti and the players’ leadership to address the Ballack problem. If they have already attempted to do so, it’s time to remove Ballack from the team. If they have not previously talked to Ballack about his disrespectful behavior, they need to make the first time the last.

And that assumes Ballack’s play even warrants such consideration.

Chelsea has inherent problems that, to this point, they’ve managed to overcome.  They are relatively old and slow, and they have developed a negative attitude, embodied by their attitude toward referees.  For an in-form John Terry to exemplify these traits is something that can be overcome, but when Michael Ballack volunteers himself to be the symbol of the club’s problems, it’s time to find a new symbol.

But your thoughts:  Register your vote, below, and add your comments – what should be done (if anything) about Michael Ballack?

For even more on this, Kartik Krishnaiyer and myself explore the topic on today’s edition of the Set Piece Analysts’ daily podcast.

Carlo Ancelotti has certainly stamped his mark on Chelsea early in the season so far. A Community Shield victory, coupled with 3 Premiership wins on the bounce has seen Chelsea rise to the top end of the table. So far, so what then? Nothing surprising in that in itself, would we expect the any of the big four to not already be putting markers down for the early running. What did make me sit up and take notice was Michael Essien being placed on the bench so early.

Ancelotti said after yesterdays game that he wanted to rest Essien as he was tired after his efforts in the midweek win at Sunderland. Two weeks in to the season and rotation is already being seen in Chelsea’s team selection. In the two games since the opening day win against Hull, Ancelotti has changed 4 players in both starting line-ups, with only 6 players starting all 3 games.

Cech, Cole, Boswinga, Terry, Lampard and Drogba are the the six in question with only Lampard retaining his place in Ancelotti’s much discussed midfield diamond formation. Perhaps this is the managers way of dealing with the fragile ego’s that modern footballers display on a daily basis by showing that match time is available to as many of the players as possible. Yet, Lampard has been moved around the midfield diamond, starting on the right against Hull, on the left hand side against Sunderland and then at the forward point against Fulham.

Against Fulham, Lampard was consistently further forward throughout the game than I’d seen in a long time. Whilst there is no doubt that Lampard remains the most potent and consistent attacking midfielder in the Premiership, his position often saw him playing alongside Drogba and Anelka at Craven Cottage.I’ve only ever seen him playing so offensively in cup matches against lower league opposition but Fulham never got to grips with Lampard positioning. Chelsea’s were then able to control the ball and Fulham never looked likely to stop the flow through to the strikers.

Perhaps this is a part of the new midfield system that Ancelotti is trying to instill into the Chelsea midfield. By rotating the starting positions of the midfield, especially with such experienced international players keeps their opponents guessing. It seems designed to confuse teams that will be looking to specify defensive midfielders to do a man marking job on Lampard. Clever players can always cope with these systems, that seem to allow the midfield to rotate fluidly throughout the match.

It’s certainly given Chelsea a little bit more mystery when they play. Against Sunderland, they were constantly breaking in waves, pouring forward from the midfield but seemingly taking turns to lead the charge. Deco would go, then Ballack, then Lampard, occasionally Essien would burst forward confusing the opponents even more. Perhaps he’s already trying to work out how things will shape up when the African Cup Of Nations kicks off in January.

I’ve been very impressed with Ancelotti’s work so far, but the first real test will in October when the Blues entertain Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.Once we see this fluid diamond formation come up against top class midfielders trying to dismantle it, it will interesting to see if still works as well.

Now I’m certainly not going to start defending Chelsea’s players or the reactions of certain fans after the final whistle back on May 6th. Yes, the referee had a nightmare, yes Chelsea should have had two penalties at least and yes to some people it was easy to understand the reactions of some of the players after Tom Henning Ovrebo’s performance that night.It doesn’t excuse the behaviour of the players and fans after the game at all.

What I am astounded at is UEFA fining Chelsea £85,000 for failure to control their players and fans. Not because I disagree with it, but because UEFA continually ignore the issue of racism at football matches and issue a stream of pathetic, pointless little fines to teams who allow they’re fans to pollute football with their backward mentality towards non-white players. When you look at Chelsea’s punishment and then consider it in the scheme of failure to control players and fans, you’ll see what I mean.

In UEFA’s little world, racism isn’t an issue that warrants serious attention. They pretend it doesn’t happen and we’re all one big happy footballing family. Two years ago, England Under 21′s were fined £2000 for failure to control thier players after taking exception to Serbia’s players and fans who had racially abused the black members of the England Under 21 team throughout and after their European Championship match in 2007. Serbia were fined £16,500 and allowed to continue in the competition. This is UEFA’s zero tolerance approach to racism, paltry fines and allowing racist idiots to continue to perform.

In 2004, England’s black players were heckled throughout the 90 minutes of a “friendly” against Spain in Madrid at the Bernabeu Stadium. The Spanish FA were fined the crippling amount of £44,500 from a game that generated 4 million pounds. 1% of the revenue that match created for the Spanish F.A . Once again, UEFA showed zero tolerance. That’ll show them won’t it?

Of course some Croatia fans infamously formed a human swastika in 2006 during a game against Italy but were only fined £10,000 even though it was the third racist incident by their fans in 4 years. Once again, UEFA showed zero tolerance.

It astounds me that the UEFA continue to punish clubs and players so leniently and then wonder why incidents still happen in certain countries. When a club receives a bigger fine for showing petulance and anger towards a match official than teams that unfurl racist, anti-muslim or anti-semitic slogans and banners at games then it shows how scared to tackle the issue they really are.

Of course Chelsea didn’t do themselves any favours by their behaviour that night, but does it justify a fine of such a value when compared to far more unsavoury incidents? For UEFA to punish Chelsea so sternly in comparison is an easy decision by UEFA. It’s an easy way out for them as it was so widely publicised around the world but in the scheme of football what causes the game more damage? Racist morons or emotionally charged football fans?

Drogba though is rather lucky in my opinion to have only received a 4 game ban from European competition; though he does have the threat of a further two games that have been suspended if he oversteps the mark again. Boswinga, who rightly apologised after calling the referee a cheat in the Portuguese media, strangely received a 3 match ban. He withdrew his comments as quickly as he had made them and even rang Overbo to apologise, so can feel harshly done by in comparison to Drogba. Michael Ballack meanwhile is quite possibly the luckiest player at Stamford Bridge, as he’s got away scot free for his body checking and pulling of the referee. Perhaps they were impressed with his star jumps?

In UEFA’s mind, swearing at a referee or calling him a cheat is a worse offence than racially abusing someone and that for me is a sad indictment of the governing bodies attitude to the fight against racism in football. Until they get their priorities right and throw teams out of competitions or hit them with seven figure fines, the racists will continue to abuse and divide. Now that is the real disgrace about Chelsea’s fine.

With their typical class, Chelsea players and staff asserted their belief, following their 1-1 agg defeat to Barcelona, that UEFA conspired against them to prevent an all-English final in the Champions League.

Players, such as Didier Drogba, displayed their sentiment by all but physically assaulting the referee as he left the pitch. Manager Guus Hiddink took a more measured tone in the subsequent press conference, but offered much the same sentiment.

“Conspiracy is a very tough word and you have to prove it,” Hiddink said. “I don’t want to go with that tough word. It was said in the build-up that it would be nice to have a repetition of last year’s final, but I can only say what I see.

“I cannot say if Uefa would not like another all-English final. What I’m sure about that, in big games like this, you need top-notch referees. Players make many mistakes, coaches makes mistakes and referees can make mistakes. But if you have seen three or four situations waved away, then it’s the worst I have seen. At this moment I’d have to think a lot if I have seen worse.”

It may have been better for UEFA business had Barcelona won, but that alone does not justify a conspiracy claim. If UEFA had conspired to fix this match, they did perhaps the worst job in the history of conspiracy.

UEFA so pressured the referee for a Barca victory at the Camp Nou that he ignored a blatant Chelsea penalty committed against Thierry Henry, booked Carles Puyol rashly causing him to miss the second and leg and sent off neither Michael Ballack nor Alex when he easily could have.

The anti-English junta flexed it’s influencing muscle even further in the second leg when Eric Abidal received a red card for being in the vicinity when Nicolas Anelka tripped over his own feet, forcing Barcelona to play with ten. Claims that UEFA was fixing the match for Chelsea are absurd.

Moreover, most of the Chelsea penalty claims in the second leg were specious.

For Alves’ foul on Malouda, the foul began outside the area and was only given at all because Malouda hurled himself to the ground against physics. Abidal’s miniscule touch on Drogba was followed by a blatant, delayed dive. Toure’s foul on Drogba, if he committed one, was outside the box. He tackled fairly in the box.

Pique’s handball, perhaps, was a penalty. But, the call was a mistake and hardly conspiracy. The referee had a shocker, but both teams had to live with him, not merely Chelsea.

Chelsea played to score one goal over two legs. They deployed 11 men in Barcelona purely to kick and stifle the opposition, forgoing an away goal. The played defensively once they went 1-0 up at Stamford Bridge, pulling off Drogba for defense, despite facing ten men.

Scoring goals and preventing the other team from scoring, not referees, decides football matches. Chelsea’s negative tactics left defeat plausible. Andres Iniesta snatched an opportunity. Conspiracy did not fell Chelsea. It was karma.

So, the FA have finally come out and asked Arsenal to respond within 7 days to Hull City and their Assistant Manger, Brian Horton’s, accusations that Cesc Fabregas spat at him in the tunnel. I’m amazed on several fronts, firstly the FA have managed to start an enquiry in the same month an actual incident happened, the fact that a little club ( as viewed by Soho Square) are actually going to get a chance to state their case to the FA and that we already have a lawyer already involved on Hull City’s side. Advice has been sought so now it’s in the FA’s hands.

What intrigues me and always has done, is the way that spitting in football is so frowned upon. Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m no fan of spitting, but the ire that incidents like this create for such a minuscule display of immaturity and petulance still surprises me. Spitting just seems to fire so many people up, I could understand it 20-30 years ago, but still it probably attracts such anger from fans, pundits and the people on the receiving end of the projectiles.

Of course, the first real spitting incident I remember was this little gem, Rudi Voller still remains the only player I know to get sent off for being spat on and it was one of the major talking points of Italia 90.  Yet, this new little tete a tete between Horton and Fabregas is unusual, now anyone who saw the pictures of Fabregas on the pitch that night can’t deny that he was certainly pumped up at the end of the game, but did he really have the audacity to then try and spit on Horton? Fabregas has denied it and claimed he’s never spat at anyone on a pitch, but something certainly happened between him and Michael Ballack once before. (Check it on Youtube, I’d include a link but the video has a soundtrack with some choice words, so just be careful where you watch it.)

Yet, just because he was pumped up after the match doesn’t make him guilty through pulling strange faces. I’ll be very disappointed either way when the story comes to it’s conclusion, but if he is guilty, what punishment will be given. It would surely be classed as ungentlemanly conduct, which I believe carries a 3 game ban, something Arsenal do not need right now. With a possibility of Arsenal playing in potentially 15 games, including Champions League and FA Cup matches and with him almost back to full fitness, Wenger will be counting on Fabregas to come into the team to give them a boost in the final two months of the season, he does not need him banning at this point of the season. If he did spit at Horton, then Wenger should throw the book at him, I hope he does.

Yet, I can’t see why Horton and Brown would lie about something like this, it’s a pretty concrete accusation to make about someone and the dossier that was sent to the FA is fairly substantial. Something definitely happened in the tunnel, so let’s hope the FA can work through the accusations and allegations and draw a line under the debacle and we can get back to football.

It took a couple of days, but the rift in the Chelsea dressing room seems to have finally made it out onto the public forum of the press.

It all had to start with John Terry, doing his best to absolve his blame in Scolari’s sacking by saying he was behind the manager 100 percent, but says he was only one of two or three people behind Scolari. I hate to say this JT, but I think you are lying right out of your teeth. If you were behind the manager, where was your work rate? Oh that’s right, it wasn’t there. Where was your motivation to get everyone behind the cause? Oh that’s right it wasn’t there. Did you show to the players why you should be captain? That right, you certainly didn’t.

If you are to believe the Daily Express (and Daily Mail), the three men responsible for Scolari’s sacking are Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech. Ballack has come out and denied this, saying that it was all the players faults, not Scolari’s. Petr Cech is also saying it wasn’t him. All Drogba seems to want to say is that Hiddink’s appointment will be good.

If any player went to Roman and stated their case for Scolari to be sacked, they should immediately be put up for sale come the end of the season. It is not up to the players to decide who is or who isn’t the manager, it is up to the players to do their best to fit into the system their manager wants to play. Every single Chelsea player fits into that mold.

It’s going to be interesting to see who in the end which players were responsible for Scolari being sacked. In my mind, Ballack’s right, all of em were. In that case, attitude reflects leadership John Terry.

Other Stories
Could this be the first piece of the puzzle in Sven going to Portsmouth as Brian Kidd has come in to be an assistant. Could the second piece be Mexico’s 2-0 loss to the United States Wednesday night? The Mexican press is already calling for Sven’s head and they usually end up getting their way quickly.

Add Harry Redknapp to the list of people who will probably make a bet on Guus Hiddink staying at Chelsea once this season is over.

Daniel Agger is threatening to leave Liverpool unless he gets more first team games. Hey Agger how about this, do some of the hard work and if you’re good enough, you’ll play!

Newcastle United will wait on the next two games before deciding on if they will bring someone in to replace Joe Kinnear in the short term. While I understand they want to show some restraint, the number of games in the season is starting to dwindle, and you’re already admitting relegation fears. Dennis Wise though won’t be coming back.

And finally, it’s being reported Real Madrid are looking to get a seventy million Euro bank loan in order to fund purchasing Cristiano Ronaldo. All I can say is ‘oh brother, here we go again!’