Is This the New Blue?

Something cosmic happens when Mourinho’s Chelsea travels to Tyneside.

Form of Newcastle or Chelsea appear irrelevant going into these fixtures, with Newcastle traditionally faring worse, and results always go pear-shaped for the Blues.

Before the 2-2 draw, Newcastle had most recently lost to West Ham, Watford(!), and Sheffield Wednesday(!?!?). The pressure was really mounting on Steve McClaren, with him saying in press conference that Newcastle were as far back “against the wall,” as they could be at this stage, and like a frightened animal, they lashed out against Chelsea.

To say I was mad for Ayoze Perez’s goal is reasonable, mostly because this was the week I had dropped him from my fantasy team as McClaren was barely using the Spaniard. Perez is arguably Newcastle’s best player, alongside Sissoko and Wijnaldum.

To say I was livid about the second Toon goal is an understatement. There was a calm before the corner was taken, and I saw the positions taken by the players in the box and my spidey-sense was telling me that a goal was imminent. Lo and behold, Fabregas let slip again why he is looking more and more of a one-season wonder.

The irritating thing is this was the weekend to cement in the resurgence of Chelsea after consecutive wins over Tel Aviv, Arsenal, and Walsall. We were all convinced the issue was confidence and ten goals later, Newcastle would be easy pickings.

Surely logic would prevail with a positive result with the reigning champions against one of two teams representing the dearth of footballing happiness in the Northeast of England and the bottom of the table.

And yet the Premier League has thrown another twist in the tale, and the Toon Army were elated.

Teams that are considered “smaller” in comparison to Chelsea know that they are the underdog. In the matches where reputation precedes the opponent, the challenger knows to give more than his body would like. The team understands they need each other, and determination can outweigh technical skill and international caps.

Crystal Palace showed it, Swansea showed it, and Newcastle showed it. These performances against Chelsea were clever, interdependent, and daring displays of footballing audacity against the evil empire that is Chelsea’s persona (non grata).

But Chelsea cannot play Chelsea. They haven’t reached deep inside themselves and felt the fear that can be strong enough to produce determination and willpower. They are still suffering from handling the most basic issues in games.

The level of comfort Mourinho is showing is so bizarre, as it is usually the manager who is liable to be under pressure when results are poor. And yet, he is calmer than a Spanish sloth pre-siesta.

He rated the team performance of the first half a -1/10, but after three wins, there is no excuse for that to have been the case. The levels of concentration have dropped off and players are not playing on a team. They are putting out individual performances, and occasionally seek help from someone else nearby, seemingly also fond of Yokohama Tyres and blue shirts.

This is not befitting behavior of a team that calls itself a European super-club.

This is not befitting of any team that calls itself a team.