To be honest, Chelsea actually won this title about a month or so ago. Whilst others saw perhaps a GLIMMER of hope when Chelsea had injuries and were struggling through matches, with Arsenal looking good and consistent; I was one hundred percent sure that Chelsea would be winners. There was not a shred of doubt. Because Mourinho's name is not Keegan, and based on his track record and philosophy, Chelsea were not going to give up the title from their position....no way.
So when it was all made official, I was very surprised (or was I?) to see the vitriol and the venom coming from people who tried to denounce the Chelsea win. Boring, racist (which is half true), Mourinho is arrogant; and other words that all came together to show more hate for Chelsea's triumph than those of Arsenal's City's or United's. But even though what people are saying is right to a certain extent, to not put your hands together and congratulate a team that have sat atop of the league for such a long time and won it, does give a sense of jealousy and bad sportsmanship.
To start, because every story has a beginning; people seem to forget the kind of football Chelsea played to get them in pole position. With Cesc bricking it up the way he has I can understand memories being faded. But just look at the tapes of the kind of assists that Fabregas was giving, and how he combined with Costa to superb effect. Then there was Matic who showed that he was probably the best defensive-midfielder in the world. Tackling, intercepting, passing, running with the ball and giving the superb defensive line that extra piece of protection. Do people forget this, or do they choose what they want to remember?
How can you look past what Hazard did. EASILY, the standout player for the entire season. Others had their ups and down, but consistently, Hazard kept on scoring at crucial times, assisting and pretty much was the main attacking strategy for Chelsea. Give the ball to Bio-Hazard and let him create some magic that would lead to a G. And whilst Fabregas faded, Costa got injured, Hazard kept up his standard which never dropped from match number one to number thirty-eight. Every team needs that superstar. No matter how defensive your philosophy may be, you need that ONE player who can get the one goal needed that you can protect and walk off the pitch with the one-zero victory. For Chelsea, Hazard was that dude.
Remember I said I would be fair. Chelsea's win will not live on in the memory. City, Arsenal and United all played better football THROUGHOUT the season in their title-wins. So as far as entertainment goes, Chelsea don't really get the prize. In the first half of the season, don't you DARE say they were not good to watch but for the latter part of the second half, no Chelsea fan should DARE say they were good to watch. No matter how many ways you want to dice and wrap it, seeing six or seven players defending in their own box is not a very pretty sight....and doing it at the cribb is even worse.
This leads us to this notion then; should you only win the league, or rather, should you only DESERVE the league title if you are entertaining for the whole season?
Think about that for a minute. Because that is the sentiment I am getting from those opposed to this win. The Arsenal fans will talk of the invincibles and how they played full flowing attacking football to win the league. That is all well and good, and no football fan can say they did not enjoy that very special team; but isn't it worth sacrificing just a little flair for the chance to get your hands on the gold? Because this is professional football and not playground games. Playing in the cages with your friends, it doesn't really matter about the score because you are all so unfit and out of breath to really care. However, when we are talking about the highest level of football, that is where winning does matter and medals and trophies do matter. The league title will always be the most important, and the fact states that Chelsea won it.
Let's call Doc Brown and Marty McFly and borrow their time machine. Jump forward twenty years into the future; would you open up a book about the 2014/15 Premiership season and read: "Chelsea won the league in a very boring and dull fashion, and everyone hated them." Nope. It would simply read "Chelsea won the league title with a few games to spare." Because people only remember the winners. It doesn't matter how you win, just as long as you win. And it does not matter how well you played when you lost....YOU LOST.
In an ideal world, Chelsea would not have every member of their club defending in their own box. But this is not an ideal world, it's a place of many different ideas and philosophies which makes it more interesting. As much as I despise the tic-tac-toe system, it is good that it exists because it's an idea. If we all had the same ideas, life would be boring and not be very thrilling at all. We need the attacking teams, the counter-attacking teams, physical teams, defensive teams, and yes...even the brick teams because we all need to laugh and vent our anger sometimes.
Don't hate. Okay, hate but don't hate TOO much. Because as much as you throw insults, Chelsea will remain champions and no amount of bad language towards Mourinho and them will change that. All that matters is what happens on the field, and it is up to others to step up their game and dethrone Chelsea on the green patch of white lines....and not in the waves of the twitterverse.
Stay Black,
HH
