# Case 3 : Gervinho sissy slap on Barton

The first case for the new season. And we don't have to wait long for it. First game of the season, Arsenal visit to Newcastle was marred by a sending off for debutant Gervinho. All i can say is welcome to the EPL and sorry i forgot to introduce Joey Barton to you.

The incident happen when Gervinho carrying the ball into the Newcastle box before going down after a slight challenge from Newcastle defender Tiote. Referee Howard Webb wave away the penalty claim before Barton suddenly grab Gervinho shirt then pulling the Ivorian up. Barton action cause a small melee between the two set of players and in that commotion Gervinho raise his arm and slap Joey Barton face.

Gervinho get the marching order while Joey Barton only sees yellow. To be fair, Arsenal should have been a man down before the incident and its also involved Barton. This time, a stamp off the ball by Alex Song was missed by the referee.

Two wrong doesn't make a right. Should Barton sees red too. Or all is fair because the Song challenged was missed by the referee. You be the judge.



v. WBA - Villas Boas first home game as manager.

Far from convincing. Thats all that i can say. Playing at home, the fans we expecting a comfortable win with few suggesting that Fernando Torres after playing well for us in the first game will open his goal scoring account for the season. But that wasnt the case and WBA has other ideas.

From a mistake, WBA took the lead after only 4 minutes through Shane Long. Chelsea control the ball after that and try to find the equalizing goal. Possession was control by Chelsea but the team failed to carve up an opening. The team was slow moving and controling the ball, passing sideways with no penetration at all and clearly lacking creativity or idea. Chelsea went into half time trailing 0-1.

In the second half Chelsea did improve and get the equalizer from Nic Anelka with a slight deflected shot. It was a deserve equalizer after Chelsea knocking on the door a couple of time. Didier Drogba came on for Nando to try and get the winner and 10,9 minutes from time Chelsea finally get the second goal when Malouda connecting with Bosingwa low cross after the right back good work down the right.

The final wisel came to a sign of relief from the home supporters. A game that was not confortable at all and could have gone wrong. AVB recorded his first ever win and he knew much need to be improved. 3 points all that matter but things cannot continue like this.

The transfer windoew is less than 2 weeks before its shut. Today Valencia already accepted a bid said to be around 26mil for Juan Mata from Chelsea. The lack of pace, craft and quality was seen the last two game and lets hope this signing will improve the team performance. Chelsea also linked with Luca Modric but Spurs are playing hard to get on this one. Lets hope we get our man before the windows close and maybe we can give a run to Man Utd and Man City who really look impressive after 2 weeks into the new season. KTBFFH

Kick Off 2011/12 EPL Season

A bit late on the post... so the new EPL season has already started with the blue of Chelsea disappointingly failed to get all 3 points away at Stoke in their first game. Interm of management, lots have change at the Bridge since last season. Carlo Ancelloti was sacked after a trophyless 2010/11 campaign with new manager Andre Villas Boas (AVB) appointed with a few more changes for the backroom staff. Most noticeably the return of former player Roberto Di Matteo as AVB assistant. Not much change for the squad with a couple of youngsters coming in with less than 2 weeks before the transfer window close.

A new season with new hope and expectation. Ready for a ride full of joy and despair? So here goes:

League finish:
Not being pessimistic here, but based on our current squad of players and the reinforcement made by our main rivals it doesn't look good for us. I'll be happy if we finish in the top 4 with Man Utd as usual and Man City with their rich owner to claim the title. Hope I'm wrong and much can change with the transfer windows still open. A few quality signings might change everything.

Expectation:
We all know RA expectation and his high hope of winning the Champs League. To be honest the European biggest honor seems going further and further away from us. AVB has great potential and i hope he will be given a fair amount of time to build his team and maybe after that we can have a brighter chance. Top 4 with a trophy FA/Carling Cup will do for me.

Signings:
We've made 3 signing already but none of them look to improve the current squad. Looking forward for the 3 young players to improve and become a vital part of the club's future. After the draw against Stoke, its seems like we're going to sign a few more players with De Bruyne, Modric, Nasri and Juan Mata all in the mix linking with a move to CFC. I do think we need a creative midfielder and a winger. Hope more will come in, cause City and Utd do look strong this early stage.

Talisman:
Hope Fernando Torres will get back to his best after a disappointing half a season with us. Lampsy despite his age still an important player for us and we need him playing well with an injury free season. Expect to see more of young Josh McEachren, he is the future and hopefully he got more game time / experience under his belt.

Enjoy the new season and keep the blue flag flying high.