Stand Up for the Special One

By 40 Years a Blue
October 16 2005

There were many moments in the game yesterday at Stamford Bridge that shaped the destiny and the destination of the three points.

Had Gary Speed's rocket shot gone in instead of cannoning of the crossbar and Stelios, Bolton's goalscorer doing a little bit better with another first half chance, Bolton could have been well out of sight before half-time.

What would have happened if Rob Styles gave Michael Essien a red card instead of a yellow for his cruel lunge on Haim? From my vantage point in the ground, I thought Essien was extremely 'lucky' not to have got sent off. From viewing TV replays since my opinion has not changed one bit. Howabout Ricardo Gardner's reckless handball, eighteen minutes after coming on as a substitute which led the Chelsea's third goal?

But it took one man and his master tactician's brain to work out what was going wrong with Chelsea's first half performance. He took himself off back to the dressing room way before half-time to prepare himself for a master-class in half-time team talks.

Jose Mourinho. There is no doubt that he is The Special One.

Off came Del Horno. On came Eider Gudjohnsen, coupled with tactical changes, then as they say the rest is history. Within sixteen minutes of the second-half restart Chelsea were winning 4-1. A four goal spree inside ten minutes before Eider, deservedly got himself on the score sheet ironically with sixteen minutes to go.

STAND UP FOR THE SPECIAL ONE

40 YEARS A BLUE