5 Up and 5 Down, or Dr. AVB and the Win that Never Was

As we all know by now, this week has been brutal for Chelsea.  Media frenzies and controversies aside, they just have not been playing like the world class side we know and love.  Here are one humble fan's opinions concerning our bumpy end of October...

Lets start with the bright spots for Chelsea:

1) Juan Mata: In my opinion our best summer signing this year.  Creative, fast, and talented - he has it all.  With three goals so far and a bag of assists, he is easily the brightest spot in a Chelsea side that has had the appearance of a rapidly decaying corpse recently.

 2) Frank Lampard: Super Frank is doing what he always does - scoring goals and silencing haters.  Major kudos to the man for scoring an excellent goal in the Arsenal match to net the 6 000th Chelsea goal.  However, following that strike, he hasn't exactly had a good go of things - today's open net miss against Genk, for instance.*

* I'm convinced those "window jerseys" are cursed...we have yet to win while wearing them.

 3) Petr Cech: Brilliant work from the keeper (apart from an understandable-yet-sloppy Arsenal game).  Those who watched the Everton game in the Carling Cup will share in my awe for the man's ability.

 4) Ramires: More brilliant work - today's goal against Genk was a beauty.  Unfortunately, his relative anonymity against Arsenal casts a huge shadow over his growth as a player.

  5) Fernando Torres (sometimes): I'm still torn about him. After a brilliant return to form at the beginning of the season, that phenomenal game against Genk and the resulting confidence boost, I, like every Chelsea fan, was hoping so very hard that he would make an impact.  From what I've seen from the Arsenal and Genk games make it seem like a cruel trick was played on us.  Yes, that assist on Ramires' goal was amazing, and yes he was a force to reckon with, but his climb up the mountain of redemption is not over yet.

And now for the down...

1) Newcastle United is better than us: Now before you start jumping all over me about their schedule, etc, take this into account.  Chelsea has a billionaire owner, a coach that is arguably the best in the world and several superstars, aging, in their prime or otherwise.  What does Newcastle have? Arguably, none of the above (unless you're really into Ba).  I'd be lying if I said this bizzaro situation didn't keep me up at night.

 2) Defense: One of the wisest statements made in sports could really apply to us right now - "Offense wins games, defense wins championships." Chelsea, up until recently, had one of the best defences in the league.  Right now, while ours did for a time have the fewest goals allowed in the league(barring the Man U game), they have been downright sloppy as of late.  They have begun to show their age, and it is time to think of replacements.  Which brings me to my next point...

 3) Bosswinga: The man can be good offensively; that said, he is aging, etc, and that goal by Genk yesterday can rest squarely on his shoulders.  I'm not saying we should dump him/bench him, but he needs to shape up.

 4) Finishing: We have lost more games and cost ourselves more chances than I would like to admit to due to sloppy finishing. Lamps' chance yesterday, some great ones in the Arsenal game (I'm looking at you, Sturridge), etc - you know exactly what I've been talking about.

 5) Luck and Other Fickle Things: While some may cry cop out, this much is true for Chelsea in spades.  Torres' brilliant miss vs. Genk is just one of them; the strangeness of Chris Foy is another.  These things have consequences, and they pile up.  For example, Chris Foy's shoddy referee job definitely put our defense on alert, as we played a much less physical game vs. Arsenal, and its what arguably cost us van Persie's second goal.* Anyhow, this is fickle, but there is no excuse why we shouldn't be able to get over this one.

*On a side note, van Persie is a freakin legend, and my favourite non-Chelsea player after Hazard, but I still resent that hat-trick.

So, in summary, I believe that we are in a slump - a manageable slump, hopefully.  On the bright side, our schedule seems to hypothetically favour us, but I wouldn't be too cocky.  At the moment, I am cautiously optimistic about our chances, but I've been wrong in my sports faith before. (see: Collapse of the Red Sox in baseball this year) Before I am eviscerated in the comments, I would like to remind everyone that these are my opinions only after watching the two Genk games, the second half of the Everton game and pouring over various highlight reels from the Arsenal game.  I haven't had the leisure of overanalyzing the games, so be easy on me.

Comments/Considerations/David Luiz?