Like many others, I loved Gianluca Vialli when he was at Chelsea both as a player and a manager – things like his 2 goals in our 4-2 comeback against Liverpool in the FA Cup that saw us go on to win it that year, our 3^rd place finish (just 4 points behind the leaders United) – our highest since 1970 during his first full season as manager, getting us into the quarter-finals of the Champions League and managing a 3-1 win over Barca into the bargain – these are the sort of things you couldn’t help but love him for.

So, to read his recent comments about us following our defeat to Inter last week, stings a bit. Vialli says “I expected more from Chelsea against Inter at San Siro. They let me down a little bit. It’s true that they enjoyed long spells of ball possession, but I didn’t see enough clear-cut scoring chances for them. Inter now have a good chance of going through in London. With Milito and Sneijder the Nerazzurri can be a big threat for the Blues defenders.”

Unfortunately, the other thing I liked about Vialli was that he was always honest enough to call it as he saw it and for a former Juventus man to give Inter the edge over us, you know we’re in trouble.

In the immediate aftermath of the game I was adamant we could turn it around at the Bridge. So, we could and probably should have beaten Inter but 2-1 was hardly a mountain to climb was it? Of course we could turn around, it was at Stamford Bridge after all……. But then we played City and our defensive weaknesses were further exposed for the world – and Mourinho – to see.

Luca’s right……..it doesn’t bode well.

Filed under: Europe, Ex Players, Managers, Rants