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For The Love Of Football
liverpool,chelsea,fernando torres,lfc,cfc,transfer,blame,dalglish,suarez,it is no surprise that the chelsea and england midfielder is concerned about his team's position. at the start of the season, chelsea looked to run away with the title leaving the rest of the pack to chase after the remaining three spots for the champions league. a massive shift in the last few months has seen chelsea go from first to fifth. they have remained strong in the cup competitions, but their league form has taken a massive nosedive. it may be a bit cheeky as a liverpool supporter to say that chelsea's downward spiral began when liverpool (with fernando torres) beat them 2-0 back in november. but since then, their record has been won: 5, drawn: 6, and lost: 6. the dropping of 30 points in the matter of three months is enormous and has left chelsea floundering for a champions league place with twelve games left to play. for all the talk this season of just how bad liverpool have been, they are six points behind chelsea in sixth place. granted, chelsea have a game in hand, but the gap is not as wide as it may seem based on liverpool's performance in the first half of the season. it remains to be seen where each team will finish come may; such is the nature of this up and down season. and chelsea may well surprise everyone and climb their way back to the top. not to the top of the league, but at least into the top four. just a year ago, finishing seventh was a new low for liverpool, and being out of the champions league for the first time in years was a huge blow. it never occurred to most liverpool fans that that was even a possibility until it happened. it signaled the end of a successful era, as well as the end of rafael benitez. there seems to be a longstanding view from rival teams that liverpool has an attitude of entitlement, and that the club feels its rightful place is firmly in the top four. whether or not that’s true, that belief was shattered after finishing seventh. but if other clubs can paint liverpool with this entitlement brush, than surely they must be painted as well? for frank lampard to say it would be a disaster if chelsea finished outside the top four, than it was undoubtedly a disaster for liverpool when they did. it was a tough season to endure, compounded by the following six months of negative transfer dealings, roy hodgson, and the worst run of games in over 50 years. that season truly set liverpool back further than just being out the champions league. the owners' and manager's relationship became untenable, the club sold one of their best players in javier mascherano, and they brought in players not nearly up to the level that liverpool normally requires. all this combined with roy hodgson's clueless undertaking at the helm eventually lead fernando torres to his liverpool exit, under very acrimonious circumstances. the attitude toward liverpool has remained one of they deserve it, they're not good enough, their players are rubbish. in the span of a year and a half when the team barely missed out on a first placed finish, they went from hero to zero. yet somehow you don't get the same feeling when it comes to chelsea. all you ever seem to hear is how chelsea have the quality needed and shouldn’t be finishing outside the four, it would just be so wrong if they did. the press and chelsea fans seem to think that because of having one of the most expensive and successful squads in recent years, they can do no wrong and that they too are now entitled to finish in at least the top four. well chelsea, welcome to liverpool's world, where nothing is a guarantee when it comes to football. that's not to say that chelsea aren't capable of finishing fourth. they are more than capable. but then, you could say, so were liverpool. chelsea need to face facts just as liverpool were forced to. they have a squad with multiple players perhaps having had their best days behind them, and this includes fernando torres. whatever he's done, £50 million was still an enormous amount for a striker about to turn 27 and with a massive history of injury problems. chelsea were definitely looking to him to salvage their season with a cup win, but you have to say that outside the fa cup, it's not looking likely with the strength of teams in the champions league this year. liverpool have had to endure a very difficult eighteen months, and with fernando torres leaving in january, things only seemed more bleak. but now there's a new sense of renewed pride in the team that has been instilled by kenny dalglish. with new owners taking over in the fall, two new strikers signed in the january transfer window, and the youth team looking frighteningly good, the future seems quite bright for liverpool and the hard times look to finally be over. for chelsea, the future is a little less certain. ancelotti has the massive weight of expectations on his shoulders to deliver chelsea back into the champions league while he keeps one eye looking over his shoulder to see if abramovich is ready to wield his axe. and with more financial losses announced, plus the gargantuan £70 million plus outlaid for players last month, it's a wonder how chelsea will cope with the financial fair play rules. without the bottomless bank account to recruit players for a team on the precipice of an immense overhaul, you wonder just how they will handle the seasons to come. as liverpool have had to put up with the disappointment that came with not being in the champions league, so too will chelsea if they don't manage to finish fourth. perhaps it is what they need to be reminded that no club is entitled to anything in football. ,ancelotti,champions league,chelsea football club,entitlement,frank lampard,liverpool football club,premier league,top four,pepe reina,goal keeper,keeper,kenny dalglish,world-class,jose reina,liverpool keeper,reina,andy carroll,luis suarez,fsg,transfer deadline day,new strikers,new signings,ryan babel,future,transfer request,bad timing,roman abramovic,aging squad,andy gray,richard keys,sky,sky sports,sian massey,football,commentators,sacked,prejudice,sexist,kelly,kelly cates,roy hodgson,king kenny,new manager,blackpool,2 defeats,manchester united,damien comolli,steve clark,john henry,rafa benitez,you'll never walk alone,manager,hodgson,,scapegoat,crisis,resign,fire,sack,english premier league, liverpool, wayne rooney, hicks and gillett, glazers, alex ferguson, valencia, michael owen, javier hernandez, rafa benitez, 18 league titles,18 league titles,alex ferguson,glazers,hicks and gillett,javier hernandez,michael owen,valencia,wayne rooney
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