Why????

Why did we work so hard to gain three points from the mighty Manchester City just to carelessly throw two points away onto a snowy pitch at the Hawthorns last night.

The Baggies scored an 87th minute equaliser through a Victor Anichebe header, neutralising Branislav Ivanovic's goal from the first half stoppage time.

I admit Chelsea's record at West Brom has not been great of late (having lost our last two clashes at the Hawthorns) and the Baggies nearly upset the Mourinho home record apple cart when they almost clinched a win at Stamford Bridge back in November - you may recall the stoppage time (and score equalising) penalty awarded to Chelsea for a tackle on Ramires (he dived!!) which sparked off the whole 'sorry gate' incident. I was hoping in the absence of Shane Long (who was starting to make a habit of scoring against Chelsea), and considering our recent form, it may be a straight forward win - but deep down I had the same niggling doubt that has been fostered inside me by our inconsistent and often inexplicable form over the last few seasons.

Going back to last night, I have to admit the Russian stream my husband had found me to watch the game did a lot to add to my frustrations, firstly because it seemed to mimic the Blue performance by stuttering at rather crucial points of the match and secondly because the Russian commentator sounded way too jolly and kept up his upbeat commentary as the Blues hopes of increasing their lead to four points at the top of the table faded away.

Pepe Mel's side basically parked the bus in the first half and Mourinho's men couldn't find a way through. Although Chelsea did seem in control of the game in the first half and early in the second, for me they were lack lustre and basically looked knackered.  After the match Mourinho said:



 "For 60 minutes there was only one team and that team couldn't kill the game."

He went on to add that they had sat too deep in the second half and attributed this sitting deep to:

"A little bit of a lack of personality."

I am going to stick my neck on the line here and not only criticise the 'best manager in the world' but actually blame him for last night's half hearted performance.  In fact I would go as far as blaming it on his 'lack of imagination' as oppose to the players' lack of personality.

I honestly think the eleven men who played against Manchester City last Monday evening gave everything and more.  Of those eleven, nine started against Newcastle six days later and ten of them started again last night after only two days break. I know the usual arguments of how they should be able to cope with a busy schedule but the point is that the match at the Etihad was no ordinary game - it took everything out of the players.  What is the point of having a squad with depth if you don't use them - why not rotate the team for last night's game?  Is the 'Happy One' also the 'Superstitious One'?  Is this his version of playing with the same 'winning' lucky pants without washing them?

TIREDNESS KILLS

Obviously that is a Government warning related to driving but the point is that fatigue affects one's judgement: to pass when you should hold the ball, to take an extra touch when you should pass, to sit too deep, to challenge too late, to pass too long, to pass to the opposition, to lose your temper when you normally have a cool head...... - the list is endless but includes a lot of the sloppy mistakes I saw our players making last night.

You may disagree with my take on last night's game and in a way I hope I am wrong as I really don't want to feed the 'doubting' monster that is growing inside me.