Project....... and the P's that come with it.....
We are quite a reactionary bunch, but today is the worst I have ever seen
Good evening Ladies and Gents,
Sorry for the late post.
First of all I want to thank Si for being the absolute ledge that he is, I have been really unwell the last few days and he keeps checking in on me and covering me yesterday was incredibly helpful.
Right…….. lets get into this.
I normally get the odd comment on here for how optimistic and seemingly patient I am, last night did test me and my PATIENCE, I am usually very level-headed after games, sleep on it and reflect the next day but even I was in a reactionary mood, I flicked through X (Twitter) and realised how mental and unforgiving people are.
Over the last couple of months I have bought a personal rule in on my phone, IF I flick through X after bad performances/losses and see multiple tweets I completely, wholeheartedly disagree with, I unfollow those accounts, that has put me in pretty good stead so that after game I am reading posts from people I respect and agree with.
Anyway, on to the point of this article, yes, last night was really frustrating and we all were confident and ambitious before the game and so we should have been. Cup games against lower league opposition are always difficult and always a potential banana skin, lets not forget that or the fact that, that right there was Middlesbrough’s cup final in itself.
That brings me onto us and how we were the opposite of what we have been over the last 2/3 weeks, we were toothless instead of ruthless (we have been fairly solid in front of goal recently, albeit not incredible), we were passive and lackluster and to be fair to Middlesbrough, by far the worst team, Boro deserved to win in my view. YES, we had chances, and IF we scored those the game would have been completely different.
Lets also acknowledge the fact that Cole Palmer missed 2/3 great opportunities when he has been THE MAN for Chels and in front of goal this season, an off night all round…….
On that topic, can a team (i.e. Chelsea) have an off night these days without the Manager needing to be sacked??? According to the majority of our fans on X (twitter) they clearly can’t. To me that is what last night was, an off night and a poor performance.
We have been a lot better lately, and I know we haven’t played anyone overly significant but still we have started to show signs of a team that are understanding our manager, that is the MAIN reason I call it an off night.
We have to remember that this is a PROJECT and that things will dip high and low, we will have worse performances than last night, we will also have significantly better ones, We need to PERSEVERE with a manger and an idea, otherwise we will be back to square one. We also have to acknowledge that there has been PROGRESSION on many levels this season, albeit there are still plenty of negatives floating around.
Overall this article was to give you my thoughts on last night and the dark cloud looming over the club since the game as well as try and air some positivity around the situation when understandably a lot of people are feeling down or negative right now.
To recap, this is a Project and with a Project you need 3 important things that go both ways from the fans to the club and vice versa…
PERSERVERANCE
PROGRESSION
PATIENCE
There are other feelings and emotions that will come beside that but these are the main 3 in my view.
If anyone reading this still feels negative or like they disagree with me then please comment and we can chat as always, the same to anyone who shares my views, I will gladly accept the reciprocation!
Sorry for waffling, Thanks for reading!!!
Luke Rushbrook
Luke first of all I hope you’re feeling a lot better.
On to the main stuff as reading your article I found myself nodding in agreement.
I’m afraid in my book those reactionary X posters your right to unfollow because they aren’t supporters, rather they are as bad as the wage mercenaries we had in the team last year.
Let me explain they quite simply are adrenaline junkies nothing more nothing less and if they don’t get their win fix they lash out.
I still maintain the silent majority are onside and in the current environment afraid almost to post.
So as I said last night win 6 lose 2 played 8 that’s progress. I actually saw the look on Poche face last night and he wasn’t happy.
Personally there are some I admit who are reasoned in their approach and I engage with those but the majority just haven’t got a clue.
Going forward if we win 6 out of the next and only lose a couple I’ll be over the moon and the semi final isn’t over yet as a club the team has come back from worse positions at Stamford bridge.
So thanks again for being a reactionary because you did it in the right way many didn’t !
Thank you Luke for writing a well prepared and logical article. As I’ve have used before as an expression “a voice of reason”. It’s absolutely unbelievable that there are so called supporters out there that really believe that everything was going to be turned around in two minutes and we would be up top challenging for the league or at least a Champions League place. The real damage was done 3 to 5 years ago and a lot of work was required to get us back on track. Plus they believe that we have the right to expect to beat the lights of Middlesbrough.
In reality, we are a PROJECT as you say, and one that will take a couple of years at least to come to fruition. You also said patience is required. PATIENCE has been my mantra all season and sometimes I get bated for using the word. I’m glad to see that the majority if not all of the comments who received have been positive.
If you’re not better, get well soon. Onwards and upwards towards beating Fulham and then turning the semi-final round in the second leg. #GetBehindChelseaAndSupportThem