PAT NEVIN: NOT RUINED IN A DAY
And here are the news headlines. Thousands stranded in hurricane in the Cumbrian hills. The FTSE share index drops off the edge of a cliff. Peter Mandelson tells the truth and Chelsea lose narrowly at home in the league after more than four-and-a-half years.
Maybe it is me but the end of an era, apocalyptic reporting seems just a touch over the top for losing a league game against one of the top sides in the country.
Liverpool may think it is the start of a new dawn but it is just that, one game - only the possible start of a new era for the club who haven't won the league title for many years, not necessarily a new order.
I was working at the Everton v Manchester United game the day before and the European champions were lucky in the end to scrape a point against a team who are currently six points above Tottenham Hotspur. I didn't notice that getting quite as much doom laden coverage.
What is needed is a little bit of perspective. At the start of this season there was uncertainty around our club, we were unsure of how the new manager was going to cope in his first efforts in the English game, especially as he had little time to acquire new players to mould the side in his own image. He has of course managed to do this with not much more than the squad he inherited and the expected meltdown has patently not materialised.
Liverpool were of course missing Torres, but does that equate to the absence of Joe Cole, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba? So well done for rejoining the big boys Rafa, but be careful - it is as they say a marathon not a sprint.
Personally I was disappointed by the result of course, though that only really got annoying when every Liverpool fan I know gloated like they had popped the title in the bag that afternoon. I even had to turn my mobile off when a red Radio 1 DJ, who has a side job as a TV football anchorman, bombarded me with texts. Actually in fairness apart from that he is a jolly nice chap.
In simple terms the fantastic record is now there in the books and will I suspect stay there for a considerable time and we will simply move on. The first move is of course up to Hull City on Wednesday night.
Before the season this might have been considered a straight forward three points but Phil Brown and his boys have become the story of the season so far, with the obvious exception of Spurs and their less than glorious start to the campaign and by the way, how sad has it been to watch that particular tale? Best not answer that really.
Anyway back to the new boys and their flyer. This kind of fairytale start only happens now and again when a team is promoted to the Premier League, as usually they hang around the relegation zone like star struck young girls outside a boy band gig. They know they are going to be let down and sent back to where they came from, but they just love the idea of being in close proximity to the real multimillionaire stars.
Hull have been anything but star struck, just as Wigan and Reading were in the past in their first seasons back in the big time. More often than not even that original high eventually fades when the, 'every game is a cup final' attitude finally wanes.
This will not happen to Hull tomorrow, as they will have been looking forward to this one since the fixtures were announced. Because it is Chelsea's first go at them, they also have at least some element of surprise on their side. It is another common occurrence with promoted sides. They do pretty well until their system and their strengths are sussed by the others in the league.
In an odd way there is something very positive about the fact that Hull are having a go. They are playing fairly attractive football and it helps make the league title race less of a procession involving two clubs, as it has been for some time. It is a failing in a league if you have the same winners year in year out with any element of doubt missing.
Certainly the FA Premier League has looked a little bit like Scotland for a while with Celtic and Rangers up there certain to not only win the title, but to finish in first and second places.
Having said that, Real Madrid and Barcelona were doing the same in Spain for a while, Ajax and Feyenoord in Holland and I could go on through arguably most other leagues. Eventually you need real competition or everyone gets bored, so Liverpool sitting at the top of the league is not that bad a thing after eight games. Just as long as they aren't still there after 38 of course!
Last week's competition was all about Juliano Belletti and how many goals he has scored for Chelsea. A bumper crop of answers came in and after some work with my calculator, 85 per cent suggested four, remembering the strikes against Spurs twice, Wigan and Boro of course. But it isn't that simple of course, some suggested the penalty shoot out in the Champions League final should count even though that was not the fifth one I was thinking about.
The fifth goal that he has scored for Chelsea was an own goal when he was playing for Barcelona against us in 2004/5. So anyone who said five, for whatever reason got in the draw for the prize.
The winner picked, by a still slightly distressed but cool teenage girl who finds it amazing that Chelsea have just lost their first league game since she was playing with Barbie dolls aged nine, was Richard Eyles from Yorkshire. The prize is on its way.
This week to win a copy of the Deep Blue photo collection book, and this is slightly unfair on younger readers I know, could you tell me when was the last time that Liverpool actually won the league and was the Internet even invented then? Answers to pat.nevin@chelseafc.com
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