At the weekend, our Tuesday columnist was back inside the stadium he used to thrill with his football. He gives a personal account of the day.


Sunday's draw against Liverpool was a strange affair all round.

Following the kind intervention of one Neil Barnett from Chelsea TV, I was able to take my seat behind Rafa Benitez with my wife and two kids. There was an air of excitement, a frisson of anticipation and an understandable impatience for the mighty battle to get underway.

Eighty minutes later we were still waiting for the blue touch paper to be lit. Ten minutes after that and I decided it was time to explain to the family that not all games provide heart stopping entertainment and that sometimes there is a certain pleasure to be derived from a tactical game of chess. To be honest even then I was struggling, if ever a game failed to live up to its billing this was it.

My 12-year-old daughter enjoyed the spectacle and indeed watching the Liverpool boss jumping up and down was a diverting show in itself, even if it did obscure our view, but if truth be told it wasn't generally obscuring much we were desperately needing to see anyway.

She got her new Chelsea top, her face briefly on the highlights as Benitez admonished the assistant referee yet again and we got a valuable point that we never looked like losing or adding to.

It was not pretty and it was rarely, if ever entertaining, so what were the positives to be taken from the day. Well the home record is still intact, we closed in ever so slightly on Manchester United, Liverpool are out of it, the defence had another clean sheet, Frank Lampard is back at last, Ricardo Carvalho had that look of a hired assassin turned defender back in his eye - this is a good thing for a centre half - and we have survived the month of the African Cup of Nations without falling out of contention. Oh yes and we had a lovely breakfast at the hotel.

Arsenal may have consolidated but they are certainly not out of sight and they will know that Chelsea - with Drogba and the lads back alongside new boy Anelka - are going to chase them all the way in.

I suspect there will be few if any more drab affairs like Sunday's for the rest of the season, because draws are no longer acceptable and there will be little fear or trepidation with a full squad to choose from anyway.

Against Liverpool there were enough players capable of scoring wearing blue shirts, with Anelka, Joe Cole, Wright-Philips, Frank and Ballack all starting, but the system we adopted was a 4-3-3 which if truth be told generally functioned like a 4-5-1.

When I saw Liverpool line-up in an identical formation at the start of the game I have to admit I thought the most likely scoreline was going to be either 1-0 or 0-0. Add to that the fact that the visitors had their top scorer Torres out and we had Drogba unavailable, then even a single goal was looking hopeful.

For me the two most influential players on show were the sitting midfielders on either side. Both Makelele and Mascherano played their roles to perfection, in turn snuffing out the threats from Gerrard and Lampard.

For me Claude just shaded it as the better performer because of his comfort on the ball and how well he used it when under pressure. It was a masterclass of that particular position, but it is essentially a destructive position so in effect they jointly construed to kill the match as a spectacle.
There is a part of me that loves the technical side of the game and great defending is a major part of that. The reading of danger and the covering of team mates is an art form in itself, but to be honest at some point it helps to have the odd chance in front of goals, especially when your son and daughter start looking around the main stand trying to get a glimpse of the odd WAG.

I tried to explain that their Mum sitting next to us might have been considered one of that breed a few years back, but they just laughed and she smacked me across the back of the head for my cheek, as she had every right to do I suppose.

The atmosphere lightened when I promised to take them all to the pictures afterwards, but even this reminded me that the atmosphere at the game was pretty darned subdued, apart from the usual noise emanating from the Mathew Harding stand.

From the start of the game the fare wasn't exactly conducive to maniacal screaming, but maybe a little more encouragement from the stands generally would have made a bit of a difference. I know myself that in the past Chelsea fans have been as good as any in the country at lifting the lads when we really needed it and Sunday was just such an occasion.

Certainly my son was making himself heard, to the point where I had to apologise to a steward for the constant cheering. Now that would have been an embarrassing moment, to be ejected with my lad for over exuberance at one of the dullest games of the season.

We survived the 90 minutes, Chelsea survived the toughest month, but will Arsenal and United survive the onslaught I expect we will see from here on in? Let's hope not.

Last week I rather self indulgently asked for ideas of songs to play to the indie kids for my Djing set on Friday night in Glasgow. Well the night went well and I could have used any number of suggestions that were sent in, but finally plumped for a classic indie track that was somehow fitting. Lawrence Riley suggested Story of The Blues by Wah! And the dancefloor fairly shook. So he wins the book, Chelsea - A History in Pictures.

This week back to reality. To win Four-Ever Chelsea which is a collection of four DVDs, could you tell me which team Liverpool striker Peter Crouch supported as a boy?

Answers as ever to pat.nevin@chelseafc.com

Good luck and anyone who wants a copy of the set list from my night on the wheels of steel, as a few already have, just let me know and I will send it on.