Football:Soccer Randy Moss::?? Champ Bailey::??

I woke up early this morning and watched Chelsea live on FSC. Mornings like this are rare treats, and Chelsea did not disappoint, despite drawing with Aston Villa, 1-1 at Stamford Bridge. I was of course unhappy with the result, but our work rate was incredible, and if we keep that up, our talent will bring us the title. For a team as talented as Chelsea to play as hard as it does means trouble for the Premiership.

That one overwhelming positive note aside, we only drew at home versus Aston Villa, so there were clearly some negatives.

For one thing, this squad has not played together enough. Geremi at right back could never connect with Essien. Geremi's pace was inconsistent, it seemed: sometimes, he'd be way ahead of the pass, sometimes way behind. Ugly stuff.

We had Ballack out due to suspension, so Robben filled in and played a wide left midfield. He was quite dangerous, but the same ol' Robben that is now officially driving me crazy. Here's an SAT inspired analogy: Randy Moss:Football, Arjen Robben::Football. They both have nearly unparalleled talent, but they both take large portions of the game off. If Arjen has a call "go against him", we can basically count him out for the next 5 minutes. He'll still run at guys, but he'll play like an idiot, and he won't defend. Drives me nuts. I'd rather see Joe Cole. (Out due to injury today, I believe).

SWP is still too nervous to play at Chelsea. He's unquestionably talented, and he beats players at every level of competition. But, against quality, defenders can still give just enough pressure to make him jumpy. Great players are never ruffled. SWP is never calm. I'm all for him in the early rounds of the FA Cup etc. But, against level competition, putting SWP on the field is like charity work. He doesn't deserve to be there. At this point, I basically think of him as on loan TO Chelsea. It's clear we'll need to sell him at some point. I'd rather have Duff, or Scotty Parker.

Lampard looked great, Terry had his worst game I've ever seen him play (but was still very good), Carvalho was reasonable, and Ashley Cole -- like Geremi -- had trouble with the overlap runs. Villa game planned against Cole for sure. Shevy was pressing, dropping way deep to get the ball, and only looking dangerous once or twice. He isn't as quick as I might have hoped, but everybody says he has quality. I'm thrilled to have him.

Essien did not look ready to fill Makalele's shoes. Claude is ridiculously unflappable. Does he sweat? Actually, does he ever have to run? Aston Villa didn't even try to pass by him. Here's another analogy: Champ Baily:Football, Claude Makelele::Football. At this point, Makelele is an absolute shut-down defender. You could just hear Aston's midfield: "Oh, Claude's on the left now? Let's go right, lads."

Anyway, today snapped our six game winning streak, and was the first time since February (??) that we didn't take full points at home. Well, that happens. If we continue to work as hard as we did today, though, we'll be fine. We'll be better than fine.

We'll be champions.