I had wanted to travel up to Ipswich to see the England-Croatia game, but instead I decided to go to Upton Park where Carlton Cole and Glen Johnson were playing in the Under-21s. Unfortunately, the result was a resounding 3 – 0 defeat for David Piatt’s team. I met up with Sven-Goran Eriksson in the VIP stand and exchanged a few words in Spanish with Sammy Lee, a Liverpool legend and one of the England coaches, who I imagine must have picked up the language in his playing days at Osasuna. It was a pleasant chat with Sven – and who knows what the press would make of that! But this was the least of my worries.
Chelsea v Leicester, Stamford Bridge, 23 August 2003
The first home game of the season had arrived. Always an important occasion. There are positive vibes in the air that give the team a special boost. This year of course, the importance of everything is double or even greater. The team was introduced to the strains of Kalinka, that best-known of all Russian songs, and it seemed to me an engaging, clever, almost ironic way to present the official opening of a new page in the history of the club at Stamford Bridge. It has since become an entertaining ritual. I am always in the dressing room with the team when the announcements are made, but I see from television recordings that Roman Abramovich enjoys the idea too, undemonstrative as he is, standing up and clapping in time with the music.
On the pitch though, it is our job to dictate the tempo, and despite the setback of having Geremi sent off for a second yellow card, we picked up the three points against Leicester too. A foregone conclusion perhaps, but only on paper. We played 4 – 4 – 2 because being at home, naturally, I wanted a more attacking line-up right from the start, with Mutu and Hasselbaink up front. I knew it would not be the goal-fest some might have expected, because our opponents had nothing to lose and they would defend any way they could, so at the end I was pleased on two counts: the result, and the fact that Mutu had scored a great goal on his debut. He struck a free-kick right-footed from about 25 yards, and when the rebound came back off the wall, proceeded to despatch the ball into the net with his left. In the space of a minute, to people in England who knew nothing about him, he showed himself to be a winner, a player with an eye for goal capable of shooting accurately and powerfully with both feet. He was eager to make an impression and I was pleased he managed to do just that.
A couple of days later, one of the two pending transfer deals was nicely wrapped up at last. Crespo was now a Chelsea player, and even if the financial commitment was considerable at £17 million, the news was certainly something to celebrate. Hernan has lots of experience although he is still relatively young. Above all, he is a player with 109 goals to his name in Serie A, effectively a harder league for a striker than most others, which means he comes with a solid pedigree. He’s a clever footballer, the classic opportunist in the penalty area, with fine anticipation and good in the air. In short, he’s the complete forward. I tell you, a manager will always do a few sums before the start of a season. He tries to assess how many goals are likely to come from individual players, or rather from the various field positions. Say, 5 or 6 from defenders, at least 10 if not 15 from midfielders, and then a good haul from the forwards. So, if I had done my forecast again on the day Crespo arrived, I would easily be thinking in terms of another twenty or so coming from the Argentinian. The hope will be that he can justify our confidence in him by scoring them.
Chelsea v M&K Zilina, Champions League Qualifier, 2nd Leg, Stamford Bridge, 26 August 2003
On the same day the Crespo transfer was confirmed, we played the return leg of our Champions League tie with Zilina. With a 2 – 0 result from the away leg and the superiority over the opposition that the scoreline suggested, this honestly was the comfort zone, but I was by no means going to make wholesale changes simply in the name of squad rotation, not wanting to send any wrong messages to the team. I gave Joe Cole a start and reintroduced Celestine Babayaro. Nothing sensational. I also brought on Robert Huth in the second half, and the German showed straight away that he was worth his place on the pitch. A nice headed goal and a free-kick that hit the post proved to me there were points to mark on his card. All plus. Armed with a genuinely dangerous long-range shot, he is also good in the air and has fine defensive qualities. Okay, these are things I had already seen from him in training and friendlies, but to have them confirmed in an official fixture, and a Champions League tie at that, was better still. Typically German, he has character and a strong physique. I am sure he will have a future in the team even if, like Forssell, it may be best if he goes out on loan somewhere next season. With his goal and two more from Johnson and Hasselbaink, we managed to win 3 – 0 and I was delighted, since we had achieved our main short-term objective of making it to the Champions League group stage. If anything, I was a little surprised by our opponents, in a negative sense; they came apparently looking to defend at all costs, even after having lost their home tie. I found this inexplicable. After the first-leg defeat, their chances of qualifying had perhaps already gone, but they could have at least used this occasion to put in a good performance. Instead they lost, and their refusal to play football contributed nothing to the show.
Two days later, the draw for the group stage was made in Monte Carlo. I watched it live on television, sitting on the couch at home before lunch, and it did not spoil my appetite in the least. I work on the principle that all teams are tough until you play them, although I must admit that some of the groups looked trickier than ours, at least on paper. We drew Lazio, Besiktas and Sparta Prague. True, it could have been much worse, but equally the widespread optimism I sensed on the day seemed to me to be premature on the one hand, and dangerous on the other. I guessed the mobile would start ringing because there would be journalists wanting to get my first impressions, but I suspect they were getting the busy tone, what with all the relatives and friends who were already organizing themselves for the double-header with Lazio. I recalled what I had said to Abramovich in the dressing room at the Flaminio after our defeat there in the friendly. My intuition had been right. Now we had to add the result. Still, I could not help marvelling at my own magical powers of prediction … and no black wizard’s hat!
Chelsea v Blackburn, Stamford Bridge, 30 August 2003
We closed out the month with another home fixture, this time against Blackburn. A game I was wary of, because they are a solid side, and at the time we were to play them I was thinking that they were in for an excellent season. They have good players, an expert and strong-willed coach, and a big enthusiasm that runs right through the organization. Blackburn are the club where Damien Duff came to maturity, in every sense, and naturally I had plenty of questions to face about him during the Friday press conference at Harlington. This gave me the chance to reiterate how I see him, in my plans, as a fundamentally important piece on the Chelsea chessboard.
We had barely kicked off when Desailly made an elementary mistake on the touchline, uncharacteristic for a player of his stature. So it was that after just 19 seconds we were already chasing a goal by that man Andy Cole. If this were not enough to convince me of the way things were going, on the half-hour we had a Mutu goal disallowed. And although I never like to criticize the referee and his assistants, it looked good to me. But Mutu stepped up again soon after, swerving around Brad Friedel after good work by Hasselbaink and Veron and netting the equalizer. A great goal at a really critical moment. In the meantime I had made a change in midfield, as I soon realized that Veron would be struggling out wide on the left. I put Geremi on the right, Lampard in the middle, Duff on the left and brought Seba into the middle too, but further forward. In practice, he was now playing just behind the strikers. One minute into the second half, and Cudicini delighted everybody by spectacularly tipping over a David Thompson drive from around 25 yards out, but then misjudged the ensuing corner and unwittingly allowed the visitors to take the advantage again through Cole. From