Can you hear the Chelsea sing?
A Bridge of sighs…
Unbeaten in the league, at home, all season. Mourinho is turning Stamford Bridge back into a fortress. Let's not forget that Chelsea still hold the Premier League record for the most consecutive undefeated home games. An incredible four-and-a-half year spell, 86 games, of which 60 were under Mourinho's management.
After visiting "Hell" last night, the hostile Turk Telecom Stadium, you have to wonder how intimidating a trip to Stamford Bridge is these days… It's obviously not too easy to walk away with a positive result, but do opponents leave with a lasting memory of the atmosphere. I doubt it, unfortunately.
"If Stamford Bridge can give ten per cent of what this public gives then that would be fantastic for us."
Jose Mourinho
Mourinho's more than aware of how a crowd can influence a game; injecting some intensity or lifting players for one last charge when their tanks are running on empty. Chelsea's notoriously raucous away support can vouch for that too. The atmosphere at home has been despairingly flat at times, though.
Still suffering the doubt-ridden and despondent after-effects of Benitez's appointment, fans seem to be less trusting and more cynical than when we experienced Mourinho's first tidal wave of success. All too quick to moan about Mikel - or to prepare another scapegoat - we're creating a Bridge of sighs rather than a wall of support.
However, this isn't a new problem. Mourinho isn't the first Chelsea manager to try to provoke a reaction from the club's support. When Ted Drake took over in the early fifties, just before our first-ever Championship success, he urged the club's fans to be more partisan and to get behind the team. Hmm…
It's not an easy problem to fix. Is it down to over-zealous stewarding, rising ticket prices or less fresh faces? It's not necessarily an issue all of the time, of course. There have been many memorable occasions over the last few seasons. Jose's set the bar pretty provocatively low, though. I'd hope that we'd be able match ten per cent of Galatasaray's support…
