It took me one whole day to motivate myself to write a match review. Blues' visit to Transylvania was not one that would stay in the minds of Chelsea fans for long. But, the Romanians had reasons to celebrate as they took a point from Chelsea playing their first champions league match on home soil. They were motivated, their work rate was awesome and they chased every ball while their opponents looked indifferent, rusty and didn't show the attitude needed to win.

To be frank, I didn't have high expectations from this match. Somehow I had a feeling that this would be a boring match though I did think we would somehow win it. It was a day on which all the players resembled Anelka, in sulkiness. The passing was very bad and we lost ball too often to make any inroads into the heavily guarded Cluj penalty box. Cluj could have won the match if they had a bit more quality upfront.

Scolari started the match on a positive note. He fielded the strongest team he could, which meant he wanted the three points so that there would be no unnecessary pressure later. There was only one change from the expected line-up - Bridge replaced Ashley Cole who was down with a minor injury. Drogba started upfront with Kalou on the right and Malouda on the left.

Chelsea dominated possession but Cluj got their chances on counters. The Chelsea attack didn't look sharp at all with Drogba struggling to get back to form. On top of that, Kalou showed how inconsistent he could be and to say he performed badly would be an overstatement. Mikel, Lampard and Ballack did well in the midfield but didn't get the support from the forwards. Ballack was too careless in his passing and lost possession on a number of occasions. He even got a card for himself when a Cluj player did a 'Ronaldo' and the referee bought it.

I'm not writing about the refereeing errors because it would take too much space. In short, refereeing was pathetic. Anelka replaced Kalou after 45 mins and did what he does best - missing chances. Anelka is not a player who would score special goals to bail the team out of trouble. He will score goals now and then, which any decent striker would given the quality of midfield that is feeding him. And that's exactly what worries me after Drogba was carried off due to a knee injury.

Rumors say that Didier could be out for 3 months and that's a big blow for us. If you remember, it was a knee injury that kept Drogba out for a month before the African Cup in January, and since then he is not the same Drogba. With Deco, Essien, Carvalho and Joe Cole already in medical ward, Drogba's injury would be a major concern for Scolari. I don't understand why injuries keep recurring to Chelsea players. Is something wrong with the system?

Elsewhere, Barcelona, Real, United, Arsenal and Liverpool won their respective matches.  Jose's Inter succumbed to a draw and pressure is mounting on Jose especially after the defeat in Milan derby last weekend. Looking at our result once again, I feel a point from Transylvania is not that bad. We still top the group and should be able to go through comfortably. Injuries must be the main concern for Big Phil as Martin O'Neil's Villains visit Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

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We begin our journey towards Rome in the Champions League with a home match against Bordeaux, a French side. After a win against City in the weekend, the Blue spirits are high and Bordeaux would find it difficult to contain the quality chelsea possess. Their main agenda would be damage limitation. Maybe they'll have a go at Chelsea on home turf, but certainly not at Stamford Bridge.

It would be interesting to see how Scolari approaches today's game considering that we play United this weekend. Will he afford to rest key players like Lampard and Joe Cole taking into account the fact that they played 3 matches in a span of 8 days. Captain John Terry is suspended for the weekend and I don't think FA will admit the refereeing error. Refereeing was terribly bad last weekend. So Terry may be partnered by Alex and Carvalho might be rested for today's game. We might also see people like Kalou and Ivanovic in action today. Ballack will make his return from injury today but may not play the entire 90 minutes unless situation demands. We may also see the young striker Franco Di Santo in action today.

This is Scolari's first match at the topmost level of Club football in Europe, though he had won the South American equivalent, the Copa Libertadores twice with Brazilian clubs. Meanwhile Laurent Blanc's side is labeled "unpredictable" by many pundits. The Girondins, as they are called, are likely to flood the midfield and rely heavily on counter-attacks. Blanc is the oldest player to score in the competition, a feat he performed when playing for United. Chelsea and Girondins de Bordeaux have never met in European competition.

In the other Group A game, Roma face the newcomers CFR 1907 Cluj of Romania and are expected to come through without any loss of points. Meanwhile the Blue fans are also keeping their fingers crossed over the Terry red card appeal, on which a decision will be made today. Mark Halsey was pathetic last Saturday as a referee and the chances are that he will remain so during the appeal.

Guess at the team:
Cech  
Ferreira, Terry, Alex, Bridge
Deco, Mikel, Lampard
J.Cole, Anelka, Malouda
subs: Cudicini, Carvalho, A.Cole, Di Santo, Drogba, Ballack, Belletti, Kalou


Referee: Pieter Vink
Time : 0015 IST 
TV Timings: 0015 Zee Sports(IST), 17/09/08. 
Scoreline prediction: 4-0

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Stamford Bridge bids adieu to Shaun Wright-Phillips as the winger was sold to his former club Manchester City. He was bought in the 2005 summer and always remained in the shadows of more crafty wingers like robben, Joe Cole and Duff. Wright-Phillips had his chances when Robben and Duff left but failed to capitalize on it. He lacked the consistency to be a regular first team player though a lot was expected from the England international.

In total Wright-Phillips started 65 games and played 59 games as a sub for Chelsea, scoring 10 goals. His departure means the Robinho deal would be finished any time now. Obviously Real is holding on to Robinho because Calderon wants maximum possible price from Chelsea. All the best to Wright-Phillips and lets hope he scores goals galore, except when its against us.

More good news followed for Blue fans as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Petr Cech have all been given Uefa awards in their respective positions. The awards were given out in a ceremony in Monaco, the venue where group stage draw of 54th Champions League was carried out by the Union of European Football Associations. The following are the eight Champions League groupings -

• Group A: Chelsea, AS Roma, Bordeaux, Cluj.
• Group B: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, Famagusta.
• Group C: FC Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Basel, Shakhtar Donetsk.
• Group D: Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Atlético de Madrid.
• Group E: Manchester United, Celtic, Villareal, Aalborg.
• Group F: Lyon, Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucureşti, Fiorentina.
• Group G: Arsenal, Porto, Fenerbache, Dynamo Kiev.
• Group H: Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit St. Petersburg, Borisov.

Roma,  Bordeaux and CFR Cluj are the opponents for Chelsea in group A. Luciano Spalletti's Roma would be the greatest threat, but the Blue fans need not worry much because we have a true Blue hero in the Roma squad - John Arne Riise. The Giallorossi plays in the Stadio Olimpico where the champions League final will be played this season.

Bordeaux are the French league runners up and are a formidable side coached by ex-United player Laurent Blanc. Meanwhile CFR Cluj are the Romanian champions who won both the league and cup last season. Cluj are busy during the transfer window preparing for European competition.

The Blues' fixtures for the group stages are -

Tuesday 16 September - Bordeaux (home)
Wednesday 1 October - Cluj (away)
Wednesday 22 October - Roma (home)
Tuesday 4 November - Roma (away)
Wednesday 26 November - Bordeaux (away)
Tuesday 9 December - Cluj (home)

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