Roy Keane continued to baffle everyone with his team selection. No place for Chopra, Murphy or Richardson, players who would normally be considered first choice. Instead, Leadbitter partnered Whitehead in midfield, Edwards returned to the right wing and Reid completed the midfield that played in front of an unchanged back four.
Roy O'Donovan was welcomed back from injury and was rewarded fro a solid performance for the reserves midweek with a place in the starting line up, pairing up with Kenwyne Jones.
It all started brightly and we weren't "hunting for autographs" as we were at Pompey. The passing was direct, the tackling tough, but still, there was no real penetration.
That was until O'Donovan pounced on the hesitancy of John Terry, got his body in front of the former England captain and was hauled down, but of course, no penalty, no, not against Chelsea, or indeed against "Captain fantastic".
Had the shoe been on the other foot, and Jonny Evans had molested Drogba in the box at Stamford Bridge, it would have been a foul and an immediate red card. No questions asked.
As a result, Chelsea attacked, won a corner, and then John "I never complain about anything" Terry popped up above Kenwyne and powered a header home. 1-0 after ten minutes…oh dear.
But buckle we did not. The players kept their heads up and fought a dogged game, as dogged as an old Yorkshire terrier with one its owners slippers.
Everyone expected a rout, lets face it, I bet even Keane thought that we were looking at another "Goodison" disaster.
What really annoyed me, was that we lined up with an attacking formation, with two natural wingers and two forwards who could cause problems. We played well and were applauded off the pitch. But why couldn't we do this against Everton, Derby or Blackburn.
Keane seems to favour the 4-5-1 line up, even at home. But this is just negative tactics, looking not to lose. If we can play this well against the might Chelsea, imagine what we could have done to Derby or Everton?
The press say that we can take positives out of the performance, but you know that in the next few games versus Villa, West Ham and Fulham the dreaded 4-5-1 will return.
If we are going to lose by playing a defensive formation, I would much rather lose and actually take the game to the opposition.