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Last week Europe was rocked by a tragic terrorist attack that will have far reaching implications on the cultural and political future of the continent. We saw football matches targeted, the death toll and the barbarity of the acts of deluded criminals shocked the world.

The reaction to this acts from the football community made me immensely proud.

Normally the reaction I get when I tell people I am a huge football fan that travels home and away to watch my team is mixed, football fans have a polarised reputation. However the reaction of the football community to the Paris attacks brought a tear to my eye and made me proud to be associated in even a minor way to the beautiful game.

The events at Wembley were inspiring as the 80,000 in the stadium and the millions watching at home came together to show solidarity with the people of Paris. Watching the singing of the French national anthem on TV was spine tingling and a brilliant way of showing support, illustrating how football can bring people together.

However the announcement that the French national anthem will be played before each Premier League game left me cold. It just seems like the Premier League does not want to miss out on a good PR opportunity and is playing on the grief and support for Paris. The way that we beat terrorism is by staying strong, dusting ourselves down and moving on, rather than this populist move to capitalise on the goodwill of ordinary people.

The tribute at Wembley worked because it was natural, the playing of anthems at national sporting events is a well established tradition. There was a natural opportunity for England fans to show their support

The move by the Premier League seems forced, something that will not have the symbolism or the impact of the voluntary actions of the people at Wembley Stadium earlier in the week. Jumping on the grief bandwagon of a national disaster does not feel right to me.

Grief and solidarity are not exercises in corporate “me too” the football world has shown its support for those affected and our determination not to let the terrorists win, now is time to move forwards and playing the French anthem does not do that.

Whilst my heart goes out to those affected by terror, for the reasons stated above I will not be singing the French national anthem tomorrow.

The atmosphere amongst Chelsea fans on the internet is one that is never that far away from erupting into an argument, however since the start of the season it has turned into a toxic one. Nobody is going to be happy with five defeats in ten Premier League games and nothing highlights the difference in football supporting cultures than poor form.

You would hope that for our next game whatever the result we can take some respite from the poor league form and concentrate on defending a trophy that deep down nobody cares about.  However it is likely to matter more than ever and is unlikely to be a chance for players to express themselves and try and lift the pressure that is building in the Premier League.

The Capital One Cup is a little like an  online casino for canadian players it is reasonably inoffensive and even if you lose nobody really remembers much about the game after a week or so anyway. It is always great to win trophies but it is not mission critical to win.

Yet with the form we are in a win has become more important, Jose Mourinho may only have a few games left to save his job, rightly or wrongly one of those is going to come against Stoke.

Stoke is usually one of our favourite away grounds to visit, it has a great atmosphere and despite the asthetics of the stadium it is a good place to have a few drinks with friends and watch football. Unfortunately transport to any ground is an issue and despite staying in Walsall for the previous round, we could not justify the trip for a ground we visit every season if possible.

Therefore we will be forced to hold our breathe and hope that we can get the win. This will not relieve any pressure on the manager or the team but it will at least stop it getting any worse.

In the last couple of days, you could be forgiven for thinking that Diego Costa had murdered the entire Arsenal team during the clash between the two sides.

Alas, the rumours are not true. Instead he had just made a nuisance of himself and winding up the darling Arsenal players. Reports suggest the Arsenal back line needed counselling after the game. Someone to hold their hand a tell them that Costa is a bad man that cannot hurt them anymore.

After all, he was a terrorist in the game and Arsenal were the gents.  Wait, what Arsenal finished the game with nine men? They must have been so busy adhering to fair play that they accidentally got two players sent off.

Which brings the total number of sending offs they have earned in just one week to three from two matches. Maybe it is time that Arsene Wenger got his own house in order before running his mouth.

This is an inconvenient truth for Arsene Wenger, who miraculously was able to see every contentious incident in the game for once. Shamed by another defeat to the Special One, this specialist in failure has successfully changed the narrative.

Instead of focussing on yet another defeat and the fact indiscipline cost his side, it is now one where Costa is a disgrace to football and should get the wrath of the FA and the football media.

This hypocrisy is laughable, few Chelsea fans would suggest that Diego Costa is a saint, however the amount of attention he is getting at the moment is ridiculous.

The FA have bowed to pressure and charged Costa, do they still hang people in London? Needless to say he will get a ban and everyone outside of Chelsea will rejoice.

Time for some perspective, Costa is a battling brawler that gets under the skins of opponents, he is a player every manager wants to have in their team. Fortunately for Chelsea he is at Stamford Bridge and had a real impact at the weekend.

If you know an Arsenal fan, make sure you remind them of the score and bring tissues as they are sure to start whinging and crying about it.Well played to Wenger and Arsenal on the spin, we’ll keep the three points though.

I don’t know if you heard but Chelsea are going down the crapper, it must be true as the club did not win all their games in August and the media is choosing it as easy fluff piece of the day.

Losing is always bad but the timing for the defeat to Crystal Palace means, that we have had to endure more nonsense than usual.

The worst thing about the international break is that it has given bored journalists (myself included) too long to come up with a million stories about Chelsea and a bad start to the season.

Things were not too bad when the transfer window was open, however once it slammed shut (why cannot it have closed with an elegant swoosh) there was little to write about.

So what is a bad start has become a disaster that must be written about hundreds of hundreds of times, with analysis, stats and a tonne of judgements.  Fortunately with Wayne Rooney breaking the English goal scoring record should keep them satiated for a little while.

However I do not hold out much faith, I am sure in the previews for the weekend ahead we will again be debating

Something strange is happening at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have gone from targeting £30m defenders to unproven centre backs for peanuts from second rate French clubs (no offence Nantes). 

The whole season so far has had a sour taste to it and the club’s transfer dealings have the same disjointed feel to them. With hours left in the transfer window we appear to be scrabbling around for scraps.

Mourinho has not been himself, picking fights with just about everyone, including the medical  staff and some of his own players. This is uncharacteristic for Mourinho, who  is talking and acting like there is a subplot going on in the background.

If that is the case then Chelsea fans have plenty to worry about as a happy Mourinho is a winning Chelsea and I don’t think I could deal with another 2007 style catastrophic exit.

The Transfer Saga

Inspired by a poor start to the season, the transfer floodgates seem to have opened despite the club having the spine from last season intact with a couple of useful additions. We go into the final hours of the window with two big names on fans lips in the form of Stones and Pogba, but unpronouncable French defenders instead.

If Azpilicueta is Dave, if Papy Djilobodji signs I guess we will have to call him Jeff.  Then there is the  Michael Hector debacle, a player aged 23 who has struggled to perform anywhere, who would be bought to be loaned out again.

All these goings on suggest that things are not well in the Blues camp, the whole mood of the club seems off, a little like it did in 2007. Lets hope that I am just being paranoid and things will slowly return to normal after the international break.

I guess we needed some drama from somewhere, romping to the title gave the media little to write about.