Nevin looks for team spirit.

Remember the good old days when a couple of wins were greeted by a gleeful roar of approval as opposed to a massive communal sigh of relief?

The satisfaction at the Reebok Stadium was mixed with relief because a draw or a defeat up there would have, to put it mildly, made the league table look less than pleasing to anyone with blue tinted specs.

Valencia in eastern Spain and then Bolton in eastern Lancashire may appear as alike as sparkling wine and brown ale, but both of the single goal victories were just as highly commendable, just as important and just as potentially difficult in the circumstances.

The side had a reassuringly familiar look about it in both games, particularly when Frank Lampard finally appeared back on the scene on Sunday. That comfort of having the usual suspects available would have been a great help to everyone.
You would hope this could be the start of a period of stability at the very least in the area of player availability. Of course the moment you say that, or even think it, they are off gadding around the planet again, playing for their countries, getting worn out, picking up injuries or getting upset after losing their Louis Vuitton luggage in Lagos or wherever.

Mislaid man bags were however the last thing on the players’ minds on Sunday. There were pivotal moments in the game, other than the goal by Salomon Kalou which ended a frankly disturbing goal drought in the league, but for me the defining moments happened before a ball was kicked in anger.

I take great care to look at players’ body language before a game to get an idea of their states of minds. Some clearly look relaxed while others appear nervous, but there are plenty more giveaway signs as to whether or not individuals are ‘up for it’ or not.

The solidarity and the determination of the players was immediately apparent to anyone who watched them gee each other up in the minute or so before the whistle was blown for the start of the game. Various tactics are tried to elicit this response from teams, of a group huddle is a current favourite of many, but it is often an empty and rehearsed ritual.

At the Reebok it was clearly spontaneous and heart felt.

Throughout my career I witnessed this on many occasions and it is all to engender that most precious, but most difficult to quantify and even more difficult to reproduce component, genuine team spirit.

It can be the coach, the manager, the important players in the group, the circumstances or even the crowd that can make this happen to a special level. It certainly cannot occur every time, that would be unnatural.

One thing is for sure, the Chelsea players will have to attempt to have that spirit more often than not if they are going to challenge in the league this season. Difficult though it may be, winning the league isn’t however impossible as each of the other top four teams have shown their weaknesses recently.

Man Utd have only just started scoring, Arsenal looked peerless for 30 minutes against Sunderland, then looked gormless for the next 20, losing two goals.

For my sins I went to watch Liverpool at Anfield in their game against struggling Spurs (working for BBC radio, the things you have to do to earn a crust) and I could not believe how insipid they looked.

They undoubtedly have top quality players and plenty of strength in depth, but they lacked balance and cohesion. The question still remains whether the lack of continuity caused by the rotation system is conducive to winning league titles?

They will also have there own stresses with call-ups at this most important time in the international calendar. Due to either burn out, injury or whatever Stevie Gerrard at Liverpool currently looks a shadow of his former self and without him they can be very ordinary looking outfit.

It is a good time to be positive at Chelsea now that we have Cech, Terry, Carvalho, Lampard and Drogba all fit through the central area of the side, just make sure you all come back in one piece lads!

It seems I am wishing them well every other week on their international travels. Last time they joined up for duty I decided not to wish Florent Malouda and Claude Makelele ‘bon chance’ as they were playing against Scotland. Did I happen to mention since then that we actually won that game?

It was the second time my country had beaten France in the competition and apparently if we beat them once more we get to keep them.

So this week good luck to everyone, with the obvious exception of Andriy Shevchenko whose Ukraine side come to Scotland on Saturday.

-Pat Nevin, ChelseaFC.