Images from Chelsea's 2010/11 campaign

Years down the line I’ll remember the 2010-11 season mainly as the year the team I support (Chelsea), won nothing. I’ll probably be able to recall only certain moments, certain images. I thought I’ll share what I think they might be.

Favourite moment of the season

15 points off the top and trailing 0-1 at the Bridge, the only Chelsea fan in a room full of loud MUFC fans, life could not get much gloomier. The stage was set, both in London and in that room, for the birth of a legend. As Essien sent the ball back in after it had been cleared off a corner, Ivanovic won the header (as usual) and the man, David Luiz,  walloped the half volley past Evra and Van Der Sar in a shot audaciously full of technique.

Luiz should probably have been sent off and we have since come to know, he is prone to defensive lapses, but we knew from that goal on, that this guy was special.

Worst moment of the season

Terry and Alex were injured and good old Paulo was playing CB, with our young CB Bruma deemed too inexperienced by Carlo. Onouha’s twinkle toed effort beating our whole defence and sliding it past Cech exposed how bad we were and the ensuing incapability to respond effectively only made matters worse.

Awesome goal though it was, it typifies for me the combination of injuries, bad decisions and lack of attacking threat that were the reasons for our failure this season.

Favourite match of the season

Coming from behind against Manchester United, deservedly, with Luiz’ goal (discussed earlier) and then Lampard's penalty was special. It was a turning point in our season as we clawed our way back into title contention though we were to lose to Man Utd thrice in the following months, bowing out of the Champions League and falling short of them in the league.

Worst match of the season

The arrival of Torres and his first game against Liverpool was built up way too much in the media. What followed was a uninspiring performance by Torres and Chelsea, as we struggled to break down the 5 man Liverpool defence once they put men behind ball after going ahead.

The transfer window had given me hope of a renewed title challenge but this match made it clear that we hadn’t really solved our issues. As it turned out, fitting Torres into the team was probably, ironically, our biggest weakness as the season progressed.

Best celebration of the season

The obsessive reporting of how many minutes Torres had gone without a goal and how he was now basically shit was a continuous sideshow, until Torres showed speed, balance, and knowledge of goal to smash the ball into the left corner. The subsequent outpouring of joy from the players and the crowd was simply awesome. The look on his face as he slid across in his trademark celebration was one not of anger, but pure relief, a feeling I’m sure many Blue fans shared.

He hasn’t scored since so we know that the issues remain. But hopefully with the media off his back (somewhat) and a pre-season behind him Torres will get to celebrate much more often next season.

Best player of the season (Chelsea)

Cech got the official vote for the player of the season and I don’t want to argue with how brilliant he’s been. For me though, it has to be Ivanovic. He’s been a solid performer at RB and at crucial phases at CB. Watching Nani trying to get past him again and again and not succeeding was one of the positives from even the games we lost. His aerial ability is, if not the best, definitely one of the best in the league.

Cech stepped up when our hold over games wavered and he deserves credit for saving us points, but I believe Ivanovic has had a solid season but his impact has been largely lost and wrongly ignored.

What do you think?