As Yazz once famously sang, the only way is up.

After weeks of downtrodden postings and hiding from the world media, we are finally - hopefully - on the rise again.

Blackburn, not the most worthy opponents of course, could well have been the recovery we needed, the players may well have some belief back.

Looking Up, Thanks to Frank's Return! ©AP

This is in no small part to the return of Lampard.

Once more we are seeing flourishing balls played forward from the centre - or even further back - of the park and hitting their targets.

The omission of Mikel is maybe not having as bad an effect as would first seem, readers may be sad to hear (as I am so often slated for having ill feelings towards Jon Obi) that maybe he just doesn't actually fit into the team.

If Essien's poor form continues it could be that Mikel replaces him, thus allowing Lampard to take on once again the more advanced role - but dropping Essien, off form or not, seems inconceivable to me.

And finally once more we are entering the opposition box with purpose, with a total of 27 shots on and off target against Rovers. We had grown a bit used to the play just centring around midfield and then waiting for the opponents to strike.

As somebody who sits next to me at the Bridge says, you know its worrying when you notice how good a season Petr Cech is having! Our defence normally always so resolute, this season at patches have been far from and have required the safe hands of the big man.

What about Ramires though, showing steady signs of improvement in the past few weeks he had what was without a doubt his finest performance for us. Passes were accurate, runs were darting - and shots were almost converted.

Early on I was very wary of his addition to our line up, he seemed weak and his passing seemed way off. The runs he made himself a name for were also missing.

Obviously adjustment was a factor here, what he was missing seemed to have clicked. He was slightly weak once more, but that may be more to do with his diminutive figure than struggling to fit in.

Jose Bosingwa once more unfortunately showed that he is not as good a right back as many stated to me at the start of the season. Ivanovic is far better, fact. Bosingwa is poor defensively and offered very little on the wings. The two main parts of his job description missing.

Once Alex is back, or even if we sign a new centre half, Ancelotti will surely be rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect of filling in Ivanovic's name in the position of right back.

Less of the negatives though, numerous positives to take from the performance at the weekend. It wasn't all there, frustrations upfront once more. But as I said - the only way from here is up!

Maybe not to the top though!

Keep The Blue Flag Flying High!!!

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