Lots to catch up on - lets start with Newcastle, the first league game since the new years day stuffing at Spurs. After that game I said Cahill needed a rest and Jose agreed, Zouma lining up alongside John Terry. I was surprised he rested Courtois as well and played Cech, but then Courtois did concede 5 against Spurs. For the first half, the team looked disorientated and Newcastle were worryingly the better team. Gouffran denied early on with a shot by Cech and then an even better effort by Cabella saw his effort saved low by Cech, who moments later also denied Perez. A disturbingly busy start for Cech on his Premier League return, perhaps Zouma is not ready? Sissoko hit the post not long after that, but from then on Chelsea decided to wake up and took the lead before half time against the run of the play. A quickly taken Willian corner found Ivanovic in the box he supplied a fine low ball across the penalty area to Oscar at the far post who side footed home. The second half thankfully was all Chelsea, Willian going close be fore a fine second goal as Hazard's chipped pass into a packed penalty area was brilliantly back-heeled by Oscar into the path of Cost who took one touch to give himself space before firing low into the net. Chelsea had chances for a third, the best falling to Cost whose low shot was cleared off the line. A game of two halves then, bit worrying about how poor we were in the first but then good to see Jose rotate his squad a little (but we'll come back to that later). Elsewhere news that City had been held at Everton meant were top by two points.
Our next game was at Swansea and no real change to the line up except Cahill returned in place of Zouma and Filipe Luis replaced the insured Dave. Cech kept his place. We've been due a rout for a while I've been thinking and we were well our way to one after just 50-odd seconds when a mix up in midfield between two Swansea players saw the ball kindly fall to Oscar, who smashed in a low 20 yard shot into the goal. Great start! And from then on, it was all Chelsea, as on 20 minutes Fabregas fed the ball through to Costa who slotted home number two. Willian then hit a post before Costa intercepted a poor back pass from Fernandez and slotted in the third. Just two minutes later, Chelsea broke again and Costa pulled the ball back across the penalty area from the right wing into the path of Oscar and the Brazilian buried the ball into the top corner. 4-0 inside 35 minutes! It should really have bee five before half time as Costa broke free through on goal, but took too long and ended up driving himself wide before setting up Willian, who hit the bar from in front of goal. The second half was less lively than the first and a fifth was added near the end as Schurrle scored a close range tap in. A big win was needed in terms of improving our goal difference and with City losing at home to Arsenal the next day, we found ourselves five points clear at the top, so a good weekend all round.
The next game we travelled to Liverpool for the first leg of our league cup semi final. I had an idea about how we would play given Jose's philosophy and hoped I would be proved wrong - I wasn't. As soon as I saw Mikel in the line up alongside Matic, with Fabregas playing further forward in place of Oscar (no real changes elsewhere except Courtois was brought back in place of Cech), I knew we were playing for a draw and I was disappointed. So dangerous to invite teams to attack you, especially teams like Liverpool with more to play for than Chelsea. I thought that sitting back would help Sterlings game as well. Liverpool did indeed start the better team, but Chelsea took the lead against the run of play as Hazard won a penalty which he then converted. That, turned out to be our only shot on target in the whole game, and one of only two shots we would have. Liverpool deservedly equalised on the hour with Sterling breezing past Mikel and Matic like they weren't there and then slotting home left footed from the edge of the area before any defenders had the chance to close him down. Gerrard almost rammed the 'slip' song down Chelsea fans throats as he hit the post on 66 minutes (Mourinho had before the game asked for Chelsea to stop singing it and show Gerrard some respect, it backfired obviously). From then on it was the Courtois show as he made a string of important saves from mainly Sterling and Lallana. Definitely his most important game for us, but I was very disappointed with our performance. Jose is sometimes far too pragmatic, another team would have battered us but then I guess it is all set up for the second leg...
Now then, our FA cup tie against Bradford, will certainly not be up there with one of the high points of all time, let alone the season. Mourinho in his press conference the day before had said that losing to Bradford would 'be a disgrace' which I thought was a bit disrespectful as it might backfire and fire up all the Bradford players. The line up saw a lof players rested, Cech returning with a rare start for Christensen, Zouma, Ramires alongside Mikel, Salah and Remy playing as wingers with Drogba up front. Cahill gave us the lead flicking home from a corner and Ramires made it 2-0 with a good goal, driving forward and playing a one two before slotting home on 38 minutes. Then, it all caved. Stead pulled one back for Bradford three minutes later on 41 minutes with a shot that Cech should have really kept out. It stayed 2-1 until 75 minutes when a close range shot from Knott - despite Zouma and Cahil either side of him, was saved by Cech, but the rebound fell to former player Filipe Morais who side footed home into the empty net. Alarm bells ringing now. And those bells were ringing all the way across town as Halliday scored from the edge of the penalty area to put Bradford ahead. Chelsea tried in vain to secure a replay (and when your trying to do that at home to Bradford, you know theres a problem somewhere) but Bradford sealed the win in stoppage tome with a goal from Yeates on the counter. Where to begin there? Well, I don't think Jose should have made those comments before the game but he did redeem himself after - a post from the official Bradford Twitter account posted how he showed his class by going into the dressing room and congratulated every player and backroom staff member - a side to Jose that the media undoubtedly won't show. Also, I think this defeat and the manner of it shows why Jose doesn't rotate his squad after all - it's not good enough. Poor performances I'm hearing from Salah, likely to be his last game for us, Ramires and Mikel, while Zouma isn't ready and Cahill is arguably in dire need of a long rest. I think we defeintely need to bring a defender in this January, even as back up. Tuesday night against Liverpool will now require a HUGE reaction from the team. Then after that we play City at home, big game and with them themselves suffering an FA cup shock of their own, losing 2-0 at home to Middlesbrough, both sides mentalities will be interesting to Gage going into that game.
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Friday, 9 January 2015
The Christmas/New year period
Well I did say if we are still top after New years day I will feel more confident about our chances of winning the league. Well we're still top but .... crikey it's close!
We faced Stoke away on December 22nd for the first of what I thought were four potential banana skins. Stoke had a good record against the top four teams for the last four years or so, only losing at home twice to them (one of those was against us mind) and this season they had beaten Arsenal after a first half blitz and won away at City. However after two minutes, it was all rather surprisingly comfortable ....
The line up was Chelsea's usual turn out except Mikel was preferred with Matic while Fabregas was played further up instead of Oscar. The Spaniard still had the same impact as per normal, as he got his customary assist setting up John Terry with a corner for Terry to header home the first goal after two minutes. A great start. Costa should have made it 2-0 before half time but fired wide it what was turning out to be a very physical and brutal game, lots of fouls, mainly from Stoke who appeared to adopt some very classic/Mark Hughes type tactics to try and unsettle Chelsea - it didn't work. Fabregas finished off a Chelsea move with a mis-hit shot that trickled slowly into the net on 78 minutes to seal what was a comfortable win in the end.
The customary boxing day fixture brought a London derby against high flying West Ham - getting to this game was a nightmare due to the tube strike. I don't think myself or my brother will go next year if the tubes keep up all this tube strike rubbish over Christmas. Getting into the ground was hard work as well due to the ridiculously slow ticket machines, second home game in a row we've all had to put up with this, as a result we almost missed a goal - Oscar firing over. Looking at the replay at home, he should have scored. Cahill also went close with a shot that Adrian denied, and the West Ham keeper also saved from an oscar free kick. The deadlock came on 31 minutes when Costa headed down a corner and John Terry was on hand to tap in from close range, and celebrated right in front of the West Ham fans! They always give him stick in this fixture, and the fixture is always a great atmosphere due to the rivalry between the fans. Chelsea fans were in jubilant spirits after the goal and some of the more amusing songs came out afterwards such as 'no noise from the pikey boys!' and 'F%@& off, to your caravan' haha. Chelsea dominated the second half with Hazard and Willian going close before Costa made it 2-0 with a sublime goal. Running onto a Hazard pass, Costa dummied three West Ham players before firing low into the bottom far corner. Chelsea had more chances to make the scoreline a more convincing one, and with West Hams only real chance coming in the 87th minute when Amilfitano hit the post, it was a comfortable victory. Mourinho came out after the game to state that, after scoring the opening in two games in a week, John Terry will certainly be getting a new contract for next season.
Two days later we faced Southampton, a game that on paper looked like a hard one given Southamptons form. Jose made a few tweaks, Flipe Luis, Mikel and Schurrle started with Fabregas playing further forward. We didn't get off to a good start, Tadic losfting a ball over the top as Terry attempted - and failed - to play offside, as Mane lobbed Courtois from the edge of the area. Chelsea attempted to get back into this but our build up play was slowed and laboured, Schurrle had a poor first half and was subbed, Filipe Luis didn't have the best of games either. Right on half time as it looked like we might go in 1-0 down, Hazard weaved in from the left and fired a low shot into the bottom corner to level at 1-1. With that goal in the final minute of the first half, I thought it might change the game and we would go on to win, but we still couldn't get out of third gear and in the end, the goal turned out to be our only shot on target in the whole match, even a second yellow card in the 88th minute for Schneiderlin couldn't help us as it finished 1-1. Although we should have had a penalty in the 56th minute as Fabregas looked to have been clearly fouled, but was booked for diving, and not for the first time in recent weeks. It led to Jose commenting after the game that there is a 'campaign' to stop Chelsea winning, a comment that would eventually get him in trouble with the FA.
I actually wonder how many games Mourino's teams win when they go behind, his teams are so good at controlling the game and thus scoring first but when they go behind, his teams rarely seem to win, indicating a slight lack of plan B. I would be interested to see the percentage of games Jose has won ever after going behind. Later that day, I was expecting Man City to take advantage of our slip up, but amazingly, after going 2-0 up against Burnley, the game finished 2-2 which meant it wasn't as bad a day as I thought it would be!
A bad day eventually came on New Days at White Hart Lane, usually known as 'Three point lane' in the past due to the teams amazing record there, having only lost three times there in the Premier League era. None of that mattered today though. It was probably our strongest line up with those dropped from Southampton restored, which included Fabregas dropping deeper in place of mikel as Oscar returned, and Chelsea got off to a flyer as Hazard hit the post and Oscar's rebound shot was turned in from close range by Costa on 18 minutes. Chelsea did have another penalty appeal turned down, although I think the call was correct this time. What happened from then though can only be described as a sickening onslaught. There seemed to be huge amount of space between Matic and the defence and Spur attackers made use of it brilliantly, unfortunateky for us. On 30 minutes, future England striker (surely) Harry Kane evaded Matic and other players to fire a low 25 yard shot into the bottom corner to level the scores. Where the game was lost though, came right on half time as on 44 minutes, Chadli hit the post with a low right foot shot, but unluckily for us, the ball landed perfectly at the feet of Rose who tapped in. 1-2 at half time wouldn't have been THAT bad, but a minute later worst was to come. Cahill, who I think needs a rest after some crucial errors in the last month, conceded a penalty with a sloppy foul that was converted by Townsend. 3-1 at half time and I was fearing the worst. I expected Jose to make half time changes, and he did by bringing Ramires on for Oscar ... not the change I thought but anyway. 52 minutes and it was virtually game over as Kane scored a Henry-esque goal to make it 4-1. Shocked is the word I think I said to a friend in a text message. We did attempt to get back into the game though and did show some character, with Hazard playing a one-two with Fabregas before dispatching a low left foot shot home. It gave us hope, but Salah coming on for Willian was not the sub i expected Jose to make, where were Remy and Drogba? In fact, no further substitutions were made for the rest of the game and I find this (and still do as I write) staggering. Chasing the game and you don't bring on any extra strikers? No idea what Jose was thinking. Anyway, it did get worse than I thought as Chadli scored a deflected effort with 12 minutes remaining to make it 5-2 and at that point I switched off. Terry scored a late tap in to reduce the deficit but the defeat was set in stone long ago. What added to the misery, was City winning 3-2 earlier in the day meaning we were only top now in alphabetical order! Due to City now having the same points, goal difference and goals scored. So we are still top but boy is it close!
The following weekend saw us begin our FA cup campaign at home to Watford, and several changes were made. Zouma, Schurrle, Flipe Luis, Cech, Ramires, Mikel, Drogba and Remy all started. Remy and Drogba starting together was an interesting one I thought. It took us a while to break them down but we eventually broke them down on 58 minutes with a superb long range curling effort into the top corner by Willian. Further goals were added from Remy with a volley and a header from Zouma, both players I think need more playing time in place of some players that needed resting, as Chelsea ran out 3-0 winners.
Since that game, some off the ball incidents have occurred so to speak, and I will attempt to address them now. Furthermore, a few fans are excited about the fourth round draw of the FA cup, which sees a potential meeting with Millwall (who have to get past a replay with Bradford). Anyway who doesn't know there history, this is potentially a dangerous meeting as Chelsea and Millwall are fierce rivals with the two teams having arguably two of the feared hooligan firms in England, which was the subject of a film 'The Football Factory'. They last played each other in the fourth round of the FA cup in 1995, with Millwall winning that one on penalties (pretty sure you can google or youtube it haha). That was 20 years ago exactly, incidentally, we almost got Millwall in the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2005 as well, ten years later weirdly. That time though, Millwall failed to get past Everton in a replay. So it seems weird that every ten years since 1995 we seem to always be on the verge of getting Millwall in the fourth round of the FA cup, just one of those weird things I guess.
Now then - Messi. first of all, we won't get him. Too expensive. Aside from the £200 odd million trigger, there is also a tax payment as well as other payments (such is the enormity of the player) that would actually push it up to £500-£600 million. Fallen out with the manager he may have, but it is virtually impossible to pay that money for someone who is 28 in June this year. Regarding news of the story breaking, I found via Twitter well ahead of the news and press, it is amazing how so many people still haven't cottoned onto social media at this day in age, it is far quicker and reliable than the news and papers especially when it comes to transfers.
Another subject is Lampard. Now personally I am getting furious at the number of fans who have turned on him - only a minority mind but still. It turns out he is solely a Man City player and does not have a current deal with New York fc. However, as I suspected (and it was obvious) it turns out he has only made an agreement in principle to play for them and part of that agreement was to play on loan at the sister club Man City. Fair enough, fine by me. I think all parities have made a mess with how they announced it but at the end of the day, lampard has done no wrong for me and that's all I care about. He wasn't wanted by Chelsea so we can't complain, these so called 'fans' that are taking to social media to slate him have no place at my club in my opinion. These same fans were defending Fabregas earlier in the season when Arsenal fans were slating him for joining Chelsea despite the fact their own club didn't want him. Hypocrisy.
Anyway, big blog today, lots to cover, hope I haven't forgotten anything. Big game tomorrow vrs Newcastle and lots of big games coming up. UP THE CHELS!
We faced Stoke away on December 22nd for the first of what I thought were four potential banana skins. Stoke had a good record against the top four teams for the last four years or so, only losing at home twice to them (one of those was against us mind) and this season they had beaten Arsenal after a first half blitz and won away at City. However after two minutes, it was all rather surprisingly comfortable ....
The line up was Chelsea's usual turn out except Mikel was preferred with Matic while Fabregas was played further up instead of Oscar. The Spaniard still had the same impact as per normal, as he got his customary assist setting up John Terry with a corner for Terry to header home the first goal after two minutes. A great start. Costa should have made it 2-0 before half time but fired wide it what was turning out to be a very physical and brutal game, lots of fouls, mainly from Stoke who appeared to adopt some very classic/Mark Hughes type tactics to try and unsettle Chelsea - it didn't work. Fabregas finished off a Chelsea move with a mis-hit shot that trickled slowly into the net on 78 minutes to seal what was a comfortable win in the end.
The customary boxing day fixture brought a London derby against high flying West Ham - getting to this game was a nightmare due to the tube strike. I don't think myself or my brother will go next year if the tubes keep up all this tube strike rubbish over Christmas. Getting into the ground was hard work as well due to the ridiculously slow ticket machines, second home game in a row we've all had to put up with this, as a result we almost missed a goal - Oscar firing over. Looking at the replay at home, he should have scored. Cahill also went close with a shot that Adrian denied, and the West Ham keeper also saved from an oscar free kick. The deadlock came on 31 minutes when Costa headed down a corner and John Terry was on hand to tap in from close range, and celebrated right in front of the West Ham fans! They always give him stick in this fixture, and the fixture is always a great atmosphere due to the rivalry between the fans. Chelsea fans were in jubilant spirits after the goal and some of the more amusing songs came out afterwards such as 'no noise from the pikey boys!' and 'F%@& off, to your caravan' haha. Chelsea dominated the second half with Hazard and Willian going close before Costa made it 2-0 with a sublime goal. Running onto a Hazard pass, Costa dummied three West Ham players before firing low into the bottom far corner. Chelsea had more chances to make the scoreline a more convincing one, and with West Hams only real chance coming in the 87th minute when Amilfitano hit the post, it was a comfortable victory. Mourinho came out after the game to state that, after scoring the opening in two games in a week, John Terry will certainly be getting a new contract for next season.
Two days later we faced Southampton, a game that on paper looked like a hard one given Southamptons form. Jose made a few tweaks, Flipe Luis, Mikel and Schurrle started with Fabregas playing further forward. We didn't get off to a good start, Tadic losfting a ball over the top as Terry attempted - and failed - to play offside, as Mane lobbed Courtois from the edge of the area. Chelsea attempted to get back into this but our build up play was slowed and laboured, Schurrle had a poor first half and was subbed, Filipe Luis didn't have the best of games either. Right on half time as it looked like we might go in 1-0 down, Hazard weaved in from the left and fired a low shot into the bottom corner to level at 1-1. With that goal in the final minute of the first half, I thought it might change the game and we would go on to win, but we still couldn't get out of third gear and in the end, the goal turned out to be our only shot on target in the whole match, even a second yellow card in the 88th minute for Schneiderlin couldn't help us as it finished 1-1. Although we should have had a penalty in the 56th minute as Fabregas looked to have been clearly fouled, but was booked for diving, and not for the first time in recent weeks. It led to Jose commenting after the game that there is a 'campaign' to stop Chelsea winning, a comment that would eventually get him in trouble with the FA.
I actually wonder how many games Mourino's teams win when they go behind, his teams are so good at controlling the game and thus scoring first but when they go behind, his teams rarely seem to win, indicating a slight lack of plan B. I would be interested to see the percentage of games Jose has won ever after going behind. Later that day, I was expecting Man City to take advantage of our slip up, but amazingly, after going 2-0 up against Burnley, the game finished 2-2 which meant it wasn't as bad a day as I thought it would be!
A bad day eventually came on New Days at White Hart Lane, usually known as 'Three point lane' in the past due to the teams amazing record there, having only lost three times there in the Premier League era. None of that mattered today though. It was probably our strongest line up with those dropped from Southampton restored, which included Fabregas dropping deeper in place of mikel as Oscar returned, and Chelsea got off to a flyer as Hazard hit the post and Oscar's rebound shot was turned in from close range by Costa on 18 minutes. Chelsea did have another penalty appeal turned down, although I think the call was correct this time. What happened from then though can only be described as a sickening onslaught. There seemed to be huge amount of space between Matic and the defence and Spur attackers made use of it brilliantly, unfortunateky for us. On 30 minutes, future England striker (surely) Harry Kane evaded Matic and other players to fire a low 25 yard shot into the bottom corner to level the scores. Where the game was lost though, came right on half time as on 44 minutes, Chadli hit the post with a low right foot shot, but unluckily for us, the ball landed perfectly at the feet of Rose who tapped in. 1-2 at half time wouldn't have been THAT bad, but a minute later worst was to come. Cahill, who I think needs a rest after some crucial errors in the last month, conceded a penalty with a sloppy foul that was converted by Townsend. 3-1 at half time and I was fearing the worst. I expected Jose to make half time changes, and he did by bringing Ramires on for Oscar ... not the change I thought but anyway. 52 minutes and it was virtually game over as Kane scored a Henry-esque goal to make it 4-1. Shocked is the word I think I said to a friend in a text message. We did attempt to get back into the game though and did show some character, with Hazard playing a one-two with Fabregas before dispatching a low left foot shot home. It gave us hope, but Salah coming on for Willian was not the sub i expected Jose to make, where were Remy and Drogba? In fact, no further substitutions were made for the rest of the game and I find this (and still do as I write) staggering. Chasing the game and you don't bring on any extra strikers? No idea what Jose was thinking. Anyway, it did get worse than I thought as Chadli scored a deflected effort with 12 minutes remaining to make it 5-2 and at that point I switched off. Terry scored a late tap in to reduce the deficit but the defeat was set in stone long ago. What added to the misery, was City winning 3-2 earlier in the day meaning we were only top now in alphabetical order! Due to City now having the same points, goal difference and goals scored. So we are still top but boy is it close!
The following weekend saw us begin our FA cup campaign at home to Watford, and several changes were made. Zouma, Schurrle, Flipe Luis, Cech, Ramires, Mikel, Drogba and Remy all started. Remy and Drogba starting together was an interesting one I thought. It took us a while to break them down but we eventually broke them down on 58 minutes with a superb long range curling effort into the top corner by Willian. Further goals were added from Remy with a volley and a header from Zouma, both players I think need more playing time in place of some players that needed resting, as Chelsea ran out 3-0 winners.
Since that game, some off the ball incidents have occurred so to speak, and I will attempt to address them now. Furthermore, a few fans are excited about the fourth round draw of the FA cup, which sees a potential meeting with Millwall (who have to get past a replay with Bradford). Anyway who doesn't know there history, this is potentially a dangerous meeting as Chelsea and Millwall are fierce rivals with the two teams having arguably two of the feared hooligan firms in England, which was the subject of a film 'The Football Factory'. They last played each other in the fourth round of the FA cup in 1995, with Millwall winning that one on penalties (pretty sure you can google or youtube it haha). That was 20 years ago exactly, incidentally, we almost got Millwall in the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2005 as well, ten years later weirdly. That time though, Millwall failed to get past Everton in a replay. So it seems weird that every ten years since 1995 we seem to always be on the verge of getting Millwall in the fourth round of the FA cup, just one of those weird things I guess.
Now then - Messi. first of all, we won't get him. Too expensive. Aside from the £200 odd million trigger, there is also a tax payment as well as other payments (such is the enormity of the player) that would actually push it up to £500-£600 million. Fallen out with the manager he may have, but it is virtually impossible to pay that money for someone who is 28 in June this year. Regarding news of the story breaking, I found via Twitter well ahead of the news and press, it is amazing how so many people still haven't cottoned onto social media at this day in age, it is far quicker and reliable than the news and papers especially when it comes to transfers.
Another subject is Lampard. Now personally I am getting furious at the number of fans who have turned on him - only a minority mind but still. It turns out he is solely a Man City player and does not have a current deal with New York fc. However, as I suspected (and it was obvious) it turns out he has only made an agreement in principle to play for them and part of that agreement was to play on loan at the sister club Man City. Fair enough, fine by me. I think all parities have made a mess with how they announced it but at the end of the day, lampard has done no wrong for me and that's all I care about. He wasn't wanted by Chelsea so we can't complain, these so called 'fans' that are taking to social media to slate him have no place at my club in my opinion. These same fans were defending Fabregas earlier in the season when Arsenal fans were slating him for joining Chelsea despite the fact their own club didn't want him. Hypocrisy.
Anyway, big blog today, lots to cover, hope I haven't forgotten anything. Big game tomorrow vrs Newcastle and lots of big games coming up. UP THE CHELS!
Saturday, 20 December 2014
Not unbeatable, but still winners ...
Four games to catch up on - but I'll start with the first and arguably most significant, our first defeat at Newcastle. The media quite frankly, have been doing my head in all season building Chelsea up as potentially 'invincible' like being invincible is some kind of common thing, which it isn't. Obviously it is their job to build teams up and then knock them down and I guess this is what they were doing with Chelsea this season. It annoyed me more given that it gave Arsenal fans a chance to pipe up with 'there's only one invincibles' after the game (they all went quiet though within 30 minutes when they went 1-0 down early on in their game against Stoke, so that was quite funny). I knew this would be a hard game, especially as Newcastle have beaten us at St James Park the last two seasons, and Mourinho has never won their in the league - two draws and two defeats previous to this game, although two of those results were after Chelsea had already secured the league in Mourinho's first two seasons. He has though, won twice in the league cup there, which just makes Aston Villa away as the only game were Jose has not won in any competition.
We had a strong line up for this game, bar Matic who was suspended, which I think was a telling miss. It meant John Obi Mikel deputised for him, and although he always seems a better player under Mourinho, he does slow the game down I think. Takes an age to make a decision or so it seems at times. An uneventful first half was followed by a very eventful second half where Chelsea could have taken the lead if Mikel had buried a header from a Fabregas free kick on 56 minutes. Just a minute later, Chelsea were punished. A low cross from the left from Ameobi was not cleared properly by Cahil, who only merely deflected the ball into the path of Cisse who finished from close range to give Newcastle the lead. Chelsea responded by throwing on Drogba and Filipe Luis but despite some pressure, could find the breakthrough. They thought they had their equaliser when Hazard saw his low drive come back off the post, only for Newcastle to go back up the other end 36 seconds later and score again through another Cisse tap in. How's your luck?
Chelsea had a bit come their way when Taylor was sent off for a second yellow with 8 minutes left and from the resulting free kick, Drogba glanced who for 1-2. The final 10 minutes was all Chelsea, but with Drogba, Costa and Filipe Luis all coming close, the unbeaten run came to an end. Personally I view it as a blessing in disguise as with the monkey off their backs, Chelsea can now get on with winning the league.
To bounce back, we had a dead rubber game against Sporting Lisbon who of course still had a lot to play for. I attended this game but was disappointed with how far back in the Matthew Harding lower our seats were, might have to avoid those seats in future. Mourinho made six changes to this game with qualification already restored, Zouma, Cech, Filipe Luis getting rare starts, with Shurrle also getting a run out. Azpilicueta and Matic also returned. I turned up in time to see Fabregas score a penalty, which I later learnt had been given for a foul on Filipe Luis. Shortly after then, a good Shurrle turn and strike into the bottom left hand corner doubled Chelsea's lead. Schurrle needs a good run like that a I think, rumours of his Chelsea future continue to circulate, especially as Mourinho described him as 'sometimes phenomenal and sometimes so-so'. Reports until late linked us with a move for Marco Reus as a replacement as well.
Carrillo pulled one back for Lisbon with a chest down and low shot on 50 minutes, but it only took 5 minutes to restore our two goal cushion. Fabregas' free kick was headed by Cahil, the ball was going only for predatory goal machine (not really) John Ob Mikel to tap in from in front of the goal line. Only the nigerians 5th Chelsea goal in 8 and a half years and his first in europe! In the end it finished 3-1 and Lisbon went out as Schalke won their match to go through as group runners up. Up next in the champions league? A rematch with Paris St German and a reunion with David Luiz ....
The next match against Hull was a chance to get back to winning ways in the Premier league, with City now only three points behind us, the once comfortable gap was now looking ominously small. With Courtois injured, Cech deputised in goal, with Filipe Luis getting a rare start as well, otherwise the team was as it was expected, with Mikel standing in for suspended Fabregas. I attended this game as well, but had trouble getting due to a problem with the ticket machine which was affecting everyone, and just abut missed Hazards goal so I had to catch up on that later. Oscar sent in a in-swinging cross from the left for Hazard to score with a bullet header. All in all it wasn't the best performance from Chelsea although Hull rarely troubled the Chelsea goal. This game became known more for diving in the end, Willian and Costa booked (harshly I might add) while Cahill got away with a second yellow for diving ironically as his was more of a dive than Costa and Willian's. Personally I thought the referee had a 'mare' but luckily it didn't prove too costly. Costa himself sealed the win, finding the far bottom corner from close range as Hazard dinked a through ball through a packed Hull defence.
The last game was a league cup quarter final against Championship high flyers Derby County. Jose paid Derby the up-most respect with a strong line up whilst making the odd change, bringing Zouma, Drogba and Cech in for a game in the competition that brought Jose's first trophy as Chelsea manager. Hazard gave Chelsea the lead on 23 minutes - taking advantage of some slack Derby defending on the ball, before playing a one two with Fabregas and driving low in the bottom corner. A worrying moment before half time, from a Derby corner which saw Cech accidentally punch Zouma in the head as he punched the ball away. Zouma was down for a good few minutes with blood reportedly pouring from his mouth, so the medical team were understandably concerned. I thought it was quite bad that the Derby medical team were a bit slow in bringing the stretcher on, Hazard and Fabregas even came over to give them a hand! Thankfully the injured turned out to not be serious with Zouma only losing a tooth - Ivanovic came on though to replace him. Chelsea doubled their lead on 56 minutes with a fantastic free kick from Filipe Luis, 25 yards out whipped into the top corner - with dead balls like that in his locker I'm surprised he doesn't play every game! Bryson gave Derby hope with a long range strike in off the post on 71 minutes but Chelsea wrapped up the win not long after. Firstly Remy came on and was involved in a red card for Derby. Through on goal the french striker was held back by Buxton with the Derby keeper charging the ball down and appearing to handle the ball outside the penalty area. As the linesman flagged, most people including myself though it was going to be a red card for the keeper, but ref instead showed a red card for buxton for holding back Remy as he was the last man. There is an argument on viewing replays though that Remy would not have reached the ball before the keeper, but hey ho. Remy was involved in the third goal on 82 mins as his shot was saved before Schurrle swept the rebound home to seal the win.
The draw for the semi finals brought an old foe for Jose, a tie with Liverpool - an echo of the Champions league semi final battles Jose had during his first spell in charge. He did also of course beat Liverpool in the final of the competition for his first trophy 10 years ago. Perhaps it was always destined to happen. Spurs drew Sheffield Utd in the other semi finals, while in the FA cup draw, a home tie with Watford awaits. Up next for Chelsea is a busy Christmas period with some tricky games, Stoke away on Monday night, followed by a boxing day clash at home to the West Ham and an away tie at Southampton and a visit to Spurs on new years day. I think Chelsea need to step up in their performances and re-capture their early season form as difficult as that may be, or they could face a serious struggle over this festive period.
Come on Chelsea!
We had a strong line up for this game, bar Matic who was suspended, which I think was a telling miss. It meant John Obi Mikel deputised for him, and although he always seems a better player under Mourinho, he does slow the game down I think. Takes an age to make a decision or so it seems at times. An uneventful first half was followed by a very eventful second half where Chelsea could have taken the lead if Mikel had buried a header from a Fabregas free kick on 56 minutes. Just a minute later, Chelsea were punished. A low cross from the left from Ameobi was not cleared properly by Cahil, who only merely deflected the ball into the path of Cisse who finished from close range to give Newcastle the lead. Chelsea responded by throwing on Drogba and Filipe Luis but despite some pressure, could find the breakthrough. They thought they had their equaliser when Hazard saw his low drive come back off the post, only for Newcastle to go back up the other end 36 seconds later and score again through another Cisse tap in. How's your luck?
Chelsea had a bit come their way when Taylor was sent off for a second yellow with 8 minutes left and from the resulting free kick, Drogba glanced who for 1-2. The final 10 minutes was all Chelsea, but with Drogba, Costa and Filipe Luis all coming close, the unbeaten run came to an end. Personally I view it as a blessing in disguise as with the monkey off their backs, Chelsea can now get on with winning the league.
To bounce back, we had a dead rubber game against Sporting Lisbon who of course still had a lot to play for. I attended this game but was disappointed with how far back in the Matthew Harding lower our seats were, might have to avoid those seats in future. Mourinho made six changes to this game with qualification already restored, Zouma, Cech, Filipe Luis getting rare starts, with Shurrle also getting a run out. Azpilicueta and Matic also returned. I turned up in time to see Fabregas score a penalty, which I later learnt had been given for a foul on Filipe Luis. Shortly after then, a good Shurrle turn and strike into the bottom left hand corner doubled Chelsea's lead. Schurrle needs a good run like that a I think, rumours of his Chelsea future continue to circulate, especially as Mourinho described him as 'sometimes phenomenal and sometimes so-so'. Reports until late linked us with a move for Marco Reus as a replacement as well.
Carrillo pulled one back for Lisbon with a chest down and low shot on 50 minutes, but it only took 5 minutes to restore our two goal cushion. Fabregas' free kick was headed by Cahil, the ball was going only for predatory goal machine (not really) John Ob Mikel to tap in from in front of the goal line. Only the nigerians 5th Chelsea goal in 8 and a half years and his first in europe! In the end it finished 3-1 and Lisbon went out as Schalke won their match to go through as group runners up. Up next in the champions league? A rematch with Paris St German and a reunion with David Luiz ....
The next match against Hull was a chance to get back to winning ways in the Premier league, with City now only three points behind us, the once comfortable gap was now looking ominously small. With Courtois injured, Cech deputised in goal, with Filipe Luis getting a rare start as well, otherwise the team was as it was expected, with Mikel standing in for suspended Fabregas. I attended this game as well, but had trouble getting due to a problem with the ticket machine which was affecting everyone, and just abut missed Hazards goal so I had to catch up on that later. Oscar sent in a in-swinging cross from the left for Hazard to score with a bullet header. All in all it wasn't the best performance from Chelsea although Hull rarely troubled the Chelsea goal. This game became known more for diving in the end, Willian and Costa booked (harshly I might add) while Cahill got away with a second yellow for diving ironically as his was more of a dive than Costa and Willian's. Personally I thought the referee had a 'mare' but luckily it didn't prove too costly. Costa himself sealed the win, finding the far bottom corner from close range as Hazard dinked a through ball through a packed Hull defence.
The last game was a league cup quarter final against Championship high flyers Derby County. Jose paid Derby the up-most respect with a strong line up whilst making the odd change, bringing Zouma, Drogba and Cech in for a game in the competition that brought Jose's first trophy as Chelsea manager. Hazard gave Chelsea the lead on 23 minutes - taking advantage of some slack Derby defending on the ball, before playing a one two with Fabregas and driving low in the bottom corner. A worrying moment before half time, from a Derby corner which saw Cech accidentally punch Zouma in the head as he punched the ball away. Zouma was down for a good few minutes with blood reportedly pouring from his mouth, so the medical team were understandably concerned. I thought it was quite bad that the Derby medical team were a bit slow in bringing the stretcher on, Hazard and Fabregas even came over to give them a hand! Thankfully the injured turned out to not be serious with Zouma only losing a tooth - Ivanovic came on though to replace him. Chelsea doubled their lead on 56 minutes with a fantastic free kick from Filipe Luis, 25 yards out whipped into the top corner - with dead balls like that in his locker I'm surprised he doesn't play every game! Bryson gave Derby hope with a long range strike in off the post on 71 minutes but Chelsea wrapped up the win not long after. Firstly Remy came on and was involved in a red card for Derby. Through on goal the french striker was held back by Buxton with the Derby keeper charging the ball down and appearing to handle the ball outside the penalty area. As the linesman flagged, most people including myself though it was going to be a red card for the keeper, but ref instead showed a red card for buxton for holding back Remy as he was the last man. There is an argument on viewing replays though that Remy would not have reached the ball before the keeper, but hey ho. Remy was involved in the third goal on 82 mins as his shot was saved before Schurrle swept the rebound home to seal the win.
The draw for the semi finals brought an old foe for Jose, a tie with Liverpool - an echo of the Champions league semi final battles Jose had during his first spell in charge. He did also of course beat Liverpool in the final of the competition for his first trophy 10 years ago. Perhaps it was always destined to happen. Spurs drew Sheffield Utd in the other semi finals, while in the FA cup draw, a home tie with Watford awaits. Up next for Chelsea is a busy Christmas period with some tricky games, Stoke away on Monday night, followed by a boxing day clash at home to the West Ham and an away tie at Southampton and a visit to Spurs on new years day. I think Chelsea need to step up in their performances and re-capture their early season form as difficult as that may be, or they could face a serious struggle over this festive period.
Come on Chelsea!
Thursday, 4 December 2014
West Brom Schalke Sunderland Spurs
Four games, three wins and three clean sheets, I will try and summarise all the key points from these games. The West Brom game was the first home game since Mourinho's 'atmosphere' comment, and it provoked the chelsea crowd to respond by singing in full volume through this match - it sounded from what I was hearing like an actually decent atmosphere for a match that on paper didn't exactly stand out. Oscar provided a superb assist for Costa to volley/sidefoot home on 10 minutes - with West Brom claiming for offside, I think he was just about onside. From then on it was all Chelsea, Foster denied Oscar and Costa and Costa missed a sitter before Hazard slotted home Cesc Fabregas's assist to make it 2-0 on twenty five minutes. West Brom were down to 10 men three minutes later when Yacob lunged two-footed at Costa. Yes he won the ball, but the rules have changed now so that a straight red card can be given for the challenge regardless of whether or not the player wins the ball, and this challenge was certainly reckless and dangerous. Everyone expected Chelsea to kick on after that, but with the points already in the bag, Chelsea under Mourinho don't often operate like that. Mourinho can at times be, reassuringly or annoyingly depending on how you look at it, very pragmatic. Chelsea did appear to take their foot off the gas for the rest of the match to preserve energy, which is clearly sensible in the modern game with the amount of fixtures there are, but disappointing if you want to see a goal fest.
So 2-0 it finished and onto the next match away to Schalke and an old meeting with our former hero, FA cup goal scoring player and Champions league winning manager Roberto Di Matteo. I thought this match would be a difficult obstacle with the Di Matteo factor maybe hanging over (what with his arguably harsh sacking from the club still not that long ago) - how wrong I was. Terry headed us in front after 2 minutes from a Cesc corner and it was all systems go from there. A fantastic sweeping move then ended with Willian firing past the keeper on 29 minutes (although the keeper really should have done better) doubled our lead and then an embarrassing own goal from Kirchhoff where he headed in from another corner to compound a nightmare 5 minutes from him. 3-0 up at half time and cruising. The second half was not as rampant as the first but two substitutes came on and made an immediate impact - Drogba tapping home after Willian and had set him up after going through on goal and thena few minutes later Drogba laid on a sublime cross for Ramires, another substitute to head home number five. Chelsea through the knock out stages as group winners.
The following game saw me and my nephew watching Sunderland away in a pub in Stroud, and there really is not much to report from this game, other than that Sunderland played for a draw with 11 men behind the ball and pretty much got it. 0-0 the final score and the first time this fixture had not produced a Chelsea win in 10 matches. It was also the kind of match that makes me think we won't go unbeaten as it could have easily ended in defeat if Vergini had taken an earlier chance. Sunderland's next game was at home to Man City and I predicted City would win that game comfortably, such is football at times. City won it 4-1.
That night as City did what we couldn't do at the weekend, I was off to the Bridge to watch the small matter of Chelsea v Spurs. We have a great record against Spurs especially in the Premier league era and more so at the Bridge and that good run wasn't about to end here. The only debate was, in the absence of Costa who was suspended, who would start? Drogba or Remy? I wanted Remy for his pace but Jose went with Drogba and it was the right call. After a difficult opening period where Kane hit the bar for Spurs, Hazard slotted home past loris on 19 minutes and it was all Chelsea from there. A poor kick from Loris eventually found its way to Drogba who upon going through on goal, slotted home another goal on his Chelsea return. Jose confirmed after the game a role at the club was there for Drogba upon when he retires from Chelsea. Good to know as I think he'll make an excellent coach. Remy came on for the Ivorian and scored an excellent second half goal to seal victory.
Chelsea still top and going strong ...
So 2-0 it finished and onto the next match away to Schalke and an old meeting with our former hero, FA cup goal scoring player and Champions league winning manager Roberto Di Matteo. I thought this match would be a difficult obstacle with the Di Matteo factor maybe hanging over (what with his arguably harsh sacking from the club still not that long ago) - how wrong I was. Terry headed us in front after 2 minutes from a Cesc corner and it was all systems go from there. A fantastic sweeping move then ended with Willian firing past the keeper on 29 minutes (although the keeper really should have done better) doubled our lead and then an embarrassing own goal from Kirchhoff where he headed in from another corner to compound a nightmare 5 minutes from him. 3-0 up at half time and cruising. The second half was not as rampant as the first but two substitutes came on and made an immediate impact - Drogba tapping home after Willian and had set him up after going through on goal and thena few minutes later Drogba laid on a sublime cross for Ramires, another substitute to head home number five. Chelsea through the knock out stages as group winners.
The following game saw me and my nephew watching Sunderland away in a pub in Stroud, and there really is not much to report from this game, other than that Sunderland played for a draw with 11 men behind the ball and pretty much got it. 0-0 the final score and the first time this fixture had not produced a Chelsea win in 10 matches. It was also the kind of match that makes me think we won't go unbeaten as it could have easily ended in defeat if Vergini had taken an earlier chance. Sunderland's next game was at home to Man City and I predicted City would win that game comfortably, such is football at times. City won it 4-1.
That night as City did what we couldn't do at the weekend, I was off to the Bridge to watch the small matter of Chelsea v Spurs. We have a great record against Spurs especially in the Premier league era and more so at the Bridge and that good run wasn't about to end here. The only debate was, in the absence of Costa who was suspended, who would start? Drogba or Remy? I wanted Remy for his pace but Jose went with Drogba and it was the right call. After a difficult opening period where Kane hit the bar for Spurs, Hazard slotted home past loris on 19 minutes and it was all Chelsea from there. A poor kick from Loris eventually found its way to Drogba who upon going through on goal, slotted home another goal on his Chelsea return. Jose confirmed after the game a role at the club was there for Drogba upon when he retires from Chelsea. Good to know as I think he'll make an excellent coach. Remy came on for the Ivorian and scored an excellent second half goal to seal victory.
Chelsea still top and going strong ...
Sunday, 16 November 2014
Strawberry Town, a 'Quiet' West London derby, drawing v Maribor then winning at Anfield
Quite a bit to catch up on since my last post so here goes...... following the draw v United there was the matter of Shrewsbury Town away in the league cup. Or as Eden Hazard mistakenly called them afterwards in a TV interview, 'Strawberry Town'. Haha.
This game had the makings of a cup classic. Away to a league two side, with Chelsea almost certain to rest key players, how would the millionaires of Kings road fair on a cold wet Wednesday night in Shrewsbury?
With Azpilecueta and Ivanovic suspended, a debut was handed to Andreas Christensen at right back. Starts were also given to Zouma and Nathan Ake. As I mentioned in my blog a few weeks ago, I feel it is time for Chelsea to promote some of the youngsters from their outstanding youth set up and tonight it looked a few had their chance to shine. The first half though was somewhat dull, with an aura of complacency settling in. Three minutes into the second half though and Chelsea captain for the night, the veteran Didier Drogba, continued his fine run of form with his third goal in three games to give us the lead. Schurrle and Salah (a fringe player also handed the chance to impress) combined to drop the ball in front of Drogba who clinically fired a left shot past the keeper. 1-0. Complacency though appeared to set in once again as the second half appeared to drift by with any meaningful action. Then on 77 minutes, Andy Managan, on as a substitute for Shrewsbury, turned in a flicked corner with his boot to level scores and send the Shrewsbury fans wild in celebration. At this point I was thinking 'Oh bloody hell, I can't be bothered with extra time, I just wanna watch American Horror Story'. Luckily the scores only stayed level for three minutes. Jose's response was to bring on two substitutes and one of those, Willian, sent in a fantastic cross that was unluckily turned into his own goal by Grandison. In the end, Chelsea spent the last few minutes winding down the clock, which must have delighted and encouraged Shrewsbury. So the millionaires of Kings Road can do it on a cold wednesday night .... just.
Next was a derby match against QPR, and myself and my brother went to this match. There was something of a stigma attached to this fixture now, with a few grudge matches attached to it. Mainly connected to the race row with Terry and Anton Ferdinand which managed to rumble on for as long as it did. Now you have Rio Ferdinand at QPR, although not playing today, his recent revelations in his autobiography presenting his side of the story and his less then kind words to the Chelsea captain, were sure to make this a hostile atmosphere. Well, not really that great an atmosphere, but we'll come back to that later ....
The game started well for Chelsea, in fact we were pretty dominant throughout the game, chances fell to Ivanovic, Cost and Fabregas but there was no break through until Oscar lit up Stamford Bridge with a sublime effort. Fabregas' pass found Oscar on the edge of the right hand side of the penalty area and the Brazilian used the outside of his right foot to bend the ball inside the far post beyond Greens reach. What a goal. In fact, Chelsea could have expanded on their lead, but second half chances from mainly Hazard and Filipe Luis were wasteful and then with probably their first attack of the match, typical QPR always somehow getting lucky against us, scored an equaliser. Courtois punched out a Vargas drive but Leroy Fer's cross-cum-shot found Chelsea fan Charlie Austin who back heeled the ball in. 1-1. Suddenly the QPR fans were noisy again after Oscar had silenced them. Drogba came to add attacking urgency, but it was a player we already had on the pitch who made the breakthrough again. Hazard was fouled in the area by Vargas, and the Belgian then dusted himself down, picked up the ball and with his tried and trusted albeit risque Mendieta style technique, side-footed home to put Chelsea back in front. I kept thinking 'one day that technique will come unstuck'. Little did I know I might not have to wait too long to find out how right I was ...
Anyway the game finished 2-1 and then after the match, a side note developed regarding the atmosphere. Where we were sitting, Matthew Harding Lower, the atmosphere was and seemed decent. It always seems better though around where you're sitting. The same probably can't be said for other parts of the stadium. Mourinho picked up on this in his post match interview and mentioned that he'd prefer the crowd to be louder and more lively, saying something along the lines of 'the crowd only woke up when the floodlights came on'. Now, for all the credit he deserves, this was probably a bit ill-judged from Mourinho. It rightly produced an angry reaction from the fans, many of whom spoke out about the contributing factors to this, including the ridiculous ticket prices which had priced many young fans out of the game (young fans being most likely to make noise), the fact stewards always tell fans to sit down(fans are less likely to sing sitting down), and the fact away fans take up half of the Shed end (many hardcore fans used to sit in this stand). A class act that did emerge from this though was a fan who protested these points to John Terry on Instagram, had the Chelsea skipper asking for his phone number to talk about these things further. Terry made it clear to the young fan that Mourinho had only done it to get a reaction from the fans to help the team in future matches, something I suspected personally, and made it clear that all the points made had been taken on board and would be relayed. Hopefully it will be a case of watch this space ...
The following game saw the return of Champions league action and a visit to Slovenia to face Maribor, the team Chelsea had thrashed 6-0 weeks earlier. Many including myself expected a similar result and thus I'm quite certain the game was in many a fans accumulator for the evening. Sadly, complacency was to set in and similar to the last two games, Chelsea looked like they were taking an age to wake up. The first meaningful action didn't come until the 51st minute when Ibraimi scored a fantastic curling effort with his left foot from the edge of the area past Cech to fire the home side in front. Up until that point they had looked the more livelier team. Ramires was then brought on for left back Filipe Luis (Costa and Oscar had been brought on at half time) so Chelsea were now going for it. They were extremely lucky not to go 2-0 down as Zahovic fire a low Viler cross over the bar of an open goal from just yards out. A major let off. From then on though, it was all Chelsea. Bombarding the Maribor goal like the alamo, they got their reward when Matic side footed home from close range as a John Terry header from a corner was on its way in, Matic just made absolute sure. After that it seemed to be a case of when Chelsea would score again, not if. Hazard had a one - on - one saved and Costa saw an effort tipped over. Then Viler, scorer of an own goal at Stamford Bridge, gave away a penalty and a chance for Chelsea to win it with five minutes to go. Up stepped Hazard with that tried and trusted technique, only this time the result was horrible as his tame effort was easily saved. The problem with that technique is that when it works, it looks brilliant, but when it doesn't it looks awful. So 1-1 it finished, with our destiny still in our hands.
Early on Saturday we faced Liverpool at Anfield, who themselves had rested seven key players against Real Madrid for our visit (they clearly thought we were bigger than Real Madrid!). An interesting change to the Chelsea starting line up was Ramires being added to the supporting three with Oscar and Hazard behind Costa. Azpilecueta returned to the line up following his suspension. Ramires I'll admit I am often critical of as I am not sure his likes behind back in midfield, and it showed as we fell behind on nine minutes as Ramires was found wanting in midfield, leaving all the space in the world for Can to pick up the ball 25 yards out, take his time and fire a shot that deflected off Cahill and into the net. Chelsea were not behind for long though - on 14 minutes a messy effort from a corner saw Cahill side foot a shot from close range that crossed the line before being scrambled away by Mignolet. Nothing happened then but goal line technology intervened and the referee gave the goal. Goal line technology clearly does work after all, Sepp. Anyway, Chelsea then fully took control, with Hazard twice having a shot cleared off the line and then Oscar seeing an effort saved before half time. The second half was no different, with Costa and Ramires going close before a superb cross by Azpilecueta was tipped away by Mignolet for Costa to lash home what would turn out to be the winning goal. Another important contribution from him. Chelsea got lucky near the end as Liverpool probably should have had a penalty near the end for a handball by Cahill (the second time in the game Cahill had had a handball penalty appeal against him, the first one though clearly not a penalty despite what Phil Neville's god-awful Match of the Day punditry suggested) but managed to hold on.
So top of the league, four points ahead of Southampton and six ahead of Man City who were held by QPR. Can Chelsea win the league? Many people at the moment seem so convinced that they will the question has become will they go unbeaten? Too early in the season to suggest for me, but then if you look at the six sides who made up the top seven last season with us, we have already faced four of them away - City, Liverpool, United and Everton with trips to Spurs and Arsenal still to come. Of course, anyone can beat anyone in this league but at the moment, based on form, the question of Chelsea remaining unbeaten is becoming more and more of a possibility every time one of these so called 'difficult' fixtures is out of the way. I personally don't think we will, at this day in age there are too many fixtures the more competitions you compete in. Also, the Arsenal 'invincibles' of 2004 arguably had it easier than we would have, as many of the teams they faced in that league have since perished from the league. So Chelsea doing an 'invincible' season this year would be harder but, if we were to do it, more of an achievement in my opinion.
We shall see....
This game had the makings of a cup classic. Away to a league two side, with Chelsea almost certain to rest key players, how would the millionaires of Kings road fair on a cold wet Wednesday night in Shrewsbury?
With Azpilecueta and Ivanovic suspended, a debut was handed to Andreas Christensen at right back. Starts were also given to Zouma and Nathan Ake. As I mentioned in my blog a few weeks ago, I feel it is time for Chelsea to promote some of the youngsters from their outstanding youth set up and tonight it looked a few had their chance to shine. The first half though was somewhat dull, with an aura of complacency settling in. Three minutes into the second half though and Chelsea captain for the night, the veteran Didier Drogba, continued his fine run of form with his third goal in three games to give us the lead. Schurrle and Salah (a fringe player also handed the chance to impress) combined to drop the ball in front of Drogba who clinically fired a left shot past the keeper. 1-0. Complacency though appeared to set in once again as the second half appeared to drift by with any meaningful action. Then on 77 minutes, Andy Managan, on as a substitute for Shrewsbury, turned in a flicked corner with his boot to level scores and send the Shrewsbury fans wild in celebration. At this point I was thinking 'Oh bloody hell, I can't be bothered with extra time, I just wanna watch American Horror Story'. Luckily the scores only stayed level for three minutes. Jose's response was to bring on two substitutes and one of those, Willian, sent in a fantastic cross that was unluckily turned into his own goal by Grandison. In the end, Chelsea spent the last few minutes winding down the clock, which must have delighted and encouraged Shrewsbury. So the millionaires of Kings Road can do it on a cold wednesday night .... just.
Next was a derby match against QPR, and myself and my brother went to this match. There was something of a stigma attached to this fixture now, with a few grudge matches attached to it. Mainly connected to the race row with Terry and Anton Ferdinand which managed to rumble on for as long as it did. Now you have Rio Ferdinand at QPR, although not playing today, his recent revelations in his autobiography presenting his side of the story and his less then kind words to the Chelsea captain, were sure to make this a hostile atmosphere. Well, not really that great an atmosphere, but we'll come back to that later ....
The game started well for Chelsea, in fact we were pretty dominant throughout the game, chances fell to Ivanovic, Cost and Fabregas but there was no break through until Oscar lit up Stamford Bridge with a sublime effort. Fabregas' pass found Oscar on the edge of the right hand side of the penalty area and the Brazilian used the outside of his right foot to bend the ball inside the far post beyond Greens reach. What a goal. In fact, Chelsea could have expanded on their lead, but second half chances from mainly Hazard and Filipe Luis were wasteful and then with probably their first attack of the match, typical QPR always somehow getting lucky against us, scored an equaliser. Courtois punched out a Vargas drive but Leroy Fer's cross-cum-shot found Chelsea fan Charlie Austin who back heeled the ball in. 1-1. Suddenly the QPR fans were noisy again after Oscar had silenced them. Drogba came to add attacking urgency, but it was a player we already had on the pitch who made the breakthrough again. Hazard was fouled in the area by Vargas, and the Belgian then dusted himself down, picked up the ball and with his tried and trusted albeit risque Mendieta style technique, side-footed home to put Chelsea back in front. I kept thinking 'one day that technique will come unstuck'. Little did I know I might not have to wait too long to find out how right I was ...
Anyway the game finished 2-1 and then after the match, a side note developed regarding the atmosphere. Where we were sitting, Matthew Harding Lower, the atmosphere was and seemed decent. It always seems better though around where you're sitting. The same probably can't be said for other parts of the stadium. Mourinho picked up on this in his post match interview and mentioned that he'd prefer the crowd to be louder and more lively, saying something along the lines of 'the crowd only woke up when the floodlights came on'. Now, for all the credit he deserves, this was probably a bit ill-judged from Mourinho. It rightly produced an angry reaction from the fans, many of whom spoke out about the contributing factors to this, including the ridiculous ticket prices which had priced many young fans out of the game (young fans being most likely to make noise), the fact stewards always tell fans to sit down(fans are less likely to sing sitting down), and the fact away fans take up half of the Shed end (many hardcore fans used to sit in this stand). A class act that did emerge from this though was a fan who protested these points to John Terry on Instagram, had the Chelsea skipper asking for his phone number to talk about these things further. Terry made it clear to the young fan that Mourinho had only done it to get a reaction from the fans to help the team in future matches, something I suspected personally, and made it clear that all the points made had been taken on board and would be relayed. Hopefully it will be a case of watch this space ...
The following game saw the return of Champions league action and a visit to Slovenia to face Maribor, the team Chelsea had thrashed 6-0 weeks earlier. Many including myself expected a similar result and thus I'm quite certain the game was in many a fans accumulator for the evening. Sadly, complacency was to set in and similar to the last two games, Chelsea looked like they were taking an age to wake up. The first meaningful action didn't come until the 51st minute when Ibraimi scored a fantastic curling effort with his left foot from the edge of the area past Cech to fire the home side in front. Up until that point they had looked the more livelier team. Ramires was then brought on for left back Filipe Luis (Costa and Oscar had been brought on at half time) so Chelsea were now going for it. They were extremely lucky not to go 2-0 down as Zahovic fire a low Viler cross over the bar of an open goal from just yards out. A major let off. From then on though, it was all Chelsea. Bombarding the Maribor goal like the alamo, they got their reward when Matic side footed home from close range as a John Terry header from a corner was on its way in, Matic just made absolute sure. After that it seemed to be a case of when Chelsea would score again, not if. Hazard had a one - on - one saved and Costa saw an effort tipped over. Then Viler, scorer of an own goal at Stamford Bridge, gave away a penalty and a chance for Chelsea to win it with five minutes to go. Up stepped Hazard with that tried and trusted technique, only this time the result was horrible as his tame effort was easily saved. The problem with that technique is that when it works, it looks brilliant, but when it doesn't it looks awful. So 1-1 it finished, with our destiny still in our hands.
Early on Saturday we faced Liverpool at Anfield, who themselves had rested seven key players against Real Madrid for our visit (they clearly thought we were bigger than Real Madrid!). An interesting change to the Chelsea starting line up was Ramires being added to the supporting three with Oscar and Hazard behind Costa. Azpilecueta returned to the line up following his suspension. Ramires I'll admit I am often critical of as I am not sure his likes behind back in midfield, and it showed as we fell behind on nine minutes as Ramires was found wanting in midfield, leaving all the space in the world for Can to pick up the ball 25 yards out, take his time and fire a shot that deflected off Cahill and into the net. Chelsea were not behind for long though - on 14 minutes a messy effort from a corner saw Cahill side foot a shot from close range that crossed the line before being scrambled away by Mignolet. Nothing happened then but goal line technology intervened and the referee gave the goal. Goal line technology clearly does work after all, Sepp. Anyway, Chelsea then fully took control, with Hazard twice having a shot cleared off the line and then Oscar seeing an effort saved before half time. The second half was no different, with Costa and Ramires going close before a superb cross by Azpilecueta was tipped away by Mignolet for Costa to lash home what would turn out to be the winning goal. Another important contribution from him. Chelsea got lucky near the end as Liverpool probably should have had a penalty near the end for a handball by Cahill (the second time in the game Cahill had had a handball penalty appeal against him, the first one though clearly not a penalty despite what Phil Neville's god-awful Match of the Day punditry suggested) but managed to hold on.
So top of the league, four points ahead of Southampton and six ahead of Man City who were held by QPR. Can Chelsea win the league? Many people at the moment seem so convinced that they will the question has become will they go unbeaten? Too early in the season to suggest for me, but then if you look at the six sides who made up the top seven last season with us, we have already faced four of them away - City, Liverpool, United and Everton with trips to Spurs and Arsenal still to come. Of course, anyone can beat anyone in this league but at the moment, based on form, the question of Chelsea remaining unbeaten is becoming more and more of a possibility every time one of these so called 'difficult' fixtures is out of the way. I personally don't think we will, at this day in age there are too many fixtures the more competitions you compete in. Also, the Arsenal 'invincibles' of 2004 arguably had it easier than we would have, as many of the teams they faced in that league have since perished from the league. So Chelsea doing an 'invincible' season this year would be harder but, if we were to do it, more of an achievement in my opinion.
We shall see....
Tuesday, 28 October 2014
Beating Palace, thrashing Maribor before getting hit by a Van
The week started with a trip to Selhurst Park to face London rivals Crystal Palace, a team who Chelsea have never really considered massive London rivals despite the distance. No Costa, rumours about his hamstring injury that he was said to have aggravated on international turned out to be true, and he was out. So Remy started. No significant changes elsewhere. Six minutes in and Oscar scored a stunning free kick to put us 1-0 up, bending it outwards from the left into the top right corner. Great goal, I watched it on a vines link via Twitter as I was attending Comic Con that day. Then before half time, the two teams exchanged red cards in separate incidents in the space of 2 minutes! Azpilicueta/Dave getting a straight red card for following through and the Delaney sent off for Palace for a second yellow! Remarkable set of circumstances but it favoured Chelsea in the end as they managed to use the space well in the second half and eventually went 2-0 up. Tika taka football at its best as Fabregas played a one-two with Oscar before slotting home his first Chelsea goal! A sublime team goal! Campbell managed to tap in a consolation in stoppage time for Palace but the game was already won.
We then faced Maribor from Slovenia on Tuesday, the first time we had faced a Slovenian team before, int he Champions league. I went to this game with my brother, I definitely booked tickets for Shed lower, but then surprisingly found I had been sent Matthew Harding lower tickets instead! A nice surprise really, Shed Lower is an ok stand to sit it for atmosphere and you do have banter with the away fans, but Matthew Harding lower is always preferable. Missed the first 10 minutes though due to the ridiculous time it takes to get into the stadium at that end, but got in just in time to see Remy cut inside from the right and slot home left footed. Good finish, but then he went off injured. A shame really, but it meant Chelsea favourite son Drogba would make another Champions League appearance. With 23 minutes gone, Chelsea were awarded a penalty for a handball that I must admit, I did not see from where I was sitting, must have been well harsh is all I can really say! The roar that went up in the stadium though when Hazard, our usual penalty taker, gave the ball to Drogba to give him the chance to get his first goal since his return, was louder than the goal that followed! So Drogba, whose last Chelsea goal was the penalty that won the Champions league, scored his first since returning with a penalty. Sending the keeper the wrong way and Chelsea were 2-0 up. The third goal was a beauty, Chelsea breaking from inside their own half, Terry charging up the pitch as the furthest player forward as Hazard charged forward with the ball. A deft touch put Fabregas through on the right wing and the Spaniard laid on yet another assist, sending the ball across the six yard box for Terry to slide in and tap home Chelsea's third on 31 minutes. The second half was more of the same, but also more of the Hazard show. Hazard forcing an own goal from Viler on 54 minutes for 4-0, then scoring a penalty won by Ivanovic on 77 minutes. A classic penalty, tapping the ball as the keeper went the wrong way, and it would have made a great video on my phone had it not cut out as he went to take it! Then right at the end, I missed another goal, this time in person as I nipped to the loo early as I decided to make an early exit at 5-0. Hazard scoring arguably the best goal of the game with a right foot finish! Saw it on the TV screen on my way out but still gutted I missed it!
Onto the big match on Sunday - away to Man Utd! No Costa or Remy to injury so 36 Drogba was leading the line. Azpilicueta/Dave was suspended and Ramires (who I doubt would have been too involved) was injured as well so before the game, I would have actually taken a draw, funnily enough. First half was all Man Utd, Courtois being our best player as he kept out a few Man Utd chances, while Drogba forced a save from De Gea for our best chance. We should have also had a penalty as Terry and Ivanovic were both headlocked from a corner - wasn't too sure if I was watching Wrestlemania all of a sudden! Second half Chelsea kicked up a gear as you'd always expect, and Hazard almost opened the scoring as he went through on goal, but fired straight at De Gea who turned it around for a corner. From the resulting corner ..... step up Didier Drogba rolling back the years. A thunderous glancing header from Fabregas' inswinging corner found the back of the net and chelsea were 1-0 up! Glorious!
Now, where I was critical of chelsea in this game was that we were too sloppy the final third and lacked a 'killer instinct'. I feel United were there for the taking and, although most of the time it time it does work, I was a bit disappointed Mourinho decided to shut up shop when he brought Mikel on with roughly 20 minutes late. This allowed Man Utd to come at us as we soaked up some late pressure. Four minutes of stoppage were added (no idea where that came from) and with three of those gone, Ivanovic fouled Di Maria and was sent off for a second yellow card, he'll be banned now for QPR. Thirty seconds left ..... then guess what happened? Di Maria's free kick found Fellaini, his header was saved by Courtois but the rebound fell to Van Persie, and you can guess where he put the ball. Chelsea's bus smashed into by a Van.
So three points became one, but still things to be positive about. With Man City surprisingly losing 2-1 to West Ham, we had the chance to extend our lead over them to 8 points but had to settle for 6, that's ok. We're also still unbeaten and still top, that's ok too. Still no reason to worry and plenty to smile about!
We then faced Maribor from Slovenia on Tuesday, the first time we had faced a Slovenian team before, int he Champions league. I went to this game with my brother, I definitely booked tickets for Shed lower, but then surprisingly found I had been sent Matthew Harding lower tickets instead! A nice surprise really, Shed Lower is an ok stand to sit it for atmosphere and you do have banter with the away fans, but Matthew Harding lower is always preferable. Missed the first 10 minutes though due to the ridiculous time it takes to get into the stadium at that end, but got in just in time to see Remy cut inside from the right and slot home left footed. Good finish, but then he went off injured. A shame really, but it meant Chelsea favourite son Drogba would make another Champions League appearance. With 23 minutes gone, Chelsea were awarded a penalty for a handball that I must admit, I did not see from where I was sitting, must have been well harsh is all I can really say! The roar that went up in the stadium though when Hazard, our usual penalty taker, gave the ball to Drogba to give him the chance to get his first goal since his return, was louder than the goal that followed! So Drogba, whose last Chelsea goal was the penalty that won the Champions league, scored his first since returning with a penalty. Sending the keeper the wrong way and Chelsea were 2-0 up. The third goal was a beauty, Chelsea breaking from inside their own half, Terry charging up the pitch as the furthest player forward as Hazard charged forward with the ball. A deft touch put Fabregas through on the right wing and the Spaniard laid on yet another assist, sending the ball across the six yard box for Terry to slide in and tap home Chelsea's third on 31 minutes. The second half was more of the same, but also more of the Hazard show. Hazard forcing an own goal from Viler on 54 minutes for 4-0, then scoring a penalty won by Ivanovic on 77 minutes. A classic penalty, tapping the ball as the keeper went the wrong way, and it would have made a great video on my phone had it not cut out as he went to take it! Then right at the end, I missed another goal, this time in person as I nipped to the loo early as I decided to make an early exit at 5-0. Hazard scoring arguably the best goal of the game with a right foot finish! Saw it on the TV screen on my way out but still gutted I missed it!
Onto the big match on Sunday - away to Man Utd! No Costa or Remy to injury so 36 Drogba was leading the line. Azpilicueta/Dave was suspended and Ramires (who I doubt would have been too involved) was injured as well so before the game, I would have actually taken a draw, funnily enough. First half was all Man Utd, Courtois being our best player as he kept out a few Man Utd chances, while Drogba forced a save from De Gea for our best chance. We should have also had a penalty as Terry and Ivanovic were both headlocked from a corner - wasn't too sure if I was watching Wrestlemania all of a sudden! Second half Chelsea kicked up a gear as you'd always expect, and Hazard almost opened the scoring as he went through on goal, but fired straight at De Gea who turned it around for a corner. From the resulting corner ..... step up Didier Drogba rolling back the years. A thunderous glancing header from Fabregas' inswinging corner found the back of the net and chelsea were 1-0 up! Glorious!
Now, where I was critical of chelsea in this game was that we were too sloppy the final third and lacked a 'killer instinct'. I feel United were there for the taking and, although most of the time it time it does work, I was a bit disappointed Mourinho decided to shut up shop when he brought Mikel on with roughly 20 minutes late. This allowed Man Utd to come at us as we soaked up some late pressure. Four minutes of stoppage were added (no idea where that came from) and with three of those gone, Ivanovic fouled Di Maria and was sent off for a second yellow card, he'll be banned now for QPR. Thirty seconds left ..... then guess what happened? Di Maria's free kick found Fellaini, his header was saved by Courtois but the rebound fell to Van Persie, and you can guess where he put the ball. Chelsea's bus smashed into by a Van.
So three points became one, but still things to be positive about. With Man City surprisingly losing 2-1 to West Ham, we had the chance to extend our lead over them to 8 points but had to settle for 6, that's ok. We're also still unbeaten and still top, that's ok too. Still no reason to worry and plenty to smile about!
Friday, 17 October 2014
Villa - Lisbon - Arsenal
Three big games in a week, three wins and three clean sheets. Awesome. We faced Villa on 27th September and won convincingly 3-0. Oscar gave us the lead from Willian's pull back and then early in the second half Costa scored a brilliant glancing header from Dave's cross, before Willian opened his account for the season with a close range finish after a scramble inside the six yard box. An efficient win, only made more memorable by Mourinho attempting to shake Paul Lambert and Roy Keanes hand 30 seconds before full time, only for them to refuse stating that the match 'wasn't finished yet'. Keane has since released a book and been his usual mouthy self in the media (only seems like an angry bitter hypocritical man to me) and since said Mourinho attempting to shake their hands before full time was a 'disgrace' and you'd get knocked out for doing that in Sunday league.
Firstly Keane - this isn't sunday league, so calm down. Secondly, the game WAS over, it was 3-0. I mean, come on! If it was 1-0 to either Chelsea or Villa, Jose obviously wouldn't have done that. He didn't do it the other week against City. Not to mention the reason he does it in the first place is to phone his wife to let her know the score! His reaction in the press conference the other day though was a great comeback, sarcastically saying 'I appreciate comments as they are both good examples of polite and well educated people'. Mugged off haha. The second game against Lisbon produced nothing of note other than a first goal from a free kick this season. From Matic of all people. A header as well! 1-0 and our first champions league win of the season to top the group. A quiet game really.
The week finished with those North London pin heads Arsenal. Always a pleasure beating them - it wasn't going to be 6-0 again but any win against will do. The game started though with Arsenal having a lot of possession, no chances though. Courtois had to go off though after suffering bleeding from the eye, which looked worrying.....turned out to be nothing serious though. It gave a chance for Cech to get a run out, although he practically had nothing to do, as Arsenal couldn't get a single one of their 10 shots on target. Chelsea despite only having 5 shots, created the most clear cut chances. Hazard opened the scoring with a superb run into the box before Koscielny brought him down. The Belgium got up and took the penalty and scored to give Chelsea the lead. After that - the Mourinho v Wenger show. A bad challenge by Cahill on Sanchez brought an angry reaction from Wenger who entered Mourinho's technical area and then decided to push Jose - obviously Jose had got under his skin yet again. The pair mouthed off at each other for the rest of the first half and Jose even refused to shake Wengers hand after the game - it was glorious to watch. This feud I predict will be the new Ferguson v Wenger, only (hopefully) a bit more one sided! Anyway, back to the game,and a fairly comfortable win was sealed 12 minutes from the end by a fantastic goal by Cost - superb pass from Fabregas over the top for Cost to run onto and lob Szczesney deftly. Wonderful goal. Also, on the subject of Fabregas, I thought it was disgraceful of the Arsenal fans to give him such a poor and bitter reaction by booing ad jeering him all the way through the match, especially given how classy Chelsea fans were with Lampard the other week. Just goes to show, you can't buy class ....
Firstly Keane - this isn't sunday league, so calm down. Secondly, the game WAS over, it was 3-0. I mean, come on! If it was 1-0 to either Chelsea or Villa, Jose obviously wouldn't have done that. He didn't do it the other week against City. Not to mention the reason he does it in the first place is to phone his wife to let her know the score! His reaction in the press conference the other day though was a great comeback, sarcastically saying 'I appreciate comments as they are both good examples of polite and well educated people'. Mugged off haha. The second game against Lisbon produced nothing of note other than a first goal from a free kick this season. From Matic of all people. A header as well! 1-0 and our first champions league win of the season to top the group. A quiet game really.
The week finished with those North London pin heads Arsenal. Always a pleasure beating them - it wasn't going to be 6-0 again but any win against will do. The game started though with Arsenal having a lot of possession, no chances though. Courtois had to go off though after suffering bleeding from the eye, which looked worrying.....turned out to be nothing serious though. It gave a chance for Cech to get a run out, although he practically had nothing to do, as Arsenal couldn't get a single one of their 10 shots on target. Chelsea despite only having 5 shots, created the most clear cut chances. Hazard opened the scoring with a superb run into the box before Koscielny brought him down. The Belgium got up and took the penalty and scored to give Chelsea the lead. After that - the Mourinho v Wenger show. A bad challenge by Cahill on Sanchez brought an angry reaction from Wenger who entered Mourinho's technical area and then decided to push Jose - obviously Jose had got under his skin yet again. The pair mouthed off at each other for the rest of the first half and Jose even refused to shake Wengers hand after the game - it was glorious to watch. This feud I predict will be the new Ferguson v Wenger, only (hopefully) a bit more one sided! Anyway, back to the game,and a fairly comfortable win was sealed 12 minutes from the end by a fantastic goal by Cost - superb pass from Fabregas over the top for Cost to run onto and lob Szczesney deftly. Wonderful goal. Also, on the subject of Fabregas, I thought it was disgraceful of the Arsenal fans to give him such a poor and bitter reaction by booing ad jeering him all the way through the match, especially given how classy Chelsea fans were with Lampard the other week. Just goes to show, you can't buy class ....
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