Deeplinks have been renamed Shorts, for obvious reasons. I considered Deep-lying Links, but I prefer Shorts.

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Prior to Sunday's defeat of Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, and on the back of the poor performances against Wigan and APOEL, a couple of newspaper pundits expressed doubts about Carlo Ancelotti and the team.

In the Independent, Glenn Moore asked: Is Ancelotti the new Scolari at Chelsea?

"Less than two months into the season and the spectre of Groundhog Day already looms at Stamford Bridge. Just as last year a storied foreign manager arrived and made an immediate impact, delivering a team which has won matches and played attractive football, all without antagonising everyone. Maybe, it seemed, Roman had found his man at last. But now the performances have started to slide."

Newspaper reports

The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: "Predictability was a delight for Chelsea. The side must reduce their opponents to fatalism when they have this durability and efficiency about them. Liverpool, eager as they were in the hunt for revival in the Premier League, were well contained. Hilario, deputising for a suspended Petr Cech, did not have an outstanding save to make until dealing with a Steven Gerrard effort in the last few moments."

The Times, Oliver Kay: "Small details, according to Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benítez, are what decide football matches. It sounds like the ultimate truism, but, after two of the Barclays Premier League’s heavyweight teams had spent an hour trading punches at Stamford Bridge yesterday, one of them briefly let their guard down and, from that moment on, Chelsea and Liverpool seemed to be heading in opposite directions."

Newspaper reports

The Guardian, Dominic Fifield: "Chelsea look down from the top of their qualifying group having reverted to victorious ways after the trauma of Wigan, though that is not to suggest all is rosy with them once again. Carlo Ancelotti prowled his technical area virtually throughout this contest against a depleted and unfancied Apoel Nicosia, his frustration at his side's early wastefulness transformed into genuine anxiety before the end."

Daily Telegraph, Jason Burt: "Chelsea are dominating Group D without Didi. Or, at least, according to the table they are. Once again they, just about, coped with the loss of Didier Drogba, to suspension, with Nicolas Anelka, so long in the shadows of the powerful, talismanic striker stepping up to the plate to score a decisive goal."

The Times, Matt Hughes: "Nicolas Anelka...

I'll start with tomorrow's Champions League group match versus Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia.

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The New York Times Goal Blog has a post about the four relatively unknown teams who are making their Champions League debuts this season.

"[APOEL] was founded in a candy store in 1926, [and] has become the most successful team in Cyprus after a number of political controversies. In 1948, the club banned players with left-wing political affiliations. Those players went on to found the rival club, Omonia Nicosia. In 1986, when the government prohibited APOEL from playing a European Cup game against a Turkish team, Besiktas, UEFA suspended the club from European competition for two years."

You can read more about APOEL on Wikipedia.

The official Chelsea FC website talks to members of the Cyprus Supporters Club.

The Daily Telegraph previews the match.

"A couple...

Last updated Saturday, 26 September 09, 10:05 PM

The goals

16' Bramble 1-0
47' Drogba 1-1
50' Rolladega 2-1
90' Scharner 3-1

Chelsea lost their first Premier League game of the season earlier, going down 3-1 to Wigan Athletic at the JW Stadium. I didn't see the game, but by all accounts Wigan deserved the win.

The goals came from Titus Bramble in the 16th minute, who was left unmarked to nod home from a corner, before Didier Drogba equalized just after the break - it was his 100th goal for the Blues. Three minutes later Petr Cech was adjudged to have brought down Hugo Rodallega in the box (it's hard to tell from the video, but there doesn't appear to be much contact) and given a straight red card by referee Phil Dowd (Ashley Cole looked to have got back to be the last man). Rodallega got up and blasted the penalty...