Champions League: Atletico Madrid 2 - 2 Chelsea... Newspaper reaction, Goal videos, Match report
Tuesday, 03 November 09, 07:36 PM · Comments (53)
Newspaper reports
The Guardian, Dominic Fifield: "Didier Drogba's scriptwriter should take a bow. The Ivorian set about restoring his reputation in European competition after the infamous histrionics against Barcelona after the semi-final back in May, and he did so with the goals that thrust Chelsea into the knockout phase. The forward's form this season has been impressive. His timing last night was just as impeccable."
Daily Telegraph, Jason Burt: "Maybe a glimpse of Chelsea's future? Or what might have been? Two goals from Sergio Aguero and two from Didier Drogba left this contest balanced as a draw with Chelsea progressing to the knock-out stages of the Champions League. They considered signing Aguero in the summer but decided not to — a decision that may be revisited after his stunning goals — while the decision to retain Drogba has been vindicated."
The Times, Oliver Butler: "Didier Drogba made a scoring return to European action to help Chelsea through to the last 16 of the Champions League, even though his brace could not help his side continue their 100 per cent record against Atletico Madrid tonight."
Official Chelsea FC Website: "The first draw of the season is enough for Chelsea to make the next stage of the Champions League, Didier Drogba scoring twice on the night. It was a game that exploded late on, the Blues coming from behind to take the lead with less than five minute remaining, only for substitute Sergio Aguero to equalise in stoppage time."
Goals
66' Aguero 1-0
81' Drogba 1-1
86' Drogba 1-2
90' Aguero 2-2
Background
We went into this game looking in great form, with Ancelotti masterminding some of the best football we have played for ages. Whilst not ignoring the small problems we may still have at the back, personally I have been completely won over by The Eyebrow after initially having my doubts. Twenty-eight league goals in only eleven games probably has something to do with that, and in fact our games this season currently involve on average 0.9 more goals than the matches in our two championship winning seasons recently (3.3 compared to 2.4).
After the experience with Scolari my biggest worry for a side playing the 'diamond' formation is that they will fail to score enough goals against well organized teams due to the midfield becoming congested, but Ancelotti has injected enough fluidity into the side to make sure this hasn't been a problem so far. It says a lot about a team when the only doubts being mooted in the press are focused on a back five who haven't conceded a goal in over 400 minutes of football in all competitions, and are yet to concede in the Champions League this season. Saying that, there are some question marks about this area – is Branners a better right-back than Bosingwa? Who should be picked at centre-back – will Carlo keep faith with an increasingly capricious Riccy or give Alex another chance to force his way into the team?
Formations
With sky-high expectations of another blitz similar to the game a fortnight ago it was inevitable we would pick a slightly weakened side. After all we are in a very strong position in our group and apparently we have a big match at the weekend against someone called Manchester Rovers or Manchester Athletic or something like that. Anyway, they are one of these clubs from up North with 'history' that are owned by rich Americans (the one managed by the anxious Scottish alcoholic rather than the anxious Spanish waiter). All this meant that we started with Carvalho, Ballack, Deco and Anelka on the bench, though there was a welcome return for Ashley Cole.
Notable players on Atletico's teamsheet included Sinama Pongolle (if only because he is rubbish and was thankfully replacing the infinitely more dangerous Sergio Aguero), Diego Forlan, and Antonio Reyes who had missed the previous clash.
Chelsea: Cech, A. Cole, Terry (c), Alex, Belletti, Essien, Lampard, J. Cole, Malouda, Drogba, Kalou.
Atletico Madrid: Asenjo, Lopez, Juanito, Pablo, Assuncao (c), Simao, Santana, Forlan, Pongolle, Reyes.
First half
The game started in quite a cagey fashion with Atletico enjoying a bit more of the play while we were happy to keep it tight and try to play our way into the game. Madrid managed a couple of long shots on goal without really causing a threat and after ten minutes I was ready for us to step it up a gear after it looked like we had begun to figure out the opposition. I was still waiting for us to really get a grip on the game when Reyes let rip after twenty minutes and forced Cech into a smart save.
That shot combined with a lively crowd helped galvanize the home team into upping their game slightly. It was still pretty even, and we produced a nice move ourselves around the half hour. It started in the back with Terry and Alex patiently passing it about until Terry could find Ashley Cole on the left with a lovely left-footed pass swept across the pitch, who then fed Malouda. Unfortunately like most of our play in the first half the ball into the final third wasn't good enough and ended up being too high for Kalou. In general I felt like Madrid were the team more likely to score throughout the first half as they seemed more purposeful, though the final chance of the half ended up falling to Lampard who drove his shot narrowly wide. Overall it wasn't a half to remember, and I took comfort knowing that we still had plenty of gears to move up.
Second half
After a period of reflection at half-time I had adjusted my expectations from Chelsea 'blitzing' Madrid to being ready to settle for any sort of win. I had decided that playing a match away at Atletico with a weakened side was going to be tricky, and as I was formulating this thought we nearly took the lead through a Drogba free kick which was well saved by Asenjo.
Madrid may not be having the best season but they can still play, and after Drogba's effort they were again looking the more likely team to score. Maybe as a response to this home-team pressure Ballack was introduced at the expense of Essien after an hour, a decision I welcomed for two reasons - we always look better with Ze German on the pitch and also Ancelotti made the change early enough for it to hopefully change the game, something he hasn't always done. So naturally Aguero had to then score and fuck up my theory that Ballack was about to turn the game in our favour. The ball was crossed into our area and as Terry headed it under pressure he could only clear it out to the diminutive Argentine at the far post, who volleyed home. If I was being harsh I could criticise Ashley for leaving Aguero free and challenging for a ball that Terry was already competing for, but in truth it was a good finish for the striker who had replaced Pongolle ten minutes earlier.
We began to look more interested after conceding and just as I was wondering how much better we would be with Deco and Anelka on the pitch they were brought on for Joe Cole and Kalou. Deco quickly had a chance to equalize when the ball fell to him after a cross was partially cleared, but his snatched shot skidded across the goal and wide. I think at this stage last season Deco would now have done the miraculous trick of disappearing from the game completely, but thankfully this season he has shown a lot more grit, determination, ability... frankly he looks a different player. Dribbling towards his own goal on the right of the pitch, he suddenly dropped a shoulder and turned his man, beat another, and sparked us into life. A corner resulted from Deco's clever play which Madrid could only half clear before Malouda swung in a cross for Drogba to head and make it 1-1. It looked like we had finally got going 80 minutes in.
A few minutes later Ashley Cole fed the ball to Drogba who was momentarily caught between two defenders, but with some quick feet and bags of strength the Ivorian beat both players to go through on goal. If Didier has a weakness then it is that his finishing isn't always very clinical, and his shot here was straight at Asenjo. Luckily the ball bounced kindly for him and he put away the rebound to give us a 2-1 lead.
So, after naming a weakened line-up and going a goal down we were ahead thanks to a Drogba brace and the introduction of three world class substitutes. Job done. Until Aguero scores a twenty-five yard free kick in injury time, spoiling the scoreline completely.
Roundup
So we have qualified for the next stage anyway, even though we only drew tonight. I went into the game hoping that we would keep up the momentum for the United clash at the weekend but on balance I think Ancelotti did the right thing. This match was always likely to be difficult: the opposition had just got a new manager and his players are keen to impress, we had to avoid complacency after thrashing the opposition only 13 days ago, they didn't even have to win the game after already collecting nine points in their group, and most of the team would have had half their thoughts on Sunday. A 2-2 draw was respectable, and the fact that we needed our best players on the pitch for the last twenty minutes to achieve this result is balanced by the fact that it was only twenty minutes that we needed them for. Saying that is still infuriates me how we often have to concede before we really start trying to score ourselves.
And what about those possible defensive frailties I mentioned earlier? I think the first goal we conceded was unfortunate in the way it fell to Aguero, and he also finished it well, so I can't see much blame to attach there. The second was a very well taken free kick after a needless foul, which maybe shows a lack of concentration giving away a free kick that late - perhaps the players were already thinking of the next game, but again it wasn't a goal symptomatic of a dodgy defence. I am confident that with Branners and Carvalho coming in at the weekend we should be OK.
Overall – 7/10 – not a great performance by our standards but we showed in the last twenty minutes that we have real underlying quality and almost won the game. It would be a 6 for performance alone but taking into account the result given that performance pushes it up to a 7.
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53 Comments · Add yours
Just to let regular readers know that the match report was written by Blueinmyveins aka Mark who contacted me and asked if he could write the occasional report. I thought it was about time we gave somebody else a go so let him know what you think.
I missed the game so can't comment on our performance. I actually made an effort to drive to a pub but had to make do with the United game - apparently there are a lot of Cornish Mancs in Cornwall. I've got to say I really enjoyed watching CSKA rip into United's frail defence - if they play like that on Sunday then we've got a good chance of winning. Of course my evening was ruined when they managed yet another deflected equaliser late in the game.
Anyway, enough about United. It's great that we've qualified with two games to spare, a win in Portugal in three weeks' time will ensure we top the group.
Thanks for the report, Mark.
We rely on DROGBA too much, everyone talks about Liverpool being a two man team with Torres and Gerrard, that same argument could be levelled at Chelsea because it's clear that if Drogba and Anelka get injured both at the same time for long periods then I'm very sure that we would struggle! When the African boys go to the cup of nations, I'm worried we will drop points during this period! The bottom line is that I fancy Arsenal to win prem and champions lge..Because I'm an Arsenal fan NOT a Chelsea fan..haha
Gunner4Life! Chelsea will not win title, too many OLD HEADS!!
Reply to NaSei:
Very amusing....Ever thought about a career in comedy!
Only caught the first half, but it seemed to be a typical Chelsea performance and I am not surprised that we didn't end up winning.
Not a bad warm up for the fringe players and a nice rest for some of the stars ahead of the Utd game.
One down-side was I thought Essien was living dangerously and needlessly fouling in the first half....Perhaps Carlo thought so as well, which would explain the German's introduction.
Nice report Mark, summed up the game pretty well. I think the referee was conned a few times by Aguero, who went to ground a lot easier than Drogs does.
But two great strikes from him, and I think anything other than a draw would have been unfair on Atletico, who played well.
@NaSei What are you doing here? did we play Arsenal last night, or are we playing them on Sunday? Change the record, we get the same crap every time the ACN comes around, and yet if you check the results of the past years you'll see that we cope and manage quite well without our lads.
Yeah, fair result in my opinion.
Dire first-half, lively second, decent performance from some, poor display from others (I thought Malouda was pretty awful last night).
Can't say I'm overly gripped by the CL group stages any more. I made nothing more than a token effort to watch last night. We were always going through, just sometimes seems like 90 minutes for the sake of 90 minutes if that makes sense.
Aguero looked pretty handy. Wouldn't be too disappointed were we to sign him.
The Mancs will give us a good game on Sunday though, no need to worry about that.
Nice one, bimv, always good to have someone else pondering matters Chelsea on here.
Pretty average performance overall; Joe, Kalou and Malouda didn't really make any convincing case for replacing Deco, Anelka and Ballack, especially away from home.
Aguero is just different gear; didn't even play that well overall but came up with 2 great goals.
He's still only 21 too - if we're willing (and indeed) able to fling £30m plus at any one player, it has to be him.
Drogs is our best striker. Ever. Anything is possible if he keeps this up for the whole season (obviously hoping for an unlikely first round Ivory Coast KO in the ACN...)
NaSei is actually Arsene Wenger posting under a pseudonym in order to play cunning mind games with us.
Or he might just be one of the finest propoents of utter cuntery we've seen on here in a long time. I can't quite decipher which.
Very good illustrative report thanks Mark.
NaSei, when did you check weather forecast last time? They say it is going to be cold winter, if you know what I mean. So far Arsen's Anal failed to do it on a cold, rainy Monday night in Midlands. Why would it change this season?
With the disease and pestilence sweeping through the regulars and some reports resembling medical bulletins from MASH, it’s good to see someone ignoring the peril, seizing the flag and charging on.
I very much enjoyed the read and found little to disagree with.
I went to my old local, The Albion in Cambridge Heath, run by a London West Brom fan(?), a hostelry dedicated to the beautiful game. As expected the lovely new HD screen was showing Manure, due I think to the prevalence of the transient student population (non of ‘em from Manchester of course). There were also Gooners and others hoping to get a laugh out of someone’s misery. Happily one or two Chelsea stalwarts were gathered around one of the smaller screens, which for some reason had a rather poor and fuzzy reception.
I was reminded of my younger years where the family gathered in the living room to watch European Cup matches on a fuzzy, grainy black and white TV. Not only that, as the night wore on the screams and groans of the Manure fans were reminiscent of Hilda, the widow next door, as she sought solace in yet another lodger's arms....
I thought both Essien and Malouda started well with some good runs through midfield. At one point Essien was blatantly bodychecked and a free kick given but no card. Five minutes later he went in shoulder to shoulder and out came the yellow card. How does that work? Anyway he seemed to fade out of the game after that.
Our performance after the goal, showed how important tempo is to our game now. We become ineffective if we don’t move the ball sharply. I don’t think we can play the old shut up shop game any more. Not that we are weak defensively, but the Ancelotti set up demands swifter distribution, a higher tempo and better possession. Malouda certainly improved, I thought.
We don’t seem set up to suffocate and live off scraps away from home like we sometimes did under TSO, although Drogba’s second goal showed we perhaps still can if we have to.
One last thought
At half time standing at the bar I looked up at a hand-written notice "ValueV v Hayes Sat 7th minimum drinks £3.10”. Knowing that all sorts of football is followed in this pub, I racked my brain as to what league Hayes played in. I knew they’d had an FA Cup run or two in the past. I also wondered who ValueV were. Was it a case of team sponsorship gone mad? I then noticed the rather crumpled list attached to the poster headed “Predictions” with a list of names, amounts of money and “2nd round”, “3rd minute of the 7th” and such like. Ahhhhhhhh.
I can't really be allowed out on my own for much longer.
From what I can see of this ValueV chappie, it looks like Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV all over again, but bigger. He looks like he could probably eat most of the Arsenal first team squad for lunch and still be keen to snack on the Spurs midfield come teatime.
@NaSei: Man,you are full of humour... not. Come back after your team is done with changing their nappies. At least our OLD HEADs don't have to do that.
I know - don't feed the troll. But I could not help it.
"Joe, Kalou and Malouda didn't really make any convincing case for replacing Deco, Anelka and Ballack, especially away from home."
I agree with those comments from Kaiser.
Further, does anyone else feel that Belletti is out of his depth in this squad? Sure he scores some strikes from far out occasionally but in the past couple of games he has had tons of space on his side when we're attacking and usually ends up carelessly giving away possession. When he does have to track back he seems caught off guard a fair amount.
@9BB - my reward for filling the Dirty Digger's coffers is being able to watch European Nights when we're not at The Bridge from the comfort of my own sofa.
I watched our game live with the red button "goal alert" giving me the excellent news on the Manc's failings and most of the other goals [I missed Juventus' goal somehow].
Trickier tonight, though, as ITV have exclusive live rights to the 'Poo game. Do I watch Rafa's bid to be parachuted into EuroVase or stick with Sky for Dinamo Kiev v Inter + red button goals on the rest?
Mark - I thought your report was pretty much spot on, and a welcome contrast to Habs' more exuberant style ;-)
Thanks for the nice comments guys.
Reply to NaSei:
Of all the football blogs he could have chosen, Beadle chose this one to communicate with us from the afterlife!
Should we have a competition on the blog to help Newcastle find a more sexy name for their ground.
This is pretty awful, what were they thinking apart from the cash incentives of course. LINK
Looking around there are a couple of significant absences in our lives today. One is a set a full player ratings (no criticism on you bimv – a quality item that report), the other the presence of the great French thinker and anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, who sadly died on October 30th aged 100.
Last nights events may have echoes in the titles of some of his great books (translated from the original French), such as “The Raw and the Cooked”, “From Honey to Ashes”, “The Savage Mind” and “A View from Afar”, but given that my knowledge of anthropology is minimal and there is little I could say about his theory of Structuralism, it would be a little disingenuous of me to compile player ratings based on his work.
However, on reading his many obituaries, I was amused too see, that while not being noted for a sense of humour, he did once comment with reference to a certain item of clothing, "That unfortunate homonymy has never ceased to haunt me - like a ghost. Not a year goes by without my receiving an order for jeans - usually from Africa."
So what better way to celebrate the passing of one of the 20th century’s intellectual giants than to produce the player ratings based on the model numbers of Levi jeans.
In a break with tradition, each player will be rated from best on the night to worst. I have selected 11 model numbers from the Men’s range, using 501 Original (and some would say best) as the top rating down to 560 Comfort jean as the worst. (Sigh….maybe structuralist theory would have been simpler).
(read on if you have the strength of will - there may be a short delay)
Drogba – 501 Original – There is only one. Everything else is imitation
Alex – 505 Regular – Fine return, ready for a regular spot I’d say
Lampard - 507 Slim Boot – Slim pickings for the great man, not his best
Cole A - 510 Super Skinny – Super scrap with Reyes, thin on the ground for their first
Terry - 511 Skinny – Not the full latte on the night, possibly even decaffe
Chech – 514 Slim Straight – Slim chance for either goal, they just went straight by.
Malouda – 517 Boot - Assist for the first goal, needed a boot up the jacksy mid game
Belletti – 527 Low Cut Boot – Not his best, but I wouldn’t cut him from the squad
Essien – 550 Relaxed – Forced to relax by an early yellow
Cole J – 559 Relaxed Straight – Relax Joe you can’t expect it all back straight away
Kalou - 560 Comfort – Left the Athletico defence in their comfort zone
(Health Warning: To be honest there was very little to choose between a lot of the players last night so don’t blow a gasket, these are not proper ratings such as you would get from Mark Lawrenson or Alan Shearer)
I’ll get my jean jacket – Levis of course
Reply to BlueBayou:
Marvellous. Hopefully as the season grows I can step away from marks out of 10 on my reports into something a tad more avant-garde.
@BIMV - well done, nice to have another member of the august writing team to banter with/swap blows/hug consolingly with......
@Clive - when we move away from the Bridge lets hope common sense prevails, although I doubt it. I would be in favour of some sort of charity sponsorship naming, much like the admirable Aston Vill have done with shirt sponsor, Acorns.....which is a childrens hospice for those who don't know and they get the Villa shirt space for free. Of course it would have to reflect the nature and culture of the club in our case.
The MIND Stadium would be the obvious choice. Unless someone knows of an organisation called Basket Case?*
*Stop Press....apparently that name has been trademarked by several other clubs pending a High Court hearing to decide the most deserving. Currently Atletico Madrid, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Leeds United and Liverpool are vying for the name.
That scream you just heard was the sound of thousands of Liverpool fans having their hearts ripped out!
Reply to Scott:
A beautiful noise...
You have to wonder how that abject cocksucker Tyldesley keeps his job; he's a very average commentator at best, and whilst you expect ITV's woeful coverage to be a little partisan in favour of the English teams, his tongue is wedged so far up the arsehole of Liverpool's glorious poxy history it is embarrassing. The pained silence when the Lyon equaliser went in summed everything up nicely. Absolute, total wanker.
Liverpool still 9-1 to win the Europa League - lump on folks...
Reply to KaiserJonny_II:
Is the Europa League below the Blue Square Premier League in terms of quality?
If it is, then 9-1 is a good punt, they could sneak it on penalties.
Ooooh, their tears taste delicious!
Meanwhile, José's Inter have gone top of a very tricky group.
The draw for the round of 16 is going to be very interesting. There may not turn out to be much advantage in winning one's bracket.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the 'Poo in the draw. They'll probably win their remaining two games, and all they then need is for Lyon to beat Fiorentina (isn't that right?) which seems prefectly plausible.
No team in Europe is going to want to draw us though, that's for sure.
Reply to limetreebower:
Yep, I think the sounding of the Poo death knell is a bit premature. To be honest the PL gap isn't that great either when you consider the number of defeats they've had and how early in the season it is.
I have this horrific nightmare that they'll turn everything round in the face of adversity......
Reply to ChelseaTony:
I can't see how they come back in the Champions League at this point.
And as long as they're missing Gerrard I can't see them making a concerted push to get back on top to win the league.
Arsenal on the other hand...
Reply to BlueBayou:
Can't believe you've missed 512's of the list (the larged thighs gentleman's Levis of choice)
From the fashion sweatshop of Mr Bayou – Chelseablog’s Fashion Correspondent
You may find it hard to believe, but as one who spends most of his time in the world of Haute Couture, what I know of the model numbers of the Levi men’s range is probably more sketchy than my knowledge of anthropology and Structuralist theory. (oh yes it’s true!)
However a modicum of research has led me to understand that certain model numbers are only available in particular markets around the world.
My error, and God knows I deeply regret it, was to lift the currently available model numbers from the US website and not from the European website. An inexcusable oversight and one I deeply regret.
You all deserve better and I am now considering my position as Fashion Correspondent. Should a suitably comprehensive severance package be agreed between my representatives and those of Mr Nick Chelseablog, I may even consider resigning.
I have to go now as Vogue are on the phone….
Tony,
Agree completely. Liverpool will get through to the knockout stages and will - in all likelyhood - end up going further than any other English club. Just to prove how inconsistent teams can prosper.
Reply to Fiftee:
Yes, something tells me it's all just part of the drama and another reason for their fans to start the 'history' bollocks again.
@BB - I would offer to fill the space of Chelseabog Fashion Correspondent but for the fact that my nickname was 'Nothing fits me Joe' in younger years. Plus being of a certain age I find my clothing choices are based on comfort rather than appearance. The good Lord Kaiser has seen me at football and would no doubt agree that sartorial elegance isn't necessarily top of my agenda. However, the good Lord Kaiser himself could be a candidate for the post as he seems to carry off the raffish/casually slung together but really carefully co-ordinated/urban look rather well.
Our very own Dylan Jones you might say.
Reply to ChelseaTony:
Why thankyou, sir. Happy to take on the mantle of the blog Beau Brummel but aware that I don't want to spread myself too thinly - being Blog potty-mouthed filthmonger in chief isn't a role that takes care of itself, you know...
Scousers are hanging by a thread; they can make as much of their mythical Euro reputation as they like, but even winning both their games isn't enough and they are very much in someone else's hands now. Obviously all set up for one of those glorious Anfield European nights against Fiorentina, but they are truly piss-poor at present. And long may it continue :-)
By the way, TG, are you around for a beer on Sunday?
Reply to Fiftee:
Other than your natural pessimism I'm not sure what you base that on?
Fiorentina's next game is at home to Lyon who have already qualified. As Limetreebower says above a lot of decent teams are going to finish 2nd so they're not going to be killing themselves to win the group.
Surely if Mutu keeps off the nosecandy they can win that - or at worst get 2 draws from their remaining games to see off the 'Poo?
And didn't Rubin Kazan do another decent job of stifling Barca and almost snatching another win with much the better chances created?
I wouldn't want my life to depend on predicting who'll go through from that group.
Reply to blueboydave:
The Barca / Inter / Rubin / Kiev group is that rarest of things - real excitement in the group stages. Jose back in the Nou Camp for the next game has "deeply unstable powderkeg" writ large all over it.
Can't wait...!
Reply to blueboydave:
I assume that the world's footballing press will now refer to Rubin Kazan as "anti-football", "football's anti-christ" or whatever for the temerity to beat Barca over 2 legs.
Will there be a ceremony where we officially hand over the mantle to them?
Not that European football competition is anything other than played in an honest Corinthian spirit but you do wonder about the Fiorentina v Lyon game, which is so crucial now (assuming Lyon will beat Debrecen)
Do UEFA really want a team so redolent with history going out? A suitable result is needed. It has to be refereed in the correct manner......
And somewhere in the peace of the Norwegian Fjords, as the first snows of winter gently settle, a telephone rings.............
Reply to blueboydave:
I honestly can see Poo going through either, they are totally reliant on other results going their way.
Plus they're going to have to win their remaining games with a bucket load of goals to make up their -2 GD
And how interesting is the next game with Barca and Inter going to be? I can't wait for the mind games, and theatrics that will be heading to a TV screen near you soon!
Reply to Clive:
oops can't.... edit edit edit
Reply to BlueBayou:
BB Sir, this made me spit a mouthful coffee inadvertently over my desk. Luckily, working from home in my lunch break means it was my desk and not the company's.
The Ovrebo Kraken Awakes .......
Ahh, BB hits the nail on its bald Nowegian head.
Anyone know the Romanian for "it's a fucking disgrace!!"? So that 'Snifter' Mutu can get some practice in.
Is it dimly possible that Barca won't qualify? What would Platini do then?
I suggest we club together and look in the Argos catalogue for the Giant Maxi-Sized Industrial Strength Pot-Stirrer to have delivered to José, with compliments and affectionate memories from all of us at Chelsea. Perhaps we can persuade Anders Frisk out of retirement to ref Barca v Inter as well.
From the desk of Mystic CT - horoscopes and forecasting correspondent of the Chelseablog.
Ffter casting the runes, swilling the tea leaves, dealing the tarot cards, reading the astrological charts (apparently the movement of Jupiter through Scorpio means the world is full of stuff happening)and chatting through the ether with the spirit world to get my observation on what we might name Stamford Bridge, resulting in my earlier comment ( #20 )about the stupidity of the new name for St James Park and the queue of teams vying for the Stadium name to incorporate Basket Case I have received this official club text in the last 20 minutes
"The club may consider ground naming rights provided the name Stamford Bridge was retained in any agreement made with a suitable company"
Any suggestions would, no doubt, be most welcome.
Further updates from the desk of Mystic CT.....self appointed horoscopes and forecasting correspondent of the Chelseablog. Being a caring sharing altruist at heart I thought a quick rune cast on behalf of Rafa would be in order...
"
Future Related Influences
Eihwaz
This may be a time of confusion for you. That which you have built may be in jeopardy of crumbling. Do not allow yourself to give in to your weaknesses. "
From the Rune of the Career Mirror Cast.....a second attempt then threw this up
"Future Related Influences
Isa
The Ice Rune, represents stagnation and a passionless existence. Your life's course may seem blurry at the moment, but if you persevere you will move onto better days."
Ain't life cruel?
Rafa......can you hear this?
I'm quite in favour of selling off the naming rights if the club really feel it impossible to move to a new site. For a club wanting to be seen as the number one in the world, having a pathetic 40,000 seater stadium just doesn't cut it in my opinion. But that's an argument for a different day.
Firstly, the rights have to go to the right type of company. The likes of Samsung (shirt sponsor) and Adidas (shirt maker) will probably be the early favourites and I do think that they sort of fit with the club's image. My personal favourite is Adidas as they are connected to sport in quite an obvious way and are a very high profile brand unlike Sports Direct @ St James' Park which just sounds shit. That brings me on to the second issue of how we fit for example an Adidas around the name Stamford Bridge. We could follow the Allinaz route in Munich by having the "Adidas Arena" or "Adidas Field" like Citigroup's sponsorship of the New York Mets arena. But I'm still not sure of how we'll integrate Stamford Bridge. Maybe it'll just be the Adidas Arena at Stamford Bridge which sounds quite good in my opinion.
But this is Ron's first big announcement and before he gets going in January to make up for our summer transfer ban (we'll see how well he can negotiate with the likes of Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Milan in a couple of months) and I think it's a positive move. In about 5 years I think it's inevitable that we'll begin to draw up plans for a move because virtually every big European side is looking or has already updated and expanded (Camp Nou, Old Trafford) or built a new stadium (Bayern, Arsenal, Spurs, Valencia...) and we'll be left behind. We can all imagine how great a stadium built by Roman's money could be (just look at our training ground) but for the moment selling the naming rights is the correct move for a club who can't possibly compete with only 40,000 ticket sales.
I'm all for keeping any new stadium name unique to us, and something that sounds posh.
How about Apium Graveolens Field, it has a certain ring to it don't you think? :-)
Can't Adidas (or whoever) just have naming rights for the Chelsea Village bits?
If we stay at the Bridge I would rather not sell naming rights, but if we move to a new stadium then I don't have a problem. It'll probably have a shite new name in any event.
Reply to limetreebower:
If the Scousers' next game was at home to Fiorentina, I'd definitely say that it's the Europa League for them. However, they get to play Debrecen first and then play Fiorentina at home in a month where Gerrard may be fit again. With no offence intended to Debrecen, they can't survive in the Champions League and even a poor Liverpool should be able to see them off.
If Fiorentina don't beat Lyon on Matchday 5, which I think is likely, it's going to be just like the second leg of a knockout tie at Anfield: Fiorentina 2-0 up, with the advantage if they score an away goal. Potentially great viewing.
Oh, what a wonderful last 8 days!!! After all the hype about how they were going to win everything this year, fancy in early November just having the FA Cup left to look forward to!
Reply to ChelseaTony:
CT (or Clairvoyant Tony as you now are)
Never figured you for the "ning nong bing bong" reading the crystals type but hey ho we all have our dark secrets.
Maybe it's time to work up a Derren Brown type of act?
On a serious note (hoping not to sound too carping) but I do wonder about our PR.
In the past we've all been staggered by their unerring ability to put the old size nine in the gob at the drop of a hat, but in a week when the world of football, indeed the world generally are pointing and laughing at Mike Ashley and the naming of St James' Park debacle, what possessed our lot to get up on their hind legs and expect to be taken seriously on the subject.
I'm not saying the can't look at the matter (although personally I'm against it) but why choose the week when this idea's potential for ridicule has been highlighted.
It just gets us lumped in with the carcrash that is Ashley and Newcastle.
It seems the more we try and present ourselves as weighty and serious, the more we invite derision.
But it's only a small fly in the generally fragrent ointment of our season so far
Edit Edit Edit
"generally fragrant"
Reply to limetreebower:
Whereto the wandering tribe of "neutral lovers of beautiful football" adrift in a world of over physical proponents of anti-football should Barca crash and burn?
Well, as I passed Highbury Fields last night I fell into conversation with the foreman of a marquee building outfit, hard at work.
Was there to a be Good Ol' Revivalist Gathering with, hymns to Jesus, healing of crippled people, baptisin' and snake oil selling
or was Clairvoyant Tony out on tour with his ability to read palms and predict the future.
No. They were building a tented city in readiness for all the refugees from Barcelona who would flock to North London, lead of course by Mr Platini, to sit at the feet of the Guru Wenger as he dispenses wisdom and beautiful football to the world.
Reply to Clive:
Are you the sort of man who sits in his potting shed reading seed catalogues all day? ;-)
(I'd better get on with some work now)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has granted Chelsea's request for their Fifa transfer ban to be suspended pending a final decision.
Fifa had ruled the club could not sign players until 2011 after inducing Gael Kakuta to break his Lens contract.
But Chelsea appealed to Cas, which said on Friday: "Such sanctions are now stayed until the Cas renders its final decision in this matter."
The decision means Chelsea will be able to sign players in January.
Let's hope they don't reconvene too quickly....
Reply to Fiftee:
So that "fast-track process with decision before Xmas" was another figment of the imagination of bored sports journalists I guess?
Still worry this is a shooting-self-in-foot kind of victory.
January transfer window is always tricky even when you get decent players - don't recall Ivanovic even kicking a ball in his first half-season, while Anelka was very ordinary in his early months.
All clubs we contact are bound to instantly double their asking price knowing they have us over a barrel and if we only get the ban reduced to 1 transfer window we'll still be stuffed next summer.
Reply to BlueBayou:
There's something quite calming about a potting shed, a deck chair and a picture of Mr Titchmarsh, cough cough, did I just say that out loud?
The good lady wife is the gardener BB, I just cut the lawn, to Chelsea standards of course.