Champions League: Chelsea 2 - 0 Schalke 04
Thursday, 25 October 07, 01:38 PM · Comments (38)
Match reports
The Times, Matt Hughes: "Given that his boss is the man who has everything, it is perhaps just as well that Avram Grant has promised Roman Abramovich the earth. In his first programme notes, the Chelsea first-team coach pledged to provide trophies, entertainment and winning football - everything, indeed, but the proverbial moon on a stick. Five weeks to the day since being handed the ultimate hospital pass, he is in danger of delivering. José who? Grant is yet to hear his name chanted at Stamford Bridge, but that prospect is no longer as fanciful as it once appeared."
The Independent, Sam Wallace: "What do Chelsea and Gelsenkirchen, the gritty industrial Ruhr hometown of Schalke, have in common? Neither of them are really built with entertainment in mind. Avram Grant's mission is to change all that and usher in a new era of fantasy football at Stamford Bridge, although for the time being it looks suspiciously like he is happy to win matches by any means possible."
Daily Telegraph, John Ley: "Mourinho finished his Chelsea career with three games without a win; Grant has won five of his last six even if at times last night the hosts rode their luck. Schalke were deprived of key striker Kevin Kuranyi in the warm-up before having a 'goal' disallowed for offside, striking a post and, towards the end, being deprived of another scoring opportunity through a blatant 'professional foul' by Alex."
The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: "This period of seclusion might just be to Chelsea's taste. They consolidated at the top of Group B without inspiring any bullish predictions that they are set to win the Champions League. No one is fixated with them for the time being. Even the referee Peter Frojdfeldt did not pay much attention when Alex, after perpetrating a short backpass, brought down Schalke's Soren Larsen in the 85th minute. Somehow, no foul was awarded, no red card shown."
Official Chelsea FC Website: "Rosenborg's win against Valencia means [Chelsea has] a healthy three point cushion at the top [of Group B]."
The highlights
Good quality videos available here.
The good
- Didier Drogba. Another decent performance topped off with a goal, his 14th in the Champions League for Chelsea, from just 30 games. It made him Chelsea's highest ever scorer in the competition; he's just two short of Peter Osgood's European tally of 16.
- Frank Lampard and Ricardo Carvalho. As Peter pointed out in the comments, it's no coincidence that our form has improved since Lampard, Carvalho and Drogba returned to full fitness.
- Florent Malouda. Like Drogba, he seems to have accepted the fact that Chelsea is ultimately more important than Jose Mourinho. Somewhere close to his best in this game.
- Good to see Wayne Bridge back. He had a solid game, particularly in the first half. Apparently he's suspended in the league after being sent off during a reserve game. Paulo Ferreira also had a much better game in his preferred right-back position, and supplied a great cross for Drogba's goal. Seems our full-backs have been given license to get forward more.
- Rosenborg's 2-0 home win against Valencia.
The bad
- Alex. He started well enough but gradually worsened as the game went on and should have been sent off for hauling down Schalke’s Soren Larsen. He was definitely the last defender but the referee didn't seem interested. The ref also failed to give us a certain penalty a few minutes later. It seems to be accepted that referees balance out poor decisions.
Man of the Match
Didier Drogba. His importance to the team cannot be underestimated.
Final thoughts
While there hasn't been any noticeable improvement in performances under Avram Grant, at least in this game we continued to press after going 2-0 up. Mourinho probably would have been happy to sit back and defend and hit Schalke on the break.
Clutching at straws? Perhaps. I still believe that it will take a significant change of player personnel to produce the kind of football Grant has promised.
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We looked fairly solid (apart form Alex's ballerina moment) if unspectacular.
Schalke aren't the greatest team, and yet looked dangerous on occasions. Well still seem to have patches of completely switching off at set pieces.
I was disappointed by Joe Cole, thought the only thing he did consistently was lose the ball - would have like to see him replaced by SWP but he wasn't even on the bench !!! Expect to hear more on that .....
Great to see Lamps back to something like his best, although his set piece delivery hasn't improved while he's been away !! Didn't think he looked particularly happy in his post-match interview. Hopefully nothing more than tiredness.
A decent platform to build on for what will undoubtedly be a tough game versus the Mancs on Saturday.
Up the Blues !!!
Don't be too hard on Cole, Shalke's marking was pretty good.
Joe Cole slipped into his old ways during the time he was out injured. I noticed him showboating more when playing for England a couple months ago. Mourinho preferred SWP at the time, perhaps for this very reason.
Now Mourinho's gone and Cole's continued in his old ways. Perhaps he's just too stupid to remember all that Mourinho taught him - which made him a great player - or perhaps it's a conscious decision. Either way, he has no-one to blame but himself if his career suffers.
Quite agree Nick, he probably feels he's a better player left to his own devices, which is a shame.
Joe Cole has not forgotten how to defend, though. He did a lot of good defensive work which was something missing from his game a few years go.
I thought that there was too much reliance on Makalele as a distributor in the back field which was not great at times. That improved when Mikel came on and who, once he has learned how to tackle, will be a big asset. For all the professed new style of play, the endless stroking of the ball in the back field has a decidedly TSO look. Much of Chelsea's game still was based on the (very) quick counter attack, so again not much seems to have changed there.
About 10 minutes from the end, I was thinking that the defense had had a good game since there was no one player who stood out in a fairly competent display (though Cech's embarassed smile when the rebound dropped into his arms was priceless). Then suddenly Alex did his star turn. In his defense, his back pass was the last of a succession of poor passes. At least Ricky is there to stabilise things. I can't imagine how we would play with Ben Haim and Alex together.
Paulo's centre for Drogba to score was the best moment of the evening. The perfect centre. Joey Cole could learn a thing or two from that but probably won't.
Yeah, it has to be said, he did look a bit silly at times last night.
I can't imagine him just doing it off his own back though. My guess would be that Grant has given him free reign to "express himself", as a way of showing that he intends to play entertaining football.
As a consequence, I think Joe was just trying too hard.
38 Comments · Add yours
Dullish game and the Bridge was subdued, with the loudest cheer saved for Liverpools score being displayed on the screen.
Re Bridgey's suspension; I think it's grossly unfair that you can be suspended for getting sent off in a reserve game yet subsequent reserve games don't count in serving your 3 match ban.
The one thing that stuck out for me last night was Joe Cole's return to his show pony days before JM dropped him and ultimately made him a far better team player.
He does have some fancy footwork, but lacks the explosive pace to get away from players once he's beaten them. His choices were quite poor on a few occasions last night shooting when he should have passed etc.
Some sublime passing by Frank though glad he's back!