Chelsea 2 - 1 Southampton: A home fan's view
Sunday, 29 August 04, 01:01 AM · Comments (7)
I'd just sat down in my seat in the Matthew Harding Lower and looked up to see Beattie hit a shot from thirty yards that dipped over Cech and into the goal. Watching the replay on the big screen showed that Cech maybe got caught a little cold and slightly off his line. But the general feeling around us was 'Come on Chelsea, show us what you are made of!', which they proceeded to do. For the next forty-four minutes Chelsea laid siege to the Southampton goal. Chance after chance was created and missed and I was beginning to think it was going to be one of those days.
The team was playing some great football with Cole, Lampard and Tiago pulling the strings in midfield, ably supported by Bridge on the left. Drogba was causing Saints' defence all sorts of problems with his pace. Gudjohnsen worked hard but things were not working for him, highlighted by his missed header from ten yards when he really should have hit the target. The chances continued to come with Tiago's header from a corner cleared off the line. Then from another corner we equalised. Lampard sent it low and hard towards the near post where Gudjohnsen deflected it onto Beattie and into the net. The whole of the Matthew Harding stand erupted into 'There's only one James Beattie!'.
Chelsea continued to press and find space in the Saints' half. Joe Cole in particular was beginning to show his true class and with one twisting run on the right turned three Saints defenders inside out before crossing towards Gudjohnsen and Drogba, only for another defender to get a touch to it before we could score. Then from another Lampard corner, a Southampton player's hand clearly handled the ball and we were awarded a penalty. The Southampton players argued with the ref, but I was at the other end of the ground and clearly saw a hand push the ball away. Up stepped Lampard to put us 2-1 in front.
We continued to play some great football and make more chances right until the half time break. During the break the talk was of how well we had come back from that dreadful start and would we keep attacking in the second half. Some amusing joker amongst us stated that we would now defend because we were already in the lead.
The second half started where we left off and it was not long before Gudjohnsen had deflected a Ferreira shot just past the post. It just wasn't his day and when the substitutions occurred it was no surprise to see him replaced by Kezman. Cole was then replaced by Duff to the chorus of 'He's here, he's there, he's every fucking where, Joey Cole, Joey Cole'. Kezman and Duff continued to torment the Saints defence and create even more chances without committing too much to attack (the half time joker may have been right).
In truth, we could have been four or five one up at half time and could have added another couple in the second half. Southampton rarely troubled a defence well marshalled by the colossal Terry.
We won this game with our passing and movement in midfield and I was particularly impressed with Tiago. What a buy he seems to have been.
by Chelsea John
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I too was enamoured by Tiago’s performance yesterday, and in midweek against Palace. He certainly looks like a decent buy and twice the player Geremi is.
Who needs Gerrard when we’ve got Tiago!
Iam portuguese and i leave in the USA, iam a chelsea fan, Tiago under Mourinho’s watch will do do miracles and as for Mourinho we haven’t see nothing yet, is simple the best coach theyr is, he has a big mouth but that is part of his stragerthy to win games, to show hom is in charge and to drive the oponents nuts, let the time goes and we all will see what i mean.
GO CHELSEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How long has it been since you last won the title?
Bloody rent-boys.
Well, here we are, 4 premiership games with 4 wins. Had a chance to see most guys playing!
I’m not sure what most fans think but as far as I’m concerned, I’d say that the team starts to get crystallized.
Cech has established himself as the #1 goalie.
The back 4 have been established: Ferreira, Terry, Carvalho (Gallas) and Bridge, where Carvalho & Gallas will take turns. Others will get to play only if the above ones are injured or need rest.
The midfield will have Tiago, Lampard and Makelele as fixtures and most likely Robben will become a starter once fit. Depending on tactical consideration, Smertin might rotate with Robben and Cole.
The problems so far are in the front.
Drogba is solid, has some pace and is good in the air, but on the negative, has no finesse and a very heavy touch which doesn’t allow him good control of the
ball. I’m not sure that he’ll make it in the premiership. The fact that he’s worth only a fraction of what Chelsea paid for him is not his fault.
Kezman (in spite of all the hype) is a flop. Period. Chelsea doesn’t have the style of play that could use a point man. And that’s all Kezman can do.
Modern football requires forwards capable to be creative and capable to take on one or two defenders. Just waiting for the perfect pass in front of the goal doesn’t cut it.
I am ready to bet that within a few games our forwards will be Mutu and Drogba while Gudjohnsen will be used to rotate for the one that’s in need of rest or is injured.
That’s how I see it, anyway!
Go Chelsea!
I agree with most of your comments here, except with regards the strikers.
One trend I expect to continue with Chelsea this year is goals from midfield. Thinking back just a couple of seasons when Jimmy and Eidur combined for 37 league goals the next highest scorer was Frank (who was still settling in) with just 5 goals so as you can see we relied almost completely on that front pairing.
Now we have 4 or 5 midfield players who given enough playing time will score goals including Frank, Tiago, Duff (maybe Cole & Robben too) – combine that with the likley striker rotation policy and expect to see a variety of goal sources this season.
The point to this is that we don’t play with an out and out Ian Rush type goalscorer. In the modern era (ie post European Cup) then I would suggest it is very astute to avoid reliance on one 20 goal a season striker.. look how ManUtd have struggled without Van Noodleboy and imagine how Arsenal might change if Henry was out with anything other than a fake Wenger media injury. So I don’t expect any of the strikers to get more than 15 goals this season but hopefully there will be a whole group of players in double figures.
As for Drogba then I agree he lacks the touch of Zola or Crespo (lets face it Jimmy’s touch at times was terrible too) and certainly we were held to ransom on the transfer price but what I really like about him is that he makes things happen with his sheer presence and determination. Drogba is imposing, brave and direct and that scares the crap out of defenders – yes he’ll miss more chances than he scores but he’ll also create many more chances than any average stiker.
With Eidur’s great touch and ball control I’m looking forward to 10 games in when these too both have a better understanding of each other and believe this could be a killer combination.
So my expectation is that Eidur and Drogba will end up being JM’s first choice pairing with Mutu and Kezman coming in for injuries, tiredness and in lower profile games. Kezman is still young and wild and could use a few seasons as a squad player to develop but it’s surely to early (after just 1 start and a few sub appearances) to dismiss him as a flop !
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Some of the football played yesterday was the best we’ve seen this season. And we certainly had much more attacking flair than previous matches. Agree with Chelsea John that Tiago was excellent. Also think Lampard played much better than previous matches – he just needs to get his shooting right.
The surprise for me was the substitution of Joe Cole so early (I think it was on 56mins?). Yes, he made a horrible start with the back pass and yes, Duff’s return has been long overdue…. but Cole was playing fantastic and was pulling all the strings for Chelsea. I hope I’m wrong but I had a feeling Jose made the sub to please the fans (and to appease Duff) rather than for tactical reasons.
well played by tiago!!!NOW LETS HAVE A VOTE ON WHO THE BETTER PLAYER IS AT BUILDING A GOOD MIDFEILD! TIAGO VS GEREMI,