Premier League: Birmingham City 0 - 1 Chelsea

dont be too harsh...at least put pizarro in the good for once...poor guy, he deserves a break, he did well today besides the goal, good passes and good movement

I now stand corrected. By scoring his second goal in 5 months Pizzaro is a Chelsea legend and will from this point onwards be reflected in any of my reviews/previews as nothing less than the equvalent of a Pele or Maradona.

Another nice one Mark!

Easy TG easy
no one said he has become a legend (yet) :-)
but we should be happy if he scored, don't you think?

T.G. Pizzaro I can understand your irony, however credit should be given where credit is due. Pizza has scored nice determinate (was not a fluke) header and very important one.

Nice to see your climbdown on Pizarro Tony... is goal to game ratio has improved. ;-)

for me, this game was nothing short of a miracle.

i mean - Pizarro scoring AND us scoring from corner kick, all at once...

what are the odds of that happening, again?

big thumbs up for the guys posting a match preview post.

on less happy note - i was not impressed by anelka, and i don't like SWP's twisted ankle. He was our best player in the last couple of weeks.

I went all the way to Birmingham to watch Chelsea.
Mark did u watch the same match as me? I saw nothing good except the goal and the win.
Chelsea was shit another team would have crucify us.
The attitude of most players were non existant.
Anyway another 3 points.

Pizarro is the kind of player who is meant for situations like yesterdays game, I can see him getting us out of jail again this season

@KK Have you read the same report as I've written? :-)

When I said a classic Chelsea 1-0 away win I didn't mean classic as in Newcastle 1996 but classic in that we managed to get a win.

I also said in our best tradition we managed to keep our fans waiting and wondering whether we’d ever score and keep pace with the top two.

This is from guardian:

such was the daylight robbery Chelsea pulled off. Totally outplayed for two-thirds of this match by a Birmingham side rejuvenated under Alex McLeish, they managed to nick all three points thanks to one of two chances they created.

i was just about to quote this exact sentence from the guardian ... for it's sheer stupidity, but i it's here already.

we were outplayed for two-thirds of the match? we created one or two chances? unbelievable.
we played against a side that was defending with 11 players for the most of the match, and needed peter cech to create their only chance...

I've just seen the highlights on Sky Sports and because they only showed goalmouth incidents it's easy to conclude Birmingham dominated. But when you watch the full game we had the ball most of the game, even if we didn't create much in the goalmouth.

Biggs
I never saw 11 players constantly defending.I did not see chelsea creating more than 2 real good chances,anfd in the 1st half I saw 4 good chances to score against Chelsea,a better player would have scored, particularly the one that Alex is beatan to the ball.
I havent seen one single oppoortunity for Chelsea except the one that anelka had. Then came the corner and a good header from Pizzaro nicked the 3 points.
What a difference 3 months makes.

The stats

Birm Chelsea
8 Goal Attempts 9
2 On Target 6
6 Corners 10
1 Offside 4
10 Fouls 7
1 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0

@kk
I never saw 11 players constantly defending"

well, i did.
for about 85 minutes.
as for birmingham "chances" scoring against us - anelka alone had 3 equal ones.
and alex's header on top.

I beluve the MOTD stats showed us as having 63% possesion to their 37%. Some clever editing went on methinks to give the impression Birmingham outplayed us.

Pizzaro, of course, is now next to God. How could I have ever doubted him ;-)

Crap game, but we earned the precious three pts.

I think its the rain.

Paul Merson on Soccer Saturday was watching the game live and adding his opinions throughout the 90 minutes. He said apart from a few moments of relaxed defending which gave Brum their chances, Chelsea dominated possession and were comfortable apart from periods either side of the first half.

I know we didn't create a multitude of chances, but our win was no less deserved than Utd's against Reading, who the press seem to think can play fairly ordinary/badly and still win all three points.

Apparently it's the sign of a championship winning team so I'm told, such wisdom!

Belletti should be the #1 in taking corners & Alex should be the #1 in FKs. By the way, does anyone know who this Ivanisovic is (the new signing)?Any good? We have 5 international CBs now, albeit JT is injured & TBH was sloppy when he played...

Apparently Pizarro is a target for Lazio

Hey... Michael Essien is playing in ACN on BBCi live.

Gah, not pretty. But, to quote Wayne Bridge and Michael Essien following getting through the group stages of the Champions League and winning the Carling Cup (hence the irony) I'm delighted we got the three points.

Thought we looked a little out of sorts but stuck at it, had control when it mattered, and made the type of errors that come from sloppiness. Chelses supporters made a good bit of noise, gave it large when Pizza almost broke the net with his header (a wonderful corner by our player of the season currently JB)and got wet a lot. Claude, again, good at doing the graft. PC does seem to have lost his edge; wonder if CC should get a run? Still 3 points, mainds on Everton I think

What's everyone's predictions for Everton?

I'm gonna be optimistic and say:

2-1.

J. Cole,
Anelka
Lescott (he seems to like scoring... in either net!)

Chels win 4-2 on aggregate.

Good review Mark but have to disagree about Cech looking to become the next David James, think the only goalie to be worthy of that title and comparison is Paul Robinson. In fact, i`d be hard pressed to make a choice out of those two who i`d think was worse! Ok, Cech`s had a dodgy few games of late but let`s just put it down to a slight lapse of concentration..the fella can`t be perfect 100% of the time!!! Pleased to hear that Capello is keeping J.T as England Captain, why anyone would doubt that there`s a more suitable candidate for that role is beyond me. The news is bound to of pissed a few of our friends off down at Old Trafford and Anfield, as well as a few head honcho`s at the F.A (if rumours are to be believed). They`d all but handed the armband over to either Ferdinand/Duck Bill (overpayed & over-rated), Gerrard (overpayed, over-rated w***er) and Rooney (overpayed, over-rated, FAT w***er). No complaints as yet, that i`ve heard of anyway, from the Arsehole camp. But then again, who`d care anyway???
@ Emma...Everton game..Chelsea win, naturally. 2-0.
Up the Chels xxx
U

"such was the daylight robbery Chelsea pulled off. Totally outplayed for two-thirds of this match by a Birmingham side rejuvenated under Alex McLeish, they managed to nick all three points thanks to one of two chances they created" - in other words, getting 3 points while playing not so well - isn't that what people call "the trait of the champion"?
Go Blues!!

folks!
Have we signed Di Santo? Why is that almost every site talks abt him doing Drogba's laces! I'd feel sorry for the kid if this is some sick joke!

BTW, incase if you havent checked out the player profiles in the official site. DO IT NOW. Listen to what the players have to say about their links in the small video that comes up! This is what kalou had to say!
I am Salomon Kalou,..., play for Kelsey!
Boy, I had a good laugh!

I've only just realised. Our last game of the season is against Bolton and we always clinch the League against Bolton. I can visualise it now. Anelka scoring in the 90th minute with Andy Gray "can you believe that!"

Just got news...seems Bridgey is talking to Newcastle with CFC permission.

The most important to me, is that in the last 10 or so games, the team proved wrong all of you guys that where panicking who will score the goals when King “Want away bigger than Chelsea -D Drog” is not in the team. Also remember when JM use the absence of Drogba and Lampard as an excuse to why we do not score goals. How many games we now play without DD and FL and the rest? No, excuses just going quietly about the business!
Imagine what will be when all back….!
Now I like that!

Is the info reliable Tony? on saying that Bridge hasn't been looking that happy in recent weeks.

@ Clive - It's a reasonably reliable source and to be honest I'm not surprised, especially after signing Ivanovic. The shame for me is that we're possibly losing a good English player when we needn't be, but I can understand his desire to play every week. Funny how none of our others ahev fared well up there. Parker, Duff, geremi and Babayaro....none seemed to adapt.

If it's true I'll be sorry to see Bridge go but I can understand from both Bridgeys and the Bridges perspective.

@Tony - Yes I think you're right it would be a shame, on current form they're about equal, but at least if he does go it won't be to a direct rival. I bet Looserpoo would love to have him!

Also he's worth more now than what we paid for him so we should hold out for a profit, just like everybody else inflates their selling price to us.

And I meant to say Ashley and Bridgey on current form

Hmm, new manager, loaded and new-ish owner.

At last, we can hold a club to ransom !!!! £25m I reckon :)

It'll be a shame if he goes. I've always been a fan of Bridgey's and I still dont believe Ashley Cole is any better than him doing what they are paid to do - defend.

It's a good move for him to leave, bearing in mind Englands first and second choice LB's play for the same club, at leats there will be some competition for the National team. And the signing of Ivanovic, while not just a LB, means we'll still have cover. Best wishes to him if it goes through.


On to the less important business of Saturday.

Dross, dross, dross. We wearing thin the method of 'playing poorly but still winning'. It can't, and wont, last forever. The unfortunate early departure of SWP robbed us of one of our best players recently, and with it seemed to go a spark and the creativity. Everything after that was just routine, and I think we were lucky to come away with the 3 points.

Cech clearly still has confidence issues - he just doesn't look himself. Anelka played pretty well, but was starved of any real service, and despite our supposed wealth of talent, we're relying on a right back to deliver our set pieces.

Two special mention for Pizarro. Firstly his goal - good header, but mainly for the graceless belly-flop on the St Andrews turf. Laughable, truly laughable.

Wednesday will be tough, and we'll need to play better. Things need to improve.

The removal of McFadden helps us on Wednesday (he was quite impressive in the first leg) but I agree, it'll be tough. I read today that Frank injured himself again in training and is out for another couple of weeks. Hard to see who is going to provide the wit and movement at the front of midfield, unless Joe plays in there and someone else goes on the right (Belletti?? -- with Ivanovic at RB?? -- this is why bloggers should never be managers...)

I'd hate to see Bridgey go but I can see why he might want to leave. He's had to sit behind too many people in the queue for his position without ever playing any less well than any of them when he gets his chance. I'd far rather unload Cashley to some European club for megabucks and have Bridgey as the everyday RB, but that will never happen of course.

Cech's kicking has never been as good as either Carlo's or even Hilario's. As long as he's not making the kind of mistakes he made against Arse he'll be fine. Still a brilliant goalie.

Ivory Coast v Nigeria on BBCi at 5:00 today I think.

Hear on the radio the 4 names of the players KK is planing to bring in before the end of Jan. No mention of Bridge. Will be foolish from Grant to sell it now I guess.

If Bridgey goes should he pick up Shorey?

I gather the info comes form Bridge's Mum and Dad to someone doing some work at their house.

I hope Bridgey stays. he's good and we need him. but we do need to sell some players. It might not seem so now but we'll have a lot more than selction headaches when the squad is fit and the nation's cup is at an end.

Shorey ????

Ummm, no.

Not based on his former team-mate Sidwell 'making the step up'.

If we're in the market for a left back, we need to be setting our sights a little higher. Maicon from Inter or Philip Lahm at Bayern. But we're o.k. in that position.

Only saw highlights to this game - so can't really comment - but looks like we got lucky to get 3 points.

Does anyone know how long SWP will be out?

As for Di Santo - I have seen him on youtube - he is class - similar to the Arse's Carlos Vela.

So Le Sulk is looking ok I thought - not a bad bit of business.

Really hope Wayne doesn't leave us - he is a really good player just as good as Ashley if not better going forward. We need to find a RB though - Belliti is great - but how many seasons will we get out of him?

Drogba, Kaulo, and Mikel Obi are playing now on BBCi.

... and Kalou just demonstrated why we need to give him a break.

He doesn't (yet) score goals like that in England, but he's got the kind of talent that you can't buy. Kalouuuuuuu!!!

Oh, what a goal! Kalou was a rampaging young elephant!

Ravenous1,
sky Sports page said yesterday that Chelsea agreed on a deal for Di Santo from Audax Italiano before Christmas and apparently he can`t wait to link up with the boys at the Bridge, espacially Drogs, Lamps, Kalou and SWP. Suppose then, it`s just a case of waiting for him to arrive...
Up the Chels xxx

Doncha just love Aston Villa :-)

Is the Bridgey thing for real? I'm always for him rather than Ash. Well I'll take both of cuz, the two important England defenders and one of the best in England. Can't imagine if we lose Bridgey to the Liverpool, that sucks.

Doncha just love Aston Villa :-)

Certainly do... plus all things American, it's no more than the so called "most knowledgeable and best fans in football" deserve. And it gets even better...
LINK

That'll teach them to celebrate as if they'd won the league when JM left.

'Doncha just love Aston Villa :-)'

No. At this rate they'll be eclipsing the rest of us at the top soon ;).

Seriously, MON has worked wonders. They got a deserved point at the Bridge over Xmas, and any point at Anfield is a good point.

On the Kalou front, yeah good goal. But lets not make out we give him an unfairly hard time. He's had numerous chances in the time he's been here and it hasn't happened. Credit to him for sticking to it, but one goal against Nigeria isn't enough to turn the doubters.

pity if Bridge goes

I don't know Fifty -- one goal against Birmingham seems to be enough to convert the Pizzarrophobes...

Kalou and Pizzarro leading the line!! Shevchenko on the bench!! No one can stop us!! Now, if we can just sign Titus Bramble too, world domination is ours.

Fair point, limetreebower. One goal seems to have made him a World-beater in some peoples eyes. Just not mine. Ditto Kalou last night.

Can't decide if he'll start tomorrow, or what formation AG will play bearing in mind SWP's injury.

It appears the Liverpool FC crisis is having an effect on the community ;-)

LINK

I'd hate to see bridge go. he scored my favorite Chelsea goal of the past decade.

Schadenfreude but...
Loving tubby's last few days in the puddle!
everytime i see him at the post match interview he looks like he has had a BIG, hearty cry under the pillow! One more little pinch on his cheeks and the tears would flow again! Oh tubby!