Premier League: Chelsea 1 - 0 Manchester United... Newspaper reaction, Goal video, Match report
Sunday, 08 November 09, 05:24 PM · Comments (106)
Newspaper reports
The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: "The only aspect of this fixture that lived up to expectation was the contentiousness. The Premier League leaders, Chelsea, moved five points clear of Manchester United with a goal of murky origins. Darren Fletcher wrongly had a foul awarded against him in the 76th minute and from Frank Lampard's free-kick John Terry headed home, although Didier Drogba may also have got a touch."
The Times, Oliver Kay: "As the ska sound of Madness reverberated around a joyous Stamford Bridge yesterday, the beat was almost too much for John Terry to resist. Having taken his team not only one step but five points beyond Manchester United, the Chelsea captain looked ready to burst into dance, but instead he settled for a broad grin, a swagger and a couple of kisses blown to someone special in the crowd."
Daily Telegraph, Henry Winter: "Terry played well, ignoring the morning’s distressing headlines about his father’s alleged activities to stand firm in the face of the Rooney-inspired storm, again protecting a goal that has now not been breached at the Bridge for 872 minutes. The way Terry shepherded Rooney away from goal midway through the first half was a masterpiece of intelligent defending, echoing Franco Baresi at his very best."
Official Chelsea FC Website: "Nicolas Anelka and John Terry can argue about who is the hero of a tight and toughly-contested match at Stamford Bridge, the captain and the Golden Boot holder both in the frame for a second-half header from a free-kick that divided the teams."
The goal
That was the week that was
As ever, it has been another reasonably eventful week down at the [insert dull but expensive blue-chip corporate behemoth name] @ Stamford Bridge (hey, get used to it).
Carlo Ancelotti raised a quizzical eyebrow at news of the temporary suspension of our Kakuta-inspired transfer ban, insisting that there was no rush to dip into the scrap and shopping trolley-strewn waters of the January window. He’s probably right; our January purchase record is hardly inspiring and, in the circumstances, the prices are likely to be more City than CFC.
Meanwhile, over in the boardroom, Ron Gourlay decided it was time to announce his arrival. He slipped perfectly into Peter Kenyon’s recently vacated cashmere codpiece by insisting on a couple of Champions League titles in the next five years or so. Chelsea fans winced, hacks smirked and Carlo Ancelotti puckered. Probably.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Following an entertaining excursion to Madrid which sealed our Big Cup last sixteen spot, Ancelotti faced his first Premiership showdown with Fergie, whose increasingly angry demeanour is becoming more angst-ridden teenage rebel than Machiavellian football manager. I’m certain that if some Sky hack just asked him “What are you upset about, Sir Alex?”, the old goat would turn his collar up and sneer “Whaddya got?”
The game
Being entirely honest, trying to conjure up any kind of flowing prose about a game like that is about as easy as reconstructing a life-size replica of the Bayeux tapestry with dried dog shit and pipecleaners. I’ve been to more exciting health and safety briefings.
United’s approach was a crowded but efficient midfield and a formation that looked fairly 4-6-0 at times, Cole and Ivanovic were kept in check whilst Rooney raced around with the energy of a man who hasn’t yet experienced the joyous and exhausting business of a new baby vomiting over you at some unholy hour of the night. It was neither pretty nor engaging and with only the odd half chance appearing in the gloom of a fairly dour midfield scrap, a stalemate looked likely.
But as David Haye will surely confirm once he emerges from a cloud of party poppers and champagne corks, if you’re faced with a wily old heavyweight bruiser it is wise to keep the dangerous stuff at arms’ length and know that when you are able to land a blow, you make sure it counts. Ancelotti and his side did just that today, leaving at least one Russian happy with the weekend’s results.
The good
- Five points clear. United and Liverpool beaten on our own patch, which is a big improvement on last season.
- Yes, once again it’s time to use the old “playing poorly and winning is the mark of champions…” cliché.
- Christ, help me out here, would you?
The bad
- The fixture usually throws up a fairly decent game, but not today. The first half was positively comatose, the second interesting only for the scraps and controversy.
- After much brouhaha in the media and fines from the authorities, Guus Hiddink succeeded in taming our sometimes unsightly urge to berate and harass the match officials at every turn. Ancelotti has continued the good work, but having watched United this season – today in particular – one wonders why we bothered. The officials were shocking today (more later), but the snarling, whining and incessant petulance from the likes of Giggs, Fletcher, Evra and Rooney today was more than worthy of stern words and a slapped wrist from the authorities. Will it happen? Breath – not being held.
The really quite bloody bizarre
Martin Atkinson. I could type until tomorrow morning about some of the decisions he made during the game – from the, ahem, unusual, to the unfeasibly piss-poor – and still not cover everything.
Both sides suffered; Fergie would of course argue that United’s loss was the greater, but he is obviously no stranger to a quirky home performance from the man in black. Probably wasn’t a free kick that led to our goal, granted, but how Johnny Evans remained on the pitch after his Jet Li style assault on Drogba will remain a mystery, as will the recipient’s booking for the same. Carry on with your own personal favourites in the comments section – you certainly won’t be short on choice.
Individual incidents aside, in summary it is reasonable to say that at no point did he give the impression that he was in control of an increasingly tetchy game and, at times, especially in the closing stages, he looked little more than a nervous amateur.
The player ratings
Don’t be bloody daft.
Man of the Match
Final thoughts
It is always pleasant (again) to arrive at an international break on top of the pile with a close rival beaten. Arsene is probably quite happy this evening; his wee boys are starting to purr and frankly, it will need a considerable improvement on our part before we visit the Emirates at the end of the month.
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106 Comments · Add yours
Well written. Balanced. Worth reading. Excellent.
Personally, I loved this game. It was niggly, tight and aggressive and a reminder of the glory days of Jose. The biggest compliment I can give to Carlo is that at no point did I feel as if we would lose this game. I doubted whether we could win it but the tactical nous and experience of Carlo meant that we always kept solid, compact and watertight in defence. It was great to see that as well as walking in 4's and 5's against Bolton and Blackburn, we knew how to come out of a top of the table clash with all the points. It was scrappy and a rather lucky winning goal but who cares? Big Phil wouldn't have had a clue how to win these types of chess-match encounters but Carlo does and this start shows why he was the outstanding choice for the job. He's one of a select bunch of truly world class managers and with a few star signings in January (remember we're buying for the summer as Fifa can't wait to hand over our transfer ban and it's ridiculous to think that we can last with this squad until January 2011), I'm becoming more and more certain that he will lead us to glory. Everything feels more organised and more professional than at any time since Jose and this type of win only reinforces that belief.
But as for the match, well it was yet another coma inducing Super Sunday. 'A game of few chances' or a match that both sides were fearful of losing was how I saw it. The ref had a shocker as we all know and his treatment of Didier was rather embarrassing (as was Martin Tyler's). Getting attacked by a flying boot and being kicked in the ribs is worthy of a yellow card in Atkinson's book but it was Tyler's reaction which pissed me off the most. After seeing the replay he simply said "well he didn't mean it and we never know if Didier is really hurt anyway." Brilliant stuff that.
Anyway, it was a great win and a sign that the Jose winning machine is back. Can't wait for May.
It tells you something when the write-up is so much better than the match.
Take the points, enjoy the Fergtastic apoplexy, and move on. Rapidly.
Well-written and balanced account, indeed.
I only comment to add my 2 cents on the foul leading to the free kick:
1. A foul does not require contact between the defensive & offensive player. For example, Player A initiates a flying studs-up challenge and Player B tumbles to ground in order to avoid the contact. Player A has nonetheless committed a foul.
Fletcher's challenge on Cole was a close case; I don't envy Atkinson on that call (though he unquestionably botched others). But Ferguson's argument that a foul cannot be committed without contact is simply not in the rulebook.
2. Related to point #1: Fletcher fouled at a Scholesian rate throughout the match. One cannot be surprised that the ref gave Cole the benefit of the doubt in a 50-50 call; players who foul incessantly deserve their reputation for so doing just as much as the divers do. In other words, the clumsy, deliberate foulers such as Darren Fletcher should be prepared for the benefit of the ref's judgment to go against them when they hack, tug, and obstruct throughout the match.
We're tired of reading Ferguson's accusations towards the refs reported by the media as fact (see newspaper reports and their focus on the calls that went against United). Perhaps Rooney deserved to be ruled onsides. Yet we might also argue convincingly that Evans deserved red and Fletcher was lucky not to have seen yellow. The Ferguson intimidation of impartial refereeing has got to stop.
Dull game, whilst Utd had all the possession, they really didn't attempt to create very much, bar a good performance from Shrek.
Bit tired of Ferguson's apoplectic rage now..... Given the outbursts of the last few weeks, even if we let him choose his own referee now, he would struggle to find one that he was happy with!
Good performances I thought from Terry, Ricki, Anelka and Ivanovic....Rest were pretty ordinary.
I don't buy all this we played badly but still won. We deserved to win the match, we had more attacking intent, our formation and shots on goal ratio compared to yoonited prove it.
They came to SB playing 3 defensive midfielders and hoping to nick a result, as they have done many times before against sides like Liverpool and Arsenal. Im glad we denied them a result in the fashion we did.
Having said that, we were far from our best. Deco shouldn't play against the top 4 sides, especially when they employ so many DMs.
I reckon it will be different at Old Trafford, if they dare go 442 then I suspect we shall see a far better game and a victory for the blues.
I have always wondered - do English media have any ball left? Why the f*ck nobody challenges the old alcoholic with some facts and put him in his place? How come, time and again, he gets away with his crazy rants, and his players get away after 90 minutes of constant haggling???
This has to end.
About the match, 1-0 and 5 points clear.
Icing on the cake would be a post-match review of Evan's karate kick on Drogs and a 5 match ban. I know, it would never happen, but I can at least dream today.
very nice game
hi guys, i'm from Malaysia where 60% of football fans are Man Utd supporters, 25% are Liverpool supporters, 10% Arsenal and there are very few true blue supporters out here.
was watching the game during dinner where the whole place was packed. and it was really infuriating to see those Man U supporters laughing and cheering when Drogba went down under Jonny Evans' mid-air kung fu kick.
in my opinion, Evans deserved red, as did Valencia for his lunge on Lampard late on.
As for the game, we deserved the win. it doesn't matter who played better or whether was Drogba in an offside position when JT's header went in. Bottomline is, we got the ball in the net, while they didn't, and therefore, we deserved the 3 points.
cheers!
KTBFFH
In response to Gary,
Unfortunately, there is no unbiased sports media here in the UK. The position of sports editors in all the major papers are taken by Red tops who sing yoonited's praise when they're winning, and also hope for Liverpool to rise again.
Had a chat with United fan yesterday and He was quite sure when He said The Winner will take the First Major Initiative towards the Title,I certainly agree.
As for my bad Luck,I had this Local Bastard Cable Operator showing Star Sports instead of ESPN so I had to make shift with Guardian which gave one of the most biased Text commentary I have read in a long time.
Needless to say,It doesn't matter We put one Foot strongly forward for Regaining the Title which I am confident is ours,once May comes around.
KTBFFH
Nice one Lord Kaiser. A few observations from my section of the MHU.
We looked scared and nervy for large parts of the game, in fact one might say we looked like choking again when presented with the chance of capitalising on a lead at the top. Maybe the fact that we didn't will restore some confidence in big games like this. As you say, a considerable improvement will be needed against a very slick Arsenal , although to be fair their good run hasn't featured any real big sides (no apologies to Spuds fans).
The fact that we didn't pan them, the fact that for most observers a draw would have been a fairer result on the balance of play, the fact that United feel hard done by by our dubious goal leads me to concluding that arguably mugging the win is much much sweeter feeling. Like Habs I did feel the performance was very Mourinho-esque and deserved the cliché of 'champions performance because we won whilst playing badly' was apt. But I don't think Mourinho was out last coach able to do this. Didn't a certain Dutchman have the ability to draw this from us as well? The last 15 minutes or so became increasingly torturous as we sat deeper and deeper and allowed them to come on to us. The last 5 of injury time we barely seemed able to get and hold the ball.
As for the ref. How he was exempt from the "XYZ , you're a cunt' song is beyond me.
Cast your minds back a few years to a piss poor tackle from Essien on someone (I don't remember who), which was replayed incessantly on Sky Sports 'News' and featured every day in Murdoch rags across the nation. Was that not retrospectively punished after the Essien witch hunt? I doubt very much we'll see similar apoplexy from the media over Evans somehow.
Anyway, I'll take the win however it arrives.
Oh, and lastly......do you think we'll get any positive PR for the pre-math remebrance stuff....players going a guard of honour, veterans taking the respect and applause of the crowd etc.
Bloody BBC's MOTD2, spent all the air time praising how "good" Darren Fletcher was, as if ManU had won 5-0!
LINK
Great article from Martin Samuel again in the Mail..... JT gets an awful lot of stick, but I wouldn't swap him for any other captain in the World.....
Hi just wan't to ask, is it Anelka who score ? Then why you put his name in the goal part.
Thanks
My 3rd game at the local pub, after i moved to UK, got a lil heckled by a couple of ggoners fans,nothing harmful friendly banter, I was wearing a Joe Cole jersey,maybe thats why :)
Am not much of an expert on 'formations' but..Our diamond formation works when opponents are on the backfoot, if they make mistakes, the diamond needs room, space,a little bit of space and we totally dominate, if the opposition is pressing too hard, then we feel cramped and lose possesion easily,If somehow, we can disorient our opposition with some splendid moves, by Drogs, Anelka, Joe Cole, the 'diamond' could make a very solid impact.
In the game, Manure didn't have any choice but to press hard, their poor loss to Poo & almost lost game to CSKA, they came out strongly, it was understandable, 1 solid loss and one near loss vs CSKA, Manure played a lot better than they have been playing all season,I guess they realised that they had to at leasy try, it was definitely a high stakes game.
Deco,.MIA,totally,.somehow was constrained & constricted, his sublime passes ( I think there was one, am not sure) were missing, he just could'nt make a mark in the game.Carlo did make a good chang with Joe Cole coming in for Deco.
Lamps, lost the ball,wasn't clinical ,. though he did make some good tackles and was trying hard to have some impact on the game,shud be given marks for the effort he made and being present itself is a huge impact, I was a little surprised that neither Ballack nor Drogba competed with him for the free kicks?Drogba, reminds me of the childhood story abt a boy crying wolf,its a pity, he did get a nasty kick on his chest(luckily on the right side), he was hurt sure, but the theatrics???Drogs shud take a resolve that says 'I will not fall to the ground come what may' maybe we shud have a prize for him, something that wud make him not fall and he could win some respect, from the players,refree when he is genuinely fouled, today, the look on Vidic's face was that of disbelief
contd...
but as we all noticed in the replays, that it was a real foul and no doubt abt that, Refree got it completely wrong and booked him,adding insult to injury, when will he be recognised for his game? and the focus shifts from his theatrics, I was hoping he gets a goal so that he feels vindicated.Its very sad that everytime he gets fouled there will be at least 2 pairs of eyes rolling, unfair..really!
Terry was solid,was beaten by Valencia's pace early on in the game, He deserved the goal, I thought it was a bad beginning of the day for him, call me stupid or naive, I am still new to the London tabloid culture, but the stupid article in News Of The Week reg his dad,totally made me sad, he doesnt deserve that kind of media attention, he is a good guy albeit tough, but, why talk about his dad & mum?!! bad press and bad coverage, not needed at all, wish Roman could do something abt this using his gazillion bucks,Terry is such a great guy, in my opinion, he is the personification of how a leader should be, he puts himself on the line everytime, everyday, every week for the team,its amazing. He is more the 'doer' kind, rather than a leader who just shows the direction.That stupid newspaper, the article was totally below the belt, uncalled for.
Ivanovic,great game, did bother manure with his pace and dribbling skills, and his movement from right & the first shot was a sweet one, did make his intentions clear with that start, am hoping he gets a goal finally!heard the commentator saying that he is still claiming that goal against Bolton :)
Anelka, a cracker, if only he bent that ball with a lil bit of height, would have been the goal of the season, he deserved a goal for his game, he was here, he was there, he was everywhere, whats' gotten into him this season?
Carvallho, he is getting lil older, lacks pace, but he is solid otherwise, but his block of Fletcher was vintage Ricaaarrdo, I was telling to myself, 'oh thats THE Ricardo of TSO's era'.
Entertaining read JD sir!
It certainly looked like both teams set about the game not wanting to lose. I watched the game with a Utd friend, and he said after the first 5 mins that one goal was going to decide it.
He did scream at Drogs to get up after he was assaulted by Evans, until he saw the replay and quickly retracted his play acting allegations.
As Tony said the result is sweet no matter how we get it. And if Sir Rednose carries on lambasting refs, isn't about time the footballing authorities started to deal with this geriatric?
I recall a certain JM being hammered in all quarters when he did the same.
Cech, nice save from Rooney's shot,did go back to hoofing the ball a couple of times, not tested as much,
Ballack's presence is good for us,I was hoping that he will give a body chek blow to that rogue Anderson, and he did kind of rule the midfield, that Fletcher guy was causing some disturbances with his nuisance and very aggressive play,
Essien was a little bit manhandled by that rogue Anderson,I think Essien controlled himself very well, if it ad been Jon Obi Mikel, he would have lost his cool and we would have seen red :) all couse of that asshole named Anderson.if you haven't concluded yet, I despise that guy Anderson, he is one wily fox, jst like their manager, one Old fox! He was being nice to Carlo, but Carlo was being nice to him as well, I am sure Carlo must be thinking, this never happens in Italy :)
Maybe Malouda cud have done some of his trickery and done some impact today?
J Cole didnt make much influence for his 25mins, neither did Kalou
Ashley Cole kept Valencia quiet, he had an OK game, I think most of the players were unnecessarily overawed by the game, if only they played Manure like any other team, we would have played better, we weren't all out, we were very(maybe over) calculating in our approach, we were cautious, but we definitely did dominate the game, the ghosts of Scolari's game have been exorcised,
As expected Purple nose whined about refreeing, I think he knows a lil bit about how being on the other end of a 'poor' 'unfair' decision feels :) what i cannot believe is that he believes its a birthright of manure's players & the coach to be given a free kick and they 'deserve' special refreeing, its incredolous and unbelievable, they just make expressions towards the refree like, 'hey, you know, I am a Manure fan, how can I be treated/tackled like that, can't you see? don't you understand I am from ManF***ing Ure' Its no wonder Old wily Fox will crib about the decision before the free kick & whine about Drogba, the goal scoring free kick,
contd...
200% sure Manure wud have gotten it as well if it had been their player, so fair play to refree,
All in all, we won the three points, had a good game, we were tested, we didn't concede, we gave a good performance, am sure anyone and everyone would take these 3 points.
KTBFFH
Cheers for the comments all.
I'm rather fond of a tight chess-esque battle, but I just found the basic skills on show from both sides yesterday to be lacking somewhat; the much-hated by the neutral Cup Final of 2007 between the sides at least had a degree of technical ability about it - I saw two sides generally struggling to string a coherent series of passes together for most of yesterday afternoon, and once the goal went in United seemed to lose their heads and start kicking people. Not the best advert for the Premiership, but job done.
I have just seen footage of the bloke cleaning his teeth. What the fuck? Positively Mr. Bean-esque.
This was an awful game of football. Terrible passing, clumsy tackling, nothing more than a couple of self-manufactured half-chances a piece (two for Rooney, two for Anelka), a disgraceful performance from the referee and some outrageous behaviour by United. I think that's the third time in three seasons they've come to the Bridge and snarled, whinged and kicked their way round the pitch without any serious recrimination from the FA or admonishment in the media.
Great result though.
Agree with Adam re: Fletcher. A) It was a foul; b) he spent the whole game kicking people and then whinging, taking advantage of a weak ref who had lost control - and he reaped what he sowed. Excuse me if he laugh loudly in his general direction.
We definitely got the break on the goal though - DD was offside and fouled Brown. Perhaps Fergie's constant criticism of refs is starting to work against him? That said, Evans and Valencia both should have walked.
Best players? Evra and Rooney, Anelka and Terry. The latter was outstanding - many thanks to the United fans for geeing him up so much!
What puzzled me was that - as Tony says - we looked so nervous. We gave the ball away so many times in the first ten minutes with heavy touches. I've never seen them so scared for a big game.
Tactically, we let United dictate and squeeze the midfield into an ugly wedge through the centre. It made for a terrible game of football, with no space for anybody. Deco particularly suffered and should have been pulled at half-time.
Both these things are troubling with Arsenal looming.
They were discussing Toothbrushgate on 606, but on the radio with the banal Spoony and humourless Marcotti the whole surreal event didn't come across very well. It needed the ironic disbelief of Danny Baker to make it radio worthy. However on MoTD2 it was nowt short of utterly hilarious.
Two other minor observations. The kid refusing to throw the ball back in was quite funny, with various stewards/ball boys and surrounding crowd seemingly uncertain of how to deal with presumably some rather starstruck kid who genuinely wanted that ball. Perhaps some cruel friend had told him that if the ball comes to you during the game then you can keep it. As I was once told aged 12 at my first ever game (versus Derby County). Friends can be such bastards.
The fucking idiot 2 seats along from me who had his iPhone set on maximum ring tone volume, and yes.... you've guessed it got a call, 10 seconds into the silence. Really? Did he really not know this might happen. And as for the fuckwit who decided to call at that moment.....and he let it ring for about 10 seconds before casually pulling it from a pocket, spending a few seconds to see who it was and then silencing it.
Been onto a few Manc blogs last night and he indignation at their defeat is so ironically lovely it almost wants to make me cry tears of joy. In essence...
It's OK to foul Drogba because he's an African cheat (racist?), Fletcher is a part time priest who would hurt a fly and therefore wouldn't foul anyone, Evans was going for the ball and could never have foreseen Drogba's stupid intervention (their words honestly), Anderson got the better of Essien all game (huh?) and most deliciously ironic of all, the referee was wrong in calling the match to end after exactly 5 minutes of added time. Apparently 5 minutes Fergietime is no longer enough and just as against City they now need a minimum added 6.5 minutes. Else it's all unfair. Hear that thudding noise? Its the sound toys leaving prams make as they land.
Having now seen the highlights - wrote the report without the benefit of any replays etc. - Fletcher's tackle which led to the set piece for the goal was a foul.
Re Fletcher; he is a decent player but unquestionably being moulded into his manager's image. Come to think of it, it might go further than that. Did Mrs. Fletcher know a younger Sir Alex back in the mid 1980's, I wonder...?
Yes looking at the replay of Fletcher's attempted tackle on Ashley, I stand corrected it was a foul, there was obvious intent, which warrants a free kick.
The bigger mystery to me is, where are the Utd fans on the blog? I was sure they would have been posting about their moral victory.
To be honest Utd set out with a game plan like the lesser teams that come to the bridge, pack the midfield, and try and be physical.
How the mighty have fallen!
What chance Evans getting retrospectively punished for that challenge? It was really vicious and he wasn't booked at the time, so the FA can do something. Now that would really piss Fergie off...
Also, when was the last time United were involved in a decent game of football? They really have been turgid for the past 18 months.
Reply to PeteW:
For that to happen, Sky have to play the tackle 20 times a day for the whole week. Then wheel out everyman and his dog to claim how awful and dangerous it was.
We won't be seeing any swine flew!
OK OK awful play on words, I'll get my coat the weather is getting colder.
I'm genning to understand why PurpleNose likes butchers' dogs.
His Hull-like team park the bus at SB and the dogs - Fletcher, Evans, Anderson, Valencia, Giggs and Wayne Looney spent the afternoon snapping, kicking,tugging and barking at the ref.
Someone I know has described United as a 'team full of right backs' and I know exactly what he means.
Quite like that...
Wasn't it Luca's theory that the right back was always the least talented player on the pitch?
Think so, and one I also subscribe to as a former right back myself.
Even Rooney has something of the right back about him.
Anyone got any theories as to why Drogs was so awful?
the macth is very fantastic and very funny
Deep in his Undersea Laboratory Dr Bayou fires up his Random Thought Generator…
KJII - to report on a win against United would seem a gift. And yet I can see how in some ways this gift was like the woolly hat your half-blind maiden aunt knits you for Christmas. It’s meant to be a hat. It really could be a hat, but it actually looks like a willy warmer. So you take it, emit an embarrassed cough and move on in the knowledge that one way or another it’s going to come in handy.
So you struck the right tone there.
As the clock ticked away and defeat loomed, United got more and more tetchy if not downright dangerous. I was praying that our lads would be able to stand up to their narky behaviour and take no nonsense. There were probably a few nervous looks going around, but when you’re on the Chelsea groundstaff these must be the days you live for.
The Good – Anelka had a great game, his space and running with the ball caused them a lot of trouble. Ivanovic certainly got the better of Gigsy. Carvalho Terry once again vied with John Lewis as my favourite Partnership.
The Worrying – defensively I thought we didn’t track back and close down well enough and allied to the tentative nature of the way we played at times shows that there’s still a learning process going on.
The Bad – Evans – two definite yellows at a minimum and should have been handing the well lathered soap to Valencia while the rest played on.
The Drogba – I thought he was trying too hard. Very little theatrics, held the ball up to good effect on occasions and certainly looked interested (but poor decision making). Did he get fed up with the lack of service or space? While it wasn’t a good game for him it wasn’t for lack of trying.
The Rooney – contrast him with Drogba. The clever use of the camera. Search it out, then cheekily mouth “12 men”. No chance of undermining Britain’s youth there, but you still get your message across.
(a short pause while I pour in more paraffin)
Why is PurpleNose considered God like in English football? OK, considering his success, he deserves to be respecedt, fair enough, but why does he, every week rant, crib,complain, moan, It is just disgusting. I just wish someone like TSO could stand up to him and give him back some of his stuff, its not necessary to be 'afraid' of him.
That poor Manager of Birmingham did say something to this effect and Fat Sam intervened in favour of PurpleF****Nose, I definitely think the Old Fox is losing it, first he says that Manure 'deserved' the victory, its total bulls***, and Drogba was genuinely hurt, I hope he sees the replay and wishes that he didn't say anything about the foul on Drogba.
The guy definitely has a nerve, first he played the 'Carlo is a great coach' card, was all pally with Carlo before the beginning of the game and was livid during the game, like a spoiled,pampered brat. He definitely needs to be given a Time Out :)for being just that!
and his comments after the game on Sky, HILARIOUS! he has gone bonkers!!!! he was not coherent at all, murmuring to himself.
The Meeja - the usual over-reaction. (No longer able to distinguish between the artificial mindless hype of X Factor and a sporting contest).
It was a tough tactical game, we got a break and won. A draw was perhaps the fair result. They got a couple of soft freekicks and did nothing with them. In any event, Fletcher was not in control when he went in for the ball. That off side - well they happen every game, ditto the penalty. Borderline decisions that get ignored if the right team wins (cf the pull on Chech before Villa's second goal. It wouldn't really have made a difference to hime saving it but was a foul.)
I’m sure if Sky tried hard they would find some shirt pulling in the Manure box (look at Drogba’s shirt as Anelka’s shot is tipped away by VDS).
Henry's Rant
Henry Winter can be trusted with accurate reporting as far as the author of “Mama get the hammer (there’s a fly on the Baby’s Head)”
can be trusted with your children.
He opens with (the link above now leads to his rant)
“This was such a travesty of justice blah de blah de blah” and it doesn’t improve none.
My rant
The Northern Ireland Situation – This needs sorting.
I regularly listen to an American Roots music programme on Radio Ulster hosted by one Ralph McLean. It’s a joy and he’s superb with a soothing lilt to his Ulster accent. So we know they can produce a decent broadcaster. Yet nationally “Our Wee Country” is represented by Alan Green, Colin Murray and Eamon Holmes. Why do we have to take their most annoying cocks and listen to them day and night? Is this some sort of conspiracy?
(and breathe)
Jeepers, just read Henry Winter's report as mentioned by BB - it really is atrocious, like it's been dictated by Fergie. Guess he doesn't want to upset the old goat or he'll get banned from the press box.
As usual when chelsea could not score,the referee will offer them free kicks.Drogba dive again.If I were Evans,I'll stamp on his knee to make sure he wasn't play acting.Chelsea is the biggest cheat in Premierleague.
Ooooh err looks like the space bar on Henry Winter's laptop has packed up at the same time as his always tenuous grasp of the use of tense.
btw for those unfamiliar with the Bobby Peterson Quintet's finest work (as in teh song quoted in my previous post)here is a taster. (all part of the service)
LINK
errrrr
talking of space bar usage and inability with the language..........
pride comes before a fall as they say.
Reply to joe:
I see school has finished early.
As reported in the Independent. Interesting if true:
"It is understood however the FA are not planning to take any action against the United manager as he did not question the referee's integrity or claim there was any bias."
You can criticise the performance as long as you don't suggest he's biased? Has that always been the way of these things?
Reply to Clive:
If any kind of formal education was responsible for that particular outburst, we really are in trouble as a nation...!
Reply to BlueBayou:
I recall hearing a funny footballing story a few years ago, with a retired Scottish PL player.
He basically had a few words with a ref over a decision, and said.... If I called you a c**t you would send me off? To which the ref replied yes he would.
But if I thought you might be a c**t, would you still send me off?
To which he replied no he wouldn't.
To which the player said.... well I think you're a c**t.
Reply to KaiserJonny_II:
I don't know JD, I thought that little outburst would be worth a GCSE pass by today's standards.
Reply to KaiserJonny_II:
Being generous of spirit and bearing in mind the world wide fame of this blog, I always assume it's persons from abroad and therefore never comment on the English as I struggle to write in one language. However it was trolling in this case and the rules don't apply.
Now you have me worried
@ Clive
I assume he was a lawyer
Judging by the balanced nature of his report, one assumes that Sam Wallace is one of those who doesn't reserve a small space on his mantlepiece for the Fergusons' Christmas card.....
LINK
As he used to be the Telegraph's football correspondent for the North West, one assumes his loyalties lie elsewhere.....
Where does Mr Wallace sit in our Pantheon of Journalists?
And so it begins
LINK
We've been fortunate thus far on injuries so fingers crossed this is it for a while.
My theory on Drogs Pete, I guess it was just an off day. I think if he's not getting his way then he can often go into a bit of a sulk as he retracts into the warm safe shell of mental solitude ruminating over what's not quite right today. He thinks too much sometimes. Like me at golf...or 'silent golf' as my mate calls it.
Working from home today has given me the luxury of seeing the replayed game in the background and reading some of the reports around. Sky's equivalent of Statler and Waldorf (Keys and Gray)could barely stifle their collective dismay at us winning, whilst Tyler's reaction to the Drogba Flying Kick incident was disgraceful. He basically implied that Drogba was play acting, and even after the replay couldn't bring himself to sympathise. Gray was slightly better at least acknowledging the contact. The best bit of punditry was Hansen who at lest tried to be even handed to both sides. Sky certainly are firmly in the bed of the teams who play in red. Every defeat is a tragedy, every victory glorious, but when it's us.....
Oh and Jamie Rednapp was quite sensible as well.
Still, if it means we're close to our recent glory years I'll take the criticism like a pair of warm slippers on a cold day.
We created very few chances. Perhaps its time for CA to try a different player(Ballack, Obi) alongside Essien in CM as Frank, Joey and Deco have all been ineffective.
Reply to Moffat:
So tell me Einstein, as the Utd midfield sole job was to stifle our midfield, how many chances did they create?
Apart from one long range effort from Rooney, how many saves did Cech have to make?
After watching replay, here are few more thoughts:
We know utd tactic was to stifle our midfield. It worked, and as expected between these two teams, it was a battle of midfield where no one will gain upper hand. To their credit, they did well to starve us. Anderson was selected along with Fletcher purely for his nuisance value. But it also helped us because Rooney did not get much help.
As for Drogba, he was well marshaled and credit goes to Wes Brown who deserves more credit than he gets. If there is one player in utd team I don't hate, it's him. One of the most underrated utd player.
Whoever says utd deserved more, just look at the amount of goal bound shots - we were clearly the better side, and deserved all we got.
As for the media - I think I have developed pathological hatred towards most of the media. Such spineless assholes gets to report for such big name media house!!
Just hope karma catches up with rednose and his countryman. The Eyebrow should have mentioned him in some passing remarks and helped AW further cause of making sure the ref pays special attention to the hacker.
Forgot to mention - Ngog is the new Eduardo. A bit disappointed that b city was robbed of two well deserved points, but loving the fact that all the liverpool loving media will have to think hard how to justify what Ngog did.
What surprises me with regard Liverpool supporters and fans, is that the majority on quite a few blogs still have total faith in him.
I don't know if that should be admired, or we should mock them for their stupidity. Eleven points off the lead is a huge ammount, even at this early stage of the season.
Faith in Rafa, not Ngog by the way.
Clive,
I'm happy for them to keep faith with him - the longer the better!
Bearing in mind Eduardo was subject to retrospective punishment for his cheating, any chance the same case can be brought against Dived Ngog?
Bad news about Ashley, though hopefully a fortnight off will give him some good recovery time. Not sure what to make of the lack of a natural left back as back up though - will Zhirkov be fit to replace him?
I know we've witnessed handbags at some Chelsea games in the past, but the girls do it so much better.
LINK
Reply to Clive:
Saw that over the weekend and assumed she had an issue with Mormons with it being Brigham Young.
Mind you it comes to something when you can't indulge in the black arts at that level without it being televised around the world. What would they do down on Hackney Marshes if they thought the world's cameras were on them? Play some football?
btw - That's a 900 mile round trip to play that game so collegiate sport is more than piling into a clapped out mini-bus on a Wednesday lunchtime for them gals
I see Jose and Claudio went head to head over the weekend. The only change was that JM gave his own team a bigger slagging than CR and Roma. A pity they don't get on.
I'm slightly concerned at another break coming after a momentum building win. After Liverpool it was Villa. Before that we whacked Burnley and then left it late to "ease" past Stoke. Mind you they were both away games so hopefully we will be a little more assured against Wolves at home.
Praise the lord for Mr Ngog. That will take the heat away from our "outrageously" fortunate win.
Enjoyed the match from the ELS beside the dugout. Was thrilled to see JT score the winner in this fixture and shut the Northern bastards up for good!
There was hardly anything re the Kung Fu kick by the Irish lad at Didi. It would have been scandalous if the Irish lad just received a yellow card but for the ref to book Didier was just beyond belief. He's had some shocking decisions against him by the ref throughout his career but more so of late @ the Bridge. To see VBitch laughing and smirking made me feel like slapping him right in his arrogant face. Oh hang on... VBitch should concentrate on his own performances and getting back into the team after his howlers - three consecutive red cards in the Derby v Liverpool and the piss-poor performances this season so far and of course in the European Cup Final last year. He's without a shadow of a doubt the most over-rated defender in the world along with Spanish duo Puyol & the volleyball expert Pique.
5 points ahead and very confident of bringing back the trophy where it belongs. JT. Captain. Leader. Legend.
KTBFFH!
Reply to TrueBlue:
The best comment I saw about him was after getting sent of against Liverpool for the 2nd season running, someone posted on a blog:
"Somewhere in Serbia, a Vidic is missing her idiot"
Arf.
And at least we now know why Cashley had such a quiet game. I thought maybe he and Valencia (decent player) had just cancelled each other out, but now we know one of them was playing with a fractured leg, and the other, er, wasn't.
It did give us a chance to watch Branners toying with Giggs on the other side, though. Shame the Branners-Ballack axis (if that word is permissible)** doesn't have the footspeed to do those overlapping run things that Cashley-Lampard get up to on the left.
** -- by the way, did anyone else wonder what the captain of Germany was thinking as the poppy brigade paraded past him? -- And on that subject, the Pensioners were an utter delight. A couple of them kept ending up facing the wrong way after each supposedly military manoeuver; their neighbour would then lean over and gently prod them. You could almost hear the whisper. "'Ere, Reg, this ain't Dunkirk now, face the right bleedin' way! And where's me packet of Woodbines? Cor, that Vera Lynn, wot a bird eh?"
For you, Benitez, ze war is over.
Reply to limetreebower:
I think the Remembrance thing is becoming more attached to recent events than WWII. That's not to denigrate WWII before anyone jumps on any Poppy fascism bandwagon.........I found the fuss over United, Blackburn and Bolton choosing NOT to embroider poppies into their shirts quite distasteful. After all, didn't the soldiers fight for that exact right? To be free in a society to hold whichever view you liked without persecution. My, how the Daily Mail seem to have conveniently forgotten that alongside their own particular wartime allegiances. On Ballack I believe Germans are taught even more directly about the wars and their part in them than our kids are. He's an intelligent and respectful man, he'll have understood perfectly. Fair play to United et al for exercising their right not to do something based on a despicable right wing organ's attempt to shit-stir a campaign over nothing in order to mask the long memories and history books recollection of their part in the deaths of WWII soldiers from these shores.
Don't get me started on the shite being stirred up by another right wing rag, the hideous organ called The Sun, owned by scumbag elite, the Dirty Digger, toward Gordon Brown. Fuckwit he may well be , but to suggest he deliberately set out to piss off a grieving mother is so nasty it beggars belief. The trouble is there are legions of walnut brained numpties ready to believe it.
Back to footie....sort of. Our tribute was lovely and quite stirring, praise indeed from a loonie leftie revolutionary republican like me! Did it get a mention anywhere? I'll wait for the flying bacon factory before believing anyone gave us good PR!
As for Tubby. He'll stay simply because no-one else is available. Although all this talk of their demise seems premature. I'll believe it when Fiorentina hold or draw with Lyon, and they lose to either Citeh or Everton in their upcoming PL games. Only then will I wave to him as he flies back to Malaga in May!
On another note....has anyone heard this
LINK
I got asked via Facebook to join, and to be friends with the man behind it, David Chidgey. Its a free download on iTunes and listening to it thus far it's not bad. It's like the pub conversation you'd have with fellow Chelsea fans, but not the blind evangelist, monosyllabic types that seem to plague 606 on our behalf.
Dr Bayou's Pastoral Care Corner
Kids, just say no!
LINK
(anyway he doesn't like the weather)
"Don't get me started on the shite being stirred up by another right wing rag, the hideous organ called The Sun, owned by scumbag elite, the Dirty Digger, toward Gordon Brown. Fuckwit he may well be , but to suggest he deliberately set out to piss off a grieving mother is so nasty it beggars belief. The trouble is there are legions of walnut brained numpties ready to believe it."
@Tony
That paragraph was absolutely spot on, and I said basically the same thing when the story broke. How some of these journos and editors of these rags can sleep at night, is beyond me.
And back to football, and how sad the national keeper for Germany taking his own life in such a tragic way.
Reply to Clive:
On the media front, we're heading into the usual pre-election shit storm now. It'll be interesting to see just how much truth is involved from the Dirty Digger's and That Daily Fascists empires.
As for Robert Enke......through all the headlines about money, wages, diving etc...it does put stuff into perspective somewhat. For anyone with kids it's not hard to imagine how depressed the death of his daughter made him. Very sad.
Edit: The Daily Fascist.
Reply to ChelseaTony:
Morning all,
Little bit of politics, like it...
Two points - which I suspect might not be popular - on the subjects above which need to be considered beyond the level of tabloid outrage and the equally angry backlash... :-)
On Poppygate (as it is now known), fully respect the right of the individual or organisation to wear or not wear as they see fit, but as ever what got my goat (and I suspect many other people's too) was the spin put on it; "There's no point as it won't show up on a red shirt" line from either one or both of our favourite clubs in red. When you're standing next to a Chelsea pensioner in his, erm, red coat, it does tend to put you well into the realms of utter cuntery. Of course, if that particular line was just tabloid fiction, then it is just the usual dirt-digging and should be treated with the contempt it deserves.
On the Brown letter saga, the Sun have played it out rather crudely (it's a tabloid - why the shock?) but I don't think there is a suggestion that he deliberately wanted to piss the mother off, far from it.
There has been a fairly straightfoward and unanswered question lurking since Brown took over - does his impaired eyesight (and indeed general health) affect his ability to do the job?
This has largely been shouted down as being beyond the pale, underhand and nasty speculation - how dare you etc. and so forth. Yet with regard to this incident, his eyesight has been used a some form of mitigation (it might cover the handwriting, but poor spelling, wrong names etc.? I doubt it). Sorry, but you can't have it both ways.
If something as basic as a letter of condolence leaves no. 10 without being checked for errors etc, expect questions about those responsible.
Aside of that, it should also be noted that Brown himself has been the architect of some fairly unpleasant mudslinging during his time in numbers 11 and 10; there are enemies aplenty out there, so I'm afraid that ultimately you reap what you sow.
Reply to KaiserJonny_II:
My names Lord Kaiser...goodnight! Lovely stuff, do you have a sparkly suit ;-)
I agree with every word there. My issue with The Dirty Digger's diseased organ is it makes out the whole thing was done with malice and disrespect. I personally think GB is a nanny state interfering fuckwit who believes joy and happiness is only achieved through hard work and strife who has also undermined civil liberties and freedoms more so than Blair. An intellectually and academically gifted man, but not a leader? A leader needs charisma and communications skills. GB has neither. However, as New Labour courted TDD shamelessly in their successful election years one can't complain if they turn on you later if you look like losing. The Sun is politically agnostic in truth, it just senses the winner, backs them and then claims it was them 'wot won it'. What I don't like is the implied falsehood that GB set out to do this on purpose. But yes, a failure to sanity check the letter before despatch is pretty basic stuff. Schoolboy error one might say. A good job The Sun isn't shamelessly exploiting this womans grief for Tory political gain then ;-)
As for Poppygate, well I tend to believe United on this occasion. To distill the concept of respect into the unique symbolic display of a flower (one we're ironically trying to eradicate as Afghanistans main crop) just goes against what I believe freedom of expression to be. Plus it was the Daily Mail behind the cries of alleged Middle England outrage. The one organ that for me is many times more hateful than TDD's comic. Anything the Mail says, for me, is immediately discredited by virtue of it being the Mail.
Whats this got to do with footie? Hmm, big business influences, leadership, spin, mind games, point scoring, cheap shots, lies, deceit, backhanders, corruption, detachment from reality. See the similarities?
Plus it keeps the comment count up and the debates going as we've seemingly exhausted the post match debates!
Reply to ChelseaTony:
I may be slightly biased on this, I've visited first world war battlefields in France and Belgium 5 times in 2009 alone, but I disagree re: Man Utd and the poppy. Surely just out of respect of the numerous Man U fans and players (Can only think of Sandy Turnbull of the top of my head) that died in the first world war they could have done this??
Just get a poppy put on the shirt and move on.
There's no need for bullshit spin and PR, other teams in red managed it and Man U, unless I am wrong have a black V on their top this season, so their own excuse doesn't really make sense.
The cynic in me feels that this was all designed to avoid their main growth market in the far east feeling a little uncomfortable at the sight of a poppy.
From the news desk of The Right Reverend professor Sir Anthony Jockstrap-Bluehart Glover.....
Bosingwa today had arthroscopic surgery to his knee. His recovery time is quoted at 3 months.
Good job we have Branners, Belleti and Ferreira then.....
Reply to ChelseaTony:
3 months!!! looks like he had the same dodgy surgeon as you Tony. ;-)
Well!
I've just seen my first TV replay of Drogs' brutal chest-first assault on poor Jonny Evans's studs.
Now we know why none of the Mancs have popped over to the blog to complain about refereeing decisions. I had no idea it was that bad. (From my seat at the other end of the ground I just thought they'd bumped heads or something.)
I don't usually buy all that "The Media Hates Us" stuff, but you do wonder why there hasn't been a bit more fuss about that incident.
Timely reminder that the meejah isn't really out to get us after all.
LINK
Ive always thought Brown doesn't make enough of his eye thing. If I were him, I'd pop out the old glass marble during PMQs and stick it on the despatch box looking back at Cameron. Would freak him out something rotten.
That Drogba, he really is a cancer on world football. I mean look at this disgraceful behaviour.
LINK
Reply to PeteW:
I had an art teacher who used to polish his glass eye during lessons. Most disconcerting.
Even more troubling was the fact that he used to drive the school minibus too; the minutes of amusement for a dozen 13 year olds when one tiresome little shit (never me, honest...) shouted "Look out, on the left, sir!" for the umpteenth time in order to make him swivel almost 180 degrees in his seat to get a look at the non-existent obstruction. He rarely did.
On reflection, it was a) quite cruel and b) potentially hazardous too. Blasted 'elf and safety exec has probably taken such amusements away from the current generation.
Injuries to Cole, Bosingwa, Drogba and now Lampard? This hardly seems fair.
Reply to PeteW:
PeteW, if it was Rooney or Beckham or some other NOT CHELSEA player the papers would have shout about it all nights and days long. Bloody hypocrites!
Well done Didier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am surprised our website does not say anything about Drogba's donation.
Some not so nice news. LINK
While looking for a report on Fergie's ban over the Wiley business I saw this.
LINK
I do hope it's not as bad as they seem to think at the moment.
Having ridden a motorbike around London for some years 'til a Range Rover twatted me, drove off without stopping, leaving one of my legs in several bits, I assume Spurs wouldn't have been that keen on a valuable asset riding around this city on a bike. Forest Road, Walthamstow is not my idea of a fun ride, too many roads for people to emerge from.
Then again I have no statistical evidence on the accident rate amongst motorbike riding professional footballers. Maybe their reflexes give 'em a slightly better chance than the rest of us hapless sods.
Sorry Clive, you posted the same link while I was off polishing up me prose.
Great mines......(as Arthur Scargill used to say)
Good report from Jeff Winter on PurpleNose and his referee problem, and the United game below.
LINK
Does anyone else think that - were the FA and the Meejah not totally biased - Sir PurpleNose would have been banned for at least 6 games?
Reply to ChelseaTony:
As an Ex-pat living in Oz surrounded by by Manc's and Poo supporters. It is good to listen to some one-eyed Chelsea supporters like myself discussing the game in the Pub afterwards. I find the Podcasts entertaining and quite funny at times, there is very good interview with Alan Hudson.
Bloody England!
Reply to PeteW:
Seconded. Fecking pointless friendlies - game hasn't even been played yet and already it's causing havoc.
A quote from the Sun as reported in the Gruaniad
"Chelsea are blaming the FA for Frank Lampard's thigh injury because the private plane chartered to carry the England team to Doha for Saturday's Brazil friendly wasn't luxurious enough. It was "designed for short-haul only", the seats "barely reclined" and "several players complained of cramp or muscle pain", reports the Sun."
Terry, Lampard, Cole A. Boswinga, Drogba - in the space of a week.....and it was all going so well.
There is a very good reason we haven't seen the Evans tackle replayed as-nausieam on Sky. Sky are mindful of the fact that if you upset him he never speaks to you again. They are unlikely to kill the golden egg laying goose
Reply to BlueBayou:
Don't panic Capt. BB!
- the Current Bun's "out till Xmas" for Lamps has already shrunk to 2-3 weeks;
- JT's injury seems to be minor as he might even still play tomorrow;
- as TG pointed out above we are awash with more than adequate replacements for Bosingwa;
- we bought Zhirkov partly as cover for Ashley;
- isn't The Drog still possibly joining up with Ivory Coast for their mid-week game?
It's not exactly Emergency Ward 10 yet - certainly don't look for any sympathy from Gooners fans. When I looked at their game preview in the Barclays FF last weekend their injury summary box took up half the page ;-)
Reply to blueboydave:
And with a twirl of his stethoscope and flash of white coat he is gone........
Thanks BBD although with the lack of EPL this weekend, building up a head of steam about an injury crisis would have passed the time nicely.
Reply to BlueBayou:
Yes, was just getting into my stride there. Damn that BBD and his facts / voice of reason... :-)
From the news desk of Tony Glover-Clarkson, Chelseablog motoring correspondent.
“Reports are coming in that Dean Ashton may imminently retire from professional football due to his ankle injury, made worse by West Hams travel policy. Sources have indicated that West Ham may be sued by the player because of their insistence that their players travel from their caravan layby’s to all games, the ground, their training and medical centres in shared SMART cars. The electric G-Wiz is also offered as an ‘uber-green’ alternative to the SMART cars for those West Ham’s players who really care. Although the players are allowed to own the obligatory ‘Chelsea tractor’ 4*4 vehicles, it is stipulated that they must not use them for any West Ham related travel unless using them to tow their caravan when they inevitably get transferred to Southend.
The unfortunate side effect of this is the cramped conditions for both players sharing each ride and in Ashton’s case this is thought to be the reason his severely broken ankle hasn’t healed. It is also thought to be the key reason that a lot of their players appear to have two left feet.
A spokesman said “We appreciate that our players and fans need to move their homes from time to time, hence the need for Land and Range Rover, but we take a more environmental view of the planet and see our Smart/G-Wiz policy as innovative and ….err………cheap.
Gianfranco Zola was unavailable for comment as he was seen heading off for lunch with Michael Ballack in ze Germans white Ferrari“
Drogba, Lampard, Ashley and now Terry what the F....K!!!!
LINK
@Tony
Excellent, made me laugh on this dull and wet day. I should also imagine that our little wizard Mr Z would never have suffered leg room problems in whatever class he was traveling.
Reply to KaiserJonny_II:
Sorry chaps, didn't mean to spoil the fun - how about a rant about the cheese-eating surrender monkeys instead?
Not content with inflicting Platini on us all I see their money-grubbing FA, suitably named "FFF", may deny us all the dubious chance to watch them live scraping past Ireland in the WC Play-off 2nd leg next midweek:
LINK
... best I could come up with... no pleasing some people.... mumble, mutter... [slouches off to watch recording of last night's NFL game].
I welcome Frank's absence. In AC's short spell so far he's been tried in no less than four different roles(behind Drogba, behind the front two, as a second DM, on the wing) and we're still not sure what his best position is. AC now has the opportunity to try somethiing different and a chance for all to see how good our setpieces can be.
Reply to Moffat:
It really is becoming quite boring, I'm sure you could come up with something different to vary your trolling on the blog.
Or better still, take a sabbatical so we can have the opportunity to see how good this blog can be.
Reply to Clive:
Are you unwell?
Reply to Moffat:
Would you like me to be?
We just can't win a title normally can we? The football gods cook up an injury crisis just as Carlo was cruising along at the top of the table and with only Bosingwa left in the treatment room.
But all is not lost. Frank will be back for the Arsenal game I predict and thankfull we have the Chelsea Lab and some great physios to help him along.
It's a relief that the journos guess work that Frank would be out until 2010 was proved wrong by our medical team but it's crucial that he's back for that Arsenal game. A Chelsea midfield without Frank just doesn't seem to operate no matter which 4 we pick from Mikel, Essien, Ballack, Deco, Malouda and Joe Cole. He misses so few games that when he does fail to show, we look lost without him. It's not that we need him to score goals for us or even provide some assists to get a win but it's just his presence that keeps the team ticking. A bit like the way we suffer without the experience and class of Ballack on the right side, to a greater extent we miss Frank.
Anyway, let's hope Brazil punish England's B team for injuring our Frank.
"I suggest you shut up and show more football"
That was 30 years ago. Plus ca change and all that.
Cloughie on what he saw as too much punditry and not enough of the game being shown. He was also critical of the over analysis of refereeing decisions. Prescient given this weeks events and
Mark Hughes' comments about MOTD.
It warms up around the 3 minute mark.
Full marks to Sport is a TV Show for digging it out.
LINK
Some good and bad news for us all...
Starting with the bad:
LINK
Anyone else starting to think that winning at Arsenal without Ashley, Frank and now Didier is pretty much impossible?
But to cheer us up, here's some great transfer news (sort of):
LINK
Rodwell is the best young English talent in the country and is a perfect January signing. Young, English and not cup-tied make him a great fit and our £14m opening bid is a good pace to start. It's great to see that Carlo and Roman appear to have some good plans for January as we have to buy for the next 3 windows.
LINK
Wonder if Jose is angling for the Utd job when the enevitable happens and the senile red-nosed old f***wit decides to retire.
Or could it be that he is planning to build something at City when Hughes gets the sack..... Surely he doesn't want Rafa's job at Scouseland?... He has far more sense than that.
One thing is for sure....Jose always has a plan, and with jobs possibly available at all 3 clubs by the Summer, he will snap up one of them. I for one dread the day when he is seen in the opposition dugout at the Bridge.
LINK
And Evans boot has broken DD's rib....Looks like he is out for 3 weeks as well.
If we negotiate the next 3 weeks without Cole, Drogba, Lampard and Bosingwa, and we are still well clear in the table,I think we can cope with anything.
Bottom line is that every club gets injuries....It looks like it is our turn now.
I cannot believe how many injuries have piled up in ten days just when we are going into the busiest period. we can still come 2nd in the CL if Porto do us in and i really fear for our top place. The worst thing of course is the total hypocrisy surround Jonny Evans and Drogba. YES there is still a thing against Foreign players especilly in the press, YES the FA are just little cling-ons to the Man-U /Fergie machine in this country and YES our benevolent benefactor had bought this on himself. Nobody at Chelsea, not Ancelotti or Wilkins or any other current club Cronie has the balls to stand up and have a go at the REf, at Ferguson or the FA or the Media about the Drogba incident. It seems Chelsea since Mourinho left has now become a place where we dare'nt criticise anybody else not because of any backlash but because our own Board and owners are too scared of the publicity. I mean come on, even Grahame Poll said on the radio that if it werent for the controversey surround the so called free kick that led to the goal Johnny (British) Evans should have had a straight red card and even the usually anti- chelsea talksport presenters agreed wholeheartedly. i believe it was F*&^&**ing cynical of Evans, Fergie and MAn-U to put out our main threat for the title and we all know how Jose would have handled it. At least there would have been much more of an uproar about it thats for sure and the spotlight would have been on Evans in his next game. Of course we at Chelsea are now meant to be like sheep and keep quiet. Well I'm sorry but not this fan and it seems many others on here such as the editors and people like Clive I know agree with me. I was watching Osgood, Hutchinson et all in the early seventies and even though we may have won nothing much we at least had balls like Chopper Harris not like the sheep that are running our club now. Remmember the old saying, I'd rather be remembered as a dead Lion than a living sheep....or in cold war rhetoric, "better dead ran Red"....
I concur with the injuries, but at least only the injury to Bosingwa seems serious and we have solid cover for his position.
TSO took it way way too far. Yes, I did find it hilarious and he was right but sometimes he lacked respect. He is suffering that problem now in Italy where so many people hate him.
In the UK the press loved him, in Italy the press hate him. Hence why I guess he wants to come back.
I think we need to keep our heads down for a little while longer, (specially after the Champs league joke) until we get to the business end of the season.
Then when Carlo lets rip people will stand up and listen and it can make a difference. Unlike fergie whos already gone raving mad.