Premier League: Chelsea 2 - 1 Wigan
Saturday, 28 February 09, 07:44 PM · Comments (80)
Match reports
The Observer, Amy Lawrence: "Stamford Bridge emptied in celebratory mood. Aside from the eight minutes at the end when their three points were threatened, they delighted in some classy touches. They jumped up to hail goals from their most heroic players. They roared their approval as news flashed down of Liverpool's slip at Middlesbrough, which means they eased into second place on goal difference. Chelsea mean business again."
Sunday Telegraph, Jonathan Wilson: "Chelsea certainly had the bulk of the chances, but it took them a while to assert themselves, and a five-minute spell of Wigan pressure in the middle of the first half suggested Chelsea’s problems run too deep to be solved in a week, even by a manager as charismatic as Hiddink."
Sunday Times, Joe Lovejoy: "At the final whistle Didier Drogba gleefully booted the ball into the crowd and Lampard and John Terry, the Chelsea goalscorers, embraced in recognition of another restorative result which makes it three wins out of three under Guus Hiddink’s revivalist management. Would it have spelled the end of Chelsea’s title hopes if it had finished 1-1? Smiling, Hiddink said: “I’m glad it’s an if and not a fact.”"
Independent on Sunday, Steve Tongue: "Last April Emile Heskey stunned Stamford Bridge with an equalising goal for Wigan in the final minute that effectively ended Chelsea's hopes of winning the Premier League. Yesterday, although Heskey is long gone, they appeared to have pulled off a similar trick when Olivier Kapo scored nine minutes from the end, only for Frank Lampard to defeat them with a header right at the start of added time."
Official Chelsea FC Website: "John Terry became the highest scoring defender in Chelsea history and Frank Lampard joined him as a hero with a 90th minute winner."
The goals
25' Terry 1-0
82' Kapo 1-1
90' Lampard 2-1
The pre-match warm-up
There is something about a pre-match pint with good conversation that just seems to set the day up. And today was no different as I was kindly invited to join our very own Kaiser at the delightful White Horse in Parsons Green. As I stood there convincing myself that the best cure for a Friday night battered liver was the immediate infusion of Weston’s finest organic cider, it dawned upon me that perhaps today I was in rather more exalted company than I might expect. The familiar face stood next to me had simply introduced himself as Jeremy as he shook my hand... but the voice... the demeanour seemed so familiar. Being a dunderhead of the highest order in recognising people I had to turn to the good Kaiser and ask if the chap standing next to me was indeed Jeremy Vine, renowned Radio 2 morning jock and presenter of Panorama. Indeed it was him, and the other Jeremy it transpires that was in the early drinking group was also called Jeremy Vine. Two Jeremy Vines? In one day? Both Chelsea supporters? Isn’t that a tad greedy?
I shall, of course dine off of this event for many years to come, or at the very least hold court with the story of how Jeremy Vine introduced himself as merely Jeremy, shook my hand and didn’t even look slightly miffed that the hungover, rather loud vertically challenged person was so blissfully ignorant of yet another celebrity Chelsea fan. Oh, and finally I have got to know the names of my Matthew Harding Upper neighbours, Attillio and Tony. It’s only taken seven months...
And so to the review with the standard Good, Bad and Ugly format as I struggle to stay awake.
The good
- Super Frankie Lampard. Seriously looks like he’s taken his game to yet another level with a midfield marshalling display that was truly sublime. And who else pops up with yet another last gasp winner... from a rare header... it really did have to be Frank.
- Didier Drogba. One can only imagine a huge Scotsman called Fat Bastard must have stolen his Chelsea mojo at some point last year, but as Felicity Shagwell so delightfully pointed out, maybe he’d had it all along and just didn’t realise it. Getting back to his battering, clattering bruising best.
- Michael Mancienne. Steadily building a claim for future regular first team football.
- Nicolas Anelka. You really need to watch him closely to appreciate how comfortable on the ball he is, the calmness in the way he holds the ball like Sparky used to and his constant threat of danger. No sulking on show today, and the building of a good understanding with Drogba.
- John Terry and Ashley Cole. Cole in particular will be a strong contender for Player of the Year but the 20th minute off the line clearances from Cole first and Terry second were simply majestic defending. Terry also bagged a lovely goal, should have had a second and was back to his best today all over the pitch.
- Titus Bramble. At times you’d have thought you were watching Marcel Desailly such was the compelling display he put on today. Steve Bruce’s tutelage may well be the key to him rejuvenating a tarnished reputation. Without him Wigan might have lost by four goals.
- Wigan. As a team they came to play football and for the first 20 minutes they ran us ragged. At no point was there even the hint of a bus being parked and like Hull they could have got a draw that would have been hard but honestly earned and maybe even deserved. Lee Cattermole may be a thug and a clogger, but at times this season we could have done with some of his passion and fighting spirit.
- Fulham and Middlesbrough. Jobs well done.
The bad
- The first 20 minutes. How? Why? Simply dreadful and startlingly similar to the performance in the second half against Hull. Wigan should certainly have been a goal up from Paul Scharner's shot when clear on goal that forced Petr Cech into an early but vital save. Then on 20 minutes, Wigan could and should have scored but for the heroics of Terry and Cole, and this appears to have been the proverbial kick up the arse moment of the game. Or to put it more correctly, it became the turning point and Chelsea finally awoke from the early slumber. After that we should have been three up by half time.
- The second half, or the middle 30 minutes of it. We seemed to sit back again, despite Guus Hiddink’s comments after Juventus. When Wigan equalised quite a few could see it coming, but after that we stepped back a gear. But why do we have to wait until conceding a goal or escaping with a near miss to do this?
- The referee, Lee Probert. Was he a clone of the Portuguese idiot from Wednesday’s Juventus game? Specifically, in the second half he seemed to penalise every tackle from a man in a blue shirt whilst ignoring the similar challenges from the fluorescent shirted ones. On the shirt point... did we sell last year's away kit on a job lot?
- Steve Bruce’s post match whining. I liked Bruce as a player and to some degree as a manager who normally speaks a good deal of common sense. But his post match rant about poor decisions leading to our goals, disproved on Match of the Day replays, was errant nonsense. Steve mate, leave the playground and grow up.
- Guus Hiddink's bizarre substitutions. Off comes a useful and increasingly confident Salomon Kalou, and on comes Juliano Belletti and everyone in the vicinity of my seat, including myself, start doing passable impressions of Stan Laurel in a particularly confusing situation. Until Mancienne went off we had two right-backs so whatever message was carried on with Belletti patently didn’t get through. It was resolved when Mancienne went off for Ricardo Quaresma but for those few short minutes the ghost of The Tinkerman loomed large over Stamford Bridge.
- Wigan. The fans. All 30 of them, or so it seemed. Honestly if Hull, Stoke and West Brom can make the effort then surely Wigan can. The worst turnout I’ve seen for a very long time.
The ugly
- Steve Bruce. Seriously he really is very facially challenged and seems to be losing a not very hard fought battle with his waistline.
Player ratings
- Petr Cech – 7/10 – Ponderous clearances mixed with moments of outstanding brilliance. Let’s hope the bad bits are merely the effects of Scolari’s reign.
- Michael Mancienne – 7.5/10 – Quietly efficient and seemingly versatile. Has a permanently frightened look on his face with no real cause to.
- John Terry – 8.5/10 – Marvellous goal and had the second attempt gone in could have been on a hat trick. Had that happened I may have been convinced I was delusional.
- Alex – 6/10 – Beaten in the air too regularly again, left flat footed by Amir Zaki and company too often and may well be one of the departed in the summer. I really think Branislav Ivanovic should be playing instead.
- Ashley Cole – 8/10 – Fine display again.
- John Obi Mikel – 7.5/10 – Steadily unspectacular and in what was possibly his first ever decent on target shot was unlucky not to score.
- Frank Lampard – 9/10 – Super. Just like the song says.
- Michael Ballack – 7/10 – A bit subdued today but again, does have the knack of seeming ineffective when in fact he just does the Didier Deschamps ‘water-carrier’ role rather well.
- Salomon Kalou – 8/10 – Seems to be staking a good claim for regular first team football and patently has a good understanding with Drogba. I’m glad he’s going someway to proving me wrong. As for the Arsenal stuff, by all accounts he asked for a slot on Chelsea TV to utterly refute what was written.
- Nicolas Anelka – 8/10 – Classy, hard working and always looked good with the ball.
- Didier Drogba – 8/10 – Should have scored but for a Titus Bramble off the line intervention and on one glorious breakthrough he just hung on for a millisecond too much before pulling the trigger. Strong and menacing.
- Ricardo Quaresma (sub for Mancienne) – 6/10 – Only on for a few minutes but looks promising.
- Juliano Belletti (sub for Kalou) – 6/10 – Utility player he may well be but he is good to have on the bench.
Man of the Match
Frank Lampard. Currently untouchable. Stevie Me eat your heart out.
Final thoughts
This was another enthralling home match which saw us veer between moments of pub team capability to sweeping majestic pulsating attacking football. Wigan played a good part in the game and can count themselves a tad unlucky at not getting a draw, but in a former life there was no better team than us at playing to the full 90 plus minutes and we did it again today. Like Stoke and Hull before them Wigan came with a game plan to try and get a result and perhaps it is a mark of how far we’d fallen under Scolari that teams like this would come to Stamford Bridge without fear. Hiddink seems to have re-instilled some of the Mourinho determination in the side and the glaring divisions between some players now seems to be receding. I can’t help wondering if the loss of Deco will prophetically be the blessing a few us believe it to be.
Hiddink also seems to contain one characteristic that eluded Scolari, that of luck. I know that to a degree you can make your own luck, but that little bit extra does seem to be the factor between good and great coaches. Whether Hiddink stays or goes we may well end being very grateful to him for salvaging our season.
Despite the bad moments this is what football is all about, shouting abuse at the players one minute, lauding them as heroes the next. Moaning one minute, hugging strangers the next. There is literally no feeling like that last minute winner. It’s almost orgasmic. Grandstand finishes aren’t good for anyone’s vital organs and I’m certain that many of us feel that one day we will be carted out in an ambulance surrounded by people in green one piece suits sadly shaking their heads. But if it’s the last minute winner for us that causes that event... would many of us complain?
Keep the Blue Flag Flying High!
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80 Comments · Add yours
Just to throw a spanner in the works…
Don’t any of you think, that Gareth Bale deserves to be at a club with FA league and UEFA Champions league title ambitons… seeing that he has proven himself to be a superb player at such a young age
And if he came to Chelsea… he would be the first name on the team’s sheet…
And seeing that Wayne Bridge was sold and now were going to have to buy a left-back in the summer… and the club will probably go through changes in the summer?
It’s a pity though…
Think of it this way, if Chelsea sold Wayne Bridge and won the league with the FA Prems first-ever World-Cup winning manager (2 year contract) and the club was seen as successful again…
Gareth Bale could have come at a economical price… Along with any other reinforcements…
CHEERS
Seem to have been invaded by a few new characters.
But nice review on another strange Chelsea game i thought. As you say, we can swing from the sublime (Lamps' performance) to the lazy (opening of both halves) and the awful (the marking for their goal). But a win's a win, as a lot of us are beginning to say whilst Hiddink's been in charge and only 11 more to go in the league! Strangely i still think we've got a small chance of doing it - 88 points may be a pretty low winning total but we're not out of it yet and it's so frustrating that we're so far behind because the standard of this year's title challenge from all contenders has been pretty awful.
The best parts of the match centred around our English boys. JT, Ashley and Lamps are playing brilliantly at the moment and these 3 along with Didier, Essien and Cech will largely determine how much we win this season. Another plus has to be Mancienne who looks a great prospect for next season. As for the bad, it has to be Alex whose cumbersome nature will cost us hugely if he keeps playing ahead of Ivanovic and Ballack who despite your positive appraisal, is rapidly slowing and will surely lose his place to Essien in the next 3 weeks.
Overall a typical Chelsea game where we get the first goal, struggle to kill the game off, retreat into our shell due to our fragile confidence levels, thanks to Scolari and then somehow escape with a win.
Roll on Pompey!
Ha ha ha. Ha. Post one is a classic - sometimes these wind-up merchants can be quite annoying but to suggest we need to replace one of Chelsea's best performers this season (i.e. Cole) with the perenially injured unproved Welsh caveman Bale (I'm sure his jaw is of evolutionary missing-linkesque interest), who would be 'the first name on the team's sheet', when that teamsheet boasts the England captain, one of the best keepers in the world, a midfielder who gets 20 goals a season every season... you get the jist. It gave me a laugh anyway.
Great blog as always guys, summed up the game nicely. I think Hiddink's subs were a bit weird. Did you notice that literally seconds after Mancienne came off and Beletti moved to right back that he let the cross come in which Wigan equalised from? I think Beletti is a good utility player but he can't defend for toffee. Or even £60k a week. If you look at the replay he turns his back as he tries to block the cross, really pitiful effort.
Anyway, enough moaning. Another exciting game, above the poo again (though they do have a great history), and some of the players really starting to look like the untouchables they were under TSO. Agree that Kalou is threatining to fulfil his promise as well - I think Hiddink was at PSV when Kalou was making a name for himself at Feyenoord so maybe in some bizarre way that link will help Guus improve him. Or not. But whatever he is doing is working.
KTBFFH. And yay the Boro.
Oh, also thought I should defend Steve Bruce. I do think he is quite a good manager, with the potential to be a really good manager one day, and his post-match whinging is just in the vain hope that it will influence referees in future matches. I don't think he really believed Wigan should have got the fouls in the build up to their goals, but he was just doing what Fergie and Mourinho do - try to put pressure on the refs. He just went about it with as much subtelty as the English rugby set up.
Kalou and Quaresma to flank our 2 strikers? The firepower would be devastating. Thats something that none of our managers wants to try right now.
Nice review. Well worth having the reminder that Wigan are actually a fairly good team. Being fairly recently promoted it's hard to get out of the mental habit of bracketing them with the West Broms and the Sunderlands, but if you look at that teamsheet there are plenty of good players, and Bruce is definitely getting the very best out of them. Quite nice to see that Mario was almost their best player -- a huge amount of their threat came from his runs down the left. They're only a couple of points behind Everton and a couple more behind the Arse. Why they can't pull a decent crowd I'll never know.
If Frank hadn't scored I suspect Ballack would have got a 4 out of 10. I think to be a water-carrier you actually have to fetch the ball sometimes. His brilliance last season means he's earned the right not to be dismissed as a lazy chancer, but for whatever reason the game seems to happen around him, with him as a slightly out-of-breath bystander.
I'm trying with Nic, I really am. Seriously. But is anyone else not getting the analogy between him and Sparky? To me it seems totally clear that he's played in an exact mirror position to Kalou, i.e. as a winger, not in a withdrawn striker role; and it seems equally clear that it's not his natural position and he's not particularly good at playing there. But perhaps I'm missing something.
Delighted to see Mancienne get a start, though poor Ivanovic must be wondering what's going on (he can play right back, and has this season). To me he looked a bit hesitant in possession. He was nervous about trying to pass forwards. I'd guess 90% of his passes went sideways and slightly backwards, to Alex. But a decent performance. Actually I'd rather have had him on the right sidside of central midfield, replacing Ballack (as on Wednesday), with Ivanovic at RB.
Funny that we are on exactly the same points total as 'Poo, but we dismiss their title chances out of hand and yet wonder whether we might still be able to squeak it. (No.)
Having watched Terry's volleying technique yesterday, it did have some similarities to a certain Mr Di Canio scoring his goal against Utd a few years ago.(being he was off the ground when he struck it) I'm not saying it was as good, but can you imagine the headlines had a certain Portuguese winker scored it.
@LTB
I sort of agree with on the Liverpoo front, but I just have a feeling they've had most of their luck at the front/middle end of the season, and now they seem to be running out. (hopefully)
I still think we can finish above them, but living more in hope than expextation we can catch Utd.
Morning all,
Nice one TG. All things considered, we're starting to trundle along quite nicely; issues that need to be addressed re the squad in the summer but in terms of 'making do', Hiddink seems to have settled in rather well. Second in the league and a decent run in either of the remaining cups would be considered a reasonably good season considering where we were not so long ago.
@ LTB
Really starting to lose patience with Ballack too; I defended him against a lot of flak in his first season but he's coasting through games at the moment - the stats relating to the accuracy of his passing is misleading for me. How often does he complete a pass to a team mate that isn't well placed to receive it? He recycles the ball well, but when he receives a pass it's like he's been given a hot spud that he just wants shot of as quickly as possible - sometimes retaining possession is a better option.
Ho hum - I don't expect to see him here next season; certainly not on the hefty wages we're paying him at present.
Reply to Jang:
Yes, Kalou and Quaresma on wings and Drogba, Anelka up front, but you right none of our last three managers (since Anelka appeared in the team) does it. I clearly do not know why!!!!!
3 points Tony:
a)Cap perfomance. I had a choice btwn watching that game and watchiing some midget wrestling with my mates on dvd. Seems i made the wrong choice once again.
2)I saw two Franks yesterday, one that I adored and the one that i abhored passionately. Use the chalkboards if you like, Groy can help you with that. Frank tried to play our forwards more than he tried to shoot yesterday (Good stuff). If you compare that with the hull match where he made 8 30 yrd shots and only one pass in the final 1/3 of hte pitch, then you'llknow why i hate him most of the times. The bad side of Frank is when we havent got the ball. Each time the oppostion has the ball across the mf, you have both frank and ballcak trying to win back the same ball leaving a hole that opposition teams like to play in, whereas if they maintained some positional senses we wouldn't be giving so much ground. Wigan play fine and Bruce is probably the best English manager out there right now, so i don't understand why you find him ugly. And Cattermottle is a big 4 material.Period.
d) Ballack:----Bollocks, Bollocks, Bo0lllocks, Bollocks! God Damned! Wembley calling!
crap perfomance
Well...not really good performance, but the 3 points are all we have to ask for now...and of course beg,for Man U to lose every single game until the end of the premiership :)
I have to agree: Branislav Ivanovic should play instead of Alex...he is much better.
KTBFFH
Guus Hiddink's bizarre substitutions.
I am not sure I agree with this definition. It was double substitution, or at least it should have been done in one go. As the reviewer rightly noticed it looked strange only from the beginning. I believe it should be taken out of the bad section. After all; yes we missed the goal after the first substitution, but restored the lead after the second.
Any substitution that leaves Belletti at right back when we're trying to defend a one-goal lead is a bad substitution. The End.
Probably a bit late in the day to ask, but.... Rottenham or Manure?
Reply to limetreebower:
The End?
Megalomania (from the Greek word μεγαλομανία) is a historical term for behavior characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, genius, or omnipotence — often generally termed as delusions of grandeur or grandiose delusions.
LINK
@ Clive
I'd have gone for Bottenham, if only to spare us the hideous guff about "unprecedented quadruples" we will now have to endure until someone mercifully dumps the loathsome Mancs out of one of the other cups.
Reply to limetreebower:
I checked the available result options on today's game at Wembley, and upon noting that my favoured outcome wasn't there (the "albatross the size of Coventry flies over stadium and buries it, both teams and their fans in colossal pile of shit" one), decided not to bother with the game at all...
Reply to limetreebower:
We shall meet them (Manure) again this season either in FA Cup or CL, but we shall meet them. It is far from being over, if we want to take either of two or both we will have to play them at some stage. I believe we will be the force, which will mercifully dump the loathsome Mancs out of one of the other cups.
Reply to KaiserJonny_II:
The game was a pile of shit anyway, I hope the press report it as such. Wishfull thinking on my part I suppose!
I'm sure they'll find someway of reporting that the so called worlds best footballer won it all on his own.
Not sure what to make of Moffat and his notice of my chalkboards. In any case, the last thing they can do is tell you how individual players are defending...
As for the game, I think most of what happened has been said. Drogba is so close to being on hat trick form every game.
My one concern is the back line. I too wonder about Ivanovic, and why he is left out. Does he grumble in practice? Has he truly resigned himself to going to Fiorentina? I don't know how much longer the Terry-Carvalho axis will continue. Yet it seems that Mancienne is quite good, and worth keeping around. What does that mean for Ivanovic and Alex? Clearly we want good backups, but if our backups are good enough, they will be ambitious for first team football.
I like Bo-Swing-A, and I like Cole. I think a healthy Terry and Carvalho make an exceptional pairing. Mancienne looks like he can be RB cover, as well as a CB. Ferreira appears to be content to be second team, and a RB/LB option.
Do we need two more CBs? One more doesn't seem ridiculous, but can we really carry 5 CB's for 2 spots?
Of course, my preference is for us to drop Alex. While everyone here seems to be blaming Belleti for the cross, it was Alex that was totally out of position. Carvalho would have intercepted. Would Ivanovic, or Mancienne?
I just hope that we sort out a new manager before we start buying and selling players. The last thing I want is another Schevchenko situation...
Hiddink worked with Alex at PSV and he is clearly a player that he seems to trust to perform the job. I too think he is slow and cumbersome, but he is very good in the air, and I think he is not nearly as bad as some are making out.
Reply to Greenlight:
Oh, I was excited when we poached Alex from PSV. I think he's quite good. It is just that I think we have developed quite a high standard for defenders on this team!
Perhaps more games will help. It is easy to make a great first impression as an attacking player- score some goals, don't majorly screw up. Defensively it is tougher, as you must really mesh with everyone else in the defense, and that takes time.
Well, the wonderment of a new manager continues to galvanize our performances. Maybe.
I'm guessing under Scolari (as was apparent on more than one occasion) we wouldn't have got the winner at the death, but that's they way things are going at the moment.
As a few of you have mentioned, Tony in his review as well, MOTD did portray Tightarse Shambles as some sort of one man defensive wall and he looked impressive. Sadly, as with most teams that visit the Bridge, they always have 'one of those days' when they are here and then are utter dump in every other game.
And, seriously, Moffat and your 3 points - a, 2 & d - are you trying to be funny or are you really that clueless?
Reply to Be_Champions:
"In any case, the last thing they can do is tell you how individual players are defending... "
1. Ballack's tackles vs. interceptions LINK
2. Lamp's tackles vs.interceptions, LINK
3. Compared to how much work Obi puts, (tackle vs. interc.) LINK
4. Clearances, Obi vs. Lampard, (0 clearances for Ballack) LINK
5. now see what they(ballack&lamp) do in the final third: no real assists(even attempted-,), LINK
6. Obi's passes. LINK
It shows you that both frank and ballack only play when we have the ball. I know its up to the manager to pick enough ball winners, but what makes it worse is their positional awareness( or lack of it). Everytime the opposition has the ball anywhere across the middle you get both frank and ballack chasing the same ball leaving a huge gap and if you look at yesterday's bookings for Terry&Alex you realise they wouldn't have happened if the midfield wasn't as open. i don't see Guudink much about it either, he doesn't look interested to me. Playing Belleti for Ballack could give us that balance which is lacking right now.
Marko
On Friday 25 January 2008, allegations were made that Cole had sex with hairdresser Aimee Walton on 8 December 2007.Walton provided explicit details of her alleged experiences,including a sexual encounter between herself and Cole.Later that month, it was claimed that Cole had a string of affairs since his marriage.
Bale attended Whitchurch High School where as well as football, he played rugby and hockey and was a distance runner and because of his superior skills, the school's PE teacher, Gwyn Morris, had to write “special rules”. These restricted Bale to playing “one-touch football” and not using his “left foot”.
Cole started his career at his local club Arsenal as a teenager. He signed as a professional on 25 February 2000.
Bale made his debut for Tottenham Hotspur away against Manchester United. In just his second Spurs appearance, he scored his first goal on 1 September against Fulham. Bale then went on to score again against Arsenal in the North London Derby, scoring a free kick inside the near post of Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia. He continued then scored in the League Cup home tie against Middlesbrough, which made it three goals in four starts for the 18-year-old.
Cole's Premier League debut for Arsenal came on 14 May 2000 against Newcastle, after an injury to Sylvinho, Arsenal's established Brazilian left-back, he came on as his replacement.Cole made 228 first-team appearances for Arsenal, scoring 9 goals.
Bale became the youngest player ever to score a goal for the full Welsh national team in the Euro 2008 qualification match against Slovakia on 7 October 2006.
By the end of 2008, Cole had achieved 68 caps for England, all of which were starting appearances. However, he has never scored an international goal.
They say it takes someone three times to digest a comment. The first time when everybody gets it, the second a week later when he thinks he gets it, the third time a month later when somebody explains it to him.
Gareth Bale still has not experienced a premier league victory in a Spurs shirt.
Next.
fiftee
Bale has played 21 Premier League games for Spurs without winning a single one and as well as as football, he played rugby and hockey and was a distance runner.
Huh?
OK, the Gareth Bale obsession is getting a little spooky now...
Michael,
Unless you have something to add to the conversation, do us all a favour and stop commenting. All future comments about Gareth Bale will be deleted. Copying and pasting large chunks of Wikipedia pages doesn't cut it as a comment around here anyway.
He's not even a very good footballer. I hear Harry wants to offload him.
As for the Wigan game, I was sitting watching BBC Final Score thinking: "Don't panic, we'll do another Stoke; don't panic, we'll do another Stoke; don't panic, we'll do another Stoke" [there might have been some rocking back and forth involved, too]. Then Frank popped up and did the business again. Smiled from ear to ear for the next couple hours.
Reply to moffat:
You are beginning to tire me. I'll reply this time, and give you an opportunity to clarify your statements. If you continue with your normal claptrap, I'm not going to continue engaging with you.
Defending is positional, it isn't about who makes the most tackles. Claiming a player doesn't make enough tackles or clearances says nothing about their, or their team's, defensive ability.
When great defenders play well they do not do much. Instead, they place themselves positionally to force the other team to make errors, and they rapidly adapt to the change in placement of the ball and the shape of the other team.
Maka could change games without making a tackle.
Often, if you are defending well, you force players into situations that the other players on your team mop up. You might never make a tackle.
Thus, showing where tackles happened on the pitch tells you exactly nothing about the game. It tells you nothing about what the attack was like when the tackle was made, and it tells you even less about the defensive structure when a tackle wasn't made by Frank or Ballack.
As for Ballack, there is a reason he's the captain of Germany and you aren't. His subtle sense of positioning is excellent, and he uses it to create opportunities for the other players on the team, even when off the ball.
Frank's goal was from a Ballack pass. But the best thing I saw him do all game was make a huge diagonal run, drawing one of the central defenders. This left Frank wide open for his one-on-one (which unfortunately he missed). That play had everything to do with Ballack. To say he doesn't have good positional awareness shows that you don't yet understand what makes his positioning so exceptional, not sub-par.
Reply to Fiftee:
I had to look that up to believe it. Great stat!
This Gareth Bale business would be funny if it wasn't so surreal. I suppose I should start touting myself as the next Chelsea keeper! I never had a penalty converted against me while playing at Uni...
I think Bale had the same promise as Walcott. Unfortunately he decided to go to the youth development graveyard of Spurs instead of ....Arsenal for example. And until he pulls on a blue Chelsea shirt I couldn't give a flying fuck about him.
@ Clive - funny how the dullness if yesterdays game has been carefully avoided....surely not just because of the love affair the 4th estate has with Manure?
I watched the game again and my comments on Ballack stick - he saved an almost certain goal against Juve and set up Franks headed winner. I just wonder if people are confusing hard working non-sexy stuff with the stuff we see Ronaldo producing. Ballack isn't that sort of player and when he isn't there the midfield looks much emptier. Having said that I do agree with KJ_II that we may not see him next year, especially on such a salary.It's not like we're short on midfielders is it?
Reply to Be_Champions:
I totally agree - to knock Ballack is just rediculous - the man regularly tops the distance stats - ok he rarely sprints but he is always on the move dragging players out of position with him.
Lamps and Ballack are expected to play a blinder every match and have both saved us with a piece of brilliance so when they have a quieter game everyone is moaning.
Yes they both can seem to disappear in a game but in actual fact they are just going about their job.
"As for Ballack, there is a reason he's the captain of Germany and you aren't."
You're pathetic! Really.
"Defending is positional, it isn't about who makes the most tackles."
You don't understand positional defending, do you? Haven't seen how much space theyconcede to the opposition? If there was any positional defending then they wouldn't be following the ball all over the pitch.
You don't know anything about positional defending. Period. And that should tire you!
"Defending is positional, it isn't about who makes the most tackles."
That actually sums it up fairly well. Quite fond of stats and chalkboards which can explain a lot of things and provide good insight in certain elements of football, but they do tend to lose an awful lot in translation about the game as it is actually played on the pitch.
My beef with Ballack - a superb player - is that for all the distance he covers and the passes he completes (can be another deeply misleading stat), he isn't dominating games like he can do (and did for us in the second half of last season). Reminds me a bit of Desailly during his last couple of years; still one of the classiest players out there with more natural ability than most of the other 21 on the pitch, but phoning in performances.
Re: #26 "They say it takes someone three times to digest a comment. The first time when everybody gets it, the second a week later when he thinks he gets it, the third time a month later when somebody explains it to him."
I've put the 2nd April in my diary and am anticipating serious enlightenment.
Good report big T - always something in there to provoke a bit of intelligent debate, so you can't take the blame ;-)
As founder of the "Society for Those who must walk in the shadows or risk frightening the horses" I must take issue with your final comment on Mr Bruce. While his post match whine was irritating, it ill behoves us and particularly a man of your ready wit to descend to attacks on personal appearance, something of which many of us can do little about. I believe we can afford to be magnanimous in victory and restrict ourselves to calling him a "Geordie twat" or the like.
Reply to Be_Champions:
I was thinking a similar thing.
I took charge of my footy team for 3 matches last season and we won all 3. What club owner wouldn't want to employ someone with a 100% record?
I mean, I'm better than Riijkaard, Fergie, Hiddink, Shankly - even [whisper] Jose doesn't have the sort of record I do.
Pick me Roman, I dare you.
I'm starting to understand why so many people have been against us since Roman arrived and Jose won some stuff.
This obsession with manu is really getting to me, and if others had to endure anything like this when we were tops then they have my sympathy, in fact I'd like to apologise personally to them.
Today's Metro writes about the shoot-out like it was the match itself and somehow meant that manu deserved their win. It's the fifth paragraph before the actual play gets a mention.
That's one bubble that's just waiting to go pop.
Tony's review brought back memories of many pre-match libations, and although not in such notable company, they were equally pleasant pre-cursors to the main event.
Trying not to get carried away, but things do seem to be looking up.
Wigan are a good outfit with real aspirations for Europe next term, so this was always going to be difficult.
Guus is still trying things out, and as was mentioned in the previous post, if we're also going through a get-fit-quick regime then there will be some odd passages of play for a while.
Which makes our recent results even more impressive.
And on the subject of trying things out: it can't be long before Ivanovich gets a chance to prove himself to the G man.
Reply to Fiftee:
I think it is Giles Smith in his column on the Chelsea website who points to a man already at the club with a 100% record at a significantly higher level than you Fiftee....
Step forward Mr R Wilkins who was at the helm for that titanic battle with Watford a few weeks ago.
Still I'd chuck your CV in, 'cause when Butch eventually goes off to manage Real Madrid or some such we might be stuck.
Interesting comments on Ballack. As I don't get to go to games much nowadays, and rely on a weekly Internet feed from whoever is streaming Setanta (this weekend it was the ever reliable Iraqui Goals site...with English commentary for once), I am restricted to a view from my Mac laptop. Obviously with TV images we only follow the ball. This means Ballack only pops into view when he is involved in one of those little short passing interchanges that it seem to be his job to do. keeping the ball moving through the team, water carrying. Thing is, we've always had water carriers in the team - Tiago is one such player, surprisingly turning up with Juve last week and looking effective - and they did their job with little fuss and no complaints. It's their role. They're vital. And they don't cost much. But surely that's not what Ballack has become. Surely he does more to earn his huge salary. With the whole pitch to look at, maybe this is apparent. Maybe his positioning, general air of menace, cute little dummy runs etc can be seen for what they are. On TV you miss all that. Of course, there's always his free kicking ability that we can use and his heading is one of his greatest attributes, so I realise he brings added value to the team. Maybe he just realises it is Franks show and lets him get on with it. Some of his performances last year were when he had to step up and run the midfield in Lamp's absence.
Reply to dannybrod:
Well put. The curse of not seeing it live. I tend to agree with KJII above and feel from what I've seen Ballack lacks some of the drive that was evident last year.
Perhaps it's age or accumulated injuries, perhaps it's disillusion, perhaps he just can't be bothered. But I still think there's more to come from someone who as part of that midfield in Moscow arse kicked Fergies finest all over the place second half.
Reply to dannybrod:
Ballack:
Wasn't he brought in to be part of an elite CL squad, or something?
I recall talk of some experienced players being kept ready for big games when the season gets congested but maybe that was media speculation. He seems to be playing every game now and at 32 that's got to take it's toll, especially with the ground that he covers.
Again, with Joe out for the duration and Essien still unavailable that might be unavoidable.
Reply to BlueBayou:
Umm, one FA Cup match against lower league opposition, or 3 consecutive victories in the Norwich and South Norfolk League, Division 1.
I rest my case Bayou.......
Reply to Fiftee:
Sounds like a "great CV" to me.
Fancy 6 months work and a £6m payout?
Compare as they say and contrast
headphones good (Manure cheating?)
LINK
headphones bad (3rd item down Chelsea just arriving somewhere)
LINK
So it's fine to have one just don't listen to it when getting off the team bus.
btw Rereading the Williams piece disturbed me slightly.
Now I don't want to land this site in all sorts of legal trouble but look at the Williams piece again. He states that half the team had headphones on, then picks out 2 players in particular to be described as trying to look like "surly brats". I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions but I think he should be more careful (I'm sure it wasn't deliberate)or perhaps I'm looking too deeply.
Reply to BlueBayou:
Richard Williams, like many old 60s counter culture types, betrays a nasty authoritarian streak in a lot of his commentary in his late middle age. He is particularly vindictive towards Chelsea and lacks insight and creativity, relying on the old journalistic cliches about mercenaries and uncultured young men abusing their undeserved wealth. Envy is at the heart of his problem, of course, and an underlying viewpoint that sees the world going to hell in a handcart. We get up his nose because our success is perceived to be a usurping of a nobler order of things once presided over by the media darlings Arsenal, alongside the perennially dominant Man Utd. You are quite right BB to point out the inherent racism in his comments. I think you are being generous to him.
Not that I am particularly anal or anything but I am struggling to see how they could get the footage of the penalties on the i-pod without infringing copyright in the first place. It's not like there's a goalie section on i-tunes. It would be brilliant if they ended up on the end of a claim for copyright infringement!
Reply to Agh57:
:-) Marvellous idea!
LINK
Fat Rafa is getting more and more silly. Truth they say "Stupidity have not got boundaries and borders".
@46 BB & 47 DB; Williams is an appaling c*nt. A tired, lazy old tosser, who for some reason seems to occupy an 'elder-statesman' position at the Grauniad.
Not in the least bit surprised that, like most old lefties, he's now a closet racist.
Never trust a hippy.
Liverpool have been rushing players back from injury too soon for years now. Their backroom staff seem incapable of standing up to the manager (and probably the players) and sending out players before they are fully fit.
They broke Michael Owen and they'll fuck up Torres if they don't let him recover properly.
@ Nick
And long may they continue this fine tradition. Another chapter in their celebrated 'istoree
Watching Sky Sports News last night, I had to double check the date, thinking it was 25th December.
For, before my eyes, were Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho in Chelsea kit playing a football match.
Things are looking up.
Up to five in and five out in the summer according to Guus in the pre-match press conference yesterday, but re-iterates that he will not be part of the future. Which means, targets have been identified and negotiations already begun. Which surely also means that a manager/head coach has already been identified etc. Or, are the board signing the players, in which case, it is not good news.
'Or, are the board signing the players, in which case, it is not good news.'
They've been doing this for years danny! It's one of the reasons why saying such-and-such manager had a poor transfer record is irrelevent - nobody knows who actually made the signings (I mean, who signed Boulahrouz? Who signed Shevchenko? Who signed Kezman? Who signed Boswinga? Who signed Anelka?)
It's a very troubing arrangement as it never seems to work in the Premier League.
Think BB is dead right about the casual racism of Williams comment. It's dem scarey black boys on de back of de bus, innit?
Afternoon all. Apparently we've got a game this evening which came as news to me. Good to know Essien and Carvalho are well on the road to first team football again.
Reply to chelseaexile:
What's with the hippy remark?
Just think of where we'd be today without the hippy legacy!
In case you don't know, I'll list a few things:
1. ...
[hope you can wait, it may take a little time to think of something]
Got one!
1. Woodstock - Drugs and mud and 5000 people crapping in one hole in the ground. That's called team bonding these days (someone should've patented it).
2. ......
[now if I can just find another, where's that wiki?]
Reply to fansincethesixties:
Add 145,000 people and you have Glastonbury 1998. Good times. :)
Would punk have happened without the hippies?
I digress - if anybody manages to see tonight's game and fancies writing a quick report, drop me an email.
Finally, is anybody else not seeing the right-hand column on the blog's home page? Try refreshing your browser cache. It's missing in every browser - Mac and PC - on the network I'm on at the moment, except when I block ads. OleOle say they cannot reproduce the error. I can't work out what could be causing it.
Reply to chelseablog:
The 5,000 was a per hole ratio...
Looks like someone has changed the css.
If I expand my browser window the column is viewable (got a widesreen monitor). But when the window is narrower the column disappears - shows a scroll bar on bottom of page.
Some page width setting or similar.
@61
Should've added: ff on linux
Reply to fansincethesixties:
Thanks FSTS. Just had an IM chat with a friend and he's seeing the same behaviour: turn on ad-blocking and the column is displayed, turn it off and the column disappears as does the OleOle footer. Looks like it's some kind of clash between the ads/ad code and CSS.
Malouda MUST be grounded (benched) once and for all!!!!!!!!!!!!
Living near pompey...I can vouch for the seriously grim conditions .......torrential rain and high winds tonight.
Tony,
It is bad outside there one can see it on stream, but Malouda is so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rain pours on both sides.
31. Be_Champions
Maka could change games without making a tackle.
maka was special...he is , i think , one of the players who defined the role of defensive midfielder...I had to say that :)
Obi Mikel is rough, makes mistakes and still temperamental, but he is going to become great player...
still...maka is special
KTBFFH
This is rather strange sub Mikel off Belleti in. Does it mean we are 4-4-2 now? I mean no holding midfielder Belleti on the right, Kalou and Drogda up front and malouda on the left?
Chech IS THE HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kalou off Quaresma in!?!?!? malouda is still there and kalou off????? Is he blind????????
This is ridiculous!! The REF is doing every decisision against us!! Is he paid by ferguson!! this is completely outrageous!!!
WWAAAAAAHHHAAAYYYY!! GET IN THERE DROGBA!! FUCK THE FA AND REF YOU ARE ALL F((*&&&ING CHEATS!!!!
WHAT AAAAAAAAAAA GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT IS NEVER FREE KICK!!!!!!!!!!!! 87.OO minute against Ballack!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JOHNSON WANKER!!!!!!!!!!!!
is'nt Quaresma good......! wow!
CHECH ICONIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not know guys what scale system you are going to bring for this game, but Chech must twice of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep the Blue flag Flying HIGH!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another 1-0. This is one of the most pleasing things since Hiddink arrived. It's also nice to see the late goals coming from our side rather than the oppo's.
Didn't see the game and have given up Sky Sports News for Lent** so I hope there's someone who can do a report! If the weather was anything like it is in London then it must have been quite a night.
** I'm not joking.
Watched the game on some good quality stream on the internet. Outputing it on my 23 inch computer monitor made pretty nice picture, quality was not bad at all. We started as usually; missing good chances in front of the goal, bad passing from time to time and suffering counters from the opposition. Nothing new in general, guys, nothing new. However, after 20-25 minutes everybody realized what is different and new – the weather!!! Torrential rain multiplied by traditional English wind from the Atlantics. In the words of the Virgin Mary “It was really bad outside!!!” add to it referee who tried to pull all the strings he could to let Pompey win! Boy I am telling you it was bad!!! One of us wouldn’t even go outside in such weather, but they played the game!!! Almost not moving ball, players sliding like cows on the ice, all over it one wanking referee and somewhere there, form one of the corners of Fratton Park, good bunch of the Chelsea supporters making them as vocal as possible!!! The song was running through the weather and blood in one veins become ice!!! “Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelse, Chelse, Chelsea, Chelsea!!!” “One man went to mow, Went to mow a meadow….!!! Well done guys, seriously whoever was there, can say with proud after sometime on a cold evening in 10-20 years from now: “O, boy, that game with Pompey??!!! What do you know! I was there, I have seen it like I see you, mate”. It was the epic game, game of characters, game of the man. It was the game of football!!! Although our manager Hiddink has surprised me with extremely puzzling substitutes, we still have succeeded to win. However, I do not want to discuss the negative points, because they were mostly from management side and not players, to my believe, of course. Drogba’s goal fantastic, particularly considering when it came, some unbelievable drama. However hero of the game Peter Chech! What a game, what a performance simply one of the heroic performances of our Peter!!!
Keep the Blue Flag flying HIGH
Reply to Blue_MikeL:
sounds like a really good win on a really bad night.
Chelsea is good but Barca is beter!!!!
Chelsea,though one of the big fours,had a really tough game.. Wigan were hard working through out the game... Though Chelsea won,Wigan should definately be credited for their hard work.. Not at all expected such a tough competition from Wigan..