Premiership review: Manchester City 0 - 1 Chelsea

Your comments are just about right.....The performance was very disjointed and there were very few playerswho earned their 100 Grand this week!

Still....at this stage of the season, I don't really care how we take the 3 points..... I still think that if we can keep the pressure on Utd, they will slip up.

I'm usually a defender of Ballack, but he was really poor last night.. I hope he begins to lift his game, cos I can't keep defending him with performances like this. SWP should play at CIteh every week.....he was ok whenhe cameon, and since they like him that much, if they give us 21 Million quid,I'm sure they can have him back.

Don't know why i'm bothering to post, but just to say that was a bloody awful football match to watch.

I almost nodded off just after half time, and in hindsight it would have been far more enjoyable!

It was turgid. I still can't decide whether I'd rather watch a) Chelsea style grinding out results or b) Arsenal style flair but settling for moral victories instead of trophies.

One other good point - SWP's shot! Maybe he can only play on the turf at the City ground?

I understand that Irina wants half of Roman's assets, so we need to draw up a short list of 11 players to offload. I'm not sure that's going to be so difficult ...

You're right, an absolutely appalling game. I'm counting on the law of averages for Man U to slip up and revitalize the team because none of them even looked like they wanted to be on the pitch last night.

I also didn't like the way Diarra, waiting to come on, told Maka to slow down as he walked to the dugout. I know it's common practice to take time over changes but does it need to be caught so blatantly on TV. For some reason, it really got my back up..!

JT limping again?

In reality, we're all clutching at straws, hoping ManUSA faulter, but I cant see it. We're playing badly at the moment, I cant see we'd capitalise even if they did drop points. And Fergie will most definitely park the bus when they roll into Stamford Bridge.

There's no style about our play, everything is too uniform and rigid, it doesn't look like our supposed flair players are allowed to show it. While Sunday was just as bad a performance, at least the game was exciting. Last night was just dull, dull, dull.

At times, City played round us too easily. That's Man City, the club on the Premiership slippery slope. It's too late this season for drastic changes, but someone needs to stick the proverbial rocket up backsides soon, or we're resigned to languid performances every week.

I agree with your assessment. This game was BAD! Chelsea seemed to try crossing in the beginning phases of the game but they were way off the marker for a team that is very powerful in the air!

Once we starting going through the middle, it was a grind fest and absolutely horrific football! You could see that with the near invisible performance of Robben. Mourinho could have taken him off 5-10 minutes earlier based on how he was playing.

What is good is that we got the points and with United's latest injury problems and possible (??) scoring challenges thanks to a largely ineffective Wayne Rooney and Larsson's departure, we have some level of hope to catch up but it will surely be down to the wire....and THAT is what in the end makes football so great!

Let me say this before we criticize...

We had just played on Saturday well both teams...the game was bound to be crap...Do not know what you expected...

Shevy was missing replaced by Kalou hey isn't that what "we" all wanted? Kalou is a promise but someone has said it before...better when he comes off the bench for now...

Drogs is definately tired...

Did anyone notice that Essien was missing?

Change at the back with Geremi...

Playing carefully to avoid injuries...

Had had an exhausting Spuds match where we had to push for 2 goals in 45 minutes...the boys were just burnt out like totally...

With all these factors I do not know what exactly you expected to see...

Lets wait for Sheffield...Then I will have a thing or two to say...

Well done boys...and we will take the premiership this season...I am so sure of it...

Come on Chelsea Come on Chelsea Come on Chelsea

Jose Musumba... You just said exactly what I wanted to say.

Our lads are humans not bloody machines considering they had just fought a very difficult battle against Spurs. City were desperate and pressing Chelsea very hard, I think Chelsea had done a very professional job gaining all the points. This game was very similar to the one West Ham vs ManU, and ManU lost it.

I was angered by what I saw last night. A lucky pen, a lucky undeserved win - to beat a team in crisis. City were the more threatening side. Disgraceful. Man U would have put 4 goals on City. Last night typifies too many sub-standard performances this season and JMs assertion the result is everything is wearing thin. The team is playing on empty - why? Because the squad is too thin, thanks to misguided activity in the summer transfer market, providing players who are not good enough to step up to the plate, or worse still some positions (like right back, central defence and striker) inadequately covered. Also, while JM may say the result is all, having to work so hard for wins is bound to take its toll. United are soon 3 up and cruising in most games. Drogba needs a rest, but he's our only effective forward so we can't. JT is not match fit, but the Gallas/Boulahrouz shambles means we lost a key player and didn't replace him so with anyone half decent so must play an unfit JT. We have no chance of another trophy this season from what I saw. We are one defeat away from surrendering the PL, and Sheff U have the spirit to inflict it. Never mind Liverpool in the CL semis, Valencia will beat us easily. I'm far from comfortable about the trip to White Hart Lane. This is all a result of mismanagement nit just by JM and I'm looking for a lot of player turnover this summer, maybe even a new coach. Sorry.

Stephen,

Wow man! That's harsh! The game was bad but the other comments are quite valid in that they were tired. You also pointed that out with your, "the team is playing on empty" comment. Maybe the others are right in that we were expecting too much, considering the state of the season and number of fixtures.

This is an odd season, I must say, in how the transfers had occurred. JM was left with very little in terms of backup, especially on defense. In attack, I do believe that Sheva WILL come good (eventually) but I am worried that we don't have anyone to carry us through if Drogba gets injured in the short term.

This team has incredible skill and character which should seem them battle onwards and I admit that I do not agree with you about Valencia and your concern about Tottenham.

They WILL be tough games, no disagreements there but Mourinho's man management and tactical prowess will be an advantage for us Mighty Blues! They will be tight games with some crisp counter attack....oh, and BTW....JC will possibly be back which presents Mourinho with some options he hasn't had this season.

I don't agree about a mismanagement at all as a) the choice at the moment is just too bloody thin and b) Mourinho will continue to play the eleven that deserve to play. Like he said, HE picks the team, we don't. Now whether Mr. Ballack should be in the eleven that deserve to play or not...that's a another topic! ;-)

I say onwards to victory for the Blues!

Flyin' high above the sky, we'll keep the Blue flag flyin' high....!!!

To short memory people

It seems like lot of people have short memory. That was our typical game with 4:3:3 formation. If some of you have you forgotten this is how we won a PL two years ago. There were many 1:0 "boring" games. However, I agree with Jose taking in account all the circumstances we are more than fine.

Not sure what some of you expected - the second game of four in eight days, three days after a 3-3 draw against bitter rivals? It was always going to be an anti-climax and nobody should sniff at three points at this stage. United, like us, will take them anyway they can. When's the last time they were 'three nil up and cruising'? We've been in that position far more often than them since Christmas, haven't we? And what was 'lucky' about the penalty? Twat.

I also think this 'JM left us short in the summer' line is trotted out too easily. Bar Gallas, who was always going to be difficult to replace, all the summer ins-and-outs make sense and probably would have been okay if we'd not had such a bad injury crisis. Indeed, even last season's squad would have struggled with this season's injuries. It's just one of those things.

Here are the dealings.

Bridge (back from Fulham) for Del Horno. Improvement.

Cole for Gallas (who spent pretty much 90 per cent of last season at left back). Improvement.

Boula for Huth. Much of a muchness.

Mikel for Eidur. Improvement.

Ballack for C Cole(?). Improvement.

Kalou for Duff. Improvement.

Shev for Crespo. No improvement, but nobody anticipated it. Shev's failure has been the biggest problem we've had this season, after injuries.

JM didn't have the best summer dealings and should have signed another striker and CB, but it's not the unmitigated disaster some like to suggest.

I am really starting to detest some of our supporters.

Sorry, got a bit carried away there. But honestly, I really do wonder what planet some people are on. This is such a congested time of the season the players have no choice but to play at the lowest gear they can possibly get away with - it would be crazy to go hell for leather when we're playing again on Saturday and Monday. Last night, we played well within ourselves and still carved City open enough times to get a comfortable win. We could have raised the level at any point - we were not 'running on empty'. We might be on Monday if we'd gone bat out of hell last night, though. (Good to see Spuz running themselves into the ground....)

Peter,

Spot on with your assessment of the acquisitions we've made, other than the Mikel one.

Personally, I'd rather have Eidur with his link up play between midfield and the forwards every day of the week. And twice on Sundays.

But that might just be me.......

I love Eidur, but was never convinced about him in midfield so would take Mikel, who I really rate very highly. If we're talking about the Eidur the striker though... but when's the last time we used him up front?

For what it's worth, I know that Barca fans aren't too impressed with him.

It appears my identity has been stolen, so for the time being I'm going under a more verbose guise!

Although it was probably the most tedious match Chelsea have played in recent months (the last time I remember being so bored was Newcastle at home back in December), we went in and got the three points. I expect the same kind of efficient performance from the next few games i.e. no goals conceded against inferior opposition (that includes the Spuds!), but hopefully with a little more flair. It's only Sheffield United and Watford, the easiest run of games we could ask for. We've kept clean sheets in the league since Liverpool; let's keep it going!

I'm also wishing that Bolton and Blackburn would do us a favour over the next few weeks and rough United up a bit!

I honestly dont know how some of us fans place our priorities....with all the 'crises' faced by the team this season, the blues are still in ALL 4 competitions WITH A SHOUT, yet some of us dont even appreciate what we really have.

Teams like loserpool and goners would be more than willing to trade places with us at this point yet we are not appreciative of the pride the team's efforts has brought our way.

I share Musumba's optimism about us winning the premiership this season (its just a gut feeling 4 me). somthing tells me that manUSA wld drop points against bolton/blackburn and their players (especially the defenders) seem to be playing under some pressure recently, committing mistakes that were rare earlier in the season.

WHEN they drop points, the momentum will swing in our favor, that i'm very sure of and trust our lads to grab any slip with both hands.

The bulk of our players are established PROFESSIONALS who understand the art of stepping up their game to the next level. This was really not required in the city match, unlike the case vs spurs and i'm sure they'll step it up again when required.

Back to the issue of priorities, i'd rather chelsea win FIRST than anythng else. I keep saying that history is made up of WINNERS! and i want more 'history' cos thats about the only thing that the other top 3 teams can only boast about in this present day.

Always Blue!

The Blue-tinted glasses boys are out again, and having trouble understanding the concept of free comment. I'm not the editor of the blog, but I know that Nick reserves everyones right to be controversial and say what they want as long as some thought or passion is behind it. This is what prevents the blog degenerating into a message board of moronic comments (see Arseblog as a prime example of the inane, mundane and dumbed down Britain).

Last night was like pulling teeth and those who doubt that Arsenal or Man Utd would have got a hatful are deluding themselves. What we do well is strangle games with clinical efficiency and hopefully we do that against Spurs in order to get through.
But just occasionally would it hurt JM and the players to turn it on. Have we become so paranoid about winning that we'll do whatever it takes, even if that means further alienating our critics and our hard core paying fans?

However,like JD (who's ratings were bang on) I believe the PL is gone now and the Xmas debacle of repeated draws has cost us dear. I've said it before but there's no getting away from the fact that JM's "thinned squad" experiment has been a dismal failure - why not put Sinclair, Sahar and Mancienne in and blood them - it seems to work for Man Utd and Arsenal so why isn't it good enough for us. It also seems to have worked for Diarra. We need to freshen things up and JC returning should help us find some creativity, but more games for some of the "kids" would not have done us any harm..

Jose Musumba and MikeL - your blind faith is heart-warming but misguided. If we play poorly then stop trying to put a gloss on it under the apparent tenet of "we got the 3 points" - the people who travelled up there last night paid good money for what - to watch the beautiful game reduced to Sunday league football. I do expect....no .....I demand to be entertained otherwise what's the point? I can enjoy the "3 points" by seeing the texts arrive when I'm playing golf. It's not the same as being there , in fact some days its better because I rarely yawn when playing golf .You need to wake up and smell the coffee - we have NOT entertained this year apart from the odd sporadic performance. Support the team but please...occasionally just be realistic and understand the critics on the blog are entitled to have their say as stakeholders in the club. We were crap on Sunday and got out of jail and last night we were merely going through the motions - no matter how poor Citeh were last night we had NO intention of doing anything other than the bare minimum. Sometimes that ain't good enough.

Its an interesting question, "demanding" to be entertained Tony. I have asked myself the question as to what I would have taken before the Spurs game if offered a boring 1-0 victory an progression of the most exciting game of the season and a 3-3 draw.

I'm not a neutral. So I think I take the victory over the entertainment. And there in lies the conflict.

Tony,

You're spot on.

I have to admit to following the Blues through the wonders of the Murdoch coporation (I live in Naarrridge) so I dont get to witness as many live games as I like.

We just dont seem to be playing with any creativity. It is, quite frankly, horrendously dull to play like a robotic, one trick pony every single game. Yes, we're getting the results, but there's no panache or flair.

It's o.k in the league where you need to be consistently getting results for 38 matches, but it's also the reason I dont think we'll be successful in the other cups. We're too rigid and uniformed, and dont seem capable of any sort of sporadic reaction in matches.

I honestly believe we really are paying the price for the signing of Ballack (as Tony points out, anyone can say what they want). I'm not disputing he's a great player, I just feel everything has had to be altered to accomodate him. I still dont understand why a system that wins you the league two seasons in a row needed to be changed. The 4-3-3 really shook up the league when Jose introduced it, and in the early days we were almost unplayable going forward.

Yes he's scored some important goals for us, especially the decisive one against Porto, but if we'd had Robben and Kalou / SWP supplying Didier for the whole game, would we have needed to rely on one goal ??? Maybe the system needs to be changed around him, not changed for him.

Based on previous years extravagance in the summer, I'd really like to see some quality new faces come in. Sadly, I cant see it happening. Lets get everyone rested properly, recovered from injury and win the bloody thing back next year.

Still very grateful for the team we have, no question. But the Citeh game was just awful, irrespective of however many games we have in however many days.

3 points is certainly 3 points (how's that for stating the obvious...?!), but there has to be more drive - will we beat Valencia or Spurs playing like that? Think we all know the answer.

Just as a thought - the Shevchenko money could have bought in Berbatov, Martins and/or McCarthy plus another defender...

Interesting thought on the Shevchenko situation JD, but I still prefer to give imports a season to adjust.

As good as the other three you've mentioned have performed, I just wonder will they do it next season once opposition teams and defences get wise to them.

After all we've seen it with home grown players from promoted teams, Kevin Phillips springs to mind, he didn't score too many in his second season.

As far as the other comments go, you and Tony are spot on, as I said earlier it was an awful match to watch, and the quality of the opposition contributed greatly to that. If the team want to play like that, then a cushion of a second or third goal would have been a little easier to accept.

Also to state the obvious yes a win is a win and the 3 points are very welcome.

And should I have breathed a huge sigh of relief when the final whistle blew?
I know what my answer is!

Jonny, Tony - not disputing that the game was awful, just that if we want to win the PL - which is still a possibility no matter what you think - we can't really quibble about performances at this stage of the season and need to place it within the context of fixture congestion. Agreed, though, I'd like to see more kids, although we've all seen where that got Arsenal this season. United haven't blooded anybody, because they haven't had to - and you haven't seen Fergie rush to try a 16-year-old when he could pick, say, Paul Scholes or Rio Ferdinand.

As for Utd and Arsenal scoring a hatful on Wednesday day - have you seen either of them play since Christmas? Our goalscoring record compares favourably with anybody's since January. Everybody is knackered, although this without injuries and in less competitions are less knackered than everybody else. Spurs are knackered, and could be done in on Monday because of it.

To say we would produce exactly the same performance against Valencia and Spurs is to woefully miss the point of JM's system, whether you like it or not. Although I wouldn't hold out many hopes for Saturday being any better.

I don't demand to be entertained - if I did, I certainly wouldn't have supported Chelsea for 31 years, but I would like to see Chelsea be more expansive. Whether we'll get this under JM is the big question, but all I know is that when it comes to the crunch I don't want to see him go.

And Jonny, do you really think if we were in the bidding for Berbatov we'd have got him for what Spurs paid? Ditto every other bloody player out there - we don't do bargains. Unfortunately, there's no comparisons to be made here.

We won the bloody game, why the hell some people still dig out something to moan about? Football isn't bloody ballet, you just cannot demand sportsmen to perform and entertain you like ballerinas in every bloody match. In fact, I feel very much entertained when we win!

Don't dispute we would have ultimately coughed more for Berbatov, but not £30m - point being at least two decent forwards who would have bagged more than the boy from the Ukraine (who incidentally, I have no problem with - just would have preferred him on a free at this stage in his career).

Not a question of demanding entertainment - one day you watch dross, the next a team of Brazilian-esque football gods; I know plodding victories are a necessity, but to me it looks like we could well run out of gas (and possibly ideas) before the finishing line. Be delighted if I'm wrong, obviously.

To Tony G

I understand your critics, though I do not always agree with it. I am not saying that Citeh game was entertaining. However, I am saying that due to circumstances we have got most of this game. Two years ago we have played bunch of such games and that what brought us the Title!!!

Buying Berbatov could have been good...

But imagine if Berbatov didn't make an impact as a Chelsea player, which is plausible since the attention the defenders give to Chelse attackers can't compare with the attention they gave him so far.... What then? How would you defend the option of letting Crespo go to change him for an unproved attacker like Berbatov?

By the way, a similar option was already made by Mourinho. Kezman. Not a lot of great memories there, huh?

So this year two options were made fot he attack: a well proven attacker, and a young blood with lots of potential: Sheva and Kalou. Was that so wrong?


By the way, there's a lot of talking going on about bringing young guns... What about Diarra (21), Obi Mikel (19) and Kalou (21), all of which have been given decent playing time this year? How many youngsters would be needed in order to make you guys happy, especially in such a small squad?

And don't forget Essien was 22 when he was brought to the club...

This is ridiculous :

LINK

Whilst I dont condone throwing items on the pitch, such as coins, lighters, mobile phones and flares, surely some the of the supposed 'men' playing for Arsenal need to take a long hard look at themselves in the vanity mirror at the Emirates and wonder, 'just how much damage does a stick of celery do ???'

IT'S A SALAD ITEM.

Sorry, rant over.

Some folks would complain no matter what.....even if chelsea wins all 4 titles, some folks here would still find something to complain about believe me.

I'v won many bets over here with colleagues from opposing teams (and i'm talking about real cash bets, on chelsea winning its matches). my profiting is mostly due to the teams resilience and professionalism. The coaching crew and players have got a strong 'winning mentality' and that counts for a lot.

Ever wondered why the younger, so called 'entertaining teams' burn out faster than our 'grand dads' in blue.....its cos they exert themselves a great deal in the course of play. The blue machine operates on the principle of 'efficiency'...

I'm sure that JM and his team have their eyes on all 4 titles and they know that achieving this feat would mean giving each match just the right level of energy that d match deserves.

Come next season, there would be better understanding among the players and this would translate into more flair in the team....but for now, the objective remains....WINNING!

And for those who think the league is lost this season, i want them to remember that in football....IT IS NEVER OVER, UNTIL ITS OVER...even fergie knows this much and there are enough instances to buttress this fact.

Always Blue!

We've got a game Saturday and a game Monday. Vital in the PL and vital in the FA Cup. Why do you think Chelsea needed to waste a scrap of energy on Man City more than they had to. They got their goal. They put up a chanceless defence (except for a 94th minute trundler) went home and rested properly for the two games in 48 hours. Perfect performance. Players rested, JT working his way back in the side. I couldn't have wanted more.

Further to Fifty's comment, the banning of celery from Stamford Bridge has done far more to alienate me from Chelsea than any inelegant performance from JM's boys.

The banning of celery from the Bridge is a reflection of everything that's wrong with the fucked up nanny state we currently find ourselves living in. Jeez.

To Tony, Fifty and all those who would love entertainment before the score line.

This is professional football and winning is what matters. A chelsea fan will go out to support their team not because of the fancy football that is on display, rather on the heart and soul that embodies the club. If it was about the entertainment many clubs would have no fans and hey Chelsea is not high on that list.

The Ballack-Shevy discussion is really not one to even bring to the table. We have seen these players lift the Carling Cup in their first season...in the process "beating up" the "immature" stars at Airline FC. The business we ae in is not how much entertainment you bring to the table but how many cups you can count when the dust has settled.

I find it disappointing that we are blamibg TSO for the 6 failings (read draws) this season. The thin squad etc blah bloo... The fact of the matter is that the League and Cup games we are engaged in are won in April-May and we are not there yet... To Tony and the senior doubters out there, it all begins with a dream...and for the "joy seekers" you definately are in the wrong place...try again next year or the circus round the corner (Ashburton Groove).

Come on Chelsea Come on Chelsea