Premiership review: Newcastle United 0 - 0 Chelsea

Seeing the Boston Red Sox hit 4 consecutive home runs (off 10 pitches) against the Yankees live on Channel Five just cheered me up a little.

Hmmm.. have to agree with your assessment, at first I thought it was just me having high expectations - as has become the case these days - as I watched a lethargic display full of poor passing and little movement. I kept an eye on Lamps given the recent questioning of his performances, and think the reason he's lacking sharpness is mental fatigue, in fact I thought the whole team looked tired, apart from Essien who seemed the only one to have any real drive. If it had gone to a 1 point gap, I think utd would have crumbled, now I think the opportunity to reel them in may have passed. JM said on the BBC that "I cannot ask for more of my players... I think that what they are doing is absolutely amazing."
Maybe he can't ask for more because he knows it's not there, that the team is running on empty. Let's hope wednesday night will see them fresh and focused.

I think was you have put up is what is there in reality. Chelsea fought very hard this season and with all the problems on and off the pitch , they kept on giving us good results, only that the biggest problem which we are having is to create flowing chances. And since for the whole season we havnt created much we were always been living on the edge. Team has been carrying the biggest dream with the main loophole said above and yesterday it came to our face-- not a sigle attempt on GOAL....
Penalties on not penalties I have left that point long back as I see that the whole England (except the BLUE FANs) hates Chelsea (including FA, refrees and other teams too) for the whole England it is -- except Chelsea anyone else shold win and they are Happy.
The Midfield for the whole season in all compition lacked creativity annd that costed us...also I have seen a increasing trend from all the teams that against Chelsea they just guard and try much to go for a goal..thus we always have very less chances from counter attack, and if we then someone fouls us and mostly we dont get the favorable result. We even touch anyone gets worst of the results from the referee.
Chelsea played very well..i am from Asia thus watching them day in day out late night has been great this year...Hope to have better future for Chelsea next season...and they have to win themselves against all ODDs...
Will be optimistic....but not for this season now...its over.

PS: My worst fear may come true - Man U will be given penalties at Stamford Bridge EPL match and/or for sure in FA cup final.

On a positive note, with 4 games to go, we've got 3 at home and Utd have got 3 away. We're fighting on every front and the troops are stretched but if we can tap into some reserves of energy the league is still very much possible.

The scousers are right to be optimistic because the cards are staking up in their favour but results don't always go the way you plan; just look at us and Utd this weekend.

With some corrections ...sorry guys bit bad on grammar
I think what you have put up is - what is there in reality. Chelsea fought very hard this season and with all the problems on and off the pitch , they kept on giving us good results, only that the biggest problem which we are having is to create flowing chances. And since for the whole season we haven’t created much we were always been living on the edge. Team has been carrying the biggest dream with the main loophole said above and yesterday it came to our face-- not a single attempt on GOAL....
Penalties or not penalties I have left that point long back as I see that the whole England (except the BLUE FANs) hates Chelsea (including FA, referees and other teams too) for the whole England it is -- except Chelsea anyone else should win and they are Happy.
The Midfield for the whole season in all competition lacked creativity and that costed us...also I have seen a increasing trend from all the teams that against Chelsea they just guard and don’t even try much to go for a goal..thus we always have very less chances from counter attack, and if we have then someone fouls us and mostly we don’t get the favorable result. And if we even touch anyone we get worst of the results from the referees.
Chelsea played very well..as I am from Asia thus watching them day in day out late night has been great this year...Hope to have better future for Chelsea next season...and they have to win themselves against all ODDs...
Will be optimistic....but not for this season now...its over.

PS: My worst fear may come true - Man U will be given penalties at Stamford Bridge EPL match and/or for sure in FA cup final.

Ankur - even with fresh grammar it's still unduly pessimistic. The season's not all over!

Nick,

I'm tending to agree with your summary, save for the good. I didn't even think Essien was much better than anyone else, and until his ridiculous tackle on Martins out near the corner flag that earned his yellow card, I'd have agreed. But the standard of some of our 'tackling' (I'll use the term loosely) is abysmal. It's beginning to get annoying how many times we give away stupid free-kicks because we can't tackle !!!

Post-match yesterday I was angry with the FA and their stupid scheduling - the worst thing possible was us playing after ManUSA slipped up - the players almost seemed to expect to turn up, get the 3 points and go home. Now I'm angry at JM and the players. JM for his ludicrous rant over penalties - what goes around comes around, and always will do. As you point out, we could instead of should have had penalties. The decision at ManUSA isn't a surprise, but hardly the most clear cut you'll see.

I'm angry at the players for, frankly, being piss-poor. We offered nothing up front - Kalou will never, ever, be an out-and-out striker for us. Drogs looks to be out of sorts - he made one or two decent interceptions yesterday, then tried to be too clever and lost the ball. Lampard was none existent, but at least kept the ball boys busy chasing his increasingly worse set pieces. And if Paulo Ferreira ever plays for us again, it'll be too soon............

What really grates is that we made some of English footballs laughing stock look adept. Titus Bramble and Steven Taylor were so in control it was untrue. I almost choked when I heard McLaren was checking out Taylor !!!!!

The last thing we need is a game Wednesday, especially given the players we're without. It'll be a struggle, for sure.

all i can say is what a huge waste of 90 minutes! poor effort for such a major opportunity...pure dissapointment.

all we can do is hope.
p.s. i agree with the summary, all of a sudden Ronaldo is a hero! Does no one remember him getting Rooney red carded???????
pathetic.
---

Fatigue and injuries now really starting to hit both us and the Mancs; the displays by both teams this weekend spoke volumes. The fact that they have their noses in front counts for an awful lot at this stage. And anyone taking a look at our recent record up at St. James' Park would realise that 3 points was far from certain!

April was always going to be a very tough month - I thought it would be difficult to win the title without anything less than a 6 point lead given our run-in.

Wednesday is looking like a tall order with no Essien, Carvalho or Ballack and Lamps frankly looking like a man in need of a month off. Typical fecking Scouse luck.

Nothing over yet - whilst it's mathematically possible you would hope that Jose and the boys won't give up hope, but a major chance went begging yesterday, no question. A great shame but I find it very diffcult to point fingers right now.

Jose's ranting about penalties may well be about sour grapes, but the two decisions this weekend that he mentioned may well have altered the destination of the title. Frustrating to say the least.

I'm personally finding this as exhausting as the team - buried somewhere deep inside there is a perverse longing for the days when Chelsea's season was over by February or March!

Really bad Sunday. Game with Newcastle, referee, clown Ronaldo secures two PFA awards.... is it not enough to say that this was a bad Sunday?

Coming as it did at lunchtime this result comprehensively ruined my sunday and ensured I looked like some deranged lunatic ranting at the TV with my family, who had decended on us for a BBQ watching on.

It took util the 82nd minute for my rage and frustration to boil over which must have left my In-laws thinking their Daughter had married some insane maniac. What a contrast from my demenour on Saturday evening. Again, shades of West Ham in 1999. Completely and totally choking when it mattered most.

The real impact of yesterdays debacle can only be judged with the benefit of hindsight but I have a nasty feeling how things will look after they have handed out the trophys.

Rant over. We will need to be 100% better on Wednesday.

Irritating little twonk he may be, but I don't have much argument about Ronaldo copping the awards, but the team of the year is a little surprising to say the least. Given that the votes are collected in January (I think) and we didn't really hit 'form' until then, it doesn't really give an accurate reflection of the whole season.

JD - agreed about Ronaldo but no Essien or Carvalho is very strange to me.

However I do not believe we have played well consistently all season and as such the PFA team reflects this.

Yesterday was awful. I really don't know why we didn't come out and pulverise them. I was also very surprised Joey Cole didn't start provided that he only played about twenty minutes on Weds.

We seemed to play the entire game as if we were three nil up. Very strange. I can only assume it was a misguided attempt to conserve energy.

Still all to play for, though injuries and Essien's suspension are very unfortunate for the CL game.

I am not particularly looking forward to the Liverpool tie. I expect it will be a poor game. But I also think we will go to Anfield and win.

Come on Chelsea!

Dear dear dear..............

It'll be a great result if we win on Wednesday. However our chances now are less then likely. Liverpool Redskins are much fresher and have most players available.

CARE FREE (yeah right)
KTBFFH

Anthony, Essien would certainly have a case at being disappointed. And I'd take both Carvalho and Carragher over Ferdinand, without question. And JT has generally been imperious since coming back.

It's ultimately a bit of an odd popularity contest really which does get influenced by the media to an extent (what a League 2 player sees of Premiership football is pretty much the same as what we see, i.e. coverage dominated by the bigger clubs / names).

In terms of what a player has delivered for their team over the course of a season (bearing in mind expectations too), has Gerrard done any better than Steve Sidwell? Benni McCarthy, Matty Taylor and a few others might feel a tad hard done by too.

Given a couple of hours for the tedium of Monday morning work to set in, I'm starting to think Jose's little rant about pens et al may be another of his efforts to divert attention away from the shoddy players.

Peter H - I'm in agreement trophy-wise. I'm a serial pessimist so hope to be proved wrong, but have a nasty feeling anything we win this season is already in the trophy cabinet......

And Ronaldo. No complaints from me football-wise - he has been everything we kid ourselves into believing Robben could be. I'm just amazed at how quickly the hatred for him has disappeared. Well mostly. My mother-in-law hates him with a passion. One of the few things we agree on..........

TSO F#@k up big time...

No excuse no excuse...

We played like shit and we deserved nothing better. Totally killed my weekend...

I would never blame the players..as I did not see TSO get off his arse to avert the proceedings...

What is this tinkering with the team? WHy change a winning team?

We sorely missed Ash Cole and I do not buy the Carlvalho injury bull-shit...total rubbish...

TSO owes us an apology an not excuses...piss-poor if you ask me.

John Terry was the worst player for me yesterday. We all know he is the leader in the team, a true profesional but was lowered to a "cry-baby". "Oh ref he touched my shirt" "oh he soiled my shorts" totally silly not the makings of what you are made of Terry...I was embarrased that this was our captain - for the very first time - NOT ACCEPTABLE

It is a re-known fact that the quality of the refeering in England is at it's all time low but we have been eating this "fruit" for some time now.

I also think this push for four trophies is something bordering on near insanity and it is sure to do it's rounds on us.

Now that all that is off my chest...

We are going to win this league so HELP us GOD and we sure still are in it. Come on LIverpool and endure the wath as it is what we still can hand out to those that fail to see when they are not welcome...

May we beat them so hard that they will from hence forth walk alone, may they renew their praises of the boys in blue, may the world loathe and distaste our unending winning ways...

We are winning the FAPL, CL and the FA Cup

Come On Chelsea, Come On Chelsea, Come on Chelsea

In all fairness Jose, he probably changed the team with an eye on another massive game on Wednesday. And I imagine that Carvalho is genuinely injured - can't see that he'd have been left out otherwise.

Whilst JT definitely did have a bit too much of a moan at times, Sibierski's shirt pulling was ridiculous. If he really wanted his shirt he should have waited until the end of the game...

i agree with you guys. it seems the games have finally taken their toll on us. but we can do it, we need to win four more games. a win against liverpool at the bridge. a win at the fa cup final, a win in athens and our season will be fantastic. the EPL can wait another season.

I think some of the individual criticisms are a little unfair. I thought the whole team failed to play anywhere near their potential yesterday.

It was a tired performance, which to be fair, is not totally unexpected. After all Man USA looked tired, in their game as well, and yes it was a shame we didn't capitalise on their slip up. But as Anthony mentioned I think the players were trying to keep a little back, energy wise for the scum that is Liverpool.

Man USA have been in pole position for the league for a long time and I feel it's for them to lose it. That's not to say we can't steal it from them! I still believe this season has a few more "twists and turns" to come, and hopefully Saturday could be the major turning point.

I just have a "gut feeling" Everton could do them, or at least get a draw, and providing we beat (which we now have to, stating the bleeding obvious again) the race will be back on.

Lets be positive for Wednesday, because I think Liverpool could just be a little complacent about our tiredness, which will be their undoing, their fans already think they've made the final.

I recall two seasons ago we thought having beaten them on the previous five meetings, were heading to the final, we all know what happened then.

But whatever happens it's been a tense and fantastic season so far, and I think we'll all be cheering some more before it finishes.

Keep the faith! (and that coming from a Pessimist like me is impressive) ;)

Jard - totally agree. And if we were to win the European Cup and the FA Cup (hopefully by beating the Mancs in both), and United were to win the league on goal difference (which is what I think will happen) it would completely overshadow their achievment.

Equally the Quad would be nice too...

Pray Arjen Robben gets fitter soon (before liverscum away). He has a couple of things to prove to the fans and the only way Chelsea are going to score from set pieces. One wicked delivery into the box the kid's got. Its gonna be one scrappy game this week in the CL and a 0-0 draw looks to be the inevitable unless "the Drog" nets in a belter a la Everton. All we lack is some bleeding edge creativity against good teams and there is none who can bring them to the house but Robben. So i am praying hard that he comes back fitter with some good ankle strapping. He will have a major part to play in the quest for the remaining trophies.
I hate to listen to those pea-brains who rap.."Oh look at Fabregas, he is only 14 but such maturity" "Oh Ronaldo reminds us of George Best: **Sigh** if only we had taken care of Robben's image, a bit better.

Just a little footnote to Jose's comments on the penalties. We all know the sensible people will see it as mind games, and not Jose whinging.

I think his timing of it, especially the upcoming game for United at Everton, with a certain, erm... cough... Mr Johnson playing, could force the ref into making a decision. ;)

We looked tired in this match. I agree with this blog. Man Utd have their name on the PL trophy this year.

If Jose's rants achieve anything it is upsetting Utd fans around the world. Soccerlens wrote a few hundred words with video evidence 'proving' it was not a penalty at OT on Saturday.

LINK

It is unsurprising that Utd fans are blind to the fact the refs don't give opposition teams the penalties they deserve at OT.

They tend to pontificate on Soccerlens but at least he called this blog 'intelligent'.

Just as my fellow supporters on this page have commented, it was a performance, (and then to be honest) a little misguided rant from Jose afterwards regarding the half penalties and the Man-U game which should have no effect on us if we win anyaway which made me feel sick to my stomach. This match for me was the biggest match of the season for if we had won, let's be honest , I am 99% certain we would have lifted the Prem in May. I was so furious with the performance of literally everyone except JT that I could not wait to write about it. However, you have all summed it all up for me in various articles and now the pain is going away I am starting to think.....Carvalho..is he really injured? Why ferreira instead of Boulahrouz who was clearly being run over since the 1st minute....No Joe Cole until the end and no A.Cole or Schevchenko until the last minutes? Any the worst lethargic performance yet, almost as if they did not want to tackle, run too much, get hurt ......I am now starting to think that actually, Jose wanted first not to lose and second, get at least a point, and win third. Now it may sound a bit weird but think about it for a minute. Jose is just too clever for those decisions he took and I hear on the radio all the commentators agreeing that this did not seem like Jose's style of play given what is at stake, especially after the West Ham performance and the Man-U slip up. Further, Man-U have a very hard game away at Everton who are fighting fiercely and doing well and need the points, and of course all Man-U's injuries so possibly a point was good enough since I believe 99% they will slip up at Everton at the least with a draw. Coupled with Liverpool not having injuries and fresher also, I am starting to sniff a gameplan from Jose. If he pulls it off as I suspect, then this will be a masterclass. I am not 100% but the evidence is mounting to a strategy at Newcastle ready for Wednesday with the Prem still up for grabs very much given the above. I hope I am right but the circumstancial evidence points to it. Look at the game again and it can only be. There can be no other explanation, not tiredness since we out-ran West Ham and did not look fazed at all, even at end! ....intriguing...we shall see on Wednesday after 9.30 pm!!

Guys although it was a poor performance lets not act like it is the end of the world. Lets get behind the lads and stop complaining, they have had one of the most differcult seasons ever. I think we will take Liverpool out on wednesday. After a game like sundays, we will come back with guns blazing, I know it. Lets get behind them gents. Dan

Dio, i really hope you're right about this cos otherwise Mourinho will be in for the criticism again....

GO CHELSEA!!!!!!!
xxxx

Like the Soccerlens piece - Ahmed is generally a pretty good guy in what he writes, but he might have included a point 3 in his analysis of things to consider;

Would it have been given at the other end (i.e. for United against Boro)?

Hmm...

Re: Jose's post match comments. Some times I think he can be out of order or misjudge a situation but I feel he had to speak out after those two big (non) decisions at OT.

If it were the other round, there is no doubt that Fergie would have come out and had a few words.

Clive - spot on (sorry) about Everton.

I'm still not sure whether Jose says these things believing he and Chelsea have genuinely been wronged, or whether it's part of his mind games with the press. It's clear that today's media coverage has focussed more on his 'rant' than the players' tame performance.

I believe it's probably a bit of both. If I had typed this post immediately following the final whistle, there's no doubt it would have come across as an irrational rant. Jose has literally seconds to compose himself before dealing with the press and their goading him for a reaction. More often than not they get the reaction they want. I think he gives a lot of forethought to post-game press conferences - perhaps a number of different answers to various scenarios are at hand? Or am I giving Jose too much credit?

As for penalties at Old Trafford - I stand by what I wrote: it is a well known phenomenon that referees are fearful of awarding penalties against United at Old Trafford. Only United fans try to argue otherwise.

As Jonathan points out - if the tackle had been committed by a Boro defender on Rooney, we'd be looking at a 5-point gap now.

Jose, Is that you blasting TSO?

Wonders. That explains global warming.

I can't believe the pessimism on here! Yes, we missed a good opportunity on Sunday, but was anyone actually expecting Boro to take points off ManU? Especially given the officiating track record this season in match-ups between those two? Newsflash: The gap is still 3 points, which is what it would have been had both Chels and ManU won as anticipated.

As for our match, of course the boys looked tired! Newcastle is an awful away fixture (and we never have good luck there--that's at least 3 penalty decisions turned down in our last few visits) and it was a dreaded lunchtime kickoff to boot. Add to that the fact that Riccy got injured, so Essien couldn't play midfield or--as I suspected--right back, and we were always going to struggle. Then Ballack gets poleaxed early (studs up, over the top challenge yet no foul, no card???) and we have limited options from the bench. Joe Cole isn't match fit (plus maybe saving him for Wed?), Sheva and Ashley Cole are both recovering from injury, and Boularhouz is a risk with his shoulder problem. Didier is carrying all sorts of knocks and Frank is knackered.

YET ManU still can't get any further from us no matter how much help they get from incompetent referrees. That's got to be playing on their minds. One more slip up and they know we'll be right there--and wouldn't that be sweet if we took it from them at the death after all the chances they had to finish it off!

Regarding Jose's comments, I think he is spot-on. It's not sour grapes, because he acknowledged that the team didn't play well and that Newcastle deserved a point. However, the truth is, had we gotten a penalty (Carr's handball, Solano's handball on the floor, or any of Sibierski's bear hugs on JT), the performance would have been different. So, ManU played crap but got away with a bad call second game running at home--1 point gained (Not to mention escaping 2 red cards for Heinze and O'Shea--now there's a defensive crisis!). We played jaded away and missed out on a scoring chance due to a bad call(s)--2 points dropped. Performance levels were the same but ManU got more than they deserved and we got less, and not for the first time this season. We talk about officiating being consistently poor, but it's only a problem if it's consistently poor in one team's favour!

Anyway, there's nothing we can do about it but keep going as we have done all season. I, for one, think Jose and the boys have been absolutely fantastic this year, better than the last two, in the face of ridiculous obstacles. The fact that the title is still a very real possibility when we were 12 points behind at one stage is a massive achievement and the team deserves every credit. Look at it this way: we are in one Final and two games away from another, plus four games away from a three-peat. Now try slagging off a group of players who have been fighting their hearts out for each other and their club for a whopping 56 matches on the back of a World Cup year, you fair-weather ingrates!

As for me, I'll be keeping the Blue Flag flying high and proud like my team deserves. Come on Chels!

True, the worst performance of the season just when we need a good one. If there's ever been a time to be pessimistic it's now, because that was such a draining result, as there was no effort, spark or drive. Very disappointed from the lads. I still believe we will win the league, but that was our real opportunity. Frank looked shattered which is a first in all the time I've seen him at the club. Needs a rest against Bolton methinks if Ballack is fit.

Soccerlens is written by some 14 year old boy in India. He hasn't got the slightest clue about anything.

Bolton might be missing 5 players on Saturday.

"Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best

Always look on the bright side of life... "

Essien caught drink driving at 5:10 in the morning!

DIO you honestly must be living in another world.

What kind of strategy is it to wack W Ham at home and then tip-toe around at N Castle.

TSO just blew the chance to get within 1 point of ManU. Bramble stopped us from scoring? Now there is a laugh.

All we needed was a 1 - 0. Simple. No excuses please...and hey we know you are tired but you are the only ones that can do anything about this situation...

Come on Chelsea Come On Chelsea Come on Chelsea

Big thanks to Stuart Pearce - come on City

there was this article in the sun if im not mistaken about the conditions JM adheres to if he is to continue next season at chelsea. what do you guys think about it? i think we play fantastic and technical football, im sure about the media profilte thing.
isnt Roman just setting conditions to squeeze the special one out the season after next?

Jard
Don't believe everything you read, especially in the so called newspaper "The Sun"

I've been quiet until now. i think we've probably jst seen the last chance slip away for the EPL. In fact those who think we have more in reserve might like to think about our failure to beat a pretty crap Newcastle side away and then work out how we beat Arsenal at the Emirates in a couple of weeks. I'm not saying we CAN'T do it, just that I think the fixture pile up is too much for any squad, be it us or Man Utd.

It's a shame but we'll be back next year and I think we'll have strengthened the squad by losing Maka, Ferreira, possibly Bouhlarouz, and Geremi. SWP might have redeemed himself and TSO always speaks highly of him. I think we'll get Micah Richards and pull Johnson back from Pompey to cover right back, our midfield is sorted and we should think about another 'keeper and let Carlo go as he's a bit too old now and his lack of games will be an issue I think. Another good striker should be on the list, a replacement for Bouhlarouz (James Collins from West Ham maybe) and then Jimmy Smith, Mancienne and Sahar should take their places in the senior squad.

it is still interesting but I'm with JD when he hankers for the days when everything was done by February and we could just celebrate each victory and mourn each defeat on an individual game by game basis. If the players are tired and stressed, they should try being a bloody fan!

Essien caught drink drving---dissapointing seeng as though he was 1 of the only players giving any effort in the other day....sad truth.

GOOD LUCK CHELSEA
WE GONNA WIN 2NIGHT!!

Left Foot,

All very true mate. Although these sports stars are paid the earth, the human body can only take so much. A prem season's consistant high tempo and physicallity make it extremely tough to compete in all competitions especially towards the end of the season.

Regards tonights match TSO pointed out we have played over twenty games this year alone, liverpool have only played a handfull.

Excuses aside, i can't get off the fence on any comp we're in, it's too close.

I'm going to close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears for the rest of the season......la la la la la.......i can't hear you.........

KTBFFH

Che Beef - JM was being sarcastic. The implication was that Liverpool have played very few games that actually matter. Tonight is our 8th game in 26 I think. Absolutely ridiculous. If we get to the Champions Leage Final we will have played the most matches in a season ever.

Tony - I don't think we will have a problem with Arsenal. Went to see them against Bolton a couple of weeks ago and they were rubbish, though I expect them to be more motivated.

Ferreira at right back........why am I scared?