Did you say ‘the group-of-death’?

Winning start. First match of the Champions league at home and 2-0 is a score you should accept against a team of Werder Bremen’s calibre. Chelsea were easily the better team but were threatened by Bremen only occasionally. Bremen had their chances as well from German world cup hero Miroslav Klose. He was more threatening in the second half. Chelsea’s defence was just outstanding with Maka and Essien commanding the defensive midfield area and supporting the defence thoroughly. Still, the incomplete passes proved that there the understanding and teamwork can improve. Though we did not attack all too well, we just enough to get us the points.

Are we seeing the best of Michael Essien? He has been playing brilliantly for a month. And now, he had to score. That was the missing part all along. When Lampard was floored, his anticipation was very good and his finish just perfect. More than the goal, his overall contribution to the team was immense. He was infact over-shadowing Maka’s presence. Like always, he was the most fouled player. I’m happy that he has been able to erase his unfortunate media-driven ‘rogue’ image of the last season.

Terry was just as usual. Boulahrouz was impressive but he has to be stronger in the air. It may not be a good idea to put Boulahrouz and Carvalho next to each other as both are indecisive in the air. I preferred Wayne Bridge over Ashley Cole to play in the match today. Ashley was not at his best. Wayne’s dribbles and crosses might have given us a goal more. Wayne is very sharp and absolutely match fit. In fact, he appeared fitter than many of the players. May be because, he didn’t play a part in the world cup.

Good game for for the midfielders but not so much for the forwards. Both Sheva and Drogba wasted some chances. Sheva should have certainly buried one when his first touch had beaten the defender and surprisingly, he allowed the defender to get the better of him and clear the ball. And Drogba, completely unmarked, put a volley off target. Sheva, especially was very off colour and we certainly expect much better stuff from him. He was certainly not bubbling with energy. His body language was not promising either. I hope he pulls up his socks for the Liverpool match. It was sad to see fans booing Kalou when he replaced Drogba. I think he has the quality but he just needs the time. I think both Kalou and Obi Mikel should start and play for 90 minutes against Levski Sofia matches.

Lampard was unlucky to have missed out earlier but anyway was finished by Essien. About 10 minutes to end, Lampard hit the woodwork with a super shot from a very sharp angle. Not so surprisingly, Ballack took the penalty today and blasted that in the top right of the net. Some freekicks were taken by Ballack and Sheva. It must have been difficult for Frank to give away his responsibilities that have always been his own for 2 years now, to his new team mates. When you have missed 3 out of your last 4 penalties, I dont think it was a bad decision to have Ballack take the kick.

The only negatives of the match were Sheva and Ashley Cole’s performances and four yellow cards. It was not a fluent or flambuoyant game from Chelsea but a very solid one. Barca tops the group by goal difference and unless Chelsea does a similar goal fest, it will be difficult to top the group by points.

Elsewhere Barca made a mincemeat of the new comers Levski and also showed that they have the team to defend their title as half of their team found their names in the scoresheet. A look at the goals would make you believe that Levski are playing with 8 men. Poor defence. Barca did just right in crushing them. Liverpool, once again didn’t allow to score and didn’t score either. Despite having about geniune 8 strikers in their team, no one could come to Inter’s rescue as they were defeated by Sporting Lisbon in the shock of the night. Morientes scored a hattrick in their 4-2 win over Olympiakos aftert the early threat. Roma stuffed all their 4 goals in the last 30 minutes to break Shakhtar hearts while FC Bayern finished off Spartak Moscow 4-0. So, the Champions League starts off with lots of goals. In fact, 4 out of the 8 matches played tonight resulted in 4 or more goals!

So, for now, we can breathe easy and stop talking about the now-so-called ‘group of death’.

Chelsea’s performance today: [rating:3.5/5]

[tags] Chelsea, Champions League, Werder Bremen, Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Shevchenko, Ashley Cole, Klose, Barcelona, Inter, Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Roma, Valencia [/tags]