Everton 2-3 Chelsea: Truly a Super Sunday!

Never give up!

What a day! Chelsea gave me quite a scare before Super Frank and Super Drog showed who are the best in the Premiership. Jose continued his experiments with Robben upfront in today’s 4-3-1-2. I was not quite convinced whether Robben can be a second striker as he is at his best when he is in the left wing. And I was not happy about Ballack being the attacking midfielder of this formation, instead of Lampard. More worrying was knowing Hilario in the goal, with Khalid replacing the injured Terry. In short, I had my fingers crossed as we started off.

We did make a mess of this match, to say the truth. Khalid was looking very shaky and he was always giving Everton a chance with his errors in judgment and elements of doubt. When he made bad mistake and gave away a penalty it was deja vu of the corresponding match last season.

We did equalise with a superb free kick from Ballack which swerved out and curved back in. Though it was adjudged as an own goal as the ball rebounded from the keeper’s back to cross the line, the effort from Ballack should be appreciated. Despite the excellent free kick, Ballack, in this match too, was not at his best – losing the ball in key areas, misplaced passes, poor understanding with the other players etc. He is a big player and he would know how to sort this out.

After we equalised, we went up a gear and were blinding Everton with our high tempo attacks. Just when it looked like we might take the lead any moment, we allowed Everton to take the lead with a good header from Yobo off a corner kick. It was clearly an error by Hilario. Cech would coolly collected it or would have atleast pushed it across. Having seen us equalise against Man Utd and Arsenal, I was always hoping for it to happen. Also, I was sure that if our equaliser is anything but a stoppage time goal, we would go for the win and we will win.

In the second half, Jose changed from 4-3-1-2 to 4-3-3 as he brought on Kalou. As the match progressed, he even changed it to 3-4-3 when Sheva and Bridge came on. Having the bench strength is one thing, to use the players effectively with a tactic relevant for the stage of the match is another. Jose used his resources briliiantly and he was always aggressive and played all the cards superbly and was pushing for a win. That’s why he is one of the top managers in club football. I’m not sure if, some of the other top managers would have continued with 3-4-3 after they equalise in the 81st minute. Jose did.
After the match Jose said:

Players with normal personalities would put their arms down and the game is lost. But they kept believing until the last second and fought for the result. Of course, there was a bit of tactical change, with Salomon Kalou coming on for Geremi, but I told them it’s about belief. If you don’t believe you have no chance. The players have quality so it’s a question of confidence. At this moment, everything looks like it’s against us so they need to be very strong – and that belief they had was very important.

Just when the Everton was hanging on for a memorable win over Chelsea after 15 years, Super Frank Lampard got a good ball from Kalou and positioned himself and blasted one to the top right corner of the post. That was Lampard for you. He delivers for Chelsea when it matters most (like in Camp Nou), and he does it so consistently well.

[youtube]ijPDuOe9gpI[/youtube]

After this goal, it was only a matter of time before we got the winner. Shevchenko played well in those 20 minutes or so, and he had some very shots on target too. We hit the post many many times but fortune has always favoured the brave. Sheva headed a Hilario’s long ball to Didier, who was about 35 yards in front of the goal. Drogba chested it and blasted a volley for the winner. We are the Champions! Say it loud!

[youtube]41EIs2R8jyg[/youtube]

We had our problems in this match, not the best performance defensively but now is a moment to enjoy and cherish. After all, we scored three away goals in Goodison Park, twice came from behind and scored the last two goals with just over 10 minutes to go!

And then the cherry on the cake! Readers of this blog might remember that I had all my hopes on the West Ham vs Man Utd match and I had mentioned this would be the crucial match for Man Utd and our gap might be reduced. Alan Curbishley’s new West Ham did just enough to make this a perfect Sunday for us. Though West Ham scored in the 75th minutes, Man Utd players could not give a response or reaction like Chelsea did. All credit to West Ham, they thoroughly deserved three points.

So now, it is just 2 points between us and Man Utd. My other hope/prediction is that Chelsea would top the table by Christmas. If we keep winning and if Man Utd lose a game again, we’ll be on top! I always believed that this gap can be closed easily. Believe it or not, now the pressure is more on Man Utd than on Chelsea. They know that is Chelsea tops, it will be very difficult to dislodge them again.

Looks like it’s all fine now and this world is a beautiful place!

[tags] Chelsea, Everton, Jose Mourinho, Lampard, Ballack, Drogba, Lampard goal video, Drogba goal video, Premiership, Manchester United, West Ham United [/tags]