Matches, Premier League - Written by BlueChampion on Saturday, April 7, 2007 18:07 | 1,770 Views | 36 Comments | Add Comment
Chelsea 1-0 Spurs: The Show Has Just Begun!
Okay, all those no-hopers, get in! The show’s not over yet, in fact, it has just begun! And how many times I’ve said this! Man Utd will drop points, will drop points, will drop points. A big bonus for Chelsea and Jose Mourinho and our fantastic winning streak in the Premiership that helped us to take adavantage of this slip by the Reds. The math is too simple now. Chelsea to keep winning - including the games against Man Utd (well, it’s at the Bridge) and the away game against Arsenal (well, the Hammers just did it today), while Man Utd to drop 4 points (incl the defeat at the Bridge).
I wouldnt have cared if it was an own goal, as long as we win, at this stage of the Premiership. Not many times would you expect or see Carvalho scoring from a 35 yard drive. Not the full-blooded screamer you would imagine. It was a shot that could have been defended or intercepted or even saved. Thanks to Ricardo for taking the shot so cleanly with superb accuracy. I dont undermine Carvalho’s effort or his goal. He actually had a very good shot blocked earlier. May he had made up his mind to score today.
Clearly, we were the dominant force and I should say, we won with some kind of ease. Still, we should have won with a better margin. Once again, the lack of sharpness in front of the goal cost us, if not dearly. Kalou himself could have got a smart hattrick for himself. It was a good game for the defence as a whole. The second-choice full backs did a good job. May be it had to do with the fact that the Spurs had a tired attack and our full backs had not played a match in many days and had to prove/impress when given a chance. Mikel once again was shining all the time he was on the pitch. His presence was so good that Essien was not missed so much in the defensive midfield. Still if Essien is back, along with Mikel, our midfield would win every possible match for us. Lampard had a better match today, all his set-pieces were threatening and he is due a goal but I can wait till Tuesday night.
Look, I like SWP. He is a nice guy, plays clean and a good human being. His football nowadays sucks. It sucks so much that I feel that we are playing with 10 men or something. I just dont get his approach. He has repeated his mistakes over and over and over again and still does them as if he’s trying a new thing today. He did create a brilliant chance within 2 minutes of the match, fine, but he seems to try the same trick which deserts him 9/10 times. He was one of the relatively fresh player in the squad and he should wreaked havoc in the tired Spurs defence. Have you noticed that, for a pacy dribbler like him, he never gets too many fouls. Robben, Joe Cole, Duff, Ronaldo, Lennon - they all get fouled loads of times and get free kicks in crucial areas. But SWP, nope. He dribbles, overdoes it, elaborates it and repeats this over and over again. As a marker, SWP is kind of an easy prey, he’ll take care of himself. What a pity. In a season where we sold Duff, Cole injured for many months, Robben injured for long periods of time, midfield full of stationary and slow play makers, SWP could have made a fortune, in terms of his contribution to the team. He is not going to get a better opportunity like this next season.
Joe Cole played for some 20 minutes and he made a much much bigger impact than what SWP could do in 70 minutes. It was a real pleasure to see Cole trickling past the defenders with some very subtle moves very typical of his own. Everytime the ball was given to Joey, we posed a serious goal threat. If he plays for 90 minutes against Valencia, I dont see why we can’t score twice.
Drogba, once again, had a superb workrate, did all possible things in a football pitch except goalkeeping and refereeing. Still, he seems to be more interested in scoring a ‘great’ instead of ‘a goal’. He had a couple of chances where, he could have slowed down and slotted home easily instead he tried to blast a volley. Had we not won this game, those would have appeared like blunders. That is football.
This is Jose, after the match:
I am happy because for a long time we have not lost a single match. We have seven or eight consecutive victories in the Premiership. We played well but Tottenham gave us a hard game. It is difficult to play in every competition at the same time. It is the same for Tottenham - they made changes and we made changes also. My players who were brought into the team, they did the job.
When we were 1-0 up with another 20 mins to go, Kalou screwed up a lovely chance. Did you see how Jose Mourinho reacted to it? He was absolutely furious, so furious that he could have broken a few chairs around. We were not even trailing, we were winning as Spurs were going out of the game. Jose wanted us to finish off Spurs and safely get the 3 points so that the gap will be 3 points. Basically, that showed how mush belief he had in the Premiership chase. When he says that we are still in the hunt for the title, he bloody means it.
This is what Jose said last week about the strange continuing coincidence that Man Utd always get to play before we do, week after week. When we cut the lead to three points, it surely must have had an impact on the Man Utd players’ minds, atleast in the last 20 - 30 minutes of their game:
I can still see United dropping six points - three against us and maybe three from the moon. It only takes one bad game or maybe a couple of draws, so it is still possible. But something strange is always happening with us regarding fixtures and referees. For instance, when we play Manchester United on Wednesday May 9, they play at lunchtime on the Saturday before, but we have to play on the Sunday evening. Also, we have to play our games after them every time. They always get the chance to increase their lead, but we never get the chance to cut their lead to three points and see if they can respond. Next week is the first time that will happen in six or seven weeks and that’s strange. I’m not saying it is a conspiracy, but it is strange
Thought you might enjoy this too.
It’s the 7th of April today and the lead is cut to three points. So, what does this all mean now? Man Utd has 6 more nervy games to go, with some not-so-easy fixtures against Boro, Everton and Chelsea (ok, you can West Ham too). It will be very interesting to see how would they react and respond in the matches to come that one more defeat or draw in any match other than the Chelsea match could end their dream. If they allow pressure and mind games to get the better of them, they might lose points against the even Sheff Utd or Man City too. But, to remain hopeful, we have a difficult task of needing to win all the games in hand.
Like we save the best moments for the injury time, will this also be a stoppage time stunner from the Blues?
36 Comments
1. Midfield_Decider
2. Siddharth
Game Over!!!! I haven’t seen the match, but it seems we dominated the game.
My take on Pompy - MAN U. 1-1 draw.
Ben McCarthy will do us a favour.
3. Midfield_Decider
MU draw will not suit us. With the better goal average MU is 7 points clear (6+1 for goal average). So if they draw with Pompey the gap will still be 5, still too much with 6 games to play. Only defeat will sut us.
4. Portsmouth
Can they do it though? Harry can’t be a Chelsea fan after managing at West Ham?!
5. Portsmouth
Ben McCarthy dsnt play for Pompey!
6. SpooK
MANUTD HAVE LOST! WHAT A GOOD TIME FOR CHELSEA!!
7. Tarz
Now we need MANU to loose just 1 point before we play against them in EPL and win all our games.
Chelsea ju can do it.
8. Siddharth
@Portsmouth,
Sorry, I meant to say Benjanni.
Anyways, good day for us.
Want to repeat the same thing on Tuesday. Valencia will be tougher than Spurs though.
Good luck - prediction 1 - 2 Chelsea.
9. Siddharth
One more thing. JM one more time has proved, he is the real boss.
Chelsea played without JT for almost 2 months & lost only once (Liverpool, that 2 when we didn’t have RC & JT both). MAN U played without Vidic for one week & lost twice.
10. bingo
you’re spot on man. utd look a lot weaker in vidic’s absence. now people will understand what it means to manage a team with least damage when the key players are out. jose is a great manager. this season will be the final evidence on why he is the best football manager in the world.
man utd to be eliminated by as roma and then to draw with sheffield next weekend.
heard that arsenal had 30 shots but still lost the match. hope their fans didnt see the carvalho goal. they might be wondering why the arsenal players are shoot-averse.
11. melee
Arsene Wenger - “I can’t believe that we didnt score” lol lol lol
BC - i remember that article when you said arsenal will be crap this season. how true. in facct, you said that you wont be surprised to see arsenal finish outside top 4. it’s all gonna be true!
12. roon
i was gutted with swp too. he is just a useless twat. sell him off. steve sidwell will be a lot better than him. i’m so fucking happy that the gap is just 3 points. cmon the blues! we will win the title for the third time in a row! hail chelsea! hail jose!
13. blue champion
Guys! Valencia losing to Bilbao! What a day this has been! Chelsea won, Man Utd lost, Arsenal lost, Barca lost and now Valencia lost too!!
14. abdullah
i guess it has been a pretty good day:) This just shows you the chelsea spirit in being able to fight for all competitions. Now it is treu that the gap is only 3 points but with man u’s superior goal difference it would be nice to see them slip up again before they meet us. Plus when we do play man u we need to absolutely win that game but thats a different story on its own. Its time 2 celebrate now because chelsea won, man u, barca, arsenal, and valencia lost. We should finish the job and beat valencia on tues. J. cole was very impressive today as he will grealty help us on tues whether as a starter or sub. Good luck 2 chelsea in all their games and competitions their fighting in, may u hopefully win them all and make history. Blue4lyfe
15. Johnarejr
I saw the Man U game and couldn’t be happier. I confess, I really didn’t see who Sir Alex’s boys would slip up against in the Prem (besides Chelsea at the Bridge). All four trophies in a season with key injuries and sub-par performances from high name and priced players would say a lot for this team and manager.
16. Midfield_Decider
1-Congratulations to you all
2-Let’s not bee too carried away since everything is still in United’s hands. At home they will hardly slip up. Away except us they have Everton and very weak Man City. I think our only hope is Everton.
3-What a pity that in the EPL the goal average is decider between two teams and not one-to-ones like in Spain or Italy. What a pity that we lost 2 points at home against Reading scoring an own goal in a very foolish way (A.Cole). That goal can cost us the title.
4-In other circumstances than this I would like Roma to eliminate Man Utd from the Champions League but not now. It’s better for us if they progress. The more they have to play the more injuries and stress they have, like they showed this week. I think Man Utd lost 2 games in a week for the 1st time this season, am I right?
5-Jose made a good point on us playing every week before Mancs. Anyone knows if this will continue?
6-BC, do you know anything about Essien. When will he return? Is he available for the Valencia game?
7-Kalou should work on his final touch before Tuesday otherwise it can cost us very dearly.
17. RomanHoliday
I agree with most of Mid-decider’s points esp the one that Manure should not be eliminated from the CL.They will be of two minds and have to try to hold their nerve in the run in too. Let’s see how they handle that.
Point-wise it was only 3points but psychologically it was a big blow to them last night.
We now have the upper hand when it comes to the Psyche edge.
Any news of Essien guys ?
His presence is gonna be very important with the crunch of games coming up.
I felt very good last night ,still feels very good , getting ready to feel even better at the Mestalla.
18. Adonis
I don’t like to be negative, and I was overjoyed when I saw what happened today, but we still have to win all of our games this season. That means we’ll be ending the season with 11-12 wins. That’s very difficult. I believe Chelsea can do it, but with all the injuries we’ve had… It’s going to be epic. Keep your spirits up and enjoy it, because we could be witnessing the best season in the history of Chelsea.
Keep the faith, ladies and gents. ManUre are losing a lot of sleep.
Essien is “fighting to be fit.”
GO BLUE!
19. blue champion
Bad news guys - Essien may not play on Tuesday. But except essien & robben we have everyone available.
20. maysam
unfortunately i did not watch this game.
but I think as I expected it was not a easy game.
I smell the championship guys.
21. Chris
BC, I think you are horrendously anti-SWP. He had a great game yesterday, putting in some seriously threatening crosses and having a good say in the play. He is playing better for us now than at any other point in his career.
Lampard didn’t have the best of games yesterday, as did Makelele. I get the feeling that SWP is a common scapegoat when our performances aren’t going well.
But back to the collective agreement: THREE POINTS! Four if you count the goal difference… This is possible but we need to keep plugging away and win every single game. United have some games where they can definitely slip up before they see us (the three away games are big ones for them), but we can’t afford to focus on those. Our results are the most important and we just have to keep hoping.
22. joeblue
The points raised by Mid_Decider r superb and completely relevant (as always)!!!
Well Essien may or may not play but still i cant figure out why Lamps is playing 90 min every match , and i m not only talking abt his form but his fitness , i think he needs some rest to be back to his usual standards instead of resting Ballack!!!
Drogba’s workrate has been amazing but he needs to understand goals r important not showboating skills and super volleys , hes the only true goalscorer , Kalou has a very sceptic first-touch and a very bad finish , Sheva is back to his best i.e the goal-scoring droughts!!
And there r no more strikers on the bench , did u people notice how every Spurs launched himsely at Joe whenever he got the ball, was very angered by that!!!
SWP was OK but cld hav been much better especially seeing that Spurs left-side had both right footed players (Malbranqe and Chimbonda)!!!!!
Bridge was awesome and i feel he is a good option on the left wing side if we need to attack more with both Cole and Bridge
23. Anonymous
i donno how u say SWP had a ‘good’ game?! in place of SWP, had robben or joe cole played for those 70 mins, we could have scored 2 or 3 goals more. sell him off i say. even sidwell will do a lot better.
24. RomanHoliday
Being a Chelsea fan I hope we get better and play more fluent footabll like Mikel has been playing, I know we cannot get any worse.
But Manure’s play can only get worse or at best be a little more than last night( Cos they have lost defensive solidity, everyteam is gonna have a go at them like Portsmouth ), just look at Ferdinand’s/Van Der Sar’s mistake last night , two of the most experienced guys making a playground mistake.the stress is taking its toll.And the different tactics of the teams making the most of Manu back line ” unreliables ” Wes Brown and the Argentenian, plus fletcher and Kieran Richrdson’
But our psych edge over ManUre is that it’s ” really” theirs to lose now and they’ll think that very match has to be won, and that’s where they will muck up again.They thought cos of our recent troubles and our admittedly dodgey,wooden play , they’d breeze thru to the title.
But Chelsea has nearly caught up with them now and they can’t believe it.
ManU lose to Portsmouth never ! Chelsea might draw with Spurs that was their original line of thinking .Now their world is now topsy turvy.
They cannot underestimate anyone now , Cronaldo and crew were gliding smoothly lately cos they didn’t have pressure,they have got it big -time , Well now more showboating for them.and……
So even if they play before us now it’s like we say , go ahead boys show us ur stuff, but if u slip up we’re gonna make the most of it .
If they can’t hold their nerve , the title’s ours.
25. boruff
hi BC and all,
i saw the chelsea game, what a match! superb goal by ricky and good fighting spirit from the whole chelsea team. even jose’s reaction showed us that he was very pumped up and really want a win. kalou should’ve scored and joe cole’s presence was a big relief to cfc fans…i hope joe cole’s gonna make a big impact for cfc in the valencia game
now, about the ManUre match against pompey, whats i saw was harry’s strategy was holding & cutting off scholes/rooney. cronaldo was also crap and thinking about vidic injured means that ManUre will definately let go goals. ferdinand’s own goal was also great~
anyway, looking forward for the valencia match! everybody, keep your faith coz this season gonna be a hell one for us! chelsea all the way!
26. blue champion
Jose starts applying more pressure on Man Utd with his typical mind games - ;-)
Quoting blue champion @
United are very lucky they don\’t have to play here next week. Can you imagine them here next weekend? That\’s the game where they will slip up, against us, so they\’re very lucky.
27. Adonis
Haha, I love that quote by JM. He’s a great mind player.
It’s absolutely clear the most important game will be the game against ManUre at stamford bridge this year, with the winner basically being handed the title. It’s going to be very difficult but we’re ahead in many ways… We’re healthier (can you believe it?), tougher–physically and mentally–our character is stronger, our streak is better, we’re at home, we have the better keeper, etc. The only way ManUre will beat us at the Bridge (or tie, for that matter) is with luck.
ManUre need to be lucky to win this EPL title.
Let’s hope their luck’s run out.
28. giridhar
now the race begins…. i think we have a tougher fixture than Manure having but then… we can win 1-0’s as always… and Manure should be dropping more points… without their best defenders… anway it is Valencia first.
29. SpooK
now the race begins…. i think we have a tougher fixture than Manure having but then… we can win 1-0’s as always… and Manure should be dropping more points… without their best defenders… anway it is Valencia first
Haha, I love that quote by JM. He’s a great mind player.
It’s absolutely clear the most important game will be the game against ManUre at stamford bridge this year, with the winner basically being handed the title. It’s going to be very difficult but we’re ahead in many ways… We’re healthier (can you believe it?), tougher–physically and mentally–our character is stronger, our streak is better, we’re at home, we have the better keeper, etc. The only way ManUre will beat us at the Bridge (or tie, for that matter) is with luck.
ManUre need to be lucky to win this EPL title.
Let’s hope their luck’s run out. Jose starts applying more pressure on Man Utd with his typical mind games -
United are very lucky they don\’t have to play here next week. Can you imagine them here next weekend? That\’s the game where they will slip up, against us, so they\’re very lucky.
i saw the chelsea game, what a match! superb goal by ricky and good fighting spirit from the whole chelsea team. even jose’s reaction showed us that he was very pumped up and really want a win. kalou should’ve scored and joe cole’s presence was a big relief to cfc fans…i hope joe cole’s gonna make a big impact for cfc in the valencia game
now, about the ManUre match against pompey, whats i saw was harry’s strategy was holding & cutting off scholes/rooney. cronaldo was also crap and thinking about vidic injured means that ManUre will definately let go goals. ferdinand’s own goal was also great~
anyway, looking forward for the valencia match! everybody, keep your faith coz this season gonna be a hell one for us! chelsea all the way
Being a Chelsea fan I hope we get better and play more fluent footabll like Mikel has been playing, I know we cannot get any worse.
But Manure’s play can only get worse or at best be a little more than last night( Cos they have lost defensive solidity, everyteam is gonna have a go at them like Portsmouth ), just look at Ferdinand’s/Van Der Sar’s mistake last night , two of the most experienced guys making a playground mistake.the stress is taking its toll.And the different tactics of the teams making the most of Manu back line †unreliables †Wes Brown and the Argentenian, plus fletcher and Kieran Richrdson’
But our psych edge over ManUre is that it’s †really†theirs to lose now and they’ll think that very match has to be won, and that’s where they will muck up again.They thought cos of our recent troubles and our admittedly dodgey,wooden play , they’d breeze thru to the title.
But Chelsea has nearly caught up with them now and they can’t believe it.
ManU lose to Portsmouth never ! Chelsea might draw with Spurs that was their original line of thinking .Now their world is now topsy turvy.
They cannot underestimate anyone now , Cronaldo and crew were gliding smoothly lately cos they didn’t have pressure,they have got it big -time , Well now more showboating for them.and……
So even if they play before us now it’s like we say , go ahead boys show us ur stuff, but if u slip up we’re gonna make the most of it .
If they can’t hold their nerve , the title’s ours.
The points raised by Mid_Decider r superb and completely relevant (as always)!!!
Well Essien may or may not play but still i cant figure out why Lamps is playing 90 min every match , and i m not only talking abt his form but his fitness , i think he needs some rest to be back to his usual standards instead of resting Ballack!!!
Drogba’s workrate has been amazing but he needs to understand goals r important not showboating skills and super volleys , hes the only true goalscorer , Kalou has a very sceptic first-touch and a very bad finish , Sheva is back to his best i.e the goal-scoring droughts!!
And there r no more strikers on the bench , did u people notice how every Spurs launched himsely at Joe whenever he got the ball, was very angered by that!!!
SWP was OK but cld hav been much better especially seeing that Spurs left-side had both right footed players (Malbranqe and Chimbonda)!!!!!
Bridge was awesome and i feel he is a good option on the left wing side if we need to attack more with both Cole and Bridge
donno how u say SWP had a ‘good’ game?! in place of SWP, had robben or joe cole played for those 70 mins, we could have scored 2 or 3 goals more. sell him off i say. even sidwell will do a lot better.
Being a Chelsea fan I hope we get better and play more fluent footabll like Mikel has been playing, I know we cannot get any worse.
But Manure’s play can only get worse or at best be a little more than last night( Cos they have lost defensive solidity, everyteam is gonna have a go at them like Portsmouth ), just look at Ferdinand’s/Van Der Sar’s mistake last night , two of the most experienced guys making a playground mistake.the stress is taking its toll.And the different tactics of the teams making the most of Manu back line †unreliables †Wes Brown and the Argentenian, plus fletcher and Kieran Richrdson’
But our psych edge over ManUre is that it’s †really†theirs to lose now and they’ll think that very match has to be won, and that’s where they will muck up again.They thought cos of our recent troubles and our admittedly dodgey,wooden play , they’d breeze thru to the title.
But Chelsea has nearly caught up with them now and they can’t believe it.
ManU lose to Portsmouth never ! Chelsea might draw with Spurs that was their original line of thinking .Now their world is now topsy turvy.
They cannot underestimate anyone now , Cronaldo and crew were gliding smoothly lately cos they didn’t have pressure,they have got it big -time , Well now more showboating for them.and……
So even if they play before us now it’s like we say , go ahead boys show us ur stuff, but if u slip up we’re gonna make the most of it .
If they can’t hold their nerve , the title’s ours.
I don’t like to be negative, and I was overjoyed when I saw what happened today, but we still have to win all of our games this season. That means we’ll be ending the season with 11-12 wins. That’s very difficult. I believe Chelsea can do it, but with all the injuries we’ve had… It’s going to be epic. Keep your spirits up and enjoy it, because we could be witnessing the best season in the history of Chelsea.
Keep the faith, ladies and gents. ManUre are losing a lot of sleep.
Essien is “fighting to be fit.â€
GO BLUE!
Well spoken all !!!
GO CHELSEAA!!
30. Midfield_Decider
Thanx joeblue!
Regarding Tuesday game I think we should start with only 2 potential forwards, not 3 like Jose did last Wednesday. Can you imagine, we start with Drogba, Sheva and Kalou and manage only to score a single goal? And at the same time we showed this season that we score at least one goal per match wherever we play (except Bremen away, Liverpool away, Aston Villa away). That tells much. So we should start with Drogba and Sheva (or maybe Kalou) and add 3rd forward only if we don’t manage to score for a long time. By the way, I have noticed that Kalou scores more often when he is used as a sub, not the other way. So, the point here is that we should dominate the midfield at Mestalla. Personally I would like to see Joe Cole playing all 90 mins but that is impossible. Also I’d like to see only one of Ballack and Lampard in the starting 11 but that’s also impossible. Probably Essien will not play too. Robben closed the season. As you see we have not a big choice for the midfield. My starting 11 is as follows:
————Chech————–
Diarra–Carvalho–Terry—A.Cole
———–Makelele————-
Ballack———————Mikel
————Lampard————–
Drogba—–Sheva
If things go wrong with the passage of time we should substitute Makelele for J.Cole, shift Mikel to Maka’s place and use J.Cole on the wings. If that doesn’t help we can substitute Mikel for Kalou.
But, probably Jose won’t start with Makelele since he used him for 90 mins against Tottenham. I do understand that my starting 11 is not so offensive and there’s no much difference for us between conceding a goal and not conceding at all, what matters is to score at least one. The problem is that I don’t rate Kalou as a good midfielder as well as SWP as a good winger. Injuries of our main players are chasing us.
By the way bad news for us (or maybe good): Morientes is available to play against us with shoulder protection.
Whatever will get Chelsea from tomorrow’s game at Mestalla one thing is certain, it won’t be easy at all. I do believe that if we pass the Valencia barrier we will reach the final. May God be with us tomorrow!
31. Adonis
M_Decider, your backline and frontline are good, but instead of Maka, we should have SWP. You’re the one always bugged about the slow midfield, and if we don’t have any wingers we’ll be playing at a crawling pace. It’ll make our fullbacks attack and expose our defence. Either Joe or SWP must start.
32. Lee Perman
To all the Ture Blues out there it was my 21st this weekend and as a present i got the best thing ever a SIGNED Lampard shirt saying To LEE HAPPY 21st ALL THE BEST FRANK LAMPARD
My uncle Tommy Langley got it for me what a lengend he is also the a ex-chelsea player as the old school fans would know what a FUCKING BRILLIANT BIRTHDAY!!!
COME ON THE BLUES!!!!!!!!
33. Lee Perman
COME ON THE BLUES ALL THE WAY FOUR CUPS THIS YEAR BRING ON THE BEST BECAUSE THEY ARE YEARS BEHIND US !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
34. 125vd4sghg
Execuse mee plees for vis messaga posted from Norenbergen Shutgorto blin…
35. 125vd4sghg
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36. 125vd4sghg
장된 페이지’는 웹을 검색한 당시의 문서 상태를 보여 드립니다. 있습니다. 하이라이트 색깔표시 없이
Carvalho scored, though I am not watching the game.
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