There are ways of describing this result – from the optimistic ‘we continue our unbeaten streak’ to ‘we were held to a draw’ to ‘once again we couldn’t score more than a goal’. Anyway, we got a good friendly match, we had a very good opposition, who did not surrender and allow us to walk through them. They truly fought against Chelsea. Feyenoord too, wanted to win this match and that was clear.

Chelsea played 4-3-3 with Cech (Cudicini 45), Ferreira (Sinclair 78), Carvalho, Ben-Haim, Johnson (Diarra 65), Sidwell (Pizarro 65), Mikel (Hutchinson 67), Lampard (c), Wright-Phillips, Shevchenko (Drogba 45), J Cole (Malouda 45).

We created many chances in the first half, most of them falling to Shevchenko. Once again, I should say Sheva disappointed me. I cannot ignore the fact that he has improved over the last season on his ball retention and dribbles, but his hallmark, as we know, is his silky finish, which is not quite there at the moment. That one-on-one should have been buried, a little chip or something should have sealed it. May be Sheva is not too confident of himself, that instead of chipping he went for the corner of the post and saw his shot saved.

No John Terry and a poorly defended set piece. Do you see any coincidence? That’s where his leadership comes into play. He would have at least given the instructions and ensured that nobody stay so badly unmarked in a set piece situation. That was a free-header. Ben Haim at centre back . . hmm . . I didn’t see any real value addition this match, it just felt like Essien being there.

Glen Johnson at left back and guess where the goal was conceded. I could see that Jose trying to create a back up for left back from within the squad, using these friendlies. That’s excatly how we should be using these friendlies, for new ideas and experimentations. Ferreira worked hard in containing Drenthe and to some extent he did succeed. Drenthe was menace all along. This guys has got future and I hope the future’s blue. Ferreira, just like SWP, knows that he has multiple competition for his place and he is not the first choice. Personally, I like Ferreira. He is a nice guy with loads of commitment and a strong mentality. There is a nice little conest between him and Johnson, in which I believe Paulo has the edge.

lampard_feyenoord.jpg

Our equaliser was contributed by a cool finish by super Frank and truckloads of luck. Of all the people, the Feyenoord defender passed it on to Lampard, may be with an intention to back-pass it to the keeper. Guess what stand-in captain Lampard did: just smash with no second thought about what to do. Essien did not feature in this match which allowed SWP to play all 90 minutes. SWP had a good match. He ran, dribbles, swerved and swung, created chances, hit the target himself, he made a very useful contribution. May be this is what a run of 90 minutes can do to him or he has started feeling the pressure with Malouda coming in and Joe Cole available. Malouda continues to impress with his power and muscle which allows and creates time for him to keep the ball and deliver it.

Drogba, goal or no goal, still amazes me with the way he has improved. The ball seems to stick to his foot and man, he refuses to go down. When he has the ball, you always believe that something’s gonna happen. With an equally skilled player for him to play along, he is very dangerous proposition this season. I’d love to see him alongside Robben and Malouda with Joe Cole in the midfield. With his kind of skills, I don’t think it’s out-of-the-box to consider him on the wings. Don’t be surprised if this happens.

The wait is over. We’ve now seen Pizarro in Chelsea blue and he could have even scored in his debut, if he’d got his volley on target. With what I was able to see, he is certainly a different kind of striker, who might be offside all the time, with a nose for the goal and smells it before anyone else does.

And finally, Cudicini deserves some words of appreciation for judging which side to go for the Roy Makaay penalty and also the subsequent save. The penalty was a result of a poor poor tackle by Hutchinson. I’m not sure if an established defender would have gone for that option, with the striker left with only a acute angle which is already covered by Cudicini. Anyway, Carlo literally saved the day for us. That doesn’t mean I dont expect us to equalise sometime between the 86th minute and the end of the match. We’ve done that consistently over the last season so not wise to discount that possibility.

[video]http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/6eRRSFKxCwTEmitE2[/video]

Jose Mourinho said:

It was a good work out for us, a difficult game. I think you could see both teams in the middle of a hard pre-season, and it took a little time to get started.

Assistant Manager Steve Clarke, in his interview explains On Pizarro’s debut and Robben’s absence:

It’s good for him [Pizarro] to come in, he’s only trained with us one training session, so it’s good for him to get a feel for the group, the players, the team, the way we play. It was nice to have him on the pitch.

I think we have a good mix of strikers, they’ve all got to try hard to get their place in the time. The manager’s indicated this season that he’s prepared more often to play with two strikers and two wingers, so that’s good for them. They know they’ll have a chance if they impress the manager, if they can show a good combination together. It’s good for them and good for the team.

He [Robben] didn’t come tonight, he’s got a small problem with his knee. He stayed behind for treatment. It’s not major, we’ve decided to rest him for a week to ten days and he’ll be fine after that. He’s still a Chelsea player.

Look at that last sentence. Anything and anyone on Robben ends with ‘he’s still a Chelsea player’. I appreciate that as long as it stays that way!

Before we wind up, let’s touch up on the lighter side of this tough world of football. Arsenal lost their friendly yesterday to an Austrian team, you know who was the captain? You’re goddamn right – William Galloss! Just when Arsenal fans are waiting to see him go, he has been presented with the honour of losing his first match as captain. It’s a new low for Arses, undoubtedly!

Chelsea played to win the match too and there was enough commitment from the players for this cause. Also, it was kind of clear that no one wanted to hurt themselves too much. They all know that if they’re going to be out for a longish period, then it can be really difficult to make a come back in a team of this strength. Take Paulo for instance. If he goes for 50-50 tackle and injures himself for a month, that’s a long enough time for Glen Johnson to establish himself in the squad as a first choice player. So, I thought players were a little apprehensive of this fact and it does mean they would think so in a Premiership match, it’s just that they think a friendly is not really a place to get yourself stretchered off.

A draw is certainly disappointing but if you can see the big picture, we rested Essien, Terry and Robben. Like Jose said, it was a good workout for the boys. I have a feeling that Jose has not yet made up his mind on what formation to use for the first Premiership match. As long as we ditch the 4-4-2 diamond I’m fine. I’d say 4-4-2 against stronger teams and 4-3-3 against the rest. Next up, Glasgow Rangers on Saturday – back in UK, familiar weather, closer to home, shorter flight. How many goals do you expect us to score against Rangers?

{democracy:58}

[tags]Chelsea, Feyenoord, Rotterdam, De Kuip, Lampard, Robben, Shevchenko, Drogba, Rangers, Arsenal, Gallas, Terry, Johnson, Pizarro, goals, video, highlights[/tags]