We still stay in the title hunt. Once again an own goal set Chelsea up for a win. What appeared once as one of those matches where we would take a lead and be outplayed for a draw or defeat, ended up as an important win. I had a wish list in the match preview post and I should say that I got a good amount of them.
In a way, this was quite opposite to the Fener game. In this match, we were outplayed in the first half but we turned up in the second half and settled the matter. Avram Grant got a few things right! Well done Mr.Manager! Quick and right substitutions and all that!
My internet connection was gone and this was all that I could muster!
good second half and we wont let the manures sleep !!!
manure we r coming.. boro do the magic.. alves is without a goal and i know he is a good striker.. have ur break on manure
cheers guys… we win
KTBFFH
Avram Rant surprised me with his 54th minute substitution. Something tells me he is reading this blog. Anyways, we were woeful in the first half but changed in the second.
Our problem has been goal scoring. We need to score and kill off the games we play like manutd. I watch united matches and by 1st half, they are 3-0 up. That’s how we should be winning. Great game from Anelka, Lampard, Essien and Mikel. They were on good form. Kalou had a fair game except he scored a goal.
Good 3 points. Avram Rant, if you are reading this, you made a good decision with your substitution; so continue with the early subbings.
What happened to sidwell, ben haim, pizarro and most importantly sheva? Sheva and anelka today could have been really lethal. If he can’t start games like this then we are only destroying his career. Mourinho was always under pressure to play him but no one is forcing him on Rant….hmmmmm
lampard was awesome tonight… what good passes.. creativity.. top class
my MOTM.. close second would be essien
Essien in MF was the main driving force for us today…not playing him in MF is wasting him…he is best when he makes those surges…my MOTM is Essien for sure…
i wonder if it were the half time talks which did the magic ;)
we are very fortunate that we travel to manchester stadium now and not at the begining of the season. Man city is not quite the same team it was early in the season may be because of form of elano.
What ever it mat be i was very happy with the game especially a win and resting our key players. Only concern again is the set pieces where we are yet not comfortable.
Anelka was quite a few times offside but still his team play makes him a regular starter. his finishing could have been better but his misfortune and harts brilliance didnt credit him with a goal.
cmon fenerbache we will destroy u… i feel kalou was not tried in istanbul because of the atmosphere but at SB he should start .
cmon chelsea… i am very happy tonight because i thought this as a very difficult game and rest of our games are quite easy except man utd and everton. we can really win league title just what we want is one slip by man utd.
cheers
Fantastic second half, good movement at times; as @ (foot + ball…) essien was superb and should be man of the match, close will be anelka and lamps. Another person that i loved was mikel, he plays the holding midfield in a different way to maka as in he adds to the attack in certain ways. Any ways up chelseaaaa…..
@moyo
who told u that Sheva was being forced into the first team under Jose??
are u making ur own assumptions?? if Grant is as big a slave of Roman as u ppl put him to be, then Sheva shld start more often now than under Jose……anyways decent game, great result, we march on……….
Just got back from the game. Really enjoyable match. At first, I thought we were going down the same route as Fenerbahce at the end of the first half when we started letting City into the game, but thankfully in the second half we were clinical and but for a header off the bar and an incorrect offside decision we could have won by three or four without ever really getting into top gear.
More of the same for Tuesday please.
lampard for man of the match with essien coming second
AG should give atleast one chance to sheva
this is nothing! Must not compare this game with Fenerbache. Fenerbache is a lot more better than Man City. Psychologically, no matter what formation and which players you select for this game, Man City will never win againts Chelsea. since 1992, the history speaks for itself. ANyhow, this win still put chelsea in the title race. I thought lampard is not match fit yet? See, how lame is AG’s excuse for taking off lampard during the CL match with Fener and told the media the reason for taking off lampard is he is not match fit yet but in reality Lampard could not contribute during the match. Remember, this is just Man City, not Fener. Even Fener really can kill us. Just mark my word.
Was Drogba benched for his perfomance against Fener?
@ 13
no i think he was rested for the fener game!!!
ok the game end up as i predict so i’m happy with the win and the 2nd half was very good perfomance so i hope to be the same in Tuesday too .. and also have a feeling that Boro can shock ManU tomorrow so if ManU slip against Boro then we have a great chance to win the title but we must focus first for Fener game cos i dont want to knock out by them ..
Couldn’t watch the game ( no coverage here) but important win to keep the pressure on Man U . If we win the next two , Wigan (h) and the tough game away at Everton , then it will be very important week for Man U, who most likely will face Barca twice and Chelsea.
After the second goal, Avram should have gone and replaced Kaluo and bought in Sheva. It could have been a good 30 mins for him to get his feet on.
Next is the crucial CL tie at home.Fenerbache will definitely play to score and that will leave gaps behind. My vote is for a 4-4-2 formation ,
Belleti,Terry,Caravalo,A.Cole,Essien,Lampard,Ballack,Joey and play both Drogba & Anelka , with Kaluo, Sheva, Obi, Maka, Alex,Ferrera & Hilario in the subs.
@ 6 Nihongo Blue
“cmon chelsea… i am very happy tonight because i thought this as a very difficult game and rest of our games are quite easy except man utd and everton. we can really win league title just what we want is one slip by man utd.”
The game against Newcastle United ( a) is also a very tough game with the way they are playing .
Credit Grant for making better personel decisions. A win against Fener and Wigan and I will no longer call for his head before the season ends. Silverware? Let’s see if Man U slips Sunday before we talk about that. But, for now, Grant should get a little praise.
guys.. wigan manager said this in the after match talk:
Steve Bruce: “We can’t say that we’re safe until it’s mathematically safe. It’s a step closer but we’ve got a nice easy one next week at Chelsea!”
wtf.. nice easy one..!!? haha nice joke by him
we r gonna educate them n show wut easiness means!
This was a good result for us.It keeps us in the hunt & also helped pull a little away from Arsenal as well.The equation of the title race is simple.If we win all our remaining games ie we pick up 15 points, Man Utd has to drop a minimum or 6 points from their 6 remaining GAMES.Vidic is out for 3 weeks and their defence will be down a notch without him.I hope teams can inflict some damage on them now.
Fenerbache next.A very important game.We have to win this.If we cant beat Fenerbache at home, then we dont deserve to win the UCL.
Grant did a pretty decent job with tactics and subs this time around.I still cant understand why he cant use a 4-4-2 when we have 4 strikers in the squad.Whatever,hes the manger and its his call.I just want us to keep winning till the end of the season.
For Toady to get my everlasting praise, he gotta do better than last year : like The FA + Carling + second in the league without 2 best CB’s ,2 goalies, RB’s for the most important parts of the season.
@21…but AG has to contend with Mourinho’s team full of ‘team spirit,team grit,HUGE BALLS’..lolol…
@17 krishna
If we cant win at new castle battling relegation it will be the same old story as last yr. Anyways title may be decided before that as we play man utd before that. If after that match we r still in title hunt dont expect us to drop points there.
in remaining 6 matches which man utd play even if they drop points against us and get 1 draw in other matches and we win all matches still they will win the title on goal difference.moreover when they play us at SB they have 2 options now after arsenal dropped pts. they can draw against us as well win. Its very diff for us to win title. some how we need more of AG luck not just for chelsea but agaisnt man utd too. Lets see if man utd starts giving own goals.
Guys, lets not look too far. lets take one game at a time. above all lets hope Boro, Arse and blackburn take many points from manure
man utd have fielded a very strong side against boro
one poster read for ronaldo
dive 1 – 3-5
dive 2 – 4.0
dive 3 – priceless
:)
its man utd 1- 1 boro
my optimism for alves wasnt waste and he did scored. Boro can geta second any moment.
if Boro play like they’re playin i think they can beat ManU so let’s hope for that .. i don’t think u remember but this guy has scored 7 goals in just 1 match !! ..
Afonos Alveeeeeeees it’s 2-1 for Boro now … cmonn
middlesborough is winning 2-1.alves has scored twice
cmon boro….. u can do it 2-1 up 30 min left
just 20 min more.. no established CB for man utd.. wow….
COME ON MIDDLESBOROUGH
2-2
DEFEND!!!!!
Yeeees .. they’re feeling the PRESSURE now right?! ..C’moooon you BLUES
2-2 good result but tuncay could’ve scored at the end!!!!
3 points away and man utd are playing arsenal at home!!!!
i cant believe im saying this but i hope arsenal win!!!
lol
What a weekend!!!
we win a tough away game and manutd and arsenal both draw. couldnt have been better. with 5 games to go we expect another man utd slip even if we beat them at SB.
man utd vs boro should be the game of the league … what a match.. what a play by both sides.. awesome
man utd feeeling the heat of playing without vidic as we did in last season .. ferdinand also subbed for injury… is it crisis at man utd ?????
yep they’re really missed Vidic today and if Rio is injured too then i think that Arsenal can beat them at Old Trafford .. but first we have to beat Fener in tuesday
come one chelsea 4 points from the lead(goal difference is basically 1 point). If rio and vidic are injured and drogba is on his game im thinking a chelsea win at SB is highly likely.
The final score is 2-2 , we really have a chance to win league but not sure with this AG tactics when it matters. Up blues
@1 Nihongo Blue
wow.. perfect prediction
only 3 more pts!
@BC i was wondering because everyone was talking about nxt season transfers and sales if u cud write an article about it
is the irony of the season coming to reality. the irony of AG. losses the easier cup but win the difficult ones……….
Sorry guys, are we pretty sure Arsenal might win at the Old Trafford?
Remember FA Cup 4nil to ManUtd. That was horrific.
Anyways, lets just keep winning.
Up Blues!
@ hotseafydo
Not until he really lifts both/either one cups, then we know still, this man is crazy
Avram Good Work Man,U deserve full credit for this win.we fans wants the same performance from our manager weekin and week out.So now we have chance to KILL RONALDO’s(MANu), Because next week Arsenal, will get points from old Tradfold, no doubt in that because liverpool will knock out arsenal from Champion’s league,so they will do their best against rio and vidic less MANU.if we win all game’s we will be the champion’s.
Avram if u deliver this kind of performance,good reading of game, kool substitution then fan’s will be happy with NORMAL ONE.
KILL FERNERBACHE….. 5-0 ,because Fernerbache fan’s are OVER CONFIDENT abt their team, they think FERNERBACHE is REAL MADRID or MILAN with great Champion’s league history.
@BC
Someone posted these stats on vital footy……..can u confirm whether they are true
Chelsea under Grant have 62 points from 25 PL games. Blackburn 39 from 25, Pompey 41 from 25, Everton 47 from 25, Newcastle 24 from 25, Villa 38 from 25, Poo 48 from 26, Man City 33 from 25, Arse 55 from 26, Man Utd 57 from 24.
@BC
Was unable to post due to time problems
stand-out players-essien and lampard…………notice what anelka brings to the team……good to see carvalho,joe rested.
manure dropping points……….hope le’arse does us a favour next sunday.
chelsea under grant – 63 pts of 27 games
man utd under SAF – 66 pys of 27 games
our away record is best this season….we would have been at top but for those home games against Blackburn,Fulham and Everton….
arsenal last 7 matches in PL 5 draws 1 loss 1 win. 8 points of possible 21.
too much… flamini doesnt looks will stay there next season.
so nice of avg to rest drogba against city,i just hope he wasnt rested cos of fener,well,lets hope hes learnt not be selfish anymore…,manu are in trouble,i predict a loss for them to arsenal and us.we are definately winning the league,manu now has a big problem in the cb.we are winning the league with 4 points clear….lol…
Too many draws hurt us last season & its hurting us this season as well. Villa,Portsmouth,Fulham,Blackburn,Everton,Tottenham.{We should have won these 6 games}
Poor Refreeing Decisions cost us points against Blackburn & Fulham.Poor defending cost us against Villa,Portsmouth,Everton & Tottenham {Villa,Everton & Spurs equalised in virtually the last minute of the game}
I won a lot of dough cos of the 0-2 LOL LOL .
You see , after every defeat this season the next match is a reaction and most certain a win with 2+ goals .
Lose me another Toady but not 2 morrow !
Be observant and ye shall will too !
what rot I wrote in last post
I meant : be observant and ye shall have a bit of the pie too !
Hey BC come up with another set of ” things to do ”
You never know , you know ,
AG might be sneaking a look at the blog for ideas abt what to do b4 the game with Fener !
Hey you @its foot+ball, not air+ball
you wanna know why Fener won last week ?
Cos of : ‘team spirit,team grit,HUGE BALLS’ something that AG doesn’t know or care about .
BTW how old are you and how long you been a Chelsea fan ?
Nice match it was. Chelsea controlled the game for most of the time and the only thing I missed for some time was… the second goal :)
The only fear I have after Sunday is our current inefficiency on counterattacks. How many times we went 3 against 2, 4 against 3 etc.? Many times. How many goals we scored from these situations? Zero. Anelka, JC, Essien nor anybody else were able to pass the ball right into the path of sprinting team-mate without being intercepted by a defender. Nor it is a Drogba/Anelka thing; Drogs would not do any better on Sunday. This is a lack of team practising, I would say.
It is allright that Avram concentrated more on build-up play and midfield combinations before the match against ManCity. We needed to play our own game and control it. But we cannot entirely leave our strongest and most traditional weapon – deadly and precise counter-attacks. If Chelsea scored from some of them on Sunday during the first half, the match would be even more O.K.
But this is my only objection against Sunday match and Avram’s coaching; otherwise quite an enjoyable afternoon :)