Traditionally, we don’t have it easy after the international breaks. The reason is, this is Chelsea. A squad full of internationals, most of them first team players for their respective nations. Consider this: some of our key players had to play two matches in the break including some very crucial world cup qualifiers. That certainly made today’s away affair at Stoke a tricky one.
Anyway, it was a Chelsea classic wasn’t it? Though we were only minutes away from a disappointing draw, it couldn’t have ended that way. It looked like we had stolen the whistle from the referee and were not going to hand it back until we got the winner. We were really very good and we certainly deserved to win. I got to see only the replay as the match was not telecast live here in India.
Much has been said about that Stoke goal. That was a blunder from Cech. He did an Almunia there. No one knows what he was trying to do there. I guess even he would not be able to say that. All that he had to do was to trust his defence and stay put. Of course, it was a bad defensive error and Terry and co didn’t even jump as they saw two Stoke players fighting for the header. Anyway, if Cech had stayed back, it must have been a comfortable catch for him. What he did was a bad mistake. I think he will come out of that. He’s human and he’s intelligent. So he’ll make mistakes but he’ll learn from them.
Our equaliser was ace. The equaliser was a classic Didier Drogba goal. What would be talked about would be the power and strength but the key things were the confidence and precision of the finish. When he touched the ball, it was like he knew he’d score. Is this going to be his season? When Drogba scores such a goal, it’s sometimes possible to forget about the build-up that led to his goal. If it’s Drogba finding the net, the assist has to be from none other than Frank Lampard. That goal was a dream one for my fantasy premier league. I’ve got them both in my team and Didier is my captain!
In the second half, as you’d expect Stoke City did pack their defence. Chelsea were the only team playing to win and that’s understandable. Why would Stoke City try to play for a win against a rampant Chelsea? I was checking the status from the live updates in BBC and our own BC Shout. Even when it was on the 90th minute, I still thought we would just about make it.
I want to describe the goal, allright? Let me please. First up, the throw-in from Belletti. Isn’t that Stoke City who had this Delap guy who throws the ball like it’s a cricket ball? What irony that Chelsea had to give a dose of Stoke’s own medicine to them! So, Belletti throw the ball almost into the 6-yard box that was headed away by the Stoke players and ball falls at the feet of Michael Essien who was at the D. You’d expect Essien to blast that into the net but surprisingly he passes it to Anelka. There, Nicolas Anelka, with his back to the goal, very very smartly and quickly lays it to oncoming Florent Malouda. Even then, Malouda took a couple of touches to beat his man and then slotted the ball with power. Fantastic team effort for a stoppage time goal.
This was a near perfect weekend. Chelsea winning with a stoppage time goal, Man City murdering Arsenal, Adebayor scoring against the goners and showing his middle finger and we gathering loads of fantasy premier league points in the process. The only stains were the wins by sun bears and thugreds. I’ve always rated Benayoun. He is a dangerous player. He almost always does play well for Liverpool. May be that’s why the ‘big fat liar’ doesn’t play him as much as he should. Rooney’s goal was class. I hope this does not turn out to be his season.
Not one post will end without me talking about BC Huddle. So here it is. I’m trying to be humble but still even the facts might sound like boasting. In just a week’s time, we have about 70 members, about 100 threads and a whopping 1000 posts. Be warned, it could be very addictive!
Finally, sit back, relax and rejoice. Five wins in five, top of the table, best goal difference in the league and very soon, we’ll see Joe Cole and Zhirkov back. Great times, eh?







……………Great post BC. I couldn’t agree more. Just hope that these espn-star guys show us our matches here in India. Could u please post the link of BBC commentary that you had mentioned some time back? That would be of great help. Hope we win against Porto on Tuesday. KTBFFH !!! Bye…..
Thanks mate. I’m also planning to write to ESPNStar on this. Join me when I do. Just planning to do a petition like thing. Let them know that there are thousands of Chelsea fans in India who requires the same if not more attention and importance as that of the Liverpool fans.
What a thrilling game, I saw it and it was quite brilliant, Chelsea at their finest playing with 75% possession!!
I wasn’t so sure about Carlo starting Kalou, I thought that Anelka had been doing a great job, and that if a change was needed, that it was Sturridge’s turn to start, and frankly, Kalou was rather invisible in the match. Although I’m a big Ivanovic fan, that might have been his worst display in Chelsea colors. But all of our other performers were top notch, I thought, especially Drogba, Lamps, and both fullbacks. For a patch of about 20 minutes in the first half, Stoke were on level pegging with us, but obviously had to work much harder than us, and we were still not out of second gear. That goal went in after a disaster from Cech, who was otherwise untested, and only helped awaken a sleeping giant. The passing became more precise, and Drogba started threatening their goal, as they were forced into a goalie substitution, after Sorensen had a muscle issue. Then a divine pass from Lampard, and for a couple of seconds it was as if the whole world stopped, and even before Drogba touched the ball, as he turned Faye, more a tribal dance sequence than football, you just knew… It’s a goal, a beautiful, unstoppable, bulleted left-footed shot. Game on.
And then the break, and Carlo played a masterstroke in bringing Essien on for Ballack for added thrust, and the German, though inspiring at times, was a bit wasteful with a few passes going amiss and off-target headers, as well as an influential Anelka for Kalou. Stoke were under siege. Yet with every deft pass, and every powerful shot, even Drogba’s short range shot, being intercepted by a hard-working Stoke team, and better than average keeper, Chelsea didn’t panic. The Blues kept coming, continuing in the system, with the short passing, the movement, the skill, the beauty. No lumps up to Drogba, no… This was a team who were confident they could unlock their opponents rather than batter them down. And even 92, 93 minutes into the match, they kept coming. And then the moment of sheer beauty. GOAL!!!!!! COME ON MALOUDA! COME ON YOU BLUES!! TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!!! And I burst into Carefree wherever you may be… Until I lost my voice.
There’s something about this Chelsea, something rather peculiar. We’re not the Chelsea of Avram Grant. We’re not the Chelsea of Scolari. Dare I say it, we’re not even the Chelsea of Jose Mourinho! No, I think that Hiddink came at a crucial point, he gave us something special, and this Ancelotti fellow… I’m highly, highly impressed so far. He’s magnified in our team the characteristics that had seemingly left under Scolari–the grit, the determination, the calmness under stress, and the very unique ability to come up with the goods time and again.
It’s been a great weekend.
KTBFFH!
Great Read ty BC. What a game you missed it was a thriller at the end that’s for sure!
Hey guys,FIFA bastards ban us from getting back Long season loans.We can get back Di Santo and Manciene .
Micheal essien shouldn’t be benched for any reason what so ever.mikel hardly impresses and i think the coach wishes he played better.but lets face it,scholari blamed his poor performance on the absence of micheal essien.We have him and lets utilise him well before he decides to part.scholari described losing essien as losing five players,he does most of the dirty work and he is to me the most under rewarded player in chelsea.bluechampions is a great website,thanks for creating it.
To Adonis: what a briliant description of yesterdays game. Are you a journalist by profession?
hi guys this is da 1st I’m vstng dis site……but off you go I’m very impressed
me tooooo, even frm Sri Lanka, very upset wth da espnstar guys, they always go wth da ugly guys who wear RED
probably they shud be wth da futre conquerors of da world football
After all great perfomance frm the mighty Chelsea even aftr vry tired international week….
Well done Blues………!!!!!!!!
Hey BC, it’s not letting me into BC Huddle. It says I need to fill out my user profile before I can even read any threads. Can this be fixed or are you making profile creation a mandatory thing?
And I will say we deserved the win, but it was really frustrating to watch. I just wish we got past this need to concede a goal before coming back because it’s not a good habit to have. Either way, it was a well earned win and it puts us in a great position. There’s little I can truly complain about!
[quote comment="77307"]Hey BC, it’s not letting me into BC Huddle. It says I need to fill out my user profile before I can even read any threads. Can this be fixed or are you making profile creation a mandatory thing?[/quote]
Yes mate! That’s what I’ve done. I’ve made certain fields mandatory. So all that you need to do is to go to your profile and just make a few updates (takes about 10 seconds) and you’ll be there in BC Huddle as usual. Cheers!
hell yea..this was a cracking finish by the blue army.
Great recap BC. I had super weekend thanks to among other the mighty blue and coming here reading this blog is the icing on the cake=)
On the game itself, Cech messed up big time and oh by was he glad that flo saved the day! The positive side of it? now he got one of those blunders out of his system.
Ancelotti did great wit his teamselection I think resting some key players for Tuesday. So props to the boss.
The way we were attacking in the second half, gosh that was awesome and thats what Malouda said after the game it was a team effort and the spirit is high and you all could see it when we celebrated. this our beloved chelsea.
first half was ok but to be frankly we didn’t create a lot of chances.
I gotta give propps to Stoke, man did they defend like their lifes was depending on the game or wat?!!! Robert Hult? did well and am happy he for our ex-player.
MoM, simple Didier. He was outstanding and WHAT STOOD OUT was his defending. he was a household in both penalty areas. our first goal was just pure class. from the superb no-look pass from lampsy to DD finish, thats football at it best!
now all eyes on porto. they are a tricky side. Am glad we got our Chelsea Swagger back and Porto are warned…
to refer the mighty bluechampion; be afraid be very afraid=))
A little off-topic:
I heard of the Delap throw-ins and how this kind of teams have the smallest possible dimensions for a football pitch.Its an intelligent tactic and it makes easier to defend against teams like Chelsea and it almost paid-off today.That reminds me of a video that some of you might know already: the summerhouse throw-in that makes a 15 or 16 year old kid cover the same or more distance as this Delap guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRdH7fiem5U&NR=1&feature=fvwp
Its also a good intimidating tatic for those players that go to the line to block throw-ins ;)
I wonder why we dont see it used in big leagues?
somersault not summerhouse, lol – auto-correction went mad :P
It was a fantastic result, if Chelsea is going to bring a winning goal at the very last minute everytime, i wouldn’t mind being tortured for the past 90 minutes waiting and praying for the goal. It was awesome…Drogba is the best, so is Lampard. And Carlotti must never forget that Essien is far superior than Mikel, had he started Essien, we would have been scoring goals early on, but must deserve the rest after the midweek duty for his country. Belletti’s throw in was sweetest…but Ivanovic, whom i have loved immensely since his lovely brace against the loserpool almost made me cry!
ANd BC, please tell those biased ESPNSTAR people not to keep Chelsea games away from the TV. Had to settle for a replay game!
Congratulations!
You must maintain your form.
More and more great play and results.
Wishing good or great result for the match against Porto.
[quote comment="77304"]To Adonis: what a briliant description of yesterdays game. Are you a journalist by profession?[/quote]
Thanks! I’m not a journalist. I’m just very passionate about writing and Chelsea :)
Formation : Chelsea vs Porto
—————-Cech—————–
-Ivanovic–Terry–Carvalho–A.Cole-
–Essien–Ballack–Lampard–Malouda
———–Anelka–Kalou————
SUB:Turnbull,Hutchinson,Joe Cole,Sturridge.
Formation : Chelsea vs Porto
—————-Cech—————–
-Ivanovic–Terry–Carvalho–A.Cole-
–Essien–Ballack–Lampard–Malouda
———–Anelka–Kalou————
SUB:Turnbull,Hutchinson,Mikel,Joe Cole,Sturridge.
Anmd Mancienne too on the bench!
Surridge has to come on and get some playing time today, i wouldnt start him though!!!
Essien is gonnabe vital this game – he has to break up their counter attacks that will be tough
and i dont know how we can accomodate both kalou and anelka cause they both drop deep?
i wanna see him, he is miles better than kalou to be honest :P
starting team :
—————————–cech—————————–
ivanovic————carvalho—-terry—————–cole
————————–essien————————–
—–ballack————————–malouda————-
————————lampard—————————-
———————anelka—–kalou—————————-
formation without kalou :
—————————–cech—————————–
ivanovic————carvalho—-terry—————–cole
——————-mikel————–
——-ballack————lampard—————
–essien—————————malouda—–
——————-anelka———————–
The Predicted Line Up is being confirmed as the following:
GK – Cech
Defenders – Ivanovic – Carvalho – Terr – A.Cole
Midfeild – Ballack – Essien
Wingers – Kalou – Malouda
AMF – Lampard
Striker – Anelka
Sub – Bruma, Hutchison, Borini, Sturridge, J Cole, Belletti