A great cheer from the Chelsea fans made me feel like it was a home game, kudos to the travelling fans!
The first 11 I was elated to see Didier back. Riccy over Alex was spot on after the latter’s sloppiness in the last match. But as much as I admire Zhirkov, I was very uncomfortable to see him for Ashley (may be Ashley’s sore ankle was nagging him), otherwise the first 11 was the best we could ever field this time!
My own little account of the observations of the match:These, in my opinion were mediocre performers:
Cech is still not decisive on leaving his goal line and his command over aerial balls needs to be improved!
Ivanovic, his defending was bit too risky and I was afraid that he would see his second yellow and wished he was substituted, but it didn’t happen and I was kept worrying. Nor did his marauding forward reap as many good crosses as we expect off him. However, he had one good shot on target!
Deco’s decision with passes was bit risky. His pass across our own D area to Riccy and a poor through ball to Drogba to name a few. Also he seemed quite lost on the ball and eventually lost possession at crucial times. His shot, at 36th minute was good, though. He was the best tackler of the night!
Ballack seemed clueless and couldn’t pick a team mate well with his passes. And his header on Ivanovic’s cross lacked angle;
Nico was surprisingly not at his best, he was worse than what he was against Burnley.
The opponent’s goal: When most of our players were trying to find their own clever self, we conceded a goal, a cheap one from the defenders’ point of view. I don’t know who is supposed to be marking Mouyokolo, but he had lots of space at his disposal. Was it Ballack or Riccy or Terry? I was really annoyed by the irksome Fagan who kept bothering Cech and ultimately forcing him into a very poor position. Neither Malouda could check Fagan properly, nor could Cech command his space well. After conceding the goal, I was expecting Chelsea to bounce back with brilliance and clever football and command the game, but we couldn’t really find the edge.
Our goal: Drogba didn’t have a good game and I should blame ACN for destroying his form. At some points he was non-existent, virtually. May be he was trying to get back to the CFC’s Drogba from being an Ivory Cost’s Drogba. ACN is a step down for anyone in the EPL! He wasted lots of chances but his goal was “a thing of beauty”, a sheer class!
The average performers:
Zhirkov played quite well but not as much as when he came from the bench, maybe he wasn’t comfortable with Ashley on the bench. Of course he had some telling crosses, but no one could finish it well;
Terry, despite being booed, had a good game and his command and communication with the team mates were at its usual best. His header on 56th minute was awesome and displayed a great neck muscle power to find the target. Terry’s chest balls are so perfect, he does it best;
Riccy had a decent game and his telepathic connection with our captain is simply priceless;
Malouda worked hard but sometimes he worked unnecessarily hard and turned the situation against himself! He turned well and took a great shot, but he could have done a lot more with the chances he got and lay assists for his team mates;
Lampsy was not his usual clever self, but he took few good shots. May be he took too little too many touches.
Drogba was the best player of the night. Despite playing far below his own par, was undoubtedly our best man on the field. His desire and determination was a good sign and it did spread positive energy around. He is also one of the best defenders during set pieces but he also denied what could have been a great Malouda goal. But I am happy that The Terminator is back with a BANG!
Substitutions:
Boss must bring in the substitutes according to the prevailing situation(s), he must inject pace from fresh legs. He seemed pretty dissatisfied with the way things were faring at the first half and even in the second half, but I think that he took bit too long to bring in Sturridge!
I had to wait till the 71st minute when he finally brings Joey on for Ballack. But what seemed like a great decision by our boss was almost futile when Joey proved equally ineffective like Ballack. Joey didn’t use his speed to good effect and he could actually have done a lot better.
Double substitution
Both were absolutely good, because Zhirkov and Nico weren’t contributing as much as they usually could. But I am definite that Sturridge should have been on earlier on. This lad works hard and bothers the opponents often; his work rate is very high. His hard work nearly paid off in the dying minutes of the game when he took a shot on a difficult ball but wastes the second chance which came immediately!
Ashley was better than Zhirkov and on 84th minute, he wasted a great opportunity, I was shouting SHOOOOOOT!
Referee:
At 41st minute, Nico is fouled but he manages to pass the ball and referee allowed advantage. Eventually Lampsy is tripped in the D area but surprisingly Mark Clattenburg, instead of awarding a penalty gives a free kick outside the D! How is this? I need a technical back up on my limited knowledge of the rules of the game. As far as I know, I think it should have been a penalty because the game was on after Nico suffered a foul. But what is the difference? For us, another great penalty by Lampsy or an awesome free kick by Drogba means the same, after all both will find the back of the net! May be Drogba’s race for the golden boot is a step nearer than Lampsy’s 20+ a season goals!
The reaction to the game and few hard lessons learnt: Nothing much magical happened in this game. I am sad that we missed a good chance to go 4 points clear off manure, but recollecting on the type of game we played (and Hull played) I am happy that we got to share the spoil of the match.
We sit at the top with 2 points and if we can repeat our feat at Fly Emirates this Sunday, things should be much easier thence! I don’t care much about opponents or our so called title challengers so long as we keep winning. If we focus on our strengths and develop on it then we are going to get dividends. But defending set pieces is one nagging weakness of ours and needs to be addressed immediately! One clear example, apart from the goal, was on minute 45+1: worryingly, our marking was very bad again. Main culprit was Ballack, he was sloppy but luckily escaped from being punished. I think we need to assure that the man one marks is marked well; Terry marked his man well during this free kick.
We must have a plan B, like Hull demanded with determined offence. Hull closed in very fast and it was to this tactic that we succumbed our own football;
We must improve on capitalising on the chances, we must finish well!
My MoTM is Drogba, it would have been Sturridge if he had more time to prove his worth!
I hope we train a lot and make sure that only the best performers will get into the first 11. I won’t be surprised to see Sturridge on for Nico against Arsenal! I am hopeful, or rather sure that we will keep these hard lessons at the back of our mind and display one lovely and fruitful game of football this Sunday.
Few points:
I wished Terry silenced the home fans like he did at Turf Moor because they were awfully wrong in booing him for nothing done to them.
Drogba’s goal celebration was so sweet, so touching. This man knows how to involve crowd and get them behind the team, he knows how to blend love with the game; he is fantastic!
Dear kindred spirits, please forgive me if i, like our Chelsea, came far below your expectations. I promise to improve and would like to make an excuse that this is my first post!
My blood is blue!
31 Responses - Add your comment!
Guys! A round of applause to Karma CW. Above is his first post in BlueChampions!
Very well done Karma, an excellent and precise analysis of yesterdays game.
Watch out BC this guy is sharp, lol
Well done !!
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Keep it up ….ur essay was really addicting !!
Congratulations KCW. Sad it had to be one of these games to share your first post.
Nice to have your workload shared BC. That will ensure this blog stays active during lull times.
Back to the post. You understandably seem nervous Karma. Its really a good post, seeing the effort you have put in to give such a detailed player analysis.
It was pretty hard to chose a MOTM for such a dreadful display. But for me, it was Ivanovic who was slightly better than the rest (it would be injustice if the tag is bestowed to a 7/10 performance). Our midfield was pathetic. No one could provide a decent ball to the final third. This led to long ball deliveries from our defenders to ………. ahem…….. Anelka and Malouda (which they never won). Mind you, Drogba’s positioning was utter dross. Hull were playing physical and were pressing well to the extent our midfield committed mistakes regularly.
And setpieces; 95% of the goals conceded by us in the league have been thru shitpieces, I mean setpieces. As BC once put, Defending setpieces is the least we expect from an Italian manager, don’t we? It doesn’t take a fool (just an exaggeration, obviously) like me to see this. Phil Brown anyone.
I attribute this mighty showing by us to fatigue. 3 matches in 6 days. It takes a hell lot from the players to take all 9 points. Let alone a midfield averaging 31 by age. If we play the same midfield against Arsenal, I won’t go for a Men vs Boys. Lets put it rightly Veterans vs Boys.
Again nice work Karma, Keep it up. Hope you both keep this site as enjoyable as possible.
Hey I noticed you have stolen the format of your blog from carefree blog on oleole football http://www.oleole.com/blogs/chelseablog, if you can not beat’em join them. All there is to win this league for Chelsea is 4-4-2 or a max 4-1-3-2 or anything similar, this new variation of 4-5-1 with narrow wingers makes no sense. I am sorry to say that even with such a clogged midfield shots being blocked by each other is amateur and to top it off we have to rely on our full backs to provide us width is utter foolishness.
Ashley never used to score cause we never used to concede our width came from the midfield. This formation tweaking is so silly when we can have a simple setup and bench a few big names and win. This was almost a full strength squad against minnows, WOW!!
Karma FTW!!!
nice work mate! keep it up!
ivanovic was my motm too.we had our chances but never really exerted ourselves.perhaps we had one eye on sunday,lets hope we have more verve.I really dont know why we struggle so much at set pieces.seriously no other team suffers from such dead ball phobia.carlo work your italian magic,defence,defence.
well done karma cw nice job keep it up
KarmaCW…bring it on mate…
is there any idea to put this blog to ChelseaFC.com blogs tab??? so our friends around the world will notice many more….
my main concern and analysis is…..Chelsea didn’t move the ball quickly after realize that Hull keep pressure on midfield…..
move the ball quickly and keep not lose the ball will avoid Hull or opponent to find the set pieces chances……
Good Job,Karma!Keep it up
Dear BC and friends,
Thank you all so much, i am happy that you liked it!
Nice one Karma! Spot on!
mikel is back should he play sunday ? i am not sure lets see better than ballack i think he played entire tournment he should be on bench
Man i am fed up of this god damn rottin english media….crticizing john terry….!! why cant these buffoons.. understand tht… his private life and proff life are two diff things….!!
idiots…..keep cribbing abt how england has never squat for a zillion years… and they do this sort of shit… just before the world cup /.//// like do they even have any sort of senses???…..
.. i bet my bottom dollar.. if this was gerrard or ferdinand…..or rooney… ya knwo frm one of their beloved clubs… the reaction would never have been so vicious… in fact there might not even have been one!!!
…. f*****N psychopaths!!!!,…..papers like the sun.. the mirror.. should go bankrupt!!!… or be sued… !!!..!!
………………These carzy enlish media morons.. should first luk at their monarchy … and se their beloved prince charles.. wht he did.. hw he cheated.. and hw still he is the next in line to be their king!!!.,,, hypocrites i tell you!!
All i wish is now.. tht capello decideds too keep terry as captain…..and terry lifts the premier league the champions league…
and then go on to score the winning goal .. in the world cup final…..and lift the world cup..!!
WE MISS MICHAEL ESSIEN LOVE IT..
@KArma
Nice post mate…
keep it up..,
……….We sit at the top with 2 points and if we can repeat our feat at Fly Emirates this Sunday,…………
sunday at the bridge nah?
Good work Karma! Precise, strong analysis. Few points from me:
I am particularly happy that you did not blame Cech alone for the goal. The situation was tricky for him, the goal scorer coming from behind and another player physically attacking him with no team-mate around to pull him off. Nevertheless, he did not manage it well; unless the goalkeeper does not stand on the line, he takes responsibility for the ball, even if it could cost somebody´s leg or rib
. From my point of view, it´s more the matter of communication and confidence than actual skills of our goalie. Maybe Terry and Riccy don´t believe our keeper as much as they did. Maybe we cannot simply defend set pieces well enough, cos our organisation leaks. Maybe also Terry lost concentration a bit and did not react properly to the situation due to his personal problems (I hope not)…
When talking about organisation of the game – Drogba was quite anarchic this evening. No surprise at all after his spell at ANC. The nature of football is quite different there, defenders and goalkeepers making horrible mistakes, midfielders all trying to dribble and shoot and attackers doing just what they want (glory to the exceptions like Ghana or Egypt). Drogs was awful at ANC, most of the time just walked around, did not fight properly and seemed to take care about his health rather than scoring goals. This could be O.K. from the point of view of Chelsea fans; but he should leave this habit now. His hopeless shot attempts from unbelievable positions instead of passing to better-positioned players were of no use. Moreover, he tried to get to every ball in Hull, even if it was not aimed to him; do you remember Malouda´s attempt from the corner kick in the dying minutes that deflected off Drogba? It should have gone to the goal, had Drogs not tried to get to the ball that was aimed to his team-mate!
Nevertheless, I don´t want to blame Drogba for the result either. The whole team seemed to be a bit tired and our usual passing game thus seemed clueless at times, due to inaccuracies and lack of power. Could see such technically-gifted players as Malouda or Anelka make first touches just to stop the ball without trying to prepare it for further action. This ruined lots of our straight attacks through the middle, although this tactics seemed to be good to me. It could have been a problem of the pitch too, but anyway the tiredness got its price. Maybe that is why Sturridge seemed to be the best in the dying seconds – he is still not member of starting 11 in most games, as on Sunday, when he played just 20 minutes. Pity he did not convert his chance.
Btw. I really like Carlo´s reaction to the result. This is how an experienced manager reacts after losing points; I like it much better than Mourinho rhaetorics (although I really enjoyed the JM era). Looking forward terribly to the CL matches
.
NO BAN!!!!
TIME TO PARTY, THE MANAGEMENT HAS PLAYED THIS VERY COOL IF THEY KINDA KNEW THE OUTCOME IN ADVANCE.
STATEMENT ON KAKUTA DECISION
Posted on: Thu 04 Feb 2010
Chelsea Football Club has been cleared of any wrongdoing regarding the transfer of Gael Kakuta and has had all sanctions lifted.
Today’s announcement from the Court of Arbitration for Sport can be read below.
Chairman of Chelsea FC Bruce Buck said: ‘We are pleased to have come to an amicable resolution of the matter and that it has been ratified by CAS and recognised by FIFA.
‘It was always our intention to work together with Lens to reach this end, and both clubs have strengthened their relationship as a result of resolving this case to everyone’s satisfaction.
‘In an act of good faith and with a view to the possibility of future collaboration with Lens, and without recognising any liability, Chelsea has agreed to pay compensation costs for the training given to the player while at Lens, as mandated by FIFA in its original ruling.’
Chelsea FC chief executive Ron Gourlay added: ‘Naturally, we are pleased Chelsea has been cleared of any wrongdoing and that the matter is now closed.’
The Court of Arbitration for Sport statement reads:
Lausanne, 4 February 2010 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued an award today ratifying the agreement reached by Chelsea FC, Racing Club de Lens and the French football player Gaël Kakuta, putting an end to this arbitration procedure which also involved FIFA. The CAS has noted that, in the agreement, the two clubs and the player have recognised that the contract between the player and RC Lens was not valid. Accordingly, the player could not have terminated it prematurely and without just cause and FC Chelsea cannot therefore be liable for inducing a breach of contract. As a consequence, in light of these new circumstances, the sanctions imposed upon Chelsea FC and the player by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber had to be lifted.
In accordance with the parties’ request, the entire proceedings, including the arbitral award and the agreement shall remain confidential and the CAS will not comment on this matter any further.
On 25 September 2009, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber imposed, inter alia, a restriction of four months’ ineligibility on Mr Gaël Kakuta, and Chelsea FC was banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two complete, consecutive registration periods following the FIFA decision. The sanctions were stayed by the CAS until the award was issued.
Dear BC and friends,
I am not sure if i am doing a right thing, but since i got the privilege, i have added a note each under your comments and i have added my name in bracket (KarmaCW) thus implying that it is my reply. Hope it is fine.
Karma, nice to know you do have access to edit the blog looks.
Then how about putting a timestamp across each comment when it was posted, rather than the date when the author posted his blog. Just a suggestion.
Oh gosh, thats awkward. Looks like I myself replying to me.
Karma, I believe you are a good active blogger trying to make some positive amends. But I feel a comment section is the private section of the user and his free space. It might not send a good message if a blogger could alter the very writings of his blog users. Of course, the author can delete the comments if he finds them defamatory or irrelevant. Just a suggestion again.
Kudos to your zeal though.
Dear,
Actually i have not touched a bit about the actual comment, but you are right, when i reply right beneath someone’s comment, it seems disrespectful. But my idea was to reply to each friend and doing it altogether was bit uncomfortable. Anyway i take your advice to my heart. May be i should remove my replies.
I agree with Chelsito. Let’s leave the comments section as it is the ‘land of the commenters’. Also if you edit the comments the timestamp of the original comments get overwritten. Why dont you use the quote function instead for that’s what it’s meant for.
Dear BC and chelsito,
I am so thankful that two of you guided me and that i am back on track. I am so used to being advised and helped that without these i easily tend to get derailed. Thank you so much for the help, it is dearly heeded!
this blog is one of the best Chelsea blogs definitely…..please somebody take an effort to put this blog to chelseafc.com blogs tab….
Well Done Karma CW, hope to see more from you. Also, I thought we will be playing at Stamford Bridge on Sunday ?? Anyone please correct me if I am wrong.
Quoting Spyder
Yes, we do play at Stamford Bridge.
Now that there are two authors to the blog could we expect a Chelsea v/s Arsenal preview ? Or am I hoping too much ? After all its a big game.
karma, congrats on your first blog..
kinda of worried abt arsenal game.. we seem to be dropping points againts relegation teams ( hull , west ham) , which I hope don’t cost us .. crucial month for us – arsenal, everton, fa cup, inter milan and man city …
if jt is stripped off captaincy i wont bother about england in the world cup i just hope jt hits back by lifting epl and champs league crown