No heart attacks this time. The first half had everything in it to worry a Chelsea fan. Pompey were so poor that there was no way we were going to drop points. But still we had to score the second goal to ease our nerves. As soon as Chelsea scored the second goal, Pompey virtually surrendered the match. For Chelsea to win 5-0 even after numerous good saves by James shows the gulf between the teams.
Ancelotti did the right thing, finally, when he dropped Anelka to the bench. I’m glad he finally realised that Anelka does not deserve to start on current form. I don’t know if Anelka not starting and Chelsea scoring five goals in an away match are coincidences. Sturridge got a start which was good I again, on current form, I thought Kalou had a better case to make it to the starting line-up. Anyway, I was personally happy with Sturridge starting the match because I already rate him.
Lampard had a very good match. He was moving intelligently, got himself into good positions, had a few cracking shots on goal and also kept creating opportunities for others. Drogba got another brace, the first of it was a goal gift-wrapped with a note – ‘Dear Drogba. Please accept my gift. With love – David James’. The man of the show was Florent Malouda. He was everywhere. He deserved a hattrick. I think he is a great contender for the Chelsea player of the season award. He will have tough opposition but if I have to vote, I’d pick Malouda over Drogba for this season. There were many matches where Drogba was invisible and failed to show up. And there were many matches where he turned up the heat and carried us through. Whereas Malouda hardly had any poor matches this season. Whenever he was called upon, he has delivered the goods.
This is Carlo after the match:
We needed to have this performance. We needed to win, we did this and I hope the bad moment is finished. We have to wait until Saturday [against Aston Villa] because that is a very important test for us. If this test can be passed, this moment is finished. There are eight or nine games until the end of the season and we need to maintain this spirit. We have to prepare these nine games like a final.
A 5-0 win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park does not mean that our morale and confidence is back. If anything, it has helped us match the goal difference of Man Utd. Like Carlo said, we have to see how we fare against Aston Villa this weekend. If we don’t beat Villa this weekend, this 5-0 win means nothing. After saying the right thing, Carlo drops a bomb. He’s not sure if we have eight or nine matches left!!! It’s hard to believe that he doesn’t know how many matches are left! There are SEVEN matches left Carlo! SEVEN!
The match this weekend is the conclusive test of how much Chelsea wants to win this league title. If we don’t beat Villa this weekend, we might need to have other results go our way to win the title. See, if we win these seven (not eight, nine or twenty two) matches, that would mean Man Utd would win only six matches because it includes a match at Old Trafford. That additional win for Chelsea is good enough to put us on top. Arsenal, even if they win their seven matches on hand, they would still fall short. So, if we keep winning, we win the title. If we drop points, we need help from our rivals or the opponents of our rivals. A resounding win over Aston Villa could put us right back on track. Carlo needs to choose the right team and play the right tactic. Villa at Stamford Bridge is beatable. That’s all I’d say.
good post again BC,
a good win from the boys this morning (in australia). As you said, as soon as we got those first two goals i knew it was in the bag. It was great to see Malouda continue his rich vein of form. He has really come into his own this season with his crosses movement, distribution and goals. Lets hope it continues :). As for Sturridge, i thought he was poor. He needs more time i think, more matches. But i still feel Kalou should have started, as i love the energy he brings to the side. Sturridge just wasnt in it tonight. Maybe come June he will be gone. But having said that he is only 20.
All in all a good but expected result, lets hope it continues on saturday with a win over Aston Villa :)
BC,
Will you be posting my write up or can i comment it here? I hope you got my e-mail.
pattytrublu11,
Sturridge is a good prospect, don’t write him off so soon! Kalou is not better than him and if given as many chances as Kalou got, Sturridge will be far better! Kalou does best only coming from the bench.
thanx bc for that blog….great win….i thnk the boys whr hungry dis tym to score more goals 2nd half.it shud hv been worse for them bt thy whr lucky.good passes n opening spaces n creating chances n composure made us win the game but i still thnk chelsea hv to improve still.we just lack somethn…a play maker…hope we get 1 nxt season
It a goodthing to win pmouth and all we need is to beat astovilla and put more effort we are d best in england we have done it before and we can still do it again.
This season will not finish without a last twist, I can feel it. The first half was a very messy affair, with players trying to find fluidity, and the commentators calling for blood (or red cards), for two very freaky accidents, that I still don’t understand. They do not look anything dangerous but apparently, the two pompey players were sent straight to hospital… I wish them good recovery. Talking about injuries, is Carvalho ok?
The first goal, as you say was a gift and it’s good to see Chelsea getting a break. It hasn’t been the case lately, contrary to lucky boys man u… (I still can’t get passed the Torres misses, sigh)…
Malouda, was the man, on the wing, where he should always play. Chelsea’s barometer, lampard was up for the game, and when he is in the mood, it usually lifts chelsea’s spirit.
Let’s now turn our full attention to Aston Villa, who are a good side, even though Agbonlahor and Hesky might not make it to the game. But young is in top form and Carew is a very dangerous striker, as we all know.
Manchester goes to bolton, with Champions league on their mind, so there’s a possibility there, same for arsenal against birmingham, thinking about barcelona coming to town and also playing Tothenam a few days after a trip from barcelona (good odds)…
As for us, playing manchester united in the middle of two champions league, away and home is very promising. So, I’m being optimistic, and I hope the boys can deliver on saturday.
Guys, few months back when we were winning regularly and everyone was saying that we will win title by canter I had said on this forum that we will win nothing major…and sadly I am proving to be right…I said so because I didn’t see any major improvement from last seasons…as manager was new so players were playing out of their skin initially but as time passed by our same weaknesses came to the fore…we may curse Fergie for his old team comments but he was right on target…currently out team has totally lost its legs and absence of energetic A Cole and Essien has only aggravated the issue..there seems to be no energy and pace in team…likes of Ballack and Ferriera only drag the team back…its high time we stop harping on our ‘experienced players’ mantra to hide our weaknesses and phase out slow old players…we urgently need some young fresh blood, particularly in attack and midfield…
sorry to say, this season is gone…
BC gets justice – (Portsmouth 0:5 Chelsea)
Before the match Avarm Grant said that any of the top three (current) could win the EPL title, but I got a feeling: did he fancy us winning it? Before the game, so much was said about Piquionne’s ability and yes I would rate him the best Pompey player yesterday, even though David James comes very near for denying Lampsy on numerous occasions. Before the match the commentator said that Portsmouth have “nothing to lose” while Chelsea have “everything to lose”. And I am sure that our players heard this in the dressing room.
Reading, seeing and hearing all the pre-match stuffs, I had a feeling that we will win it; my IKTS prediction was 2:1 for us! But seeing the lineup of our boys, I got a feeling that we will win by a greater margin, but I didn’t expect a clean sheet (Hughes proved me wrong!).
The first 11:
I was ecstatic to see Sturridge and Deco on, and more ecstatic to see Nico and Ballack off. Like BC had been ranting it all over, Nico is not effective and finally Ancellotti took notes of it! BC gets justice! Oh, I was even ecstaticier (dictionary is not enough) to see Petr at the goal, not that Turnbull was bad but Cech is the best! On the first 11 I wasn’t quite comfortable seeing Sturridge at the right flank, but I took solace in the fact that it is better to play him at the right than to overcrowd the left flank when both Malouda and Zhirkov are playing.
The team played well but I was bit unhappy with Lampsy’s performance in the first half. Except for that shot on 10th minute, he was very poor wholly, but he resurrected fully in the second half and was a pleasant sight to watch.
Alex could possibly have had a goal had it not been for Joey’s wrong position!
Substitutions:
After Malouda scored the goal, I was hoping that Carlo would take him off while Sturridge takes the left flank and Joey the right. I wanted Malouda off because he is on yellow and we need him against Villa and Manu, I wanted him off because we were comfortable and Joey needs to play, I wanted him off for many reasons, but as usual Carlo tortured me till the final whistle. I sighed in relief that he didn’t see his second yellow. Of course Malouda is not a rough player but the intensity of his foul on Rocha would make the referee go easy-peasy to show the second yellow. May be he was kept so that he may find a hat trick, but I noticed that Malouda was becoming selfish once he scored his second goal, he was surely looking for the hat trick!
Nevertheless, I liked when Sturridge was taken off because he too was at risk and might even be targeted to injure by the opponents, we could never say. Sturridge was good, a team player and Joey did well too; I wonder how he missed that sitter after being put through by Lampsy’s clever ball!
We have problem at left back and i wanted to save Zhirkov for the upcoming matches. Carlo gets it spot on by introducing debutant Van Aanholt for Zhirkov. The 19-year-old did a brilliant job and I really liked the way he covered the left flank, he is tactically sound and pretty fast. He seems to be emulating Ashley; Aanholt’s pin-point cross gave an excellent chance for Drogba to find his hat trick, somehow our hero failed to connect properly. Where would have this lifted Van had Drogba tapped it in?
Goals:
1. I am not sure if it is Mikel or Riccy who passed the ball to Zhirkov who had to try hard to win it from onrushing O’Hara (this is a clear foul from Yuri although he seems to get a little touch on the ball). Whatsoever, Drogba deserves the full credit of the goal for having kept his hope and pressurised James on what was Deco’s poor throw ball; we must thank the Miss Luck of course!
2. Malouda’s goal was a beauty, and Lampard’s pass was his trademark!
3. Malouda is at the right place at the right time to smash a lovely goal, yet again kudos to Lampsy for that great shot! I don’t understand his goal celebration, I just hoped it was not against the Pompey fans!
4. And Drogba shows strength and power to score his second, and I would like to quote the commentator: “Once you get on the wrong side of Drogba, it is very difficult to get on the right side because of his physical strength”. This sums up all, it defines Drogba! Didier is at 24, only 2 behind Rooney!
5. Lampsy should have scored 3 goals by now, 1 in the first half and 2 in the second, and till the last minute I was hoping that he will score and yes he did! While it seems that he would surely find one of his trademark long-range goals, it came as a surprise when the goal was a close range tap in with his head! Lampsy is at 17, another 20+ goals from this wonder-man!
Pompey fans:
Whenever, there are some middle-table matches, I always watch the one where Pompeys play at Fratton Park because I love the atmosphere – that never-tiring chants and cheers, the consistent beating of the drums and other instruments – the way fans support their team.
As usual, I was expecting them to boo Terry, but they didn’t. Instead, correctly-wisely-adoringly, they chose to sing behind their players; I was touched, immensely! Their support for the players was awesome and I even got a feeling that this is a set of fans who are cheering in a World Cup Final game and their team is leading by 4/5 goals! Pompey might be losers, manager is hapless, players might be unhappy but amidst these dire situations there stands a winner: Pompey fans! I salute them and would always admire them. I pray for their quick comeback in the EPL.
Of course, after they lost 2 defenders in blood and blows, they took it on our players, Terry wasn’t spared then. Even then, it was not a booing with malice (like other fans intended) but the one which showed sorrow and sadness in being victimised of a slight injustice! All the fans didn’t boo and shortly afterwards Malouda was forgiven totally! Don’t forget that some traveling fans even booed our captain at the Bridge!
A little recap on Avarm Grant:
Avarm Grant had a decent time with us and he gave us the first CL Final, and had it not been for Terry’s ill-fated slip, Avarm would have become a hero, instantaneously! Only burning issue that I sort of can’t forget Avarm and forgive is on his decision to play 3 strikers when we were leading the match against the Tots in 2008 Carling Cup Final!
Yesterday, Avarm was all smiles pre-match, during the match and post-match, I get a feeling that he did fancy us! I loved the way he shared a light moment with Drogba during the game, and he even hugged Alex after the game. And I even heard the commentator say that he shook Malouda’s hands (to assure that it wasn’t a red).
I hope Riccy is fine and that Drogba limping off at the final whistle is nothing much to worry. On a similar note I would like to wish good health to Ricardo Rocha and Tommy Smith.
We are on equal goal difference with Manu.
And finally I got this fact from our website:
“Terry equals Ron Harris’s all-time record of 324 appearances as Chelsea captain.”
I am still googling for that little hearty ballet of Drogba and Hreidarsson!
Yeh fair point Karma…..i do still feel we need that one player to complete the squad, someone like an aguero, to add zealous to our attacks…good write up btw :)
BC, its actually 8 or 9 matches left till the end of the season, depending on we reaching the FA cup final. I think A. cole and B. Ivanovic are also the other major contenders for Chelsea player of the season. Ivanovic surely ahead of all.
Good analysis, Karma.
KTBFFH
Hi BC lovely post,I think carlo saying eight or nine games left he added the FA cup semi finals as well and if we beat Aston Villa,the final making it nine games altogether..I hope the bad times are over cos we need to win all seven premiership games to hv a chance of even winning the league….
@BC,
Carlo was refererring to FA cup games as well. Thats the reason he said we have 9 games till the end of the season.
If the Daily Mail is to be considered a reliable source for football news, then I think we might see Essien playing in our starting XI is one or two weeks time !
Apparently he’s undergoing a grueling training regime to get fit enough to play for the Blues again this season; he’s at Cobham from 8.30 am to 5 pm every single day. Now THATs what I call dedication. Hope to see our warrior back soon in the centre of our midfield.
In regards to the game last night, 5-0 as I had thought so correctly. Good game. Bring on Villa ?
KTBFFH !!
If Essien is fit for the match against Utd, we can surely win. People around me laugh when I say Essien is the best midfielder in the world. Its time for the Bison to prove them wrong.
We didnt do much first half, lucky goal but the second half was the exact opposite to what happened at Ewood park. Carlo got the hair drier out for sure. Everyone performed in the second half. Van Aanholt and Ryan Bertrand are going to be legends.
Essien, we all hope and pray for your quick return.
There are SEVEN matches left Carlo! SEVEN!.. and stop fcuking around like you dont know this!! next thing the season finishes and he doesnt know…
no denver, there are eight matches left. If we win against Villa in FA cup final, then we´ll have one more. So its you guys who have forgotten the counting.
no denver, there are eight matches left. If we win against Villa in FA cup semi-final, then we´ll have one more. So its you guys who have forgotten the counting.
Yeah…8 for sure and if we win against Villa it will be 9, so Carlo is right “8 or 9″.
About Chelsea’s player of the season, my vote will be for Ivanovic, or may be Malouda (if i can vote twice)!
News in brief:
Riccy will be out for about 4 weeks;
Drogba is fine after limping off at the final whistle at Fratton park;
Essien is nearing his come back, i just hope we won’t rush him back;
Malouda reaches double figures first time in his Chelsea career, 11 goals as of 26 march 2010;
Sturridge is not punished by FA (his incident on Tommy Smith);
Youth reaches anotehr FA Cup Final, will play either Newscastle or Villa on 8 April 2010 (i prefer Newscastle because the venue is at Villa Park);
Ricardo Rocha is available this weekend;
Avarm Grant said this about Malouda:
“I can tell you, on the record, that Malouda is one of the most sporting players I’ve ever encountered. He is neither malicious nor aggressive.
“At the same time, though, it was not the best of challenges. It was much more a case, in my eyes, of going for the man rather than the ball.
“Luckily Ricardo is not as seriously injured as we first feared and he should be available for us at the weekend.
No, we have ONE match left, because every single game from now on must be played as if it is our LAST!!! KTBFF effin’ HIGH!!!
Ho ho ho! I knew that. Of course the only way Carlo could have got it (number of matches) wrong was by including FA Cup matches. In the current scenario, why would you even think about the FA Cup. I know we are so close to winning the FA Cup again but I wouldn’t think twice to dump FA Cup if I can convert a draw into a win in the remaining matches. Including the FA Cup matches while he spoke tells me something about his focus or the lack of it. Or does he think winning the FA Cup would make this a successful season?
[quote comment="81058"]Ho ho ho! I knew that. Of course the only way Carlo could have got it (number of matches) wrong was by including FA Cup matches. In the current scenario, why would you even think about the FA Cup. I know we are so close to winning the FA Cup again but I wouldn’t think twice to dump FA Cup if I can convert a draw into a win in the remaining matches. Including the FA Cup matches while he spoke tells me something about his focus or the lack of it. Or does he think winning the FA Cup would make this a successful season?[/quote]
Thats a bit harsh on the old man mate. I am sure had he said only 7 matches remaining, some section might have cried out loud that he has no intentions of winning the FA cup. And After all, if we can really concentrate on the 7 PL games then why not the two extra games, it does hands us a respected trophy. Now since the odds being well against us winning the PL, if he does lose the FA cup too, I bet you we on this blog would be the first to slate him for winning zilch in his first season.
[quote comment="81059"]Thats a bit harsh on the old man mate. I am sure had he said only 7 matches remaining, some section might have cried out loud that he has no intentions of winning the FA cup. And After all, if we can really concentrate on the 7 PL games then why not the two extra games, it does hands us a respected trophy. Now since the odds being well against us winning the PL, if he does lose the FA cup too, I bet you we on this blog would be the first to slate him for winning zilch in his first season.[/quote]
Good response! With just 7 premier league games and potentially two FA Cup games remaining, the question of what you want the most is looming large on the horizon.
Option A: Give your EVERYTHING, throw EVERYTHING at the premier league title
Option B: Don’t miss out on the FA Cup. We absolutely want the FA Cup while we are challenging for the title.
Option C: Balance between premier league and FA Cup title
If Carlo chooses Option A and gives it a real go for the title, I would totally appreciate the effort and not slate him. Option B doesn’t give anything new for us. Inter fans want them to win the champions league because they win the Serie A season after season. We have won the FA Cup and League Cup. It is the premier league we must give our all. So I don’t think Option B should be our way. Option C doesn’t get us anywhere given our injury situation, age, fatigue and all that.
See, the title challenge this season is a bit different than that of the last few. I don’t think we stood a chance to win the title in the past season as we are now with 7 matches to go. We can win the FA Cup but because of fatigue if we allow a stoppage time equaliser in a premier league match, that would be criminal.
I want to see a real charge by Chelsea especially because our rivals have champions league distractions (which they can’t ignore) and we only have our FA Cup distraction (which we can ignore), that surely must give us an edge. Let’s run a poll later on. It’s an interesting topic.
Agreed BC. Poll is the order of the day.
Infact, you could have strengthened your point by referring to the Avram Grant season, where Chelsea were in the race for 3 trophies. We went strong on all three fronts and ended up missing all 3 by a whisker.
Well Carlo says from now on we have to take every game as a final, and BC if we win this semi-final against Villa, then the final is far behind at the end of the season. So I´m sure players will get enough rest for that. There is no more CL-games for us, so our players will get enough rest for each and every match from now on. So for me its 8 matches, and 9 if we grab a victory against Villa. They both are absolutely possible, without having a lot to gamble!
and i wish manures and specially Arse-anals to reach semi-finals, so that they´ll simply have more games to play. then i wish they´ll get knocked-out!
and i wish manures and specially Arse-anals to reach semi-finals, so that they´ll simply have more games to play. then i wish they´ll get knocked-out..!
[quote comment="81053"]no denver, there are eight matches left. If we win against Villa in FA cup final, then we´ll have one more. So its you guys who have forgotten the counting.[/quote]
honestly bro i was counting the matches that matter…! …. the EPL match.. to be champions….!!
player of the season is Ivano.. even tough he is out for the season.
[quote comment="81066"][quote comment="81053"]no denver, there are eight matches left. If we win against Villa in FA cup final, then we´ll have one more. So its you guys who have forgotten the counting.[/quote]
honestly bro i was counting the matches that matter…! …. the EPL match.. to be champions….!!
player of the season is Ivano.. even tough he is out for the season.[/quote]
bro, EPL and FA both counts if you look at the fixtures. Our fixures are not so packed like that of Arse-anals and Manures, and therefore our players will get enough rest for each match.
[quote comment="81067"][quote comment="81066"][quote comment="81053"]no denver, there are eight matches left. If we win against Villa in FA cup final, then we´ll have one more. So its you guys who have forgotten the counting.[/quote]
honestly bro i was counting the matches that matter…! …. the EPL match.. to be champions….!!
player of the season is Ivano.. even tough he is out for the season.[/quote]
bro, EPL and FA both counts if you look at the fixtures. Our fixures are not so packed like that of Arse-anals and Manures, and therefore our players will get enough rest for each match.[/quote]
man fuck that.. are you telling me if u had to choose between the EPL and FA CUP.. you would pick the FA…
honestly which would you pick???????
we won it last year… ! and 07 season… but we have missed out ont he EPL 3 fucking season… 3….. man the epl counts! oh it would be nice to get back to back fa cups, but the FA does not say we are CHAMPIONS of ENGLAND…
[quote comment="81068"]
man fuck that.. are you telling me if u had to choose between the EPL and FA CUP.. you would pick the FA…
honestly which would you pick???????
we won it last year… ! and 07 season… but we have missed out ont he EPL 3 fucking season… 3….. man the epl counts! oh it would be nice to get back to back fa cups, but the FA does not say we are CHAMPIONS of ENGLAND…[/quote]
Chill Denver chill.
All Bluegenes aka IWMJ is trying to say is that, if we are by any stretch of imagination capable of stealing the PL by winning all 7 games, then we can, at the same time, give some attention to the FA semi. You see its an easier task than to compete against the best in CL, which our rivals shall be busy with. The best way to see it would be to consider we have 8 games in hand and not worry about the final which would be far late enough to provide adequate rest to the tired souls.
Probably the difference in opinion might be the reason why BC agreed on poll. But I doubt before he puts up the poll we might have squandered on the slim hope. I am sick of Chelsea’s instability. Sorry for knee-jerking. After winning the mini-league amongst the Big 4 in the 1st half of the season, I was adamant that the trophy was ours. So let me see how this reverse psychology works.
KTBFFH
@ Denver:
I´d take both. There are only 7 EPL games and 1 FA cup game now, and between almost every EPL game we have one week break. SO its not a big deal.
i was just checking the stats. It seems this season we have already score a total of incredible 104 goals in all competitions this year. its 10 more than Manures and 9 more than gunners. Is that our new club record of some sort?
Both IS a do-able option Denver
Man Utd and Arsenal could potnentially play two games a week for over a month. The chances of these teams being worn down as they fight to make history is going to take its toll.
When Arsenal fly high, they fall low. Some may remember the way Arsenal fly high and then just drop in form. This game against Birmingham is interesting and I think Birmingham may take Arsenal out of things.
Man Utd just have to lose to us so we can indefinitely claim the barclays premiership title. I’ve put a bet on with a friend over this now. He thinks Man Utd, I say Chelsea.
A win against Villa in the cup game means we get a month of rest. For focus on one game, for the possible returns of Essien, Carvahlo, Ashley Cole and Ivanovic. We could well end up against Portsmouth again :D
Its an easy trophy which in addition to the league title, gives us a historic double. We’ve come this far, me might as well finish the job.
Tomorrow we’d usually be in slight worry, Villa do give us trouble and Carlo isn’t the slickest of coaches in the defensive region, they need to get Steve Clarke back. However, Milner, Agbonlhor? and Heskey are all injured. So that leaves a quite average team. I like Villa, but I really expect them to get owned tomorrow. 3-0 win and DD to be involved in every one of them.
I have a few crazy ideas of late. I think Patrick Van Aanholt should start at leftback. I think we should play diamond and at some point, maybe when we have Essien, we should experiment with subbing Ballack in at the tip of the diamond for ballack or even mikel. Would be good to see what options Ancelotti really has when Lampard is misfiring. Villa are alot more aggressive than Portsmouth, they won’t let Frank toy with the keeper. When Lampard isn’t playing well, when he isn’t around, who drives the team between attack and midfield. Joe Cole can, Malouda can, but we need another middle option. Ballack can double up as a target man and his fitness won’t be an issue if he plays the final 30 at 1-1. Just saying we needed him once and he stepped up to man utd for a brace a few seasons back, brilliant memory.
I was just having a real think and with all the talk of our youth academy, why don’t we see them like the other teams show theirs? Everyone keeps saying oh, it they’ll be seen over the next few years. There’s talk of their success but we don’t see the gems of the team. The players who are driving the academy team should be making regular appearances for us. Look how Darron Gibson came out of nowhere for man utd. Huddlestone is having a notable season. It looked like Kakuta might have seen a few more games but it didn’t happen.
We are short on numbers. If we need options, why not actually explore them? Safely of course but Van Aanholt did very well in his month at Newcastle, and he can obviously attack so maybe he could become our regular backup leftback? no?
It would be good to consider it now providing Villa do put out ashley young as their only attacking threat. Downing and Carew are both injured apparrently. I wouldn’t by any means let him play against man utd unless zhirkov was poor. We always envy watching Arsenal in fa and carling cup and all their youngsters beating premiership teams. We hate seeing “fergie signs starlet”, personally, I want Ancelotti to be the guy that overturns the worlds opinion on our young stars and then show Mourinho the finger
This is the game that will decide if we genuinely deserve to be title contenders. Aston Villa are a very good side led by a very good manager. They are a team that want to make it to the Champions League with the help of talented young players and their abilities alone. That said, I think they are still beatable from the point of view of a team like Chelsea and so if we are not able to do just that today, then I think it can be fair to say that we do not deserve the title this season.
After the 5-0 thumping of Porstmouth though I think our players have gotten back their confidence slightly. Lamps, who looked lost against Inter and Blackburn, has gotten that self-belief back with a goal and a bagful of chances against Pompey. Cech too should’ve come back to 100% match fitness after 90 minutes at Fratton Park, along with JT and Alex who managed to keep a cleansheet (not a very difficult task against the opposition but morale-boosting nonetheless).
I think this should be our starting line-up:
——————————————Cech————————————————
—-Ferreira——————JT———————Alex——————–Zhirkov——-
————————————–Mikel—————————————————-
————————————————Lampard————————————–
—–J.Cole—————————————————————Malouda————
————————Drogba——————Kalou—————————————-
I think if Joey underperforms we should get Ballack in at around 60 minutes so that he is fresh and has half an hour to make his presence felt and as TruePlatinum said, he can be very useful as the game against United 2 years ago proved. Same goes for Anelka who can come on for Kalou if the Ivorian fails to make an impact.
I’m going for a 2-0 with DD on the score sheet in the first 20 minutes and a 60th-65th minutes goal from Super Franky. United dropping points at the Reebok wouldn’t be too bad either.
KTBFFH !!
[quote comment="81073"]I was just having a real think and with all the talk of our youth academy, why don’t we see them like the other teams show theirs? Everyone keeps saying oh, it they’ll be seen over the next few years. There’s talk of their success but we don’t see the gems of the team. The players who are driving the academy team should be making regular appearances for us. Look how Darron Gibson came out of nowhere for man utd. Huddlestone is having a notable season. It looked like Kakuta might have seen a few more games but it didn’t happen…… [/quote]
Very true TP. I think for all the blame that Arnesen gets, our academy has recently shown good improvements. Its very evident from the fact that we are into our second youth cup final in 3 years. You just can’t ignore the present bunch who made it to the final by thumping Blackburn to a 5-0 aggregate. There are some really bright prospects. The likes of Bruma, Pappoe in defence and midfield consisting of Conor clifford (Lampard-esque), Mc eachran, Djalo, Tore, Sala are genuine talents. But in Chelsea, we never had a tradition of players coming through the academy into first team. With regards to playing youth, Ancelloti does deserve some credit. I didn’t see any chelsea manager including Jose giving chance to youth. Then too its so disappointing to see Carlo no more fielding Kakuta, Matic, Borini even after their small cameos. As someone stated in previous post, that he hesitates to play them even when we are 4-0 up at 60th minute. How else are they going to get the needed match time.
And yes, I did see a Newcastle game where Aanholt did shine. He is full of energy going forward and has a lethal left foot shoot, but I couldn’t make out his defensive capabilities as cardiff hardly attacked.
PS: I am not advocating Wenger’s youth project. But yes, a certain Mr. Rednose.
Close down Milner and Carew today and a win is secured. DD 1, Malouda 2 and maybe Anelka 1.
I want to see van Aanholt play most of second half.
Well said TruePlatinum I always enjoyed reading your comments. Haven’t been on this blog for over a year now. Blue Champion your articles just get better like a fine wine. cheers
It’s great to read something that’s both enjoyable and provides pragatmsidc solutions.
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