Who Scored Chelsea's Goal?

Yes, who did score Chelsea’s winning 93^rd minute goal against the Toffees at Stamford Bridge on Saturday??

I was at the Bridge for the early game, which had promised to be a spectacle between Mourinho’s  League topping side and a re-energised Roberto Martinez' Everton.  In fact it fell short of the mark.  I am boring myself going on about rotation of the team and considering the players had all had a week's rest it is probably a moot point.  So why did the players (with the exception of the back four - so pleased to have JT back in the team)  seem so sluggish and lacking pace?   Oscar in particular seemed to struggle, so much so that Mourinho substituted him at half time.


When questioned about Oscar's recent disappointing form the Portugese Manager suggested the young player was struggling with the English weather - I am sure the victims of the recent floods will be pleased to know there is so much empathy for them at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho swapped one Brazilian for another bringing on an 'injured' Ramires- I would never have guessed the midfielder was injured had I not heard Jose saying so in the post match interview. Ramires injected more urgency and pace into the sleepy home side.  In-fact it was one of his signature runs into space which rattled the experienced England defender Phill Jagielka into making a rash challenge and giving away the free kick which Chelsea scored from.

Frank Lampard’s free kick which resulted in Chelsea’s  injury time goal was the highlight of the match for me, other than Jose Mourinho stepping onto the pitch during the game when challenging  a startled looking Lee Probert!!  In the stadium the goal was initially attributed to John Terry but my other half texted saying on TV it had been given to Frank Lampard.  I assumed Lamps must be responsible for the goal if declared so on television as they have access to different camera angles and unlimited replays that could be slowed right down.   So I walked home from what had been a disappointing game with a spring in my step as not only had we managed to pick the pockets of an organised Everton (who deserved at least to get something out of the game), but also that the three important points we had won were thanks to Super Frankie Lampard.  I say I walked home, but I actually had to go on a detour via the market on the North End Road (which seemed way more threatening than a football stadium full of 41,837 fanatical fans)  in order to buy ripe mangoes.  My younger daughter’s boyfriend’s parents were over from Spain for the weekend and I got roped into cooking Sunday roast, and was given many unsubtle hints about how our important guests love mango and how better to serve it than on a home-made Pavlova!!! 

On arriving home I discovered the goal had been given to John Terry after all.  I eagerly awaited MOTD to watch the highlights of the game and have a better look at the goal.  The panel on MOTD debated at length who was responsible for the goal – they included an Ivanovic header and an own goal by Tim Howard as third and fourth possibilities.

It reminded me of a game of Cluedo: was it Frank Lampard with the foot in the green grass, or Branislav Ivanovic with his hair in the clear air, or John Terry with a boot in the six yard box, or Tim Howard with a glove in front of the goal??!!

MOTD invited the audience to vote who they thought scored Chelsea's goal after reviewing the re plays (which showed the ball definitely making no contact with Ivanovic’s head and seemingly no contact with Terry’s stretched out leg).  The audience vote went for an own goal from Tim Howard (with 2% of the viewer’s remarkably voting for Ivanovic even though he was the only one of the four options which had been ruled out completely – at times like this I have to remind myself that diversity is what makes life so interesting!)  I still choose to give the goal to Frank as it was his beautifully placed free kick which initiated the whole debate.

The ‘who scored the goal’ question also reminded me of (I am not only about to age myself but also give away my dreadful TV watching habits):

“Who shot JR?”

And more recently:

“Who shot Phil?”

(For younger readers, these phrases refer to story lines from the TV Soaps Dallas and EastEnders – if you’re still wondering what I am banging on about, in the words of my husband – when he is fed up of me asking him annoying questions – ‘Google is your friend!!’)

It seems appropriate to be talking about Soap operas in light of our enigmatic Manager’s latest shenanigans – I personally want to thank the ‘disgraceful’ reporter who secretly recorded the Special One’s words.  I am so grateful for the knowledge that Mourinho is aware that his strikers can’t score!

                                                                                                                                                                             

Building Bridges

On the eve of tomorrow's inaugural "Game for Equality" being held at Stamford Bridge, I find myself assessing my own take on the continued fight for 'equality' and against discrimination.

Tomorrow's lunchtime Premier League clash between Chelsea and Everton has been chosen to be the first 'Game for Equality' and sees Chelsea FC's Building Bridges initiative join forces with Kick it Out, Football v Homophobia, the Premier League and the FA to underline Football's commitment to tackle discrimination in all guises.  Building Bridges was launched by Chelsea back in 2010 to promote equality in the Club, amongst the supporters and local communities, working alongside schools and related organisations to celebrate diversity.

Chelsea's Senegalese striker Demba Ba, who has been the subject of discrimination in the past for his race and religion (he is a practising Muslim), and is the Club's ambassador for the Building Bridges campaign said:

“I’m proud to be asked to be the ambassador for this campaign as it is important we as a club stand up to all forms of discrimination. I support all work promoting equality, and believe days like this will help get the message out there. There is no place for discrimination. Our club and our communities should be open to all regardless of race, religion, gender or sexuality.”

Whilst reading about tomorrow's commendable initiative I started to feel very guilty about a recent and impulsive reaction I had experienced watching the Blues News feature on the Chelsea Women's football team.  They were heralding the arrival of this Winter's seventh signing for the Women's team and my gut instinct was: (I apologise in advance to my sex for what I am about to write!) 'why are they wasting their money on the Women's game?'  As much as I love Men's football, I really struggle watching the Ladies equivalent.  It is not for want of trying - my husband's niece is a very talented footballer and was even selected for the England U17 team a few years ago - her selection got me interested in Women's football - at that time it was not as readily accessible but I managed to watch the odd game or two and I could not last the full 90 minutes.  I can watch any football game with male players but can't muster enthusiasm for the Women's game.  The question is does this make me sexist?  Could I be accused of discriminating against my own gender?  Is it because Women's football is not as intense or physical as the Men's game? Am I just not finding it as entertaining?  Does that qualify as discrimination or personal preference?  I am not sure of the answers to these questions - deep down and in light of the recent focus on discrimination, I think I may be guilty of it even if it is against my own gender.  I hold my hands up.... and I apologise to my sex....

Discrimination is closer than we think - it is inside each and every one of us in some form or another.

The first step is to recognise it.

Having admitted to my own failings, I now realise it has been years since I watched the Women's game and my prejudice has fuelled the dearth. One Google search of Women's football and I came up with this interesting fact:

"Women's football offers itself as an increasingly viable sport in its own right.  The 2011 World Cup final was at the time the most tweeted event in Twitter's five-year history."

Thanks to Building Bridges my eyes have been opened to my prejudice but the big question is will I be able to overcome it?  I guess I will only know once the Women's season starts in April.

A Mourinho moan

Although I am a pretty sad to be writing about our unusually early exit from the FA Cup competition, I am by no means surprised.

Even before kick-off at the Etihad, yesterday afternoon, I had pretty much resigned to the fact that Manchester City would once again be responsible for ending Chelsea’s Cup hopes.  This wasn’t me taking my standard pessimistic stance, I actually had some valid reasons for my negativity.   Firstly, I assumed Manchester City would be out for blood after being humiliated at the Etihad by Jose Mourinho’s  ‘little horse’ some twelve days prior to the fifth round tie (this was confirmed by Vincent Kompany in a post-match interview who said: “we wanted revenge”).  Secondly, Chelsea’s starting line-up set off alarm bells in my head.  Contrary to the commentators who hailed it as a strong team, all I could see was that Jose had chosen the same old knackered 10 men to start as in the previous three matches – he obviously hadn't read my last post where I had criticised him for not rotating the team and resting players (or maybe he read it and chose to ignore it!!). The fact that this was a Cup tie made Jose’s choices even more unfathomable – it is customary in Cup ties for manager’s to rotate their team and start the second goal keeper.

Accordingly, Manuel Pellegrini had made four changes from the side which drew 0-0 with Norwich and six changes from the side which lost to Chelsea on the 3^rd of February.  Predictably, the 6 foot 8 inch tall Romanian, Costel Pantilimon, who had lost out to Joe Hart as first choice keeper, was in goal for City.  City had also benefited from a longer rest period between matches as their mid week fixture with Sunderland had been postponed due to bad weather.  Why on earth had Jose not started Mark Schwarzer in goal?  The ex-Fulham and Australian keeper has never given me cause to doubt him or his performance – I have never felt even close to the levels of anxiety I experienced when seeing Ross Turnball in goal – I feel like by leaving him on the bench, Mourinho was giving Schwarzer a vote of 'no confidence' – as he was to Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Oscar, Andre Schurrle, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba (well maybe not Ba!!).  Not starting Ashley Cole and Frank, in particular, irks me (assuming they are match fit as indicated by their presence on the bench).  Leaving them out of the team is definitely going to reduce their chances of being selected by Roy Hodgson for the World Cup in Brazil this Summer – it is most likely the last opportunity for these ‘thirty something’ year olds to take part in such a tournament.  Also in the absence of John Terry at the helm, I would always choose to start with the experience and leadership qualities of Frank Lampard – statistics back up this argument – the team always performs better when JT and or Frank are in the line-up.  I will take a few minutes out from Jose Bashing to applaud ‘Captain Fantastic’ (again! - see post form October 10^th 2013!!):  JT has been an inspiration in the team this season; his authority, character and solid and reassuring presence in the defence has been sorely missed the last few games – for me  David Luiz is an inadequate replacement.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of the flamboyant Brazilian with big hair when he plays in midfield, but I find him far too cavalier to be a reliable centre half.

Just one last moan about Mourinho – I found his recent comments about Arsene Wenger being a ‘specialist in failure’ far too personal and more importantly unprofessional. I appreciate that it is a tactic of the Portugese manager to play mind games in order to undermine his rival teams and managers, and I, like most of the British media,  look forward to hearing his 'war of words',  but I prefer it when he is more subtle in his derision.  I am not a fan of Arsene Wenger and accept that eight years with no silverware is not exactly an example of success but I don't think building a new stadium with limited funds while retaining Champion's League football year after year, is a sign of failure. I would rather Jose conducted himself with more dignity and professionalism. I think he went a step too far this time and his comments may back fire on him. I truly hope this is the last post which is dedicated to moaning (about Mourinho).

So before I finish my moaning post, I may as well make the most of it! Not only did Chelsea lose to Manchester City but they did so in the worst possible fashion – by being feeble and lack lustre and in the words of the ‘special one’:  “they were poor”.  I can unhappily say each and everyone of the eleven men on the pitch played a big part in the 'poorness' of the team's 'poor' performance.  Maybe I am letting the players off the hook too easily by blaming their second rate display on mismanagement and exhaustion.... I'll never know the answer to that.

Well I guess no one can accuse me of having blind faith in my team and it's manager!

The new owner of Fulham FC, Shahid Khan, is desperate to break Roman Abramovich's record of how many managers/coaches he can hire and fire in the shortest time possible.  I am sad to see Ray Wilkins lose his position as assistant head coach after only some 10 weeks but I did wonder how Khan could possibly find room (and justification) for Felix Magath, Renee Meulensteen, Alan Curbishley and Ray Wilkins!! I have always thought Wilkins was an important member of Chelsea's coaching staff and his dismissal back in 2010 started a downward spiral for the club.  I guess on the plus side I will benefit from his pearls of wisdom on his return to Sky Sports commentary.

I feel this has been a very negative post so I think I should end on a lighter note.  A quote borrowed from a fellow football fan's blog:

"Who said Arsenal didn't make a purchase in the transfer window? They bought Howard Webb!!"

Why????

Why did we work so hard to gain three points from the mighty Manchester City just to carelessly throw two points away onto a snowy pitch at the Hawthorns last night.

The Baggies scored an 87th minute equaliser through a Victor Anichebe header, neutralising Branislav Ivanovic's goal from the first half stoppage time.

I admit Chelsea's record at West Brom has not been great of late (having lost our last two clashes at the Hawthorns) and the Baggies nearly upset the Mourinho home record apple cart when they almost clinched a win at Stamford Bridge back in November - you may recall the stoppage time (and score equalising) penalty awarded to Chelsea for a tackle on Ramires (he dived!!) which sparked off the whole 'sorry gate' incident. I was hoping in the absence of Shane Long (who was starting to make a habit of scoring against Chelsea), and considering our recent form, it may be a straight forward win - but deep down I had the same niggling doubt that has been fostered inside me by our inconsistent and often inexplicable form over the last few seasons.

Going back to last night, I have to admit the Russian stream my husband had found me to watch the game did a lot to add to my frustrations, firstly because it seemed to mimic the Blue performance by stuttering at rather crucial points of the match and secondly because the Russian commentator sounded way too jolly and kept up his upbeat commentary as the Blues hopes of increasing their lead to four points at the top of the table faded away.

Pepe Mel's side basically parked the bus in the first half and Mourinho's men couldn't find a way through. Although Chelsea did seem in control of the game in the first half and early in the second, for me they were lack lustre and basically looked knackered.  After the match Mourinho said:



 "For 60 minutes there was only one team and that team couldn't kill the game."

He went on to add that they had sat too deep in the second half and attributed this sitting deep to:

"A little bit of a lack of personality."

I am going to stick my neck on the line here and not only criticise the 'best manager in the world' but actually blame him for last night's half hearted performance.  In fact I would go as far as blaming it on his 'lack of imagination' as oppose to the players' lack of personality.

I honestly think the eleven men who played against Manchester City last Monday evening gave everything and more.  Of those eleven, nine started against Newcastle six days later and ten of them started again last night after only two days break. I know the usual arguments of how they should be able to cope with a busy schedule but the point is that the match at the Etihad was no ordinary game - it took everything out of the players.  What is the point of having a squad with depth if you don't use them - why not rotate the team for last night's game?  Is the 'Happy One' also the 'Superstitious One'?  Is this his version of playing with the same 'winning' lucky pants without washing them?

TIREDNESS KILLS

Obviously that is a Government warning related to driving but the point is that fatigue affects one's judgement: to pass when you should hold the ball, to take an extra touch when you should pass, to sit too deep, to challenge too late, to pass too long, to pass to the opposition, to lose your temper when you normally have a cool head...... - the list is endless but includes a lot of the sloppy mistakes I saw our players making last night.

You may disagree with my take on last night's game and in a way I hope I am wrong as I really don't want to feed the 'doubting' monster that is growing inside me.

A Little Hoarse!

….is the sound of my voice, after 90 minutes of cheering on Mourinho’s ‘little horse’ at Stamford Bridge, yesterday afternoon.

The early kick off at Anfield may have been partially responsible for the state of my vocal chords.  Liverpool was hosting Arsene Wenger’s League topping side.  I was in my bedroom preparing for my visit to Stamford Bridge (layering thermals!) knowing the battle between the first and fourth place teams was about to kick off when I heard the familiar ‘boing’ of my husband’s Fotmob app on his phone, heralding a ‘goal’.   Surely the app must have confused it’s ‘kick off’ sound with the ‘goal’ one.   The match was being televised on BT Sport and I had to urge my other half to find me a stream asap –apologies to feminists out there but I am definitely dependent on his cyber prowess, especially as I am a technological ‘little donkey’!  Sure enough when the stream began the score line was already 1-0 to Liverpool after two and a half minutes of play (I later discovered Martin Skrtel  had scored from a Gerrard free kick in the first minute of the match).  The next nineteen minutes were possibly the most exhilarating burst of football I have had the privilege of watching during live play.  It felt like I was watching the highlights of the game on MOTD.  A rattled Arsenal struggled to settle against a surging Liverpool side that had raced out of the blocks and was relentless in it’s attack.  Twenty minutes into the first half Liverpool were already 4-0 up.  The match ended 5-1 and Mingolet was denied a clean sheet when Arsenal was awarded a 68 minute penalty – hardly a consolation.  The final score could have been 8 or 9 in favour of Brendan Rodger’s boys, had Suarez not hit the post and Sturridge and Sterling squandered a few easy chances.  The SAS (Suarez and Sturridge) strike partnership was not only firing on all cylinders but was joined by a couple of other ‘S’s – Skrtel scored two goals as did Raheem Stirling, who narrowly missed out on a hat-trick.  I’ll stop going on about it but I would urge you to try and watch at least the first twenty minutes of the game if you missed it.  I fear Liverpool is definitely joining the three horse race (two and a half according to Jose!).

So having shouted my head off at four goals shooting past Szczesny in 20 minutes, I headed off to Stamford Bridge in the knowledge that a win against Newcastle would see Chelsea leap frog Arsenal in the table. Whether we then went on to top the table would depend on Norwich City’s ability to contain Manuel Pellegrini’s no longer invincible side.

My older daughter, who was unamused at being dragged out of bed at 1 pm, accompanied me.  She had been very keen on going with me prior to her Friday night out.  She was ‘hanging’ and got even more disgruntled when a steward took away her bottle of water which she was sucking on as we entered the stadium.  We got to our seats in time to see Petr Cech receiving an award from Peter Bonetti to mark his record breaking clean sheet achievement.  As we waited for the teams to come through the tunnel, I stuffed an extra strong mint into my daughter’s mouth in order to mask her alcohol breath – but she rightly pointed out that we were surrounded by fans with ‘beer breath’!!

There were two changes from the starting line-up that beat Manchester City last Monday night, JT and Ramires were given a well-deserved rest (first league game this season where John Terry hasn’t led the team out), probably in anticipation of our midweek clash with West Brom.  David Luiz moved back into his centre half role alongside Gary Cahill, Frank Lampard came back into midfield and Oscar joined Willian and Hazard behind Eto’o. 

Newcastle United, who have been cast in the role of a club in crisis in the aftermath of the derby defeat by Sunderland and the departure of director of football Joe Kinnear and star player Johan Cabaye, started the game well.  In the absence of their suspended striker Loic Remy, Moussa Sissoko and Hatem Ben Arfa created chances that forced saves from Petr Cech, making the ‘little horse’ look vulnerable.

It wasn’t long before the ‘little horse’ found its feet and surged ahead thanks to the dancing feet of the talented young Belgian Eden Hazard. An energised Branislav Ivanovic, buoyed from his winning goal at the Etihad, return passed the ball to the feet of the Belgian International who had made one of his signature runs into the box, enabling him to score the first goal of the match. A few minutes later, Hazard impressively combined with Samuel Eto’o to score his second of the afternoon and  in the second half the Belgian converted a penalty awarded by referee Howard Webb, achieving his first hat-trick for Chelsea (I was thrilled to discover that as well as Thorgan, Eden has two more brothers – imagine four Hazards in our team!!). Mohamed Salah made his debut in the last 10 minutes of the game.  Although he showed promise, nerves got to him and he was unable to finish a couple of good chances.


As Howard Webb's whistle signalled our 3-0 victory, the distinctive voice of Neil Barnett boomed over the tannoy, announcing that Norwich City had held Manchester City to a 0-0 draw at Carrow Road.
 
The ‘little horse’ was top of the table!

For those of you who don’t understand the references to ‘little horse’ they resulted from Mourinho’s words when being pressed on Chelsea’s chances as title contenders.  The canny Portugese manager continuously insists his side are not serious title contenders this season:

“The title race is between two horses and a little horse that needs milk and needs to learn how to jump, maybe next season we can race!”

Pellegrini responded: “little, but very rich!”

That’s ‘rich’ coming from him!!

Mourinho’s Monday Night Master Class

Or maybe it should be:

'Mourinho’s Manchester City Massacre'

You may think a 1-0 score line doesn’t justify the use of the word ‘massacre’, but few of the statistics of this game are a true reflection of the scale of the victory. 

Looking at the numbers, any neutral would be excused for thinking that Chelsea had parked the bus and nicked a lucky goal on the counter attack.  When I first saw the line up before the game, with six defenders in the eleven man starting line-up, I too thought that Mourinho may have reverted to the Sam Allerdyce 19^th Century tactics in order to tame the Manchester City beast that has been ravaging any Premiership side that dares set boot on the Etihad turf.  City had won their previous 11 league fixtures at home and had not gone without scoring at the Etihad since November 2010.

Aside from the opening 20 minutes of the match, I can honestly say Chelsea was the better side (yes Manuel Pellegrini, the best team DID win), playing with solid and purposeful defence, as well as energetic and penetrative offense.  Nemanja Matic, who had his first league start on his return to Chelsea, managed the perfect balance of cautious protection and assertive attacking. The Serbian not only effectively neutralised the threat of the prolific giant Ivorian midfielder, Yaya Toure, but he also nearly doubled Chelsea’s goal tally when his long range shot rattled the bar (he was not the only one to play chopsticks with the goal posts, Cahill’s header and Samuel Eto’o’s strike also clattered the bar).   Although Matic was awarded ‘Man of the Match’, the accolade could have been given to a handful of Chelsea players: Gary Cahill threw everything and the kitchen sink at the 2011/12 League Champions; Eden Hazard impressed as always but did so with a new found belief;  Willian ran his Brazilian socks off with even a little more vigour (if possible) than his fellow countryman Ramires;  Petr Cech  made two tumultuous saves;  Azpilicueta made the immensely dynamic Jesus Navas look pedestrian at times; Branislav Ivanovic scored a thundering centre forward goal with his left boot from 25 yards out as well as throwing his marigolds at Cahill’s kitchen sink;  David Luiz played an uncharacteristically  controlled game, shadowing the dangerous David Silva; Eto’o put in a shift and JT conducted the eleven man band to play the perfect Mourinho symphony.   

The much hailed Portugese tactician, who masterminded the unexpected defeat of ‘the best attacking team in the world’, played down his role in a post-match press conference when he insisted that ‘Billy the masseur’ had given the team talk in Manchester before the game – when asked what Billy had said, Jose laughed saying he hadn’t understood a word of the Scottish shouting but the players must have as they had applauded the 'Billy rant'.  Perhaps Jose could have put Billy and his ‘team talk’ in a cab to nearby Old Trafford in order to assist the masseur's fellow Scot David Moyes, who is in need of some inspiration – even with the return of Rooney and Van Persie from injury and the addition of Juan Mata, Stoke city managed to defeat United for the first time in 30 years.

Enough with the Moyes bashing!  Going back to our glorious victory, I am embarrassed to admit I have not been so euphoric about a win since our Champions League campaign under Roberto Di Matteo.

My younger daughter’s Spanish boyfriend (who is now living with us and already complaining about the standard of ironing of his shirts – must admit that my busy schedule as a football fan means I have no time for ironing, so I sent his shirts out to be ironed!!!) has just pointed out to me that Swansea City have sacked their League Cup winning manager, Michael Laudrup – I am sorry it didn’t work out for the Dane – some say Swansea’s European campaign was the undoing of him – all I know is that in the last few weeks he has been looking like a broken man – I hope this is just a blip in his managerial career and not the beginning of the end.  Maybe in two days  time the club may reinstate him – isn’t that what Leeds did with Mcdermott?