League Cup: Newcastle United 0 - 1 Chelsea
Match reports
Daily Telegraph, Tim Rich: “Newcastle’s search for a trophy has come to grief at Chelsea’s hands with what by the Tyne must seem depressingly regular intervals. This was the eighth time in 10 years they had barred Newcastle’s way in cup competitions and only once, when they lost an FA Cup tie in the January snows last year, had the outcome been anything other than defeat.”
The Guardian, Michael Walker: “As Glenn Roeder surveyed his visitors’ teamsheet he quipped that the Chelsea substitutes constituted “the best five-a-side team in the world”. Sadly for Newcastle, their manager was to be proved near the mark with that analysis as Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and finally Didier Drogba made their way from the sidelines and into the action. Drogba required a mere five minutes to strut forward and score his 17th goal of a rousing season.”
The Times, George Caulkin: “The first recorded expression of regret from José Mourinho did not pre-empt an apologetic performance by his Chelsea team last night. The sorrow was all Newcastle United’s; that a meaningful trophy remains elusive, that Glenn Roeder did not buy Didier Drogba for West Ham United many moons ago and that where Chelsea have a Russian owner, Tyneside could not conjure a Russian linesman.”
The Independent, Simon Rushworth: “[T]he incident which ultimately decided a predictably hard-fought game between two familiar cup foes was a clear case of foul play as the Newcastle midfielder Nicky Butt crudely halted Arjen Robben’s run on goal. The Dutchman already had just cause to go down a second earlier when United’s emergency right-back, Nolberto Solano, clipped his heels but, to his credit, the midfielder stayed on his feet.”
Black & White & Read All Over, Paul: “For the second time in eight days, Drogba proved to be the difference, as he again came off the bench to score with about quarter of an hour left to play. This time his goal coming from a well struck free-kick, won after first Solano and then Nicky Butt had done their best to flatten Arjen Robben (unsurprisingly Butt proving the more effective). However, that foul took place a good four yards from where the free kick was taken, with Chelsea surreptitiously relocating the ball to give Drogba a better angle to strike the set piece, and in doing so enabling him to curl the ball beyond Shay Given.”
The good
- We’re through to the semi-finals of the League Cup. Jose Mourinho’s only loss in the competition to date was last season’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Charlton at Stamford Bridge.
- The performance may not have set the world on fire, but we never really looked like losing. Obafemi Martins’ shot which struck the underside of Hilario’s crossbar and landed plum on the goal line was the nearest the Magpies came to scoring.
- Though clearly not the finished article, Salomon Kalou does impress me at times. It’s just a shame he couldn’t produce it over the whole 90 minutes.
- Of the players on the pitch from the start, Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho stood out. Carvalho is playing with an ankle injury too. An unsung hero. Frank Lampard made a difference after coming off the bench.
- Didier Drogba. Within five minutes of coming on, the Ivorian scored his 17th goal of the season. Our reliance on Drogba is worrisome.
The bad
- The 4-3-3 formation made very little difference. Many of us had called for Andriy Shevchenko to be played in a 4-3-3 with two wingers, but in this game the wide players offered him no support whatsoever. He’s sure to come in for more undeserved criticism.
- Bar Shevchenko’s only shot on goal which struck Shay Given’s right-hand post on the stroke of half time, we created very little in the Magpies’ penalty box. All our efforts on goal were limited to long range shots, as they were against Everton on Sunday.
- Arjen Robben has the same problem as Andy Johnson, in that his reputation for “diving” precedes him. The free kick from which Drogba scored the winner was perfectly legitimate: Robben did his best to ride a rash tackle from Nolberto Solano before being flattened by Nicky Butt. Try telling 35,000 myopic Geordies that.
- I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve hit the woodwork in recent games.
- When are we going to turn up for both halves?
Man of the Match
Didier Drogba, despite only playing around 15 minutes of the second half?
Final thoughts
We are not playing well, but we’re through to the semi-finals of the League Cup, the last sixteen of the Champions League, and two points off top spot in the Premiership. It can’t be all bad.
Related links
- Posted at 11:50 AM · Permalink · Print · 1834 views · Last indexed by Google on the 11th May 2008
- Tags: Andriy Shevchenko, Arjen Robben, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Glenn Roeder, Henrique Hilario, Jose Mourinho, League Cup, Matches, Michael Essien, Newcastle United, Ricardo Carvalho, Salomon Kalou
I totally agreed with JM that we should rotate players and playing Obi-Wan from the start was great - he is gonna be amazing for us!
SWP should have got a nod - if he is to leave in Jan, then we need to be sure - I still think JM can do a J.Cole on him.
Sheva got no service all night - poor guy and the one time he did he hit the post.
Drogs - sublime, what can we say about the best stiker in the world? thank god he play’s for us!
Ballack - still not convinced by him. I know I am no manager and maybe I’m just not smart enough to understand - but he justs seems anonymous to me on the pitch - I hope J.Cole’s return will bring an end to his starting place.
Still can’t understand why we play crap 1st half and then amazing 2nd half. Perhaps it just great tactics by JM.
All I know is that this really could be the year we win 3 trophies including the honour of winning the EPL 3 times in a row!!
God Bless Romans’ Blue Army!!
As an ecpat Geordie living amongst loads of “new” Chelsea fans, watching last night’s game I must comment on the report on this blog. The shot from Martins did not land plum on the line it was over just I am sure if it had been at Chelsea it would have been a goal, and it was a foul on Srebiski late on. As for your BIG HEADED manager he should be taken to task waving an imaginery card what a PRAT. It was a foul but the Chelsea cheats moved it at least 4 yards. I hope you win nowt
Ray - are you sure it was over? The TV replays were inconclusive despite the best efforts to settle the debate in your favour, so not entirely sure how you can be so positive about it.
I wish Jose wouldn’t wave an imaginary card, but Roeder didn’t seem too fussed. I also wish the Newcastle players hadn’t claimed Robben was diving when they’d clearly hacked him down, and that Emre hadn’t dived late on after a challenge by Bouhlarouz. But so it goes.
The irrationality among rival fans is becoming quite absurd, scary in some cases. Even the Geordies have succumbed to it.
After watching numerous repeats on Sky - who seemed intent on proving the ball was over the line - the whole of the ball didn’t appear to cross the line. It was inconclusive anyway. How a linesman is supposed to give such decisions without guessing is beyond me.
As for Robben, watch the whole incident here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZf0RMu3r-0
The Geordies who made fools of themselves on last night’s 6-0-6 need to open their eyes and stop believing everything they read in newspapers.
I genuinely believe Mourinho’s imaginary card-waving was a deliberate ploy to take the focus off his earlier apology. He wants the press and rival fans to dislike him, to focus their irrational ire on him and not the players.
Peter I am not sure if it was completely over but it certainly wasn’t plum as calimed on this blog. As I said it was a foul but you guys chetaed by noving it at least 4 yards, and Chelasea cannot whinge about other teams players diving as you have the most divers in the premier. As I said I hope you win nowt. By the way I have never liked Chelsea since those big headed swaggerers of the late 60’s and 70’s but Mourinho has just made it worse he is such a PRAT
Oh Dear Ray is having a bad day, don’t come to a Chelsea blog site and except any sympathy.
Peter and Nick have been civil in their replies but it’s obvious you have your own agenda.
It must be good as football supporter to have hope that we win “nowt” as you put it.
But, it must be even worse for you knowing that your team will defintely win “nowt”
Merry Xmas
Tony, If you cast your mind back to last season you should be able to recall that it was around this period of the season that we faltered. Our trusted 4-3-2-1 was failing us, prompting the switch to 4-4-2 dmd. Thereafter, the system became so obscure (”fluid” with ”versatile” players playing out of position) sky and BBC pundits alike were left head-scratching. My Point? There was little to suggest Sheva would flourish in the 4-3-2-1. For all there hard work making runs and battling 2 centre-halves, both Drogba and Crespo struggled to have even one or two meaningful efforts on goal in most games. In particular, our Argentine, overweight, homesick nancyboy leading the line (though, admittedly world class) when .Drog was away at the African Nations, lead to us performing very poorly. With the 4-3-2-1 we played extremely well on the break and cruised to the title in the first season. I’m no expert, but I think you’ll agree that the system proved a lot less impressive last season. It’s only my opinion but whenever in the brief periods we have used 2 forwards with 2 wingers supporting, the players have actually looked comfortable on the pitch! If Alex Ferguson and the Arse can use two forwards with two complimentary widemen and play attractive football while keeping a reasonable amount of clean sheets, why cant JM? After all, we have a stronger squad and more cash. AND if we’re aspiring for world domination, can’t we be emulating or even surpassing the aesthetic appeal in standards reached by United, Arsenal, Milan, Barca etc? (BTW Kalou is quick, has magic feet and can only shoot as hard as your gran.)
Oh dear Ray, I’ll be glued to “Toon” matches on TV from now on to see just how sporting and gentlemanly they are with regard to taking free kicks from the EXACT spot the offence occurred. Alongside throw-ins of course.
Arse
‘We are not playing well, but we’re through to the semi-finals of the League Cup, the last sixteen of the Champions League, and two points off top spot in the Premiership. It can’t be all bad.’
In terms of starts to seasons, this one is remarkably like that of Mourinho’s first season, and we all know what happened there…
We’re being incredibly successful without even playing that well. When Ballack and Shevchenko finally adjust, and Joe Cole returns from injury, that’s when we’re going to start decimating the opposition.
The TV replay\reconstructions weren’t inconclusive at all. They showed the ball didn’t cross the line at all.
The fact that some pundits ignored that simple fact and decided it wasn’t conclusive because it didn’t result in a goal for Newcastle is neither here nor there.
If people don’t know what a goal is, they need to go back to school.