Premier League: Chelsea 4 - 4 Aston Villa
Match reports
The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: “The score, with a penalty for the visitors in the last minute, may have been tied up but this was a match in which logic unravelled to joyous effect. Only those with a vested interest can be immune to the delight of such a game. As the sides demolished one another’s defences there was debris everywhere and reconstruction work lies ahead for each manager now that two of Chelsea’s players and one of Aston Villa’s will be suspended after each being sent off with a straight red card.”
Daily Telegraph, Henry Winter: “Compelling entertainment from first whistle to last, this Premier League epic reminded everyone of how Martin O’Neill has galvanised Aston Villa and why Avram Grant lacks the charisma to inspire Chelsea to great heights in the post-Jose Mourinho era. “We’ve got the Special One,” chanted Villa fans.”
The Times, Alyson Rudd: “It was breathtaking from the start and the result was never certain. Would Chelsea surrender their long unbeaten run at home in the league or extend it to 72 matches? Would Aston Villa be involved in a match even more incredible than their 4-4 draw away to Tottenham Hotspur on October 1? That the match ended in a draw had to be the fair result. Villa deserve plaudits for their attack-minded approach at the fortress that is Stamford Bridge, while Chelsea should be praised for their flair and resilience.”
The Independent, Sam Wallace: “Like an old regimental flag shot to bits and tattered round the edges, Chelsea carried their unbeaten home League run to 72 games yesterday, but the question they ask themselves today is how much longer? How much longer can they compete in a Premier League title race with almost half their team injured, suspended or running on empty?”
The goals
14′ Maloney 0-1
44′ Maloney 0-2
45′ Shevchenko (penalty) 1-2
50′ Shevchenko 2-2
66′ Alex 3-2
72′ Laursen 3-3
88′ Ballack 4-3
90′ Barry (penalty) 4-4
The good
In a nutshell this is one of those games that can be summed up by the acronym WTF? Every element of the game had you thinking the same thing… WTF? I’ll save the best bits for “final thoughts” but in essence we threw the Premiership away, alternating at times between stumbling and shambolic to sublime.
- Andriy Shevchenko. Like most of the team in the first half he didn’t play his best stuff but was clearly the best one we had in a blue shirt. Scored a penalty which we barely deserved to throw the lifeline and then an absolute screamer in the second half to put us back on equal terms at a point in the game when we were starting to turn up the heat.
- Michael Ballack. Absolutely world class and just like the Ballack that Germany knows and loves. Sprayed the ball around calmly, accurately and did not make a single unforced error. Truly magnificent.
- Joe Cole. Like everyone else was fairly lethargic first half but covered more ground in 5 minutes than Kalou did all game. Should have scored or laid off to Shevchenko in the first half but deserves a mention here because of his tireless work rate. It’s a wonder he could walk by the end.
- Alex. The paradox here of course is us conceding 4 goals and me giving Alex some praise for being such a good player, but having not seen any re-run of the game as I write this, it seems to me he was clearly not at fault for any of the goals and he himself scored a wonderful team goal in a fabulous link up with Shevchenko.
- 72 home games without defeat. That is a staggering achievement in anyone’s book, but Avram Grant came perilously close to chucking another Mourinho achievement down the pan as it could so easily have been despatched by a well drilled Villa team. Which leads me to…
- Aston Villa. The fans sung themselves hoarse and their team put in a never say die performance which is a real credit to their own “Special One” Martin O’ Neill. We don’t normally praise anyone else but Chelsea here but Aston Villa could have come with a draw in mind but for the first half they outplayed, outfought and outclassed us everywhere. In the second half when down to 10 men did they sit back and play for the draw? No way, they soaked the pressure and even when they went 3-2 down they never lost their faith. Hats off to them for a very creditable display.
The bad
- Petr Cech. He might have a claim to being the world’s best ‘keeper, but not at the moment. A clanger against Arsenal was eclipsed by an absolute horror show of “How Not To Keep Goal” for Villa’s second. This was an absolutely inexcusable mistake for someone of his alleged class and a complete embarrassment.
- Claudio Pizzaro. Utter absolute rubbish who did not make one single worthwhile contribution to the game until he was substituted to howls of derision from some of the crowd and the Gareth Hunt “Nescafe” hand sign. Garbage player who needs to be offloaded asap. Christ, he makes Bouhlarouz and Del Horno look like Pele and Maradona. And before any of our esteemed readership starts bleating on about giving him time, he’s had enough and has plainly shown himself not good enough for us or any other Premiership team to be honest. No wonder no-one else was queuing up for him.
- Phil Dowd – the ref. Petty, slow, vindictive and unsure of the rules of advantage or what constitutes a penalty. His decision to red card Ricardo Carvalho looked like nothing more than an equaliser to level things up after dismissing Zat Knight, who in turn may be aggrieved to go off when surely a penalty and a yellow card was sufficient punishment. The abysmal level of refereeing in general is killing the game and really, the FA should seriously consider the rugby initiatives of video technology, only team captains being allowed to approach the ref and the refs being miked up to explain every decision.
- Salomon Kalou. “Kalou-less” as we now know him in my part of the Matthew Harding Lower. Absolute pants of the big flapping skid mark stained, grey with broken elastic y-front variety and shouldn’t have come out for the second half. His loss of possession in Villa’s penalty area led directly to them getting the last gasp penalty. He is honestly not good enough to be a first choice for us yet. He may have a big future but it’s a bloody long way off.
- The first half performance. Dire beyond belief. 26 minutes had gone by before our first shot on target and Villa could have been 3 ahead by then such was the pace they started with. It improved after the break but in reality it could hardly have been worse.
Player ratings
As discussed and mulled over at great length during the drive home with “Chelsea Bob”.
- Petr Cech: Gets a low score by virtue of the howler for the second Villa goal - 5/10.
- Paulo Ferreira: Seemed to be in cloud cuckoo land for most of the first half and improved a bit after the break but was left standing by Carew, Agbonlahor and Maloney on far too many occasions - 5/10.
- Alex: Yeah, we let 4 goals in but I don’t think the big Brazilian can be held to account for any of them. Scored a superb team goal - 7.5/10.
- Ashley Cole: Still looking a bit chippy but I like his combative nature. I haven’t seen the “save” that got him a red card as of writing but the ball was pinging round our goal and panic was ensuing so if he did make the save then he had no choice - 6/10.
- Ricardo Carvalho: Would have been 8/10 but he loses 2 for getting a red card and subsequently we are without him for 3 games - 6/10.
- Michael Essien: A good overall game but not the powerhouse of last year. Surely he can’t still be sulking over Mourinho? - 7/10.
- Frank Lampard: Went off injured and so wasn’t around long enough to make a mark - 6/10
- Joe Cole: Ran his legs off and tried very hard when all around seemed to be failing - 8/10.
- Andriy Shevchenko: A cool penalty at a time when disaster seemed the order of the day and an absolute screamer for his second from 25 yards that nearly ripped the net. His turn and pass for Alex to score was Zola-esque. His best game (second half anyway) since arriving. Seemed content to be a playmaker today as well and I must admit his lay offs and little touches were at times excellent - 8/10.
- Salomon Kalou: Gets a 1 for wearing the right name on his shirt. Abysmal and anonymous in turns and a cupful of haplessness added to this mix at the death cost us the game. One good thing about the African Nations Cup is that this clown will be away from us - 1/10.
- Claudio Pizarro: Only the second 0 I’ve given. Seriously poor, but to add insult he is bloody lazy as well. Gave the ball away constantly, failed to control it and pass it accurately. He had one half hearted attempt on goal but in all honesty my Aunt June with her new hip could have done better with the final shot. Top of the list to go. Surely? Please? - 0/10.
- Michael Ballack (sub): Absolutely and magnificently world class and a glimpse of the imperious man who captains Germany. I want more of this please and less of the garnish that is Pizarro and Kalou-less - 8.5/10.
- Shaun Wright-Phillips (sub): Looked lively and bubbly but didn’t get long enough to make his mark. Put in one or two good crosses though but nobody was there to receive them - 6/10.
- John Mikel Obi (sub): Did nothing wrong in his 10 minutes or so - 6/10.
- Overall team performance: Could have been so much better but for the pathetic first half display that seems to be a continuing feature of our game from the Mourinho days - 7/10.
Man of the Match
Michael Ballack just edges Andriy Shevchenko for this today, despite Sheva’s goals and assist. For me Ballack was a commanding performer from the minute he stepped onto the pitch and if he carries on like this then we are a very fortunate team.
Final thoughts
Not many who came to this game could have forecast an 8 goal thriller and it really is a WTF moment to score 4 goals at home and still not win. With 5 mins to run down and a goal up I have to say I’m sure Mourinho would have had a substitution left and some fresh orders to kill the game and take the points. But instead we went into a meltdown caused by Kalou-less losing possession in the Villa penalty area. This could have been easily avoided by subbing him and Pizzaro during the break and drafting in Obi and Wright-Phillips to replace them. And the crux of this point is that despite both these players being an utter bunch of arse today, Grant refused to budge and stubbornly kept faith with two interlopers who did not deserve the honour of wearing the blue shirt. It also worries me that Grant could not bring himself to make the changes that everyone else could see were required. Even when Villa were down to 10 it’s arguable they still had a one man advantage as Kalou and Pizzaro were so bad. To my mind this indecisiveness and tactical naivety is why he will not prove to be the man to take us forward.
The Premiership dream pretty much died today as Manchester United showed how to be ruthless at home again and even if Arsenal slip up against Pompey the battle is between those two now with us potentially acting as catalysts in where it goes. We have to concentrate on third place or the unthinkable of not qualifying the the Champions League becomes a reality. This game had everything, goals, red cards, penalties, goalkeeping howlers and great strikes, but does Roman Abramovich really want more of this and less actual wins? I only ask because I want points and trophies, not Keystone Cop football and meaningless bland soundbites from the most uncharismatic and featureless manager in the Premiership today… and when you consider that includes Steve Coppell and Gary Megson that shows just how dull he is.
Still if we win the Carling Cup, no doubt that will keep the evangelists happy and convinced that this is what real success is like. Time for excessive amounts of Magners!
Keep the Blue Flag Flying High!
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- Posted at 11:59 PM · Permalink · Print · 2648 views · Last indexed by Google on the 12th May 2008
- Tags: Alex, Andriy Shevchenko, Ashley Cole, Aston Villa, Avram Grant, Chelsea, Claudio Pizarro, Frank Lampard, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Gareth Barry, Joe Cole, Jon Obi Mikel, Martin Laursen, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, Paulo Ferreira, Petr Cech, Phil Dowd, Premier League, Ricardo Carvalho, Roman Abramovich, Salomon Kalou, Shaun Maloney
Players to sell:
1. Pizarro (rubbish)
2. Ben Haim (rubbish)
and next in the line
3. SWP (had enough time to prove himself, but didn’t)
4. Kalou (too unstable, unreliable)
I do not agree with getting rid of ben haim, unless we find someone better for cheap, an easy sale, i think he’s capable back up. Pizarrro for sure though.
Lots of talk about shev leaving, his performance was fantastic but is it really worth risking seeing this form continue past january? even if he wants to stay.
Such a shame about today in my opinion, one (somewhat) dodgy final decision by the ref turned an epic victory into a deflated stalemate :(
Cannot wait for january now, even if we’re out of the race or close to it, going out in style with a new attacking force would just be swell. Anelka? Alves? wingers to replace kalou and SWP? Anyone with some technical flair please, another joe cole.
Alex was at fault for the first goal and for several occasions he completely lost Carew (another header over the bar. The times crosses went in and he just wasn’t were he should be were inumerable. usually JT or Carvalho make up for him, but defensively Riccy had a stinker too, failing to track Laursen for their 3rd goal. Going forward he was excellent but with 43 goals scored anyway and 4 let in, I know which I prefer. When he went off Essien left Cole completely helpless against three forwards for ther last goal. What happened to big Pete, I have no idea. Kalou wasn’t as useless as you keep saying, with one move in particular having him dribble round at least 7 players on his way from halfway line to the box and he laid a good ball off to Shevchenko for the 2nd goal. How you can blame him for losing a ball up the other end of the pitch for the final goal is a mystery - better if you blamed him for losing it nearer our own box for the first. Paulo was all over the place and particularly at fault for their second. Shevchenko had a good 30 minutes mainly in the second half. That was it. Ballack much the same to be honest - went missing in the second half probably due to lack of fitness. Great free-kick though. Pizarro obviously isn’t going to score in a month of Sundays (though he had two good shots on goal) but his link play is excellent. Not good enough, but not the complete write-off you make him out to be.
Sheva did well enough and Ballack was back in form.
What’s wrong with Cech anyways? If he’s not fit, then why play him? I’m sure a fit Hilarious might do a decent job for us.
SACK GRANT!!!!
He’s lucky with some help from Ten Cate and Stevie Clarke…
I won’t be surprised if we play UEFA Cup next year though…
I got sick when that guy signed a 4-year contract..bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Bring us back our 1.0
At least, England will get their 1.0 and progress… :(
I m getting sick!!!!!!!!!1
I think you people are all looking in the wrong place…
We get to 3-2 and what do we do? We do not play the advantage to our favour.
The Person at fault for me was the tactician Mr. Avram Grant.
Two players were meant to come on SWP for Pizzaro
Obi Mikel for Joe Cole
Then we were meant to play gaurd against the counter attack football that Aston Villa have…
Wait just a second we were also 4-3 with 2 minutes to go and we were still attacking…Tactics again…
Avram squarely takes the blame for this loss.
All we had to do was hold the ball and let them come at us then hit them with a sucker punch…but we played ourselves into this draw…
Avram Grant is at fault.
Oh and cech should be very careful…he is sure walking a thin line….
Finally I saw how a midfield should function i.e. around Ballack…
Wow man you have some serious issues, Pizarro indeed didnt play magnificently but a the guy bove says his link play was really good. Check the stats and look how many goals the team scores when he is on the field. With Jose and the first 6 games, the team only scored when the guy was on the field. your analysis is a bit superficial. I hope that this guy starts scoring and you have to eat your words, if he doesnt, well, he may have to leave soon…but man, you are being way too biased
Well, this is what Roman Abramovich wants, isn’t it? Entertaining football. 4-4. What more can you ask for? You score I score, You score I score. Well done Avram. You are clueless and don’t know how to win a game. Cannot even make changes that will save 3 points. Thank you and I hope you are happy for providing us another thrilling ‘2 points dropped’ performance.
The worrying thing here as well, is the fact that opposition teams no longer fear us. To concede four is one thing, but to come to our supposed fortress (and for how much longer) and outplay us for the best part of the first half is downright disappointing.
Having got back into it, and taking the lead in the second half we should have seen the opposition heads drop, (it would have in the past) but it’s not the case anymore, bloody hell! even Newcastle may fancy their chances come Saturday. This is Chelsea of old, great in some games bordering on a black comedy the next.
The press and the neutrals are going to love us if we carry on like this, exciting football the hottest ticket in town. That’s what the Jose bashers and Roman wants, right?
Tony… Riccy’s red card was deserved, it was a bad two footed lunge, no excuses there I’m afraid. I’m sure once you see it on TV you’ll agree.
I was reminded with horrible clarity of this exact point last season. Remember José saying “The problem with Chelsea is obvious, we can’t defend”? Well — the problem yesterday was obvious. During those first twenty minutes when the whole team was asleep we gave Villa the confidence that they could strip the ball off us in mdfield and then come running at us and we’d panic. From then on, even when they hardly had the ball, they knew that they only needed to get it for a second and we’d be in trouble.
I don’t see the value in blaming Pizarro and Kalou for the fact that our whole back four (back five actually) had a bad day. Pizarro’s first touch is embarrassingly heavy — like SWP’s last season — and he doesn’t look world class, but he linked the play reasonably competently, if too slowly to do any major damage. Kalou lost possession a few times (as did Sheva of course, many more times) but he also managed to turn his man and attack the box on many occasions. He wasn’t great, but I don’t see that he was terrible, and I certainly don’t see that the frustrations of this result should be taken out on him.
And let’s be honest, Villa deserved a draw. They always look a good team against us for some reason, and on that evidence it’s hard to see why they aren’t further up the table.
Entirely agree about Ballack. I don’t know if he can play next to Frank, but *instead of* Frank seems to suit him very well.
From where I sit I had a very clear view of Cashley’s goalline clearance, and I was astonished to see a penalty given. But, stuff happens.
Roman is certainly getting his entertainment now, no question there. But at what cost? A second string / makeshift defence for at least the next 3 games and then frankly we need to start buying.
The real worry is the inability to close out a game when necessary (especially at home); Grant has always looked like a man who might struggle when the going got tough -now we’ll find out what he is really made of. Still reserving judgement on the bloke until the end of the season, but the word ‘Ranieri’ keeps cropping up in my mind with alarming regularity.
Carvalho has no argument with the red; Cole somewhat unlucky with his (still can’t help wondering if that would have been given at Old Trafford though…)
Cech - form temporary, class permanent; clearly pressed into action when not 100% fit due to the Hilario factor. Anyone doubting him in the long term needs their bumps feeling.
Sheva played well; any role that basically doesn’t require him to outrun anything will do nicely until he goes. Good to see Ballack back - would have been a dream return if we knew how to shut a game down.
And do the jury think whilst a very decent player, Agbonlahor is a dirty mouthy little sh*t on the quiet? Watch his reaction to the ‘foul’ that got Essien carded -he made sure, let’s put it that way. And never more than a foot from the referee’s ear when a decision had to be made. Would be nice to see him picked up on that, but I shan’t hold my breath…
All very good for generating talking points, not so good as the leaders start pulling away - have to say the Mancs look firm favourites now; Arsenal still look a little too hit and miss on journeys away from London…
And I have to laugh Jose - one minute he’s ‘passed the test’ and we’re supposed to be singing ‘na na na Avram’ and now he’s at fault; might it be that (whisper it quietly) the bloke just might not be good enough?
I thought AG was pretty damn stupid enough to bring on SWP for Sheva, but in the dying minutes, no where he wanted Ben-Haim instead. We needed to defend after Ballack’s free kick earn 3 pts for heaven’s sake. I didn’t get what the fuck wrong is with Grant, does he know how to defend???
I thought Riccy deserved his straight red, but personally we will solely miss him for three matches without a decent CB. Yet for A Cole, THAT WAS NOT HAND BALL!!!! He was using his head and the ball accidentally hit on his shoulder? IT WAS ONLY HIS SHOULDER!!!
I don’t know, even One match ban appeal is not good, we don’t deserve that, not to mention the PK goal. I wonder what’s over Grant’s mind right now?!
Sexy football, tell me about it!
You’re way off the mark with the Ranieri reference JD….Grant is nowhere near as good as him!
like what i said before, i prefer henk ten cate as a chelsea manager rather than AG. Everytime camera focus on him, he look like a sick man.. HE IS LACK OF CHARISMATIC!!!
A few games back, I mentioned that our chances of winning anything this season would basically come down to wether we can stay relatively free of injuries and suspensions…Factors which have cost us dear already this season.
But now we’re without; Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Makelele, Cudicini and (I think) Bridge. We’ve lost Carvalho and Cole for three games, and our keeper is going through a massive confidence crisis, having undoubtedly cost us the last two games.
Not looking good is it?
Wouldn’t it be simpler and save a lot of posters typing if you could put a message at the top of this page this blog thanks the players if we win but blames Avram if we draw or lose.
You say “To my mind this indecisiveness and tactical naivety is why he will not prove to be the man to take us forward.“. However TSO’s tactical mastery during last Christmas didn’t work when the gap between us and the top became irrecoverable.
As for “most uncharismatic and featureless manager in the Premiership today” to be honest I prefer his no comment to the alternative which would probably have been “I clearly saw Phil Dowd exchanging Christmas presents with Martin O’Neil at half-time … “
The interesting points for me from yesterday were:
1. Ballack - he played like the play I thought we’d bought - fantastic. Completely agree with limetreeblower though - can he play with Frank
2. Sheva - what a dilemma - if he can play like that every week should he go or stay - and can he play with the Drog?
3. Cech - I can forgive his mistake - however one or two more in the near future and we might have to question whether he’s losing his powers.
What more can be said? This is exactly what I predicted in my earlier blogs regarding the crunch matches with this tactically inept(and treacherous) idiot. Every game can’t be won but what is going on at Chelsea? Does Abromovich not see? Other Chelsea fans i speak to and myself are feeling so disheartened at the moment. Drogba was right, something is broken at the Bridge. I wish I could pursuade the Dubai consortium to buy RA out and take his trash with him, maybe Spartak Moscow would be better for him. I can only see the boos starting to get louder. Do you know what the worst thing is? We might end up winning the new new mickey mouse cup (champions league), then well be stuck with both of them like Liverpool is stuck with Rafa even though he has come between 20-30 points off the leaders since at Anfield! Which is why the champions league is starting to turn into the Mickey Mouse cup as mentioned, since how can UEFA allow teams 30 or even more points adrift of their respective leagues from entering the competition? Oh dear, I’m feeling unwell at the thought!! must go….
Spot on regarding Grant’s unfair treatment and lack of respect Mark…It’s hard to see how he can be blamed for the individual errors that’ve been to blame for the last two results.
He also can’t be blamed for the injury/suspension crisis, and the consequent need to have to rely on some of Mourinho’s mediocre signings that are playing for us at the moment.
What with all that, and the Afican Nations coming up, I’d say we need at least three, preferably four new signings by the end of January.
For the first ten minutes it looked like Villa were the home team, I couldn’t see where the Chelsea goals would come from with Sheva and Pizarro looking lethargic and not up to the intensity that would be required to get behind the Villa defence. The penalty was the turning point, what a lifeline, deficit reduced to one goal and they go down to ten for the next half, I think it also gave Sheva a boost, and I thought his second half performance was his best so far. The real excitement for me was Ballack though, as others have said, this is the sort of player we knew he could be, he brought a presence that was lacking before, he may have run out of puff towards the end but a huge performance. Ultimately I was left at the end feeling disappointed rather than entertained. A good rally in the second half to take the lead but the defensive weakness and inability to maintain the lead is a worry. The injuries which have meant cycling the back four have contributed to an unsettled defence but the confidence seems low and poor Pete’s howler won’t have made it any better. I don’t mind watching 4-4 draws in other teams’ matches with a few red cards thrown in, but although it’s exciting at the time, afterwards the result seems to determine how I feel for a lot longer. Right now, I don’t feel too optimistic about the next month, there will need to be some character shown by the available players and some tactical acumen shown that will prevent another 4-4 draw and a strategy able to hold on to a lead with minutes to go.
Possibly a little harsh Mark - Grant has some way to go before he is accepted which is understandable to an extent, but in general he’s received credit where it is due.
But the ‘credit the players for the win; blame the manager if not’ point is interesting; good teams don’t become ‘bad’ overnight irrespective of who is in charge - the core of this group formed one of the strongest teams in English football for 3 seasons. I should also be noted that as a unit, the players themselves have far more experience of a ‘backs to the wall’ situation like this than the manager does at this level.
The fact is that there are genuine causes for concern at the moment for which both players and manager take responsiblity, with the latter ultimately carrying the can if things aren’t right; mitigating factors in terms of injury and arguably luck have of course played their part. But for all the excitement (and near desperation from some) to ‘get behind the manager’ ignores some crucial points.
Grant’s PL record is as follows: beat Bolton, Boro, Man C, Wigan, Derby, West Ham, Sunderland.
Drew with Fulham, Everton, Villa
Lost to Man U and Arsenal.
Not bad - probably the kind of thing we’d have all been happy with pre-Roman. But not what is needed at this level. With a few others snapping around at the fourth CL place now, we can’t afford to let things slide.
The situation last Christmas and the one we face now are similar; look at the defensive lineup for the games against Fulham and Reading last December - not far off where we are now really.
But come last April, we were still in with a pretty good shout at picking up all four pots. Will we be saying the same in 3-4 months time? Who knows, but it doesn’t feel that way.
I’m sure Grant has the makings of a reasonably good manager; whether he has that extra 10% that turns good into great is still very much open to question. Bad analogy maybe, but the bloke who runs the IT department where I work is pretty good at his job. But I wouldn’t put him in charge of Cisco Sytems or Microsoft. That’s what having Grant in charge of Chelsea feels like.
Just for the record, I cited bad results for our last two games…completely forgot about the win at Blackburn, so make that two out of three.
Cheers.
In : Anelka
Ivanovic (to cover for JTs injuries)
Van Der Vaart
Out : Pizarro (loan)
Kalou-Less
SWP
T.G. “With 5 mins to run down and a goal up I have to say I’m sure Mourinho would have had a substitution left and some fresh orders to kill the game and take the points.”
I have had the same thoughts. A.G. has shown again that he can not make tactical changes. Every game A.G. plays with Chelsea yu can see that he simply not qualified enough to work with team like Chelsea. TSO was the 12-th player on the pitch, A.G. is just one more manager.
Jonathan
To be honest I don’t really believe Avram to be top drawer, although his personality is at least on a par with Bill Gates.
My dog Sparky (after Sparky Hughes of course) bought me a copy of Deep Blue for Christmas. Although I’ve loved every minute of supporting Chelsea looking back at the photos it’s clear that the Bridge was a dump (mainly corrugated iron) and we had some very ordinary players.
I’m happy for the dust to settle this year and then move on. If you eat lobster every day it doesn’t do any harm to eat a cheese sandwich occasionally to appreciate the finer foods.
Clearly some supporters, who have been brought up on lobster, will benefit from a low fat detox.
i really like van der vaart, he would make my January transfer worth it on his own. He’s in my pro evo 2008 team :D
Mark - I don’t mind the odd cheese sandwich every now and again (although we could all do without another 2 decades worth of them!); it’s just that it would be a shame to have made it to the table where lobster is served only to be booted out because the manager doesn’t know how to use the cutlery, so to speak. And in the current climate, this restaurant ain’t easy to get back into…
what sort of cheese are we talking about? hope its not that pre sliced shit that comes the individual wrappers….
Okay…so we drew the game, and the world ends?…whoever said villa would be easy customers…Pray, was it not the same villa that did us 2-0 some months back with JM in charge?…which is better? 2-0 loss or 4-4 draw? or its more excusable to lose ‘away’
At some point i thot the we’d see our 1st loss at the bridge..and at that moment, i would gladly have taken a draw!…Okay, so our fortunes turned, twice we had a lead, and twice we dropped it…disappointing yes but its not the end of the world!…was it AG’s fault that cech could not avert the second goal, or that all the blue shirts in the box froze for villa’s third goal?…even blaming kalou for the last goal sounded ludicrous, considering that the chap was well into villa’s half when he lost the ball..
We drew, yes…we played poorly for some part of the game, yes…but it wasnt an entirely poor game and we shouldnt take it all out on AG
Some of us have forgotten that we still dont have DD, JT and a fit Cech, or cudicini…this would have surficed as explanation for ‘poor’ performances in the past…why is it different for AG?
I like the way he’s trying to get everybody to play…some good level of rotation (though as stated by some bloggers above, some players may have to be offloaded ASAP). We havent gotten to that desperate level, that would cause panic in our ranks…at least not in my opinion.
There are still many spoilers in this year’s league as we’v seen portsmouth do the arse…the league isnt won yet (ask fergs & wengs) so lets just play and try to pick our points…we’ll probably assess AG better after January when he’s expected to have brought in some new players of his CHOICE, to play the game the way he WANTS…’cos as things stand, he’s only using what he has for now…
Everything said, oldcastle must be beaten!…we cant afford to slip again…
Always Blue!
The problem with the modern era is that all of these fans play their football manager simulation games and think they know a thing or two about football strategy and tactics. Is anyone here a professional football manager? Is anyone being paid to win football games? It’s bloody easy to talk rubbish when you don’t know what you are talking about.
I feel like Sheva’s recent success will get the people in charge thinking that they don’t need another striker come January…
The core of Mourinho’s success came on the back of Drogba, Lampard, Maka, Terry, Riccy, and Cech. Four of those players are out with injury and one should have been out with injury. That leaves Riccy, the strappy soldier forging ahead. We all like to compare the teams of Mourinho to the teams Grant, but they simply have very different personnel. One could look, I suppose, at last year. We had a tired and out of form Shevchenko, a new-to-enland Ballack, Terry and Cech injuries. We didn’t win the prem last year, I don’t think we will this year. I will say that we are scoring more goals in similar situations to last year, but that doesn’t seem to matter to anyone.
@ Mark
Each to their own. I think a high profile club needs someone with some charisma to reflect the nature and brand you’re trying to build. Listen to AG’s post match interview and all he actually says is a chronological discourse about the match….which goes nowhere near answering the question. It’s a master class of politician type answering of questions…by not actually answering the question.
And I remember also criticising JM for last Xmas results as well , so it’s not just being anti-AG…but in general even someone like you has to admit JM rarely chucked away leads like yesterday, and ill-disciplined displays like this were the exception.
I’ve seen the replay now and Carvalho was red carded correctly for what was a stupid and dangerous tackle.Ashley Cole however should not have been penalised as the ball hit between his head and shoulder and he had no way of controlling what the ball did.
Alex may have closed Maloney down for their second goal a bit better but the mistake was inexcusable and has nothing to do with fitness. It was a cock up, plain and simple.
And finally to those who think Kalou and Pizzaro have been hard done by then bear in mind i was there and the replay has just convinced me utterly of the correctness of my ratings and comments. They were fucking useless and any coach with any real tactical nous would have spotted this and took them off for SWP and Mikel earlier. Most of the Pompey contingent at my local golf club all agreed with me as they ripped the piss out yesterday. Kalou-less needs a spell in the reserves or on loan like Sahar and Sinclair were forced to do. Pizzaro needs a plane ticket back to Peru.
Tony….what makes you think that SWP is better than kalou…and what did he do to warrant a 6 compared to Kalou’s 1?… and while we’r at it, why did you rate Lamps for 6 when we were very ineffective in the midfield all the while he was on the field…or did he do somethng out of the ordinary that we missed?
Evan said “Is anyone here a professional football manager? Is anyone being paid to win football games? It’s bloody easy to talk rubbish when you don’t know what you are talking about.”
So, 36 years of being a die hard football fan means | am not qualified to comment does it? Well I can comment. The argument you make is that only people with genuine professional backgrounds can comment from a position of knowledge. Which makes your argument a bunch of arse. What a cock thing to say. So only ex-politicians can comment on politics can they? Only ex-musicians can comment on music? Anybody who goes to the Theatre has no right to comment or critique because they’re not professional actors!
See how daft your statement now looks? i utterly disagree with what many people write, and I happily accept that my reviews may put noses out of joint, but they’re honest and based on first hand knowledge of being at the game. Which makes them fact.
@ Alex
Any player who comes on tends to start from a 6 as that’s a kind of default setting for an average performance. SWP wasn’t on long enough for me to mark him up or down from the 6, but he did put some good balls in and generally looked up for it. Kalou-less did nothing of any note all game, same as Pizzaro. Second half he was downright anonymous which is just worse than being useless. No-one generally knocks a trier which is why Sheva still gets his name sung, but when players go missing to me that is unforgivable. Kalou was marked down over the whole game because of his anonymity, ineptitude, laziness and unforced errors. Frank wasn’t on long enough for me to mark him up or down, whereas Ballack genuinely played like a World class player. Sheva very nearly got MoTM but just missed because of some poor touches in the first half and some unforced errors on the ball.
Tony…
On like 2 occassions, i saw SWP ‘watching’ Young run away with the ball to ‘harrass’ our defence…that didnt sound like someone who was ‘up for it’…With SWP’s level of energy and pace, Young should not have had anytime on the ball immediately SWP came into play…Did you see the way Young and Agbonlahor were tracking back to assist their midfield/defence when under pressure?…Thats what SWP should have done to help shut villa out but he did no such thing (opting to wait out in the flanks) and yet gets a 6 for 2 crosses and giving the ball away at least once…
Lamps was long enough on the pitch, and the fact that Ballack came and turned the game around IMMEDIATELY, meant that Lamps was ineffective in his role while he was on the pitch…
I think the ratings pass a wrong message… my opinion.
Always Blue!
Evan - you refer to Sheva’s “recent success”; let’s not get carried away here - look at who he’s scored against. If we don’t invest in a striker in January then those responsible are frankly insane.
And yes, we are scoring more goals. We did much the same under Ranieri - and won f**k all. I’d rather see us score 1 and win the game than 4 and draw it; I suspect that for all Roman’s concern about entertainment, he will eventually think the same in the long term.
@Tony
I wasn’t referring to you, and I am sorry if it seemed that way. I just get a little annoyed at people who think they have such vast knowledge of club football, and so feel they have the answers to our problems. Sure the substitutions were a bit poor. And I also thought Kalou was crap. He usually is, for me. But it seemed to me that Grant was trying to put the game away, to get that extra space to ensure a victory. The way our defence had been playing up to that point, I am not sure I would have been confident that they could close up shop and play keep away for the remainder of the game. But what the hell do I know? I only see Chelsea for 2 hours on match days. I cannot pretend to know the players better than someone who trains with them 4 or 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. I can suppose all I want, but in the end it’s just supposition.
I was really just trying to say that people shouldn’t be so quick to solve problems that they have no experience dealing with. It would be the height of vanity to think that my opinions of politics are as informed or thorough as those of politicians.
But you’re right, I probably shouldn’t be slandering other people’s level of experience.
Jonathan-
The Sheva success comment was a bit tongue in cheek. And I think you are right, we definitely should get someone to help score goals. But the sanity of those responsible has been in question long before now, and I am not quite sure what to expect in the future.
I’d rather us score 4 and win. Perhaps RA and Co. should take a good long look at ManU before making anymore rash decisions.
Well, at least we are playing more POSITIVE and ENTERTAINING football, eh? We Should be celebrating now isn’t it? It’s more important to play “sexy†football and finish trophyless at the end of the season, like Arse-Anal in the last couple of seasons? Load of b***ocks!
No chance of winning the Primership now, and it’s only December! We lost against MU, Arse-Anal and drew against Villa, Everton & Fulham at home (and conceded 3 goals against Leicester!)…
No JT, Lamps & Drogs as well. Riccy and Ashley will also not play as they are suspended. Who’s going to be the captain? Avram is very indecisive and without any leaders in the pitch, we can only hope for the better. Hope is all we have left.
I just wish somehow we were hated more by our contemporaries for being “boring†rather than for being a “loserâ€â€¦
Some of you are acting as if Villa is a crap team we should have destroyed. Granted I’m speaking as a devout O’Neill enthusiast from this days back at Celtic (c’mon hoops!), but I’m glad Tony’s given the team and manager some credit above. They played fantastic.
I think yesterday felt different simply because Villa didn’t come and lie down in front of their goal - they came to win. Any fault on our players or Grant aside, you gotta appreciate that.
@Evan,
You do not have to be football genious to realize that 3 minutes before the end, when your team scores goal all you need to do is slow down the tempo of the game. Regularly it can be achieved by making substitution even without switching to more defensive formation. Is it a great secret shared only by professional managers???
A.G. worked in Israel (I lived there for 13 years and supported the team he managed) the level of the game there is completely different and regularly, if team scores 3 minutes before the end it is END without any doubt. He (A.G.) thinks he is still there in the league where football is on the prehistoric level. GUYS IF YOU HAVE YOUR OWN BUSINESS YOU DO NOT ASK SOMEBODY WITH SUCH DUBIOUS RECORD TO BE YOUR C.E.O.!!!!
@Jose Musumba: You claim Grant should have brought SWP and Mikel on for Pizarro and Cole and he brought them on for Pizarro and an injured Shevchenko. James H wanted him to bring another defender on - because TBH against pace would’ve really helped?! It was 3-3 at the time of those subs and we went on to score and had players to go 4-7-0 if we wanted, but it was organisation that let us down. No JT or Carvalho, so Cole was isolated. It went wrong on the pitch from that point, not in the dugout.
As Mark says, last Xmas we had Carvalho available and still couldn’t defend over several games and were still losing to Liverpool in mid-Jan and scraping past Wycombe. Earlier this season we had JT at the back and Drogba up front against Villa and couldn’t score at all and let in a late goal that killed us off. So do you think we didn’t know how to attack or to defend back then too? What was the difference?
It’s easy being an armchair critic, isn’t it?
@Tony: “I think a high profile club needs someone with some charisma to reflect the nature and brand you’re trying to build”. Well, others think it’s the football that should do the talking and if you only get excited at the game when the post match interviews start then the tail’s wagging the dog and that has to stop. Both fair views. Which do you really prefer? And no cheating by asking people at your Pompey gold club either (WhateverTF they know). After 36 years you shouldn’t need help.
@ Evan - thanks - your honesty is appreciated and maybe I was abit over-chippy with you (bad day on the golf course!)
@ Alex - seriously - watch it again - SWP did more than Kalou did all game and even if he didn’t contribute much it’s still more than kalou-less did. Lamps was no better or worse than anyone else and be honest…did you see him struggling? Not even the bench saw it and were unaware until he ran over and gave them the nod.
@ Robina - Villa were well worth the draw, and if I’m honest when they were 2 up I could see us losing the game. credit to us for taking advantage in the box - Zat Knight did foul Ballack and prevent the goal chance so a red would seem apt. However, Villa, when down to 10 soaked up our pressure pretty well and weren’t trying to park the bus. I’d have been happy as Larry to see O’ Neill at Stamford Bridge or England.
So where is that fantastic fottbal that Avran Grant promissed? The owner just could not live on the shadow of Mourinho hence the reason he recruited Avran from Portsmouth. So much for the new football style that Avran pretends to implement. It is difficult for a manager to change the abits of footballers, in fact Chelsea only started doing better when all the top players started playing, a case that under Mourinho did not happen. Maybe roman abravonitch will buy in January, something that he did not do under Mourinho, otherwise maybe Chelsea would have won last year’s championship. But as Avran is his friend and a “yes” man , if he behaves maybe he will get new players otherwise I can see Chelsea qualifieying for the UEFA next season. As the West Ham manager said fater they played Chelsea, it is still a Mourinho tactics and players.
See Lampard’s out for a few weeks - hope you all like cheese.
Hi Guys again
Just finished reading all the comments. Guys, tell me which, footballer that is a star, or world class is going to accept and be motivated by a coach (AG) that has no experience, no charisma,and yes no knowledge of worl/ european football? c’mon it is no brainer, that AG can’t even motivate his wife, LOL, although he seems to be a nice guy at least when he is interviewd on tv. Bythe way since he left Portsmouth look at them LOL.
@ Mohamed Al Fayed:
Mr Avram Grant is a friendly manager very suitable for Fulham FC, he would save Fulham from relegation. Take him now, no compensation is required!
@ Fabio Capello :
You’re not a bloody Englishman, don’t work for England! Come to Chelsea FC please, it’s not too late! Roman can pay the FA.
Just watched the Chelsea v Aston Villa match on tv. One can perfectly see that the best players in Chelsea team do not give their best as they used to when Jose Mourinho was the manager.
I feel sorry for Avran Grant, really must be very difficult to try to motivate players like lampard, carvalhoi, Petr Cech, essein etc , these players only respect successful managers, coaches that can make them better, and honestly this AG would not even be good for league one.
I can only see the reason that he got this job, is because he is a friend of R.A., and roman must realise that I employ this guy and i get rid of J.M. after all with these players any one risks to win the premiership.
But Chelsea is being lucky even in the Champions League they were drawn against the weakest team in the competition. Can’t believe their luck.Anyway any comparison between AG and JM is like comparing brown shit and chocolate.
Pizarro- Utter garbage. Some must not have been watching the same game I saw because I surely did not see any even decent linkup play. He was awful. His first touch is not worthy of League Two and his “speed” calls to mind a geriatric. Awful, just bloody awful.
Sheva- Finally used in a manner in which he thrives. As a knockdown player he can use his tactical ability and wonderful skill to replace the pace he no longer possess. No, he will no longer outrun the Patrice Evra’s of the world but he is still tremendously talented.
Kalou- Rubbish. The symbol of wasted potential, worlds of pace, a shot with life, decent skill and the brainpower of a boarding school reject.
J. Cole- Useless against Villa but better lately. Still attempts to carry the ball too much and seems selfish. I disagree with Tony that his workrate was high, he seemed lazy and apathetic on Boxing Day.
If Ballack and Lamps can play together this midfield can be a thing of beauty. One mid who runs and shoots well, another who passes like a wizard and a third (Essien) capable of devestating runs would be fun to watch and, even better, effective.
Folks here is an interesting piece on how avram grant has ‘transformed’ chelsea’s playing style but still no one is able to see it. i completely agree with this guy that avram has not changed anything at all but keeps saying we are playing ‘unlike before’. one change i see is that we care less about defence nowadays, if that’s a good thing. all avram lovers should read this . .
http://bluechampions.com/avram.....-football/
Also a clear dissection on what the situation is and what the cheslea-villa match is telling us. there are too many negatives that anyone can see. only positives being the performance of shev and ballack.
http://bluechampions.com/chelsea-4-4-aston-villa/
Mark, are you sure Mark is your real name? Some times when I read your comments comes to my mind that your real name might be AG, or some one close to him :-). Sorry but i couldn’t risit :-)
Please mates, don’t get fool!
I think many top players dont switch clubs in Winter windows and above all, I am afraid that lot of players won’t be attracted to Chelsea by challenges but only financial rewards.
As a result, we are likely to pick up bad players. :(
The future isn’t bright. Is it?
read this on the BBC website.
“I would love to gather all the fans together to say goodbye but they would crush me with their love.”
Jose is as modest as ever on leaving Stamford Bridge.
that ‘glory days’ song by bruce springsteen might be all that is heard on the king’s road come may if our injuries (red cards) continue like so….
I see Ashley Cole has failed with his red card appeal, which isn’t too much of a surprise I suppose.
What I can’t work out is, that it’s quite obvious with being shown the replay that he didn’t actually handle the ball, and it certainly wasn’t intentional.
It’s as if the panel won’t believe anyone but the ref and his officials, and will back then no matter what.
Clive….
Perhaps teams should just forget about the appeal option….never seems to change anything anyway…
How FA will make money. A speedy way is make fail suspension appeal.
I dont even know why clubs bother to make these appeals. We always know the results.
Newcastle at Stamford Bridge. It is not that big deal even if The Bridge ain’t no more a fortress…
The least we could expect is a victory.
Other result would be a shame even a draw!!!!!!!
“Michael Ballack. Absolutely world class and just like the Ballack that Germany knows and loves”
Exactly Tony! His performance was amazing to watch and it was finally time to actually show why he is one of the best midfielders in the world. I am German but live in London and I was surprised how the Chelsea supporters lack of confidence when it comes to Ballack. I guess first of all because he is German(well, means at least he can take penalties ;-)) but the Bundesliga doesn’t have the same prestige as the PremierLeague and the other thing might be his way of playing “laissez-faire”. He surely isn’t a fighter like Essien or Drogba but he brings so many things to Chelsea’s game like accurary and yes here we go…..a German talent to organise and be efficient. :-) And don’t forget about his mighty headers!
Anyway, with Lampard out now, it’s his chance and duty to show world-class football and from all the years watching him play for Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern München I guess he can do it.
PS: In hope to get saved from any more “Michael Bollocks” abuse by my flatmates :)
Come on Chelsea!
Deep Blue - I’m not AG - I haven’t got a single black shirt in my wardrobe.
Just trying to be fair to the man and counter the torrent of criticism.
Alex did well for the goal, but quite how you can say he wasn’t at fault for the first Villa goal is ridiculous. The essence of bad defending and ball watching.
I don’t think you can really say that the two points were dropped by AG. And as a lot of people are saying there’s really no need to freak out because we drew at home to Villa — this has happened quite a bit recently, and it’s not too long ago that I remember going to the Bridge and seeing us lose to them. It was a crazy game so it’s hard to look at it rationally.
One thing that AG is definitely responsible for was the decision to start with four attackers (Sheva, Pizzarro, Kalou, Joe) and no Obi or Makalele or even Sidwell (Essien was clearly not playing in a defensive position, at least not until the poor bloke ended up at centre-half again like he’d been for most of last season). In retrospect this looks like a bad decision, given how our midfield was totally overrun for the first 25 minutes or so. Is this how he’s going to make his mark on the team? Frankly, since we’re about to lose Obi for a while anyway — come on you [whoever Nigeria are playing]! — I’d be much happier seeing him play every single minute of every single game between now and the date of his departure.
Anyone able to arrange a mild bout of food poisoning for Ivory Coast and Nigeria squads in the qualifying rounds?
Bit late with my comments what with it being the day of the Newcastle match, though they do come thick and fast (sounds like Ronaldo) this time of year.
Have always hated pantomimes and it was bit like that against Villa.
Couple of points as it’s all been discussed now but agree with consensus that Ballack played very well, coming on from subs bench aswell. Also, points on the Cole appeal. FA were never going to uphold that, it would mean an apology from Dowd, and they’re reserved just for Anfield.
Also, Sky play such a major part in these things with how they choose to report incidents. They simply didn’t make enough fuss, probably consciously. Still, I am biased so would say that.
Finally, some credit due to AG for his reaction to the appeal being rejected. Some humour in there with this stuff “I hear people are saying the ball hit him on the head to chest and then maybe touched his hand. So is it an anatomy lesson now? It’s like an animal, this ball.”
Very like someone else we used to know………..
http://football.guardian.co.uk.....03,00.html
A.G want to behave, to be JM.
But there is only one special one.
He would better be himself and try to left his prints on the team instead of playing
a pale copy of JM.
Why have we changed TSO to have a Mourinoh bis? Abrahamovic, I know why one says money make people crazy! Ain’t it?
Here are some things I learned today.
Kalou is not a centre forward.
Pizzarro is not a centre forward.
AG has the almost inconceivable ability to lose 100% of his tenuous reserves of goodwill in ten minutes. Even sceptics like me seemed mostly to have been giving him the (grudging) benefit of the doubt. Turns out Marcel was right on MOTD, he’s kept things steady by doing nothing at all, because when he decided to do something today he made two of the most boneheaded substitutions I’ve ever seen at Chelsea. Hey, we’re a goal down and playing like sh*t with fifteen minutes to go, let’s take off our best free-kick taker who’s also our best header of the ball, shortly after taking off the one player who has the quick touch needed when the opposition is throwing two players at every man in possession and winning every single contested ball in midfield.
Oh, but we won the game, so it’s all alright. Three of the worst goals you’ll ever see of course, but never mind. (Kalou took his really well, but — I haven’t seen replays, I just got home — wasn’t he about ten feet offside?)
Thank God it’s January. Roman, open the chequebook.
@ Limetreeblower
Hear hear - it made Ranieri look like a tactical genius. I think the crowd let him know what they thought….I certainly did. Both those substitutions beggared belief.
A shocking overall performance in the second half after a decent show in the first. Did you see the panic in our defence when Newcastle came at us?
The goal scored by Kalou-Less was the mother of all off side goals :-) I am not against the win, but as the matter of fact I have to acknowledge it. A.G. is getting worse from game to game. I hate to say I told you so!!!!!
This game has left be absolutely gobsmacked. Never have I seen a substitution change a side so negatively as the Cole-Pizarro one did today. I wonder how many times we can win by accident.