11Blues: The Unofficial Chelsea Blog and News

Match Preview | Match Report | Blackburning About

Chelsea FC beat Blackburn Rovers 5-0

The first goal by Givet (OG) at 19 minutes:

First Half Highlights:

Lampard makes it 2-0

Essien!!! 3-0

Lampard Penalty. 4-0

DROGBA Heads the fifth one. 5-0

Goalkeeping has always been a worry for Blackburn, as I tried to show in my morning post about them. Fortunately for them, it wasn’t a problem for them today. All the goals that Chelsea scored were un-saveable.

Confident after their 4-0 victory over Atletico Madrid, the Blues from Stamford Bridge beat an un-inspiring Blackburn Rovers 5 goals to nil in the 10th game of their Premiership Campaign.

Sam Allardyce’s side came to the Bridge hoping to, at max, salvage a point. What lay in store for them was a rejuvenated Chelsea side, bloating with the return of Joe Cole and the return to goal-scoring form of Frank Lampard.

Neither of them disappointed today, with Lampard scoring a goal and Cole playing really well in the centre. A very fluid centre, I might add. Carlo Ancelotti was back on time to be with the team as the game started, and he was mighty pleased with the result. He even waxed eloquent about his boys in blue after the game. More about what he said a little while later.

The Goals

The first goal was in the 19th minute. Ballack passed a great ball to the left where Anelka was in a great position and space. He slid it across and before Drogba could get to it, Givet of Blackburn did, and went down in history as on the most proactive own goals

In the 47th minute, just after the second half began, Lampard scored his second open play goal in 4 days, a great strike from 12 yards to an almost open goal – a result of sloppy clearing

Essien was in the mood today. All the talk that long range shots should be avoided seemed like fables to him as he curled one in from about 35 yards at 51 minutes into the game, a treat to watch for everyone except the goalkeeper.

Didier Drogba did his bit and fell inside the D to a tackle by Nelsen ensuring a penalty. Lampard netted in his second for the evening. The time was at 58 minutes

Anelka played brilliantly today, so did everyone including the subs Bruma, Sturridge and Ferreria. None of them scored any goals though, but Drogba did, heading in a Ballack corner at 63 minutes.

Alas, there were no more goals. Wait till we travel to Bolton on the 31st.

Managers’ Quote:

Ancelotti:

"I was impressed with Joe because I know very well how hard he has worked in the last month,

He is a great professional and after 10 months it is not easy for Joe to play like he did. It was a surprise and I am happy for him.

"Joe is a very important player for us. He has fantastic quality in midfield. He is a genius.

"Chelsea played very well and it is not easy to play against us when we put great quality on the pitch. Blackburn did what they could.

"After the defeat against Aston Villa last week we had a good solution about the set-plays. We had a strong defence from set-plays today. We have improved very quick and very well.

"I think it was the best performance since I came here but we have played well in other games.

"I liked this game very much. We played very well and it was a pleasure to see the team play like this.

"We had to pay attention because when you are 1-0 up we know that in football things can happen and it is not a sure result. But at half-time, I asked my team to score more.

"It has been a difficult time but this is life. I hope my father will be better in the next day.

"Tomorrow I have a free day and will go back to Italy and return on Monday but I think my father will be better.

"These are difficult days but after Monday I think he will be better and I can stay here without problems."

Stats:

Chelsea (4-diamond-2): Cech; Belletti (Ferreira 60), Carvalho (Bruma 66), Terry (c), Ivanovic; Essien; Ballack, Lampard; J Cole (Sturridge 76); Anelka, Drogba.
Scorers Givet o.g. 19, Lampard 47, 58 (pen), Essien 51, Drogba 63.

Blackburn (4-1-4-1): Robinson; Jacobsen (Salgado 59), Givet, Nelsen (c), Olsson; N’Zonzi; Diouf, Andrews, Emerton, Pedersen (Hoilett 68); Roberts (Kalinic 51).
Booked Pedersen 45

That’s it for now. Good night blues.

Chelsea take on Atlético Madrid in what will be their third UEFA Champions League Group Stage fixture. Here is what the table looks like right now:

And here is what it SHOULD look like after today’s game:

No, I am not giving any goodies if you spot the mistakes, though if you did take pains to do so, you would have found out that the predicted score line here at 11blues is 3-1 to Chelsea. Hurrah!

Preparations for Atlético Madrid

Apart from worrying about our Mascot, Stamford the Lion getting kidnapped, the lads also had to worry about a minor thing known as defending. It seems they have worked on it. Here’s what Ballack had to say:

John’s reaction on the pitch showed how dramatic defensive shortcoming can be made out to be. Talking about shortcomings, Deco might have a role to play today, with the absence of Didier.

Oh, my bad. Quoted out of context. Here is what he actually said:

That’s what you need, emotions like that, to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We speak with each other. We have no problem criticising each other in the dressing room. A good team with strong players has to do this.

"We’ve done that, then we shake hands and get back on to the training pitch and try to do better.

"I wasn’t involved, not in the team, but I know the problem. I was there the next day and we spoke about it. Everybody has to make an impact on the situation, me too.

"I have to do this, not just because of my age. I have a few years behind me and have experienced a few situations. I’m experienced, so I have to speak to help the team. Everybody has to take responsibility, otherwise we will concede more goals.”

So at least someone is serious. Rather, someone is TALKING serious. All the seriousness in preparation would be tested against a desperate Athletico Madrid, a site so desperate to be accepted, it isn’t even the best club in its city.

I would be coming up with a few interesting things about Ath Mad in the following post, but this one is for the serious stuff. Or so it seems.

Teams

Chelsea

Drogba is suspended of course. Ballack should return after all that talk, and Bosingwa is still injured. Alex is also not yet fit. So the line-up should be from:

Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Ivanovic, A Cole, Carvalho, Terry, Belletti, Hutchinson, Bruma, Essien, Lampard, J Cole, Ballack, Malouda, Zhirkov, Deco, Kalou, Sturridge, Anelka, Borini

Atlético Madrid

Well, no one’s telling me. So you will have to wait for this thing.

Tactical Suggestion: PLEASE DEFEND SET-PIECES BETTER

That’s all in this preview. Catch the game at 1945 UK time.

I would be live tweeting about the game. Catch all the action @11blues.

Be a Blue. Support a good cause

Second Consecutive Away Defeat, Chelsea go down to a resilient Villa outfit, aided by their own stupidity

The day was going pretty great till Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka decided to screw it up for me. It was a lovely Saturday morning, add to that the fervour of Diwali and you have the ingredients of an auspicious day to come.

It was of course, not to be. Chelsea lost to Villa 1-2 and ruined the day. No, I want to correct myself. The defeat did not ruin my day, the way they managed to earn this defeat did. If the person who invented man-marking were alive today, we would surely have got his suicide note in tomorrow’s paper.

That was about the defence. Hold on, not yet. Whenever Villa wanted to charge, they were allowed to, and in a manner more fluent than we could ever achieve during the 90 minutes of torture.

Chelsea, as usual, got more chances, more shots on goal, and more opportunities to kill the game. But who cares about them. The conversion was as bad as it would ever get this season. What is the point of having so many chances, if there is only one goal to show for it?

Take a look at the following stats and let me know why a team with 68% possession, 7 shots on target, 21 shots, 9 corners, and with the keeper having to make only one save, lost 1-2. It is beyond me.

Ancelotti must be rueing his lap dance by now. He should have been here teaching these lads a thing or two about man marking.

Drogba put us in front in the 15th minute. But that was irrelevant as Aston bounced back and then ended up doubling their lead.

It is interesting what Chelsea FC has to say about this:

Drogba received the ball, back to goal, some 25 yards out, and given space to turn by his marker, did so, unleashing a speculative effort that bounced awkwardly in front of Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel, and up into the net.

All good, but listen to the very next line, kind of sums up the game for me:

It was without question more than we deserved at that stage, having been wasteful in possession and of little threat going forward, but Villa had been equally uninspiring, with only the industrious Milner and the tricky Ashley Young on the opposite flank suggesting they could cause our backline much trouble.

If it would have been a more enterprising team today, we would have been thoroughly embarrassed. I was thanking god that it was an away game.

I do not want to talk about how they scored, specially the second goal (ask Nicolas Anelka).

Here are the formalities:

Aston Villa (4-4-2): Friedel; Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, Warnock; Milner, Sidwell, Petrov (c), Young; Carew (Heskey 81), Agbonlahor.
Scorers Dunne 31’, Collins 51’
Booked Agbonlahor 34’, Milner 90+2’

Chelsea (4-1-2-1-2): Cech; Bosingwa (Ivanovic 68), Carvalho, Terry (c), A Cole; Essien; Lampard, Malouda (J Cole 84); Deco; Anelka, Drogba.
Scorers Drogba 15’
Booked A Cole 45’

People would say that we would have won anyways, but I disagree. Fulham is a very gritty side, with a very well respected manager. But the way Chelsea played yesterday would bring a smile to all us fans. It was a professional, thorough and comprehensive victory, if ever there was one. Ancelotti changed things again, not starting with Deco this time around. With Lamps at the peak of the diamond, the flair was successfully traded for elegant consistency. Space was always there for the taking. Add to that two glorious strikes, one each from Drogba and Anelka (starting today, instead of Kalou), and you get a happy fan. A very happy fan!

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Poor old Solomon Kalou is disappointed. Rightly so, as none of you voted for him. That is the reason he doesn’t feature in the results chart below. Here, take a look:

Anelka was the outright fans among 11blues.com visitors, getting 64% of the votes. Sheva and Sturridge (highly unlikely) received 18% votes each. That is what the fans think. If I could read Ancelotti’s mind, I would tell you that it would of course be Anelka (maybe he came here and voted), with Kalou and maybe Sturridge later to support Didier.

There is a new poll up by the way. This is about the effect that the 4-4-2 Diamond has on our success, positive or negative. Do vote. The poll can be found on the sidebar to your right…

I know we have been a part of sufficient pre-season games, but the performance in the first two games clearly proved that we are not at our best. The number of chances that Drogba missed against Hull are more of a concern than conceding the lead in both the games till now. All these concerns get blurred by the fact that we won both the games.

The side looks raring to go, just the implementation of the planning is not upto the mark. Hope we improve as the season progresses. The initial wins have temporarily put us on top of the table, and that always is a prospect to relish, no matter how temporary.

(more…)

"I am happy, and I am staying"

If ever there could be good news on the day of the launch, this is it! Didier Drogba has extended his contract with the blues till 2012, reiterating that he is a true chelsea guy and would not be affected by whosoever wants him.

Here is what he had to say (source: Chelsea FC): (more…)

who will partner me?

A very important purpose of this site is to encourage reader interaction. Hence, polls would be a regular feature here at 11blues.com. This is the first in the series of polls. Feel free to vote and give your opinion. The poll can also be discussed in our forum.

With Didier Drogba looking in great personal form, dropping him from the lineup is and will never be an option in the near future at least. With Ancelotti stressing that change is on the cards, who do you think will be the other half of the striking pair?

Will it be the young and promising Daniel Sturiddge, who was given a lot of footage on the preseason US tour?

Or, will it be the experience of Anelka, or maybe Solomon Kalou?

Or, will Ancelotti bank on his past Milan guy Shevchenko?

What do you think? Will it be someone else? A surprise? Someone from the midfield? Voice your opinion. Here is a copy of the poll, vote here. You can also vote on the poll widget on your right (sidebar).

 
Carlo Ancelotti – is he the one?

In North London, very few people have heard of Reggiolo. But that doesn’t deter all the 9187 residents of the small town in Italy to be proud of their most famous son – Carlo “Carletto” Ancelotti. Early this year, the out and out Milan guy was asked to take over the reigns at Chelsea FC, to succeed none other than Guus Hiddink, the man who brought the killer competitive streak back to the blues at the business end of last season. A season which saw us win the FA Cup and qualify for the Champions Trophy. Good, but not satisfying enough.

The squad remains the same, with just a few notable inclusions. The challenge remains the same – win the BPL, win the FA Cup, win the Champions League. Easier said than done, but that is why we have Ancelotti at the helm. His achievements at AC Milan are stuff legends are made of ( Champions League twice, Scudetto, Copa Italia, he has won it all).

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