The commentators along with the Skysports presenters dubbed this the match of the weekend, and in the end, it surely lived up to that. An open game for 90 minutes, one would argue that the scoreline could easily have been 6-0, 7-1, 5-2, 8-4, 6-3, or even 10-0 for that matter. I haven't seen a match in a long time where both teams hit the woodwork so often. Which if it didn't happen it could have easily been a goalfest.
Chelsea came into this match with manager Andre Villas-Boas knowing that a win was an absolute must. Kudos must go to him for picking a rather strong side, whilst dropping Torres to the bench, which in the end managed to pay off. Drogba got to start up front with Sturridge and Mata on his right and left respectively. The surprise of the team line-up was that former Barcelona starlet Oriol Romeu got the nod to start ahead of john Obi Mikel and Raul Mereiles. In the end Romeu had a solid game. One can argue that he has only been impressing so far everytime he's been on the pitch, and thus one can understand why this lad was highly rated by the Barcelona academy. Romeu managed to play a full 90 minutes, not putting a foot wrong.
From the first minute, both teams pushed forward, this leading to a very open game. Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul had up till Chelsea's second goal an immense game. At one stage one of the commentators went as far as saying that Krul could possibly be the best goalkeeper in the league at this stage. In a way I would agree. He played amazing against Man United last weekend, making some magic saves, and even today he gave it his all. His best save arguably was when Ramires broke loose, getting ready to bury it into the back of the net. Krul literally threw his whole body on the line, and made a spectacular save. I remember when he started becoming the regular first choice man in goal, he sort of started a bit shaky, but he has magnificently improved over the past couple of months. You can say he was Newcastle's man of the match today. Remember the name, Tim Krul.
Up until Chelsea opened the scoring, the team had several chances of getting on the scoresheet. Daniel Sturridge was amazing going forward, however he had quite a lot of chances to score. He hit the goalpost as well, plus the amazing saves from Krul frustrated him in some sort of way. He also earned a penalty, which Frank Lampard eventually missed after some fantastic work form Tim Krul. Then came the 37th minute, Branislav Ivanovic tried to give a cross from the right that went a bit too far to go out on the other side of the pitch. Most spectators assumed that it was a Newcastle throw-in, however it deflected off a Toon player, which meant Chelsea had throw-in. Ashley Cole took a quick throw-in to Juan Mata, who gave a cherry of a cross to set up Didier Drogba for the header. The mighty Ivorian beating Tim Krul. 1-0 to Chelsea. At last the deadlock broken. The Blues went into half-time with the lead.
Coming back from half-time, Chelsea didn't make any changes at that stage. The second half started where Newcastle pushed the Blues' defence for the first 10-15 minutes, creating opportunities to score, but not taking all of those chances. One must say that Chelsea's defence held up pretty well, especially the likes of John Terry, who put up a sterling performance. Didier Drogba should have buried the game in the 52nd minute, after hitting the sidenetting, which almost looked like he scored. As for the rest of the 2nd half, Chelsea kept on pushing, however Newcastle had their chances, with Drogba almost scoring an own-goal, after hitting his own cross-bar from a header when Newcastle took a corner. Luck was on Chelsea side. 2nd half substitute Shola Ameobi nearly equalised for the home side when his shot hit the crossbar as well, forcing Petr Cech to make a fantastic save on a follow-up shot.
So, then Villas-Boas decided to introduce the substitutes. Off came Juan Mata, who had a fantastic game, in his place came Salomon Kalou, who made his 100th appearance form the bench, which is now a Chelsea record itself. Drogba came off, and Torres was introduced for the last 15 minutes of the game. At this stage it was still locked at 1-0 for the visitors.
All eyes were on the Spanish number 9, him being under the telescope since joining the club in January. Then late in the second half, Torres did his part, by setting up a fantastic opportunity inside the penalty box for Kalou, and in the process, the Ivorian buried into the back of the net. Kalou scores, Torres having an amazing assist. This means Torres has now more assists than goals for Chelsea, which isn't a bad statistic at all.
Then came the 2nd half injury time. By then Chelsea had pretty much buried the game, however there was still one thing missing. Sturridge had a good game by pushing forward the whole, however he needed a goal for his efforts. This is exactly what happened when he eventually beat Krul, and scored a classy goal. The cherry was on the cake. Sturridge can feel he had a fantastic game, and in the end his efforts paid off. It was full-time at the Sports Direct Arena a.k.a. St James Park, Chelsea picking up the magic three points.
In the end, this match was a great test of character for a Chelsea side that desperately needed a win like today. It was the first time this season that they beaten a club who's currently in the Top 5, plus along with Man City, Chelsea are the only club to have beaten Newcastle so far this season. Before today, Newcastle were lying 4th. A great win one must say.
So, next up, the do-or-die clash at Stamford Bridge vs Juan Mata's former side, Valencia. Chelsea need to win this match to ensure a spot in the knockout stages of the competition, or else it's having to settle for the Europa League. The win at Newcastle comes at a perfect time, and should Villas-Boas start with the same side that played today, there's no reason why they can't progress to the next round.
Keep The Blue Flag Flying High.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Match Preview: Newcastle vs Chelsea 3 December 2011
So, the Blues travel to St.James Park in the aftermath after losing once again to Liverpool at home in a space of 9 days. And whilst Chelsea might have won their last league encounter against Wolves pretty convincingly, the next couple of days might turn out to be very significant in the club's recent history.
Newcastle will be entertaining the visitors knowing they haven't lost the last 10 matches at home, plus the Magpies managed to grind out a draw at Old Trafford last weekend. You might say that Newcastle might be in real-good form this season so far, but don't expect this match to be a walk in the park for them. Seems Alan Pardew's presence, along with the acquisation of their prolific striker Demba Ba, might be working fine for them at this stage.
As for Chelsea, not only will this match be of significant importance, but Tuesday's do-or-die home match versus Valencia in the Champions League will be the decider between playing a further part in the knockout stages of the European competition, or having to settle for a spot in the Europa League. A win or a goalless draw will ensure Chelsea go through to the Round of 16, however it's not all guaranteed they'll finish on top of the group. Should they finish 2nd behind most likely Bayer Leverkusen, the Round of 16 clash for the Blues could turn out to be a spicy affair, with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan being possible candidates to face the West-London side. And with the prospect of Chelsea possibly facing Barcelona in the Round of 16, it will surely spark-up a rivalry which has flamed up the last couple of seasons between these two clubs. I don't need to remind what happened in 2009, however before that the two sides met in the 2004/05 campaign, with Chelsea emerging victorious over the two legs(even if they lost the 1st leg at the Nou Camp).
As for tomorrow's match, Chelsea, and especially boss Andre Villas Boas, will see this as a do-or-die match in regards to the title race. Yes, Chelsea made up last weekend by being one of only two of the bigger clubs winning their matches, whilst Man City, Arsenal and Man United drew their respective matches. Chelsea are now 9 points behind the leader Man City, with the league leaders having a 5 point cushion between and second-placed Manchester United.
Chelsea's away record this season so far has been reasonable, with the club playing 6, winning 3, drawing 1, and losing 2. Their most impressive away match was the 5-1 drubbing of Bolton at the Reebok, whilst the two losses consisting of losing 3-1 versus Man United at Old Trafford, and the shocking loss versus QPR at Loftus Road on the same day Man City ran riot at Old Trafford.
Newcastle on the other hand, will be missing the services of Jonas Guiterrez through suspension. He's been quite a handful for the Toons in the past couple of matches, so they could be missing him dearly in tomorrow's match. As for Chelsea, the recent match versus Arsenal was the only game from eight matches where the Blues scored first where they didn't end up winning the match, so in terms of scoring first might be vital for Villas-Boas's side. In the last six matches in all competitions, Chelsea only managed to win two matches whilst losing three of the remaining four matches. Both these wins came versus English opposition. Frank Lampard and Daniel Sturridge currently lead the pack between the Chelsea players, having scored 6 goals each, including a penalty from Lampard. Frank has recently been under heavy criticism regarding his performance, but in my opinion he's been one of the stars for his club this season so far. Daniel Sturridge has been the shining star who seems to be adapting perfectly in this Chelsea setup. His loan spell at Bolton last season seems to have done wonders for him. Other players to watch out tomorrow is the likes of Juan Mata, Ramires, Raul Mereiles and David Luiz. Fernando Torres has currently 2 league goals for the season.
To be fair, Chelsea will need to improve on their performance, and tomorrow's match might be the perfect opportunity to replenish the form that made them a force to be reckoned with over the past few seasons. The Premier League has become significantly tougher this season, with six teams now having a major say in who will lift the trophy coming May. Man City may be on a roll now. They've got stacks of talent in the form of Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero, David Silva, who arguably is the best player in the league at the moment, and even Edin Dzeko. They might go on and win the league in May, however should they lose their first match this season, they might take a bit of a hard fall then. Who knows what might happen in the rest of the season. We're only a third through the season, so anything is possible. As for Chelsea, they were in a similar position last season, and nearly managed to make a shock comeback by almost winning the league. The good thing is that the current slump Chelsea has hit has come much earlier than last season, which indicates that the West-London side still has a major say in the title chase.
As for the team tomorrow, here's the team I would love to see playing:
--------------Cech--------------
--Ivanovic--Luiz--Terry--Cole-
-Ramires--Mereiles--Lampard-
-Sturridge--Torres--Mata-----
KTBFFH
Newcastle will be entertaining the visitors knowing they haven't lost the last 10 matches at home, plus the Magpies managed to grind out a draw at Old Trafford last weekend. You might say that Newcastle might be in real-good form this season so far, but don't expect this match to be a walk in the park for them. Seems Alan Pardew's presence, along with the acquisation of their prolific striker Demba Ba, might be working fine for them at this stage.
As for Chelsea, not only will this match be of significant importance, but Tuesday's do-or-die home match versus Valencia in the Champions League will be the decider between playing a further part in the knockout stages of the European competition, or having to settle for a spot in the Europa League. A win or a goalless draw will ensure Chelsea go through to the Round of 16, however it's not all guaranteed they'll finish on top of the group. Should they finish 2nd behind most likely Bayer Leverkusen, the Round of 16 clash for the Blues could turn out to be a spicy affair, with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan being possible candidates to face the West-London side. And with the prospect of Chelsea possibly facing Barcelona in the Round of 16, it will surely spark-up a rivalry which has flamed up the last couple of seasons between these two clubs. I don't need to remind what happened in 2009, however before that the two sides met in the 2004/05 campaign, with Chelsea emerging victorious over the two legs(even if they lost the 1st leg at the Nou Camp).
As for tomorrow's match, Chelsea, and especially boss Andre Villas Boas, will see this as a do-or-die match in regards to the title race. Yes, Chelsea made up last weekend by being one of only two of the bigger clubs winning their matches, whilst Man City, Arsenal and Man United drew their respective matches. Chelsea are now 9 points behind the leader Man City, with the league leaders having a 5 point cushion between and second-placed Manchester United.
Chelsea's away record this season so far has been reasonable, with the club playing 6, winning 3, drawing 1, and losing 2. Their most impressive away match was the 5-1 drubbing of Bolton at the Reebok, whilst the two losses consisting of losing 3-1 versus Man United at Old Trafford, and the shocking loss versus QPR at Loftus Road on the same day Man City ran riot at Old Trafford.
Newcastle on the other hand, will be missing the services of Jonas Guiterrez through suspension. He's been quite a handful for the Toons in the past couple of matches, so they could be missing him dearly in tomorrow's match. As for Chelsea, the recent match versus Arsenal was the only game from eight matches where the Blues scored first where they didn't end up winning the match, so in terms of scoring first might be vital for Villas-Boas's side. In the last six matches in all competitions, Chelsea only managed to win two matches whilst losing three of the remaining four matches. Both these wins came versus English opposition. Frank Lampard and Daniel Sturridge currently lead the pack between the Chelsea players, having scored 6 goals each, including a penalty from Lampard. Frank has recently been under heavy criticism regarding his performance, but in my opinion he's been one of the stars for his club this season so far. Daniel Sturridge has been the shining star who seems to be adapting perfectly in this Chelsea setup. His loan spell at Bolton last season seems to have done wonders for him. Other players to watch out tomorrow is the likes of Juan Mata, Ramires, Raul Mereiles and David Luiz. Fernando Torres has currently 2 league goals for the season.
To be fair, Chelsea will need to improve on their performance, and tomorrow's match might be the perfect opportunity to replenish the form that made them a force to be reckoned with over the past few seasons. The Premier League has become significantly tougher this season, with six teams now having a major say in who will lift the trophy coming May. Man City may be on a roll now. They've got stacks of talent in the form of Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero, David Silva, who arguably is the best player in the league at the moment, and even Edin Dzeko. They might go on and win the league in May, however should they lose their first match this season, they might take a bit of a hard fall then. Who knows what might happen in the rest of the season. We're only a third through the season, so anything is possible. As for Chelsea, they were in a similar position last season, and nearly managed to make a shock comeback by almost winning the league. The good thing is that the current slump Chelsea has hit has come much earlier than last season, which indicates that the West-London side still has a major say in the title chase.
As for the team tomorrow, here's the team I would love to see playing:
--------------Cech--------------
--Ivanovic--Luiz--Terry--Cole-
-Ramires--Mereiles--Lampard-
-Sturridge--Torres--Mata-----
KTBFFH
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