Ed McGinley


Chelsea 2 Boro 0 .... Another Blue Day! (Too long)

Another great Chelsea weekend! Arrived into West London at 5.30pm Saturday,
just in time for a quick bite and onto the Shed Bar at Stamford
Bridge.....always great to see the familiar faces.....and even better to
add a few newer ones to the 'list gallery'.....this time Wayne, Adam, Mark
(Cooper), Jamie, Martin (Jnr) Freshwater, midster Joe Byrne and more. We
had a good night and sang a few choruses in preparation for the next
day...all led by Chelsea John Sampat.

Sunday began with a breakfast at Mona Lisa (caff) on King's Road, with a
few listers, then to the pub (er QH&A at Great Portland Street). We all set
off for Wembley together and sang our hearts out on the train (well I did
anyway! and Joe Byrne definitely did).....the crowd on the train even
crouched down to sing "Nine men went to mow", just so they could all stand
up for the "Ten men" bit.....

Just about got into my seat in time for kick-off and although Boro looked
useful for about 10 - 15 mins and we (particularly Dennis) were caught in
possesion quite a bit in the first half, we gained control and really were
the only team with real attacking flair. Should and could have been 2 or 3
up by half-time.

Second half saw Chelsea 'run' the game and again had good chances, but as
it got to 75 minutes, it was getting very tense, with the feeling that they
could easily get a jammy late goal and we'd have no time to come back at
them.

The Clarke for Petrescu substiution was something of a master-stroke,
particulaly as we switched to 3-5-2.....Clarke completely contained the
threat on our left side and was a cool head when one was needed......and we
attacked with greater pace and movement.

Jason (of this list), his mate Terry, John Sampat and me sitting together
couldn't understand why they didn't bring Flo on 5 or 10 minutes earlier,
as Hughes looked to have run out of steam by about 70 mins.

When he came on, Boro started look like panicking every time he went at
them...this boy is so good and must be a fixture next season.

Extra time gave me renewed hope as I felt we were bound to be the fitter
team. I was so delighted for the Nugget....he's not regarded by most as a
Premier quality player even though he's played at the top level for six
years or so......today he showed mostly the best part of his game.....did
the straight-forward and simple things well, made at least two exceptional
clearances, using his unbelieveable pace......then intercepted a 1 - 2
between Merson and that f***ing idiot, gave a simple ball to Zola and kept
moving into the penalty area, all the time holding his run and keeping an
eye on Wise's progress...bolting into the area at just the right time to
power a header down past a defender and the keeper........

Cue scenes of delirium and strangers hugging and all that!

Robbie's cheeky side-foot made Zola's crap corner count as another famous
Chelsea victory was assured.

Ratings:
De Goey 6.5 Only because he had virtually nothing to do. Didn't give any
cause for worry.

Sinclair 8.5 My MOM easily.....worked so hard and kept his head for the
whole game.

Le Saux 6.5 Took him a while to get into the game...but had a much better
second half, esp. when pushed further forward  with the tactical switch.

Doobs 7.5 Very good performance. Stood up well most of the time...though I
wish he wouldn't bother trying long passes forward as they nearly always
concede possession

LeBoeuf 8.25  Thoroughly commading performance....when he's good, he's
f***ing great.....if he can play as well as this (and Arse (H) (League
Cup), Betis (home and away) in every game, we could be top of the League
right now!!

Petrescu 6.25 Not bad, not great....can't work this guy out...he's got so
much ability but becomes invisible in quite a few games....played some neat
passes with Wise and Zola.

Wise 8 started poorly but improved by the second half, then came to life
once tht f***ing idiot came off the bench for M'boro......had a very good
extra time. Are you watching Glenn Hoddle? Is this little man not far
superior to Rob Lee (?!!), Paul Ince (??!!), Batty (!!!??!!) and
Redknapp(???@!!!!!??@@=A3!)...I say he IS! ANd what's more you actually need
him in France....he has so much more to his game than any of those!

Newton 7 Steady improvement from Steady Eddie......starting to achieve the
kind of work-rate and performance of his better days....I'm glad he got
start and that he did ok...and just hope that he can continue to improve
and not get injured again (as it takes him too long to get back to the
'full-on' Eddie).

Di Matteo 7 Good throughout, if a little unspectacular.

Hughes 7.5 Worked very hard, put up with a lot of battering from Pearson,
got almost no real protection from the ref...ie Pearson ought to have been
booked long before Hughes got booked and that would have given Hughes half
a chance of being able to play the game without being fouled incessantly.

Zola 8 His recent performances - Betis (H & A), Palace and yesterday - have
seen him gradually get back his typical style and form...and he really is a
little diamond.....he graces any stage with his natural charm and that
f***ing idiot ought to be ashamed of himself for kicking a player of Zola's
stature (and that means quality and poise rather than height!)


Subs: Flo 8 Brillaint and dashing movement, beguiling ball control...hope
he starts at Vicenza!
Clarke 7.25 Calm and professional job...glad he has won another medal at
Chelsea and was part of the action....might this be his last honour as a
player?

Luca 10 Great courage and humility from this 'Chelsea legend' (only two
years here and I think he may have suceeeded in his stated
ambition)........hope he wins a CWC players medal.

Special word One: Thanks Ruud....you also played your part
Special word Two: Two of the WH regulars (on the list) for helping many of
us get our tickets. It really IS appreciated...you know who you
are....etc.....THANKS!

A very interesting game, full of incident, error and pleasure (for me anyway).

Excellent squad management, giving a debut to the 19-year old Nick Crittenden (well called by P Mason and R Glanvill) and giving players like Morris and Granville a good run.

As the substitutions were made, players were given different jobs and the team that finished the game looked like this:

Hitchcock

Clarke Lee Granville Babayaro

Crittenden Nicholls Lambourde Morris

Hughes Flo

I disagree with Roald that Hitchcock was 'lucky'....I thought that he was unlucky, in that the defence in front of him were half-asleep, during most of Soton's half-decent attacks and that the midfield frequently gave away the ball.
He made several really good saves, usually saving a Chelsea player from an embarrasing moment.....Babayaro, Clarke (throwing the ball to the keeper when there were forwards, ready to put him under pressure), Granville and even Ruud, who didn't really show a lot of enthusiasm for the more routine
aspects of defending....like chasing a player who'd gotten past him or trying to prevent a player from putting in a cross.
Hitchcock, has learned some bad habits from Dmitri, Frode and Ed....he has taken to punching (badly) when it would be easier to catch....still I thought he did very well......but I guess that starting against Blackburn
would be too much to expect.
Others:
Sinclair did ok but the final ball (be it a cross or a killer pass) always went astray.......Clarke had a reasonable game.........Gullit defending was a worry (he even stood there with his arm raised as a Soton attack was in progress between him and his own goalmouth!!), but looked absolutely immaculate when he moved up field.......Granville did ok but he and Morris didn't really read each other very well, on the left wing.
Crittenden made a very assured debut, starting tentatively, unsure of his positioning, but as the game went on seemed to realise that IT IS the same game we play at Kingstonian and grew very obviously in confidence.......Wise did ok, without setting the place alight........Lambourde was very good most of the time, good skills, good passer, good reader etc but has a tendency to constantly handle opposition players when they were getting past him...if he'd done that as a defender, he would have got booked. Referee Ellary had a word in his ear..."I really don't want to have to book you again, son"........Morris did ok....had three excellent shots on target, forcing two quality saves and one (winning) goal......
Flo was excellent throughout, reminded me of his game away to Wimbledon where he showed very good close control, first touch etc....his goal was quite brilliant, having received a thoughtful pass from Crittenden down the inside right channel, dodged two Soton defenders and pulling inside, struck a great left foot shot between the keeper and the near post. Did a lot of work throughout the pitch and the whole game.......Mark Nicholls, playing up front, worked hard and showed some good ability, made some perceptive passes and was unlucky not to score having made a couple of good chances for himself and having one set up for him by Flo, which hit Benali on the head on their goal-line. Although it looked like it would have been easier to score, he was at full stretch to get to the ball at all.
Subs: Gullit said that "Chelsea played better when the gaffer went off"....
Lee played well, if unspectacularly and worked hard.
Babayaro is still getting there, amd did use his right foot to good effect TWICE, and then disastrously in his own box, while trying to hoof (HOOF! HOOF!) a high ball clear.
Hughes came on at the start of the second period of extra time and his control, protection of the ball and his cool lay-off set up Morris for the winner.
Players not even on the bench last night: Kharine, De Goey, Le Saux, Leboeuf, Duberry, Myers, Di Matteo, Petrescu, Newton, Poyet, Zola, Vialli, Paul Hughes, Grodas