Solomon Malcolm

Leicester - Blackburn - Liverpool - Arsenal

West Ham

As I live ten minutes away from Upton Park, I decided to drive to the
game,as I did not want travel the entire journey with followers of
the Hamsters. Well despite setting off two hours before kick off, I
still got there late, the traffic around the Embankment was
horrendous. I parked south side of Chelsea bridge and walked to the
ground. When I got to the Bridge, around the Stamford gate, leading
to the away fans area, scuffles and scraps were already breaking out,
in full view of the police. A couple of police horses were getting
agitated and one nearly bolted into a small group of 'have a go'
West Ham hot heads. That apparently calmed them down and they had
to be restrained by their more sober or less mental fans. Maybe it
was a good idea that I drove in after all.

Now to the game. The atmosphere as could be expected at a London
derby especially between these two clubs in particular, was electric.
West Ham apparently did their home work on us (or we were still on
cloud nine following the Tromso game - I believe the former was the
case,) because they totally dominated much of the first half. we
could not break through the last third of the park, and I could not
see how we could score a goal from open play. Rio Ferdinand played a
blinder, cutting out and intercepting and generally reading the game
well, just like our Beefy, and kept West Ham in the game by heading
Zola's free kick off the line. Much has been said about Bobby Moore
on this list, maybe the academy of hamsters have found another in
his mould, namely Rio?

Well Ruud must have seen how they were out playing us and changed
tactics by replacing Petrescu (or 'pet rescue' according to that
fatboy Danny Baker of Talk Radio), with young Mark Nicholls just
before half time, to change the midfield into a flat group of four.
I thought it was a strange time to make a substitution, probably
better to explain it to the whole team during the interval. However
Ruud knows best, because the changes confused West Ham so much, the
players continued the off field scuffles onto the pitch, this time
between themselves, with Berkovic and Monkur squaring up to each
other. Ruud must be a genius and has rightly earned the title 'the
world's must intelligent footballer'.

We were on a roll and the hamsters were unsettled. During the
interval they had their noses rubbed into the mire further when it
was announced, that our latest school boy signing, (who completed the
forms on the pitch) was from Essex, east of the capital, and opted
to sign for us. ' A wise choice' said the announcer, much to the
sneers by the West Ham faithful. Maybe those from East London like
myself, would find it boring and monotonous supporting a team that
has only one song. Perhaps the academy finds it extremely hard to
create a new one.

The second half, due to Ruud's tactical brilliance, left the hamsters
in such a maze that their star player of the first half, Rio (the
new Bobby Moore), scored an own goal. He was greeted with cheers and
chants of 'Rio! Rio!' whenever he touched the ball. Hamsters
supporters were subdued and notably quiet. I thought they would
respond to the home fans cheering on their star player, but remained
non vocal. Perhaps even they got bored of singing their one and only
song. Zola's masterful freekick demonstrated which team has the most
effect and real academy. Again pure class. After this the hamsters
realised the game was over and a number of them started to leave,
greeted with 'We can see you sneaking out!'

The West Ham sub, winger Abou won them a penalty in the closing
stages. I had a clear sight of if in the third row of the Matthew
Harding, stand lower, and it looked clearly to be a dive. He felt the
challenge of Myers and made a three course meal with seconds out of
it. This woke up the hybernating hamsters who suddenly found their
tongues. Despite those of us behind the goal doing our utmost- waving
hands etc to put Hartson off, (we should have had a giant
photo of Dowie) he calmly slotted the ball home despite Ed de Goey,
'Oi, Oi!' getting a hand to it. I fully take back those flippant
comments made earlier about him looking like a porn star and having
strong wrists.

This led to a frantic last three minutes with West Ham throwing
everything at us to get a late equaliser urged on by their fans. It
was not all one way because a few times we were putting through a
string of fine passes deep in their half. It was a test of our
professionalism that we did not freeze and throw away the lead. Beefy
went down after a challenge which led to a free kick to the hamsters.
I was surprised it turned out to be so serious he had to be carried
off much to the delight of the hamsters' fans. Well he was replaced
by the master himself, no 4, Gullit. Whilst the game was held up, Rio
(the new Bobby Moore) was greeted with 'Rio wants a pint, wants a
pint of lager! to the tune of one man went to mow. He sportingly
grinned back at us. For all the delay that followed, West Ham totally
wasted the the free kick, hitting the ball closer to the corner flag
than the goal. Some academy they have their. That summed up their
game in the second half and for the final seconds, we sang 'You're
shit and you know you are!'

Another masterful display by Chelsea thanks to Ruud's ingenuity. We
finally broke our duck of losing games after we play in Europe. This
was not forgotten as we also sang 'One team in Europe!' at the
hamsters. With Arsenal beating Man U it means if we beat Everton at
home which is our game in hand, we go joint top. Come on you Blues!

As I was in no obvious hurry to go home after the game for reasons
stated above, I went to the players exit to catch a glimpse of the
players and get an autograph or two. The West Ham coach pulled up and
I noticed Lambourde stride past and went straight inside. Was there a
sudden or secret transfer straight after the game? Well my fears were
mooted as he came out hugging Amou of West Ham. They obviously knew
each other as they both came from French teams and were chattering
away and joking together in French. Flo and Grodas came down and
signed autographs, followed by Rio (the new Bobby Moore) who was
cheered and patted on the back by Chelsea fans thanking him for his
goal and fine display for us.

Whilst waiting, I noticed a tall slim very attractive bit of stuff
smiling at me. The next thing I knew she was chatting away next to
me. Maybe my luck was changing and I did not need to go through all
the lines in '101 Great Chat Up Lines' to get a result after all.
Well to cut a long story short and to let you know what happened, she
turned out to be waiting for Andy Myers and thought I was a member of
the club's staff. She was later taken up to the player's lounge by a
steward. Some guy's get all the luck. Perhaps he would get some
excellant consoling for giving away the penalty.

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Tromso @ home

Are You Watching Arsenal...Liverpool...West Ham..Who ever!!

The evening began early for me. I bumped into Amanda at EArls Corut
tube around 3.30 and we made for the mega store. I was down early
to be at the launch of the 'History of Chelsea' video which was
arranged for 3pm. Graham Le Saux was on hand signing autographs.
Had a look at the Harley Davidson bike. It looks great, yours for a
mere Twenty grand, built to order only. I suppose some of the players
maybe interested in buying one, the odd idle yuppie, if they are
still around. What next? what about a Chelsea mini, or a Chelsea MG
sports car. I did notice a few Tromso fans in the megastore, by the
way they were staring at the place it certainly made them feel a bit
in awe of the club they will be facing. The size of the mega store
and goods on offer may work in our favour by making some fans feel
intimidated.


I arrived at the Bridge around 7.30. The queue at the first gate of
the Matthew Harding Lower tier was enourmous. It hardly moved much to
the anger of those in the swarming queue. There must have been a
problem because it is not normally that slow. We were still
stationery when the game started and it was amazing a riot did
not break out. Someone in frustration banged on the emergency exit
doors. To everyone's amazement, a few seconds later it was pushed
opened from inside! There was a mass surge
towards the doors but they were quickly slammed shut. By this time
more stewards arrived and directed us to the other turnstiles. I got
to my seat precisely 60 seconds before the first goal went in, so
fortunately I did not miss much. I felt sorry for those still
lining up outside though.

After the second goal went in we took it a bit easy thinking the
job was done. However this is a dangerous game to play which allowed
Tromso to score from a finely taken shot. Zola responded with a
splendid free kick of pure class. That was a taste of things to come
and showed the goal conceded was a wake up call to get stuck in.

Well the scoreline said it all. Enough was said about the performance
and goals.I personally lost count as I was trying to work out the
aggregate scores as well. Tromso are only good on snow. On
grass the game was an exhibition of men against boys. It also showed
that we did not need the cushion of the those late finely taken goals
by Vialli in the blizzard to help us. Tromso could not or were unable
to hold on to the lead in any case. They were perhaps hoping for a
blizzard last night and they certainly got one. A blizzard of goals in
the back of their net. The taunts of 'Sing when its snowing, you only
sing when it's snowing' summed it up. Then followed chants of 'Are
you Tottenham in Disguise?' And 'There's only one Gerry Francis!'

During half time I noticed a bloke at the front of the upper tier
who had a a blow up doll with him. I do not know why he
brought it with him. Perhaps he was the bloke whose wife went into
labour as announced over the tannoy. For some reason at every midweek
match, there is an announcement that some bloke's missus is
expecting. God knows what gets into people these
days.

For my troubles I was blessed with a seat in the front row and I
patted Vialli on the back when he slid in to score his second.
Perhaps he noticed my t shirt. That was my claim to fame. When I went
into work after the game all the blokes said they saw me on telly.

Now that was the second time I saw Chelsea score seven goals in a
game. The last time was back in 1979 when we beat Leyton Orient away.
I hope we can consolidate the success in Europe with a victory
against another East London team who visits us on Sunday. Are the
police expecting crowd trouble? The Sporting Rat had a notice up
saying due to police advice they will be closed on Sunday between 4 &
7pm. Do West Ham run amok in West London or what? It would sound like
a game not to wear colours, but I wont be able to conceal my support-
my hair does not grow back that fast.

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Leicester

Follows is my brief exposition of the game on Saturday in basking hot sun. A certain team who turned up played as if it was a cold wet midweek night in Grimsby. Okay, I am spoiling it for the others but I decided to set my stall out straight away so everyone knows how I saw the game.

My first game of the season in the Mathew Harding stand, quite a coincidence bearing in mind the controversy in the press the morning of the game surrounding Ken Bates comments. It is still the liveliest part of the ground in my view.

We looked our usual confident self with passing and movement which is how we tend to start most games. Zola looked okay but when he was tackled or had a pass intercepted, the Leicester faithful burst into a chorus of: "Engerland, Engerland, Engerland!", which was greeted with hisses and whistling. It is a strange coincidence that we seem to play Leicester immediatly after an England v Italy match.However, our meetings still follows with Martin O'Neill's usual whingeing, again this was no exception to this tradition.

I was concerned when Le Saux seemed to have a serious injury. He appeared, from my position, to have merely tripped over the ball. The immediate reaction of those sitting around me were "Oh no, not another one!"

It was good to see Ruud come on as the replacement. At least it meant that having brought himself on, he could not be subbed again at half time or later in the game, so we saw him play most of the match, giving the opposition a demonstration of class and technique.

I felt Babayaro looked amazing throughout the game and surely lives up to his 'wonderkid' label. He surely does have a bag of tricks and party pieces at his disposal and I am not counting his somersault routine. Following the the downer upon hearing that Poyet is unfortunately out for the season (surely a candidated for player of the season if his form and appearances continued), the no 3 'baby'
Babayaro, proved yet again the class and strength of the squad.

As the game progressed it was clear that Leicester just came to hang on for the draw. This probably puts a picture on their credibility as a top five team, perhaps they just had a good start and woulds soon be found out. They could have showed some interest in venturing into the last third of the pitch or at least going over the half way line. But all 10 outfield players stayed in and around their box. Perhaps they would have got lost in the other half. As a consequence, chants of "Boring, boring, Leicester!" were heard.

Flo was starting to get a bit of stick by some fans who sang: "Are you Furlong in disguise?". I felt it was a bit unfair because Flo was working hard and is not a lazy player like Collymore, who expects others to do the donkey work for him and then squanders chances.

The Leicester keeper had a blinder and carried his team, with a string of fine saves. Leicester have a tradition of good keeepers, Shilton started out with them; and last season in the cup replay, stacy Keller performed wonders in goal. Arhphexad was clapped loudly when he took his position between the sticks in the second half.

It was becoming frustrating watching as the back to the wall stuff by Leicester with a fine display by the keeper appeared to holding. With some reliefe it was sheer joy to see Beefy's long range effort go in. No doubt the 43 second man may have been giving him tips in training! The lower tier went delirious where I was at least. I have heard it said that the atmosphere in the MH stand has died down. I must disagree. Fans were running up the aisles, jumping on and hugging each other like mad. I was accidently buttted in the face and left with a bruised lip due to the exhuberance! It's not like that in the Shed upper.

The ref, Uriah Rennie had a good game. He even exchanged some banter with the crowd. In the second half he was heard shouting "Stop doing that to him!" Idont know who toperhaps due to some shirt pulling in the box. A fan shouted out " Yeah, leave him alone!" and the ref shouted back:"You tell him!" to some laughter.

By the way if you saw the highlights on match of the day, i was in shot, behind the goal. I had my pineapple down and hair in ponytail with sun glasses, wearing a white t shirt. You can judge the mad exhuberance for yourself.

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Blackburn

I beleive I read it on this list earlier in the week from 'someone in the know', that around 28000 tickets had already been sold for this game. Having a laugh or what?.I too arrived at Earl's Court around 7.40 and noted the near absense of chelsea fans. In fact I felt out of place in football colours amidst the commuters.

I probably got to the ground 5 minutes after kick off and was amazed by the small crowd. Perhaps most of the Chelsea fans were queing up for tickets as I noticed that the lines were in the hundreds.

For some reason we dont have a good record recently against Blackburn. We lost to them last game of the season before last. That match will go down in Chelsea folklore due to the chants of: 'You can stick George Graham up your arse!'; and 'Gullitt, Gullitt take the job!'

The game last season was again in midweek and ended in a boring one all draw, a big let down coming after the Leicester replay. This game was no exception and with the empty seats, chilly breeze and 80p for a bar of chocolate (?!), I feared here we go again.

Main points:
The game appeared scrappy but Gullitt again made his presence felt with many fine passing and interceptions. Perhaps he should have played the whole game. I believe Babayaro played well and was all over the place. Was he a wing back, midfielder, or striker? he was everywhere.

The equaliser by Robbie was finely taken. However I was a bit concerned at the celebratory somersaulting by Babayaro. Wasn't that the way he injuried himself preseason?

Newton looked a little rusty or below full fitness, some of his passes went astray and touches could have been better, but I'm sure will improve with more match plays. I was surprised when Hughes was replaced by debutant Hampshire, perhaps Ruud felt he would be a counter balance to Vialli. He seemed okay from what I saw and did not have a 'nightmare' game. Concerning the two incidents involving Vialli. They were both of the ball and I did not see either. He admitted afterwards that he was in the wrong to use his elbow and deserved to be red carded. It made my earlier concerns regarding Hughes all the more apparent.

The penalty shoot out went well and we did not miss any. Obviously some practing went on following the Charity Sheild. Blackburn's one conversion said it all. Perhaps they are not bothered by the fizzy cup anyway.

I was deeply saddened when I read earlier on the list that Poyet is out for the season.I did woner why he was not playing, I assumed maybe he was on international duty. He has got to be the leading signing this season and if his form continued, I am sure would have been a contender for our player of the year award. He will be deeply missed and allways looked impressive whenever i saw him. Let's hope we can do the biz when we play: '...and Leicester!' on saturday.

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Liverpool Away

Why is it that we lose our live Sunday games against top contenders due to avoidable sending offs?

I am writing this report feeling the after effects of a 10 hour coach trip. Bring back terracing! After sitting for so long I would prefer to stand than sit with a near numb posterior. I can score goals like Vialli's in the Bratislava game, all week and not feel a thing.

I got to the ground at 10am to catch the coach just before it departed. I was expecting a sing song as we were going to watch Chelsea play but the atmosphere was quiet. Most people did not know each other. That was no excuse. After a couple of hours on the road someone decided to put on a tape of the Liverpool cup tie. That got the crowd going to put us in the right frame of mind for the game
ahead. Just when the second half started we pulled into a service station for a 45 minute break. I noticed a lot of Liverpool fans there already. They were clearly not from Liverpool from their accents, and scousers would not be on a service station 70 miles from home, would they? Again as others mentioned before like Manure
they do attract a large number of glory hunters from the south.
The coach arrived at 2.45. I had arranged to meet Adam at the Arkles pub which was supposed to be away fan friendly, but I kept seeing Liverpool fans entering and leaving. I thought maybe it was the wrong pub, so I hung around the away fans entrance and spoke to a few Chelsea fans. Whilst waiting a scouser tout asked if I was after a ticket, but I declined. It is probably a safe bet that one can always get tickets there for the big games.

I finally met Adam at the Arkles and inside surprised to see Liverpool and Chelsea fans singing and drinking together. There is I suppose some truth in the myth that scousers are a friendly bunch. However the postings earlier about racist BNP graffiti around the ground shows not all of them are. After all the Liverpool 'mob'(known as the stanley boys after the knives they carried) did have a bad
reputation.
Inside the ground I noticed someone selling programes from the said Bratislava away tie, funny I could not find the bloke when I wanted one. My attention was taken by a group of 'Spice Babes' dressed in underwear singing Chelsea songs. Why haven't we seen them at the Bridge? They drew more interest than Stamford the Lion. For once eyes were not fixed on my t shirt or haircut. I'm glad I am not the only Chelsea eccentric.

Whilst the Chelsea presence was sizeable there was still a lot of empty seats, meaning our ticket allocation was not sold out perhaps due to the game being live on Sky. However I did see a number of Chelsea fans sitting among the Liverpool fans. We still managed to wind up the scousers and make our presence felt. The four and two finger salute (to remind them of the score when we last met) was held up in abundance. Their response was the inevitable 'v' sign which I
took to mean what they won last season: eff all.
Now the game. I believed we looked promising enough and did not show signs of the ghosts of what happended the last time we played here. However that bounce which Le Saux miss timed was coolly put away by Berger, he seemed to pick his spot well. Watching later on TV, it would appear that Graham was following Berger and not the ball, which is why he was not fooled by the bounce.

Much was said about Elleray. No doubt we will never forgive him for those two penalties in the 94 cup final so expect no favours from him. However, he done us a favour in allowing the equaliser from Zola to stand. From where I was sitting I thought it was a repeat of the goal Manu scored at Old trafford. TV replays showed that it should not have been given, even Zola stopped and checked before rounding 'Calamity' James to score. However, being the conniving school master
he is, Elleray subsequently played to the crowd and gave most decisions in Liverpool's favour to make amends. That was probably why "Elleray, Wank, wank, wank!" and "You headmaster, you had all the boys!" was heard by the blues fans.

Regarding the sending off, why is it for the second live game running we lose the game by a needless sending off? Lambourde should have known better. A so called professional foul is only worth doing in the closing stages of a match to save the game, especially if we are ahead. But after 25 minutes? He should have let McMananam go through. He is not a good finisher when one and one with a keeper in any case, remember the Celtic game. That meant that our tactics went out of the window and the team lost it's shape. They would always have an extra
man in midfield and be able to exploit the gaps. The game was lost then even without the ref doing his best to be on the home fans xmas card lists.

It was good to see Gullitt play nevertheless. He played well despite falling over the ball in the second half when he should have scored. When I watched the game on tv, my cousin who is a big Liverpool fan, noticed that whenever Gullitt had the ball, the Liverpool players seemed to back off from him and allow him more time, as if they were in awe of his presence. If the number four could have this effect
against a team like Liverpool, maybe he should play more often. That was probably why the moaning scousers kept booing him. No one in their team could do that, even though they were winning comfortably.
After a while it was good to see Elleray finally succumb to justice and fairness and award us a deserved penalty. The home fans kept whistling and booing, while we chanted "Dodgy keeper!". Their whistling probably put off their keeper, as it was good to see Poyet coolly and calmly send 'Calamity' James the wrong way and give us something to cheer about.

After that as the final seconds ticked away, we wound up the scousers with,(to the tune of I am sailing) "You were crying, you were crying, you were crying at Stamford Bridge!"; and "We won the cup... eey ay adio etc.."

The final score: 4-2. Somewhat familiar that one isn't it?
The coach arrived back at 11pm, with a video of 'Heat' starring Pacino and De Niro to while away the 5 hour non stop journey. I could not help thinking, during the scene near the end where De Niro shoots dead the turn coat, and says "Look at me!" before pulling the trigger, that the the 'turncoat' was Elleray.

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Arsenal @home

Well writing in somewhat subdued mental state after what was supposed to be the game to decide the top team in London. In fact THE London derby, one from N4 and the other from SW6, sadly the team from N17 no longer comes into the reckoning.

I was bubbling and looking forward to it all week. At work, some Arsenal fans apparently conceded Chelsea would have the upper following the Euro success in midweek and being at home. In fact most of the press forecasts apparently tipped it in our favour.

Well back to the game. I knew the writing was on the wall, when the District line was not running between embankment and Kensington, so I had to make a long detour to Notting hill. Secondly I lost my voice on friday due to a cold and non stop shouting during the Bratislava game, so I sat in frustrating silence through out the game, in the Shed end.

The game was tight as expected and I was impressed with our passing and movement and defence during the first twenty minutes. When Poyet scored it was the break through we needed and was a good psychological advantage. However, Arsenal true to form would have the final say and scored at the best psychological moment in a game which was just before half time, so they went in on an high while we were down to earth with a bump.

I did not feel Vialli should have been taken off.. Due to the importance of the game, our stiffest match the youngster Hughes should have been left out for someone more experienced. However Sparky set up the equaliser, but I could feel at the time Arsenal were in control. My thoughts were confirmed when Beefy was sent off. I stood and applauded, not in his honour, but in sadness that we have now lost the game we could not afford to lose him and his role in defence. His presence was felt immediately and Arsenal took advantage of the gaps in our third of the park. We did not attack either after his departure and I was hoping against hope we could hang on for the draw until that wonder strike by Winterburn.

My thoughts were that this game does not alone mean we are not up for it. We have to play them away along with the others in the top five. A team can afford to lose no more than five game in a season to still be championship contenders. Trust us to be half way there all ready! Lessons have to be learned and we must look forward to Man u away and Newcastle away.

A point on the fans. It was lively in the shed end. It was nice to meet Claire who was sitting a few rows in front of me she recognised the hair cut. There were a few eccentrics. One bloke behind me insisting in singing when no one else joined in with him. It got a bit hilarious when he sang 'one man went to mow' all by himself to the bemusement of all others a around him. He was given a round of
applause for his efforts.

After the game I went in the Drakes bar to meet up with Claire but did not see her or the others. As I left I saw an ambulance outside and Duberry being carried on a stretcher into the back of it. I was at first concerned whether he had aggravated the old injury. This made the defeat even more painful.

I then joined the small crowd around the players entrance where the Arsenal coach had pulled up. I noticed a number of our players Flo and Poyet stop briefly to sign auto graphs. Veira and overmaars and seamon took their time milking it and joking with the fans. At that time Chelsea Radio rang me up, just as there was a commotion when Ian Wright came down the steps. He walked briskly into the coach without signing autographs, perhaps he was sulking he did not have a good game like the last time he played here.. I was of course giving them a running commentary live on the spot on the air! To cap it all as I continued speaking I noticed Ade Mafe as he was making his way to the car park and put him on the
phone, he spoke for a few minutes. Who said Chelsea radio was a gimmick that only a dozen anoraks or sad people listen to. It has live up to the minute reporting! To cap my moment of fame, whilst walking with ade while he was on the phone, a young Chelsea fan walked up to me and asked for my autograph! I am definitely not that famous am I ? I told him that I was a fan and not a player. Players
do not have Chelsea haircuts on the back of their heads or wear jeans with Chelsea patches on them and outrageous t shirts! So again that minor incident after the game left me on a high!Carefree and ready and rearing for Manu and Newcastle!

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