Newspaper reports
The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: “The title is Manchester United’s in all but name. Arithmetic states that another point is required, away to Blackburn Rovers or at home to Blackpool, but the matter, in effect, was settled here. Chelsea, the reigning Premier League champions, were forced to confront their own inferiority at Old Trafford. The narrow score misrepresented the authority of Sir Alex Ferguson’s players, who had scored after 37 seconds.”
The Independent, Sam Wallace: “This was the standout performance against top opposition that Ferguson had been looking for ever since Chelsea began their late-season revival with that victory over United at Old Trafford. Given what Carlo Ancelotti’s team have been through in their mid-season slump, it was extraordinary that they should be in the title race with three games left but they were never truly in yesterday’s match.”
Daily Telegraph, Henry Winter: “Chelsea will panic in the summer, probably dismissing Carlo Ancelotti when the very obvious lesson preached at Old Trafford is the importance of stability. Ferguson’s respect for Ancelotti was evident in the way he embraced the Italian at the final whistle, consoling him, along with his comment that Ancelotti doesn’t deserve “to have his future queried”. Sadly, it will be.”
Official Chelsea FC Website: “A poor first half cost Chelsea dear at Old Trafford as Manchester United moved six points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League.”
The goals
1′ Hernandez 1-0
23′ Vidic 2-0
68′ Lampard 2-1
The preamble
Ah, another Arsenal meltdown. Chuckling at the afflicted was put on temporary hold given the magnitude of the afternoon’s main event…
The game
As I settled in for the first half, top barely off the first Cobra of the afternoon, all hell appeared to break loose up at Old Trafford. Frank Sinclair, almost unrecognisable in a David Luiz wig, managed to execute the poorest piece of positioning since the captain of the RMS Titanic decided that he could steer past the iceberg and Cinquicento buried his twentieth goal of the season. The in-no-way lucky to be on the pitch Vidic added a second inside of the half hour mark; beer and comfort eating seemed the only logical answer to such a huge anti-climax after a week of hype and general excitement about the prospect of sticking it to Fergie in his own back yard.
Planting myself in front of the PC at half time to tap in a few thoughts about the first forty-five minutes, I found that my three year old daughter had beaten me to it; her thoughts on matters were as follows:
67777777rtkllsdj;lkjl;kjgsdfl===================
———dkfl;’’’’’’’’’’’’vcmc7777777777
nddddddddddnzxcm,v
jhghk<>?kl;
k#jasaddddddfvm,dfxc
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
The second half saw an improvement, but turning up at Old Trafford (where a mere two league points have been dropped this season) and putting in half a decent game is never going to cut the mustard. Frank’s scrappy consolation brought about fleeting moments of that evil thing called hope, but our valiant late run in defence of the title now needs something akin to AV, snookers and the Duckworth-Lewis Method to keep the big tin pot away from Rio’s paws.
The good
- In the context of a somewhat erratic season, I’d say second in the league (albeit that we’re not quite there yet) is something we’d have all taken back in the dark days of winter amidst the off-pitch upheaval and a series crap defeats to even crapper sides.
- A reasonably spirited second half performance kept things vaguely interesting.
- There will be many unhappy Liverpool fans staring into their pints this evening.
- Only two games to go before we can occupy ourselves with some summer transfer madness and the inevitable speculation as to which extremely well-paid sucker is going to spend the next two years in the Stamford Bridge hot seat.
- Rooney’s spectacular dive in a vain attempt to get Branners sent off; he really will be at home with Barcelona’s thespians at Wembley in a few weeks.
The bad
- The first twenty minutes. As bad a performance as anything we saw during the woeful shambles that was our mid-season slump.
- David Luiz. Already a cult hero who can do no wrong in the eyes of many, but he wouldn’t have looked out of place in the West Brom defence today. Buccaneering runs and a kinky afro will get you so far, but it seemed obvious that Fergie and Phelan instructed Chiquitita / Little Bean / Fernandez or whatever his name is to target our hairy Brazilian (possibly a contradiction in terms) as the weak link and it paid off handsomely. Just learn to defend, son, and worry about the fancy stuff later.
- I am concerned that Mikel will probably piss off to pastures new in the summer, and I can’t say I’d blame him if he did – sometimes a frustrating player, but much underrated by the majority (including the manager) and head and shoulders above the fading enigma that is Michael Essien. Quite what he did to deserve substitution today is anyone’s guess.
- As per the above for Kalou.
- Losing the title. Yes, it went a long time ago in reality, but one does tend to cling on until the last hopes have been firmly extinguished.
Player ratings
56456567489678
(Sorry, the toddler got her hands on the keyboard again.)
Final thoughts
I shall endeavour to muster enough enthusiasm to pass comment on the season overall once the whole ghastly mess is over and done with, but to wrap it all up in a paragraph or two isn’t that difficult.
The simple fact is that in comparison to last season, we’ve dipped by maybe 5-10% and Fergie’s men have improved by roughly the same amount – the addition of the wee Mexican chap being something of a masterstroke; in what has been a fairly average Premiership season (when journeymen like Parker and Bale win the gongs, you know things have been poor), the wise man from Govan’s guiding hand, consistency and a bit of spark here and there from the likes of Chiciwhatshisface and Nani has been enough to lead United to a record nineteenth league title. No complaints here – a deserved win.
Of course, a substantial vocal minority of our delightful fanbase, many of whom have descended to levels of utter cuntery previously unseen during the more difficult moments of this season, will scream, howl and demand sackings, multi-million pound signings and general knee-jerking to keep them happy. Given that the man up top is almost as petulant and impatient, I imagine that their wishes will be granted.
The narrative has been written; Carlo is a lame duck, can’t change a game from the bench and has lost the dressing room – the fact that there has been plenty of evidence to the contrary in recent months is now sadly irrelevant. Factors such as the death of his father and a squad that was not fully fit and present until last month will also be brushed over as mere excuses. The January cash splurge, while made with one eye on the future, was clearly aimed at saving a stuttering season which never works; the millstone around Torres’s neck weighs heavier by the day and will only get heavier over the summer at this rate.
Personally, second is a pretty decent achievement in the circumstances (assuming we can hang on to it for the next two games). What the team needs in the coming months is careful management, some judicious additions and sales, carefully judged loanee returns and departures and a reasonably pragmatic view of what is possible in the next season or so while new players are being introduced and the old guard are moved on or given lesser roles. Evolution, not revolution and all that.
And then I remember that this is Roman’s Chelsea that we’re talking about…
Related links
Too much of a coward to watch the game, I’m afraid (plus no Sky so I’d have had to make some kind of effort). It’s disappointing to hear that we weren’t very good, but I suppose that’s the story of the season once the happy hangover from ’09-’10 wore off come November. Thanks anyway for the report JD: rational and honest — and I suspect those two qualities will not be seen much among the Chelsea brethren in the next week or two.
I’m not feeling smug at all about being vindicated in my prediction that we wouldn’t be champions. It would have been deliriously wonderful to have nicked it, but however poor the Mancs have been (on average) this year, we’ve been poorer. Second feels about right.
I hope the suits will recognise that Carlo’s ability to just about hold things together during the decline of the team testifies to the kind of steady hand that will help the next couple of transitional years. But it’s more likely that he’ll take the blame for said decline, and we’ll get to start again from square one. Sigh.
Anyway, congratulations to the Mancs for overhauling the record.
Couple of nice relaxing weeks to look forward to now. Fingers crossed that Brendan Rogers’s Swansea side, Borini-an-all, are the third promoted club.
We might well see the kids now that there’s pretty much nothing to play for in terms of pressure. Tomorrow night’s the Reserve team fixture at the Bridge too, I think.
Pretty much sums up my mood JD, good report from your daughter, she hit the nail on the head.
I think what disappointed me most, was our French white flag waving surrender, the fact that we got ourselves back into contention for the title, and did an Arsenal!
We just bent over like some mature high class escort for Rooney to roger on the cheap. I honestly thought our boys would be up for it today, and would want it more than Utd.
I know I was one of the few voices on here who thought that we still had a chance a while back, and I thought this game might be an opportunity to bury the ghosts of the CL defeat back in Moscow. I think this has hurt even more than that night, but still, second is a massive acheivement considering where we were, as you say roll on the new season.
Absolutely agree, Carlo has to stay. Be nice if he could pick his own assistant for next season, instead of babysitting Emenalo or whatever his name is. Quite why we seem to be doing our bit for care in the community by letting a nobody have a front-row seat is curious.
A major change in personnel is not required, just a nip here, tuck there. One of Drogs / Anelka / Kalou to leave, especially with a hungry Studge to fit in next season. Give Luiz a crash course in defending and he’ll be nailed on to be first choice next season. Conceded penalties et al.
One creative midfielder (Sneijder) and a rapid wide-man (anyone swapped with Malouda) and we’ll be fine.
It concerns me what we may see in the summer. With 70 million already spent, how much more can be spent while staying in line with the UEFA fair play rules? I’m worried that we may end up selling the horse to fix the carriage. I would like to add a right back into the fold at the expense of one of our central defenders and Bosingwa, though I don’t know which of the center backs I’d want to go. I guess my main concern is strengthening our right. I don’t know that a creative midfielder is exactly what we need, though I’d love to see the likes of Sneijder come in. Just spreading the opposing defenses by not all being jammed in narrowly will improve the quality of our passing, and thin out the number of shirts congested in center on both sides.
Poor game, probably the worst since the winter slump. It was always going to take some doing to get three points in Manchester and after the incredibly early goal it seemed near impossible. The players looked far different than they have the previous few weeks, out of position too often and our inability to any meaningful possession was alarming, as well as the poor defending throughout most of the game. Rarely do you see us flustered on the big stage, but we were throughout the match and in truth the scoreline did flatter us somewhat.
The downfall of the once mighty Essien has been one of the hardest issues to bear with this season. Besides the early goals he scored, I can’t think of a single game he influence more than slightly. He was so poor today, doing nothing in attack and showing none of the defensive strength or tenacity he did a few years ago. Sad sight to see. This summer will see big changes, and it seems like a new core of players will be brought in. It will be sad to see after the success of the side over the last 8 or so years, but the time has come and change in inevitable. All indications are that Carlo will be gone, not sure at this point if that is good or bad, but it would be very surprising to see him see out his contract. The team does need some added creativity and pace, we struggle so much to make any room for ourselves and we truly need to move away from our dependence on the power of Drogba.
Just a routine bad day at the office in truth. The early goal was a blow and Luiz should have done better but I thought he rallied rather well and he may be eccentric, but he’s a bloody marvellous ball player. Alex was truly awesome when he came on though. Ivan was a very lucky boy and I think the pre-match hype on Webb actually worked in our favour with Ivan today. I’d have put Luiz on right at half time, for Ivan, Ramires for the dreadful Essien and maybe Anelka for Kalou.
Sorry Pete, that was the true Kalou we saw today. A man who is not designed to start, and spent the game losing the ball and generally looking like the cliched frightened rabbit. Only this time it was of the rampant kind being held in the hands of a naked Anne Widdecombe. I’d be bloody scared as well. He’s had his chance, let him go.
Essien is a huge mystery. If he wants out then he’s going the right way about being snapped up by Fulham or some other mid table team. He’s been shite for months and like you Lord Kaiser, m’lud, I think Mikel was unjustly subbed today and that might signal his desire to leave. How can anyone see Mikel as being the one to come off when Essien was playing…well…like an Utter Cunt. This is my issue with Carlo. I think he’s succumbed to some player power because …and I hate to drag this up again…..can anyone seeing Jose allowing Essien to stay on after his first half display? Carlo just doesn’t seem to be brave enough. And, yes, I will maintain that he deserves a chance to dismantle Jose’s empire but he should start with his own bench team. Dismiss Emenalo, recruit Zola (heavy rumours that this will happen and it’s just personal terms for Zola that need finalising). Then we can have succession planning in place. Get Hiddink in as DoF, if we need it…or if not him….then why not Ranieri…or Gullit…appointments to lift the club from fans to players.
Sadly, Lamps was way below par – underlining my view that he needs to become our Scholes/Giggs talisman player who doesn’t always start. But he wasn’t alone today as several others were way off beam. Drogba had the delicate touch on the ball of a pissed elephant at times. Malouda loses the ball and then walks back up the park. Cech was imperious today. In truth without him and Alex I think the scoreline would have been far worse.
For me though the biggest freshly laid smelly, runny one on the lawn was Ashley Cole, in his single worst performance for anyone in years. Atrocious positioning and in truth he was destroyed, owned and spooked by Valencia today (who wasn’t even Utd best player today…that for me was the unsung Park). I’ll view Ash’s piss poor display as a blip, but he looked as if he knew he’d been torn a new one, as to be frank did most of our team.
So, dead rubbers ahead, Studge on loan so no chance he will be back for them. Josh should surely get a chance in both games though, as should Ramires. Send Essien to a fucking monastery to find himself or something. Gives Torres a decent holiday and get him ready for a good pre-season. Let a few go, maybe 2 or 3, one of whom should be Kalou and another in Bosingwa (Studge will replace Kalou easily) and maybe pick up Aguero (apparently he’s indicated he’d listen) and maybe Schneider if we can. it might take a season or two, but better now than allow Carlo to misguidedly try and recreate his Milan Experiment of old players being run into the ground at Chelsea. The PL is way too different from the ponderous, slow, cautious bollocks of Serie A.
We can enjoy the Newcastle game with a win that guarantees second. The for the Everton game I can go and play golf.
If I were a Doctor to all you loyal readers and contributors, my prescription would be to take say…..10 weeks off. Relax, chill, pamper yourselves. recharge your batteries. Drink a little too much, eat a little too much bad food.
Because in August, it starts again!
By the way, I analogized our reaction to the Spurs opening goal as being similar to the boxer dominating the fight who takes a sucker punch and needs to see a round or two out before regaining composure. Well that first goal was similar to those fights where one boxer doesn’t even get to lay a punch before being floored and out on his feet. We were rocking from that still when they got their second which in truth was a the knockout blow. A terrible first half, possibly the worst this season (theres been a few) cost us that game.
Oh how I missed the calming ability of Ballack to slow the game down and take the sting after that early blow!
Sorry, but I think big changes are needed. I don’t think Chelsea should keep any of Bosingwa, Hilario, Essien, Kalou, Anelka, or Malouda, and Lampard and Terry should be like Giggs and Scholes, so they can be at their damned finest for games like today at the end of the season and tough CL games (or at least the PL games taking place at the same time).
I think I’d like to hang on to Carlo, Drogba and Torres, because Drogba should probably do well again in a malaria-free year, and I’m not convinced Torres will do his thing for us. So…keep Drogba as a safety valve in case Torres turns out to be a complete wash. Bring back Studge, hire someone else for millions in the front, let Josh, Ramires and Benayoun share 2 spots and bring in an expensive bruiser to share a spot with Mikel and Lampard. I’m happy with a right back group of Luiz/Ivanovic/Ferreira, and Luiz, Ivanovic and Alex are probably fine at center right (DL is young, he’ll stop making bonehead plays). We’ll need a center left back and someone to back up that person, Terry and Cole.
And we’ll need a backup goalkeep. How about Stockdale? Better to be a CFC backup than an FFC one.
I thought John Terry was the culprit for both goals.Luiz was looking at the ball when the through pass from Park was delivered, John had full view of Chicharito and Luiz so he should have also done better as a cover up.For the second goal Branners let Vidic drift away from him and TERRY did not man ANYONE, that substitution for Luiz was made out of emotion by Carlo and not pure reason, his team selection initially was not convincing and by opting to start with OBI instead of Ramirez you could really see MANU getting the better part of us.Glad to see the Italian CLOWN humbled for the third time .
He is less bigger than the players for sure,three months ago he had thrown in the towel only to be helped by players who had a personality bigger than He.
JT seems to have really slowed and stiffened am not sure if the fans have noticed but it quite evident.if Carlo could not see that Ivanovic needs to be substituted what else do you expect him to see.
I too was very disheartened by the way the game went yesterday. The same old tired tactic of taking off Mikel (probably the best of our players in the first half, and putting the more ‘dynamic’ Essien into the holding role. As has been observed by Grocerjack, Essien was one of our worst players. As was Lampard in spite of his goal. I wish the ‘ground covered’ statistic had been available because my suspicion is he didn’t cover very much. They seemed to have great movement when it was necessary, we hardly had any. Why have we persisted with so many of these players on the wane? How many times have we heard the same mantra that when things are challenging you need to trust the experienced ‘big’ players? Why did we fail to bring through some of the youngsters this season who could hardly have done worse than the senior players were doing mid-season. Ancelotti is way too conservative for my liking. It’s all very well saying we need continuity but that could mean a continuity of under-achievement and at times downright mediocrity.
Good report thanks. Been away for a while and good to see the usual mix of accuracy, reasonable bias and wit on here. Even if I disagree with some comments – we should keep Ancelotti, Mikel and Kalou – they’re made by sensible people who are of course entitled to hold opinions, unlike the trollish nutters who stray on from time to time. I too think that second or even third would be a pretty good finish after what we’ve been through and I’m quite looking forward to watching the last two games in a relatively relaxed fashion. But I do fear Ancelotti’s days are numbered so more madness to look forward to over the summer and next season.
Like Limetreebower I take no pleasure in getting a prediction right for once having said for months we were crazy to hope we could claw back such a huge gap.
It seems entirely appropriate in this season of deeply ordinary sides succeeding in the EPL that in a crunch weekend at the crucial part of the season the teams in 2nd, 3rd and 4th all lost, while the team in 5th needed a last minute goal to scrape a draw against a team in the relegation dogfight. And that a team that can manage only 5 away wins all season can win the title on the back of admittedly impressive home form.
I accept that the Mancs have been the best of a bad bunch, and deserve the title on that basis. Still, it would be fun if that miserable away form continued next weekend and they were left to sweat to the bitter end, rather than being able to send out the reserves v Blackpool, sorry, make entirely justifiable use of squad rotation prior to the CL final.
And so I await the cranking up to hysteria level of Summer Transfer Madness Made-up Bollocks , which I note has already re-introduced that old favourite “Jose to bid for Drogba/ Lampard/ Essien / His Entire Old Chelsea Squad”.
Oh dear, it’s going to be a long summer 🙁
Second is as good as we’ve deserved.
Find it very hard to judge how good this United side are, but they were excellent yesterday. They’re being labelled as one of Fergie’s worst ever sides, but they didn’t look that yesterday. Be very interesting to see how they fare against Barcelona.
Not one for scapegoating individuals, but have to chuckle at Kalou getting stick when all the problems were caused by two favourites, Luiz and Ivanovic. United clearly had that in mind from the start, and fair play to them.
I feel a debate coming on……
nah……can’t be arsed. Utd spanked us yesterday, but our worst were Essien and Ashley Cole. Can’t ever recall seeing Cole play so badly or get destroyed quite as easily. And for me Essien is the new Joe Cole. If we’re happy to despatch Cole then Essien should be treated the same. He’s a shadow of his former self and I’m in favour of taking AC Milans money if true. Still think Kalou showed why he shouldn’t start but we’ll never agree on that. A few changes/tweaks required during the summer and Carlo deserves chance to dismantle the JM squad further and build his own.
Oh and finally. Cechs save from the Rooney shot. Save of the season for me. In all the way and nothing short of wondrous that he got there.
A text message I received from a friend at full time summed it up: “Blue bottlers”.
Like the team I bottled it after 10 minutes or so and decided to drive home from Cornwall instead. I couldn’t even bring myself to switch the radio to 5 Live where Alan Green was no doubt exploding with joy at our demise.
At least we have been put out of our misery two weeks early. I didn’t fancy having to go to Everton to get a result on the last day of the season anyway – that would have been unbearable (I don’t think Carlo’s ever beaten Everton as Chelsea manager).
And… relax.
Sadly, Alan Green is still in one piece.
If Ramires deserved to start ahead of Essien, then Kalou deserved to start ahead of Torres/Anelka. That’s how I see it.
Ah JD. Well done. A man for all reasons. You drew the short
straw with that one. Head down, straight bat, see out the new ball.
I always run through a plethora of possible nightmare
scenarios to try and anticipate the worst, in the hope that somehow that will
ease the pain of witnessing it all unfold.
Yet curiously I overlooked the “concede after 36 seconds and
run around like headless chickens for half an hour” possibility.
It made singularly unpleasant viewing .
The team selection seemed fine. I assume Ramires was not
fully fit otherwise he would have started, but then would that have probably
meant leaving Mikel out?
But formations, selections, tactics all go out the window
when you concede without a pass being made.
In four games we never scored first and that always allowed
United to dictate the game. Only once did we get back to win. We just haven’t
coped well with their movement, particularly in the early stages. Given the
problems in the previous encounters I thought Mikel was going to be a better
bet than Essien in the holding role.
Watching on a shonky feed that kept stopping and starting
does not help with incisive tactical analysis but it did seem that Ancelotti
was right to be unhappy with the way Mikel didn’t pick up Rooney as he floated
into the space between midfield and the back four. And it may be that Essien is
a better man to man marker (he certainly used to be – cf Ronaldo, Gerrard) so
CA felt he had to change it. Whatever, it demonstrated that we lack a Makelele
or Gattuso (in his better days) like player who can patrol that area
effectively. That said Mikel did improve as the half went on but the damage was
done.
We also needed some pace in midfield and he needed to get
Ramires on. Should Essien have been sacrificed instead.? On performance, yes,
but perhaps Carlo had specific tasks that he felt Essien could achieve that
Mikel hadn’t. The other side of the coin is that Mikel was left exposed by poor
performances from the rest of the midfield. As I say, I wasn’t there to get a
clear view.
And lack of pace is an area they have to address, close
season. Obviously the tenor of the game had changed by the time Ramires came
on, but he did demonstrate how running from deep at pace can unsettle even the
better organised teams. But it’s no use having that with just one player. It
also hurts us defensively when a team breaks quickly that the midfield is
somewhat one paced.
Ancelotti always talks about tempo and that comes from quick
passing and movement. In the first half, as others have mentioned, too many
players wanted the extra touch. With United getting 3 and sometimes 4 players
around the ball, that’s a recipe for giving up possession every time.
Luiz reinforced the impression that it takes a bit of time
to get to the Premiership pace. Alex’s steady second half performance, albeit
when United were content to sit back showed CA was right to change. Mind you
Ivanovic could have been replaced as his form continues to dip from what we saw
earlier in the season. Is he a long-term right back or better at centre?
On the other side, I’ve thought Cole has been below par for
much of the season. I wonder if the chronic ankle/foot problems are starting to
inhibit his game.
I know it’s a bit simplistic but I’ve always thought we tuck
the full backs in too far when playing against United, given that they always
play a wide game. We offer them the wide outlet, which is fine against lesser
teams, but United usually have 2 good wingers and supporting full backs. So
they always have that option. They don’t tend to do the same against us but
seek to deny that outlet early on and funnel us inside. Just a bugbear of mine.
I’m sure there are perfectly good footballing reasons that I don’t appreciate.
I thought we battled on quite well in the second half. Yes
United could have embarrassed us towards the end but we were chasing the second
goal and therefore the game was stretched.
I don’t define yesterday as “bottling” like some do. They didn’t cope
with the early pressure of the game, it’s true but a lot of these players have
been through the mill and know what’s required. They went up there last season
and won when it very much mattered. Perhaps deep down too many doubted their
own from and fitness.
It’s just one of life’s imponderables.
As for the referee, well, was anything in his experience going
to prepare him for what Rooney got up to? Yes he should have perhaps given him
a second yellow for simulation. But simulating what? Alfredo the Human Cannonball
from Billy Smart’s Circus? Drogba could only watch and wonder. And if that wasn’t
enough he must have woken up with a shocking earache from Giggs balling in his
earhole at every stoppage of play. He did well under the circumstances.
Ah JD. Well done. A man for all reasons. You drew the short
straw with that one. Head down, straight bat, see out the new ball.
I always run through a plethora of possible nightmare
scenarios to try and anticipate the worst, in the hope that somehow that will
ease the pain of witnessing it all unfold.
Yet curiously I overlooked the “concede after 36 seconds and
run around like headless chickens for half an hour” possibility.
It made singularly unpleasant viewing .
The team selection seemed fine. I assume Ramires was not
fully fit otherwise he would have started, but then would that have probably
meant leaving Mikel out?
But formations, selections, tactics all go out the window
when you concede without a pass being made.
In four games we never scored first and that always allowed
United to dictate the game. Only once did we get back to win. We just haven’t
coped well with their movement, particularly in the early stages. Given the
problems in the previous encounters I thought Mikel was going to be a better
bet than Essien in the holding role.
Watching on a shonky feed that kept stopping and starting
does not help with incisive tactical analysis but it did seem that Ancelotti
was right to be unhappy with the way Mikel didn’t pick up Rooney as he floated
into the space between midfield and the back four. And it may be that Essien is
a better man to man marker (he certainly used to be – cf Ronaldo, Gerrard) so
CA felt he had to change it. Whatever, it demonstrated that we lack a Makelele
or Gattuso (in his better days) like player who can patrol that area
effectively. That said Mikel did improve as the half went on but the damage was
done.
We also needed some pace in midfield and he needed to get
Ramires on. Should Essien have been sacrificed instead.? On performance, yes,
but perhaps Carlo had specific tasks that he felt Essien could achieve that
Mikel hadn’t. The other side of the coin is that Mikel was left exposed by poor
performances from the rest of the midfield. As I say, I wasn’t there to get a
clear view.
And lack of pace is an area they have to address, close
season. Obviously the tenor of the game had changed by the time Ramires came
on, but he did demonstrate how running from deep at pace can unsettle even the
better organised teams. But it’s no use having that with just one player. It
also hurts us defensively when a team breaks quickly that the midfield is
somewhat one paced.
Ancelotti always talks about tempo and that comes from quick
passing and movement. In the first half, as others have mentioned, too many
players wanted the extra touch. With United getting 3 and sometimes 4 players
around the ball, that’s a recipe for giving up possession every time.
Luiz reinforced the impression that it takes a bit of time
to get to the Premiership pace. Alex’s steady second half performance, albeit
when United were content to sit back showed CA was right to change. Mind you
Ivanovic could have been replaced as his form continues to dip from what we saw
earlier in the season. Is he a long-term right back or better at centre?
On the other side, I’ve thought Cole has been below par for
much of the season. I wonder if the chronic ankle/foot problems are starting to
inhibit his game.
I know it’s a bit simplistic but I’ve always thought we tuck
the full backs in too far when playing against United, given that they always
play a wide game. We offer them the wide outlet, which is fine against lesser
teams, but United usually have 2 good wingers and supporting full backs. So
they always have that option. They don’t tend to do the same against us but
seek to deny that outlet early on and funnel us inside. Just a bugbear of mine.
I’m sure there are perfectly good footballing reasons that I don’t appreciate.
I thought we battled on quite well in the second half. Yes
United could have embarrassed us towards the end but we were chasing the second
goal and therefore the game was stretched.
I don’t define yesterday as “bottling” like some do. They didn’t cope
with the early pressure of the game, it’s true but a lot of these players have
been through the mill and know what’s required. They went up there last season
and won when it very much mattered. Perhaps deep down too many doubted their
own from and fitness.
It’s just one of life’s imponderables.
As for the referee, well, was anything in his experience going
to prepare him for what Rooney got up to? Yes he should have perhaps given him
a second yellow for simulation. But simulating what? Alfredo the Human Cannonball
from Billy Smart’s Circus? Drogba could only watch and wonder. And if that wasn’t
enough he must have woken up with a shocking earache from Giggs balling in his
earhole at every stoppage of play. He did well under the circumstances.
I have no idea what’s going on.
My post was not meant to resemble free verse and I certainly didn’t intend to foist my ramblings on everyone more than once.
Thinking about it, it’s almost certainly true that our “Big Two” — JT and Frank, the core of the Mourinho team and the link between dressing room and fans, the faces (for better or worse) of the club’s current identity — have both had their worst seasons for Chelsea. In Frank’s case, by a country mile.
Cashley, who’s always labelled “world class” and “the best in his position” and so forth, has also had his worst season as a Chelsea player, by at least as much as Frank and without the excuse of injury.
With the core of English players simultaneously going off the boil, I suppose it’s not surprising that the sense of directionlessness spread around a bit. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons Carlo seemed so baffled. The strength of character is obviously there, but those kind of players (one would add Drogba, another iconic presence who’s not had a good season) weren’t able to pick up their own games enough to raise everyone else’s too. No doubt that Branners has gone from superb to average since Februaryish, and no one else apart from Cech (best season ever)
has been steady.
I’ve no idea what the deal is with Essien, though I remember him having bad patches before, and when he’s bad he’s horrid. By all accounts he’s a supernaturally mellow bloke: perhaps he responded badly to having Frank struggle alongside him. I doubt the club will want to give up on him at this stage.
In the end, it seems like that from December on Carlo’s gamble was that proven winners would pull themselves and the team around. He ditched the kids and turned it over to the core of the old squad. It came closer to working than any of us would have expected a month ago.
But.
Surely the club won’t try it again next year. So I suppose it’s a question of how radical the revolution will be.
At some stage Roman’s going to have to decide when (or whether) he wants to put his mouth where his money is and commit to the new financially rational Chelsea. Logically, this would be the time to do it. The old guard had it’s last chance, and couldn’t quite make it. The galactico signing was tried for the nth time, and didn’t work. If there was ever a time for consolidation and youth development, this is it.
I just said “Logically,” didn’t I? Snigger.
Interesting point about the English core going off the boil; injuries aside, part of me wonders how much that has to do with a fairly lousy World Cup last summer (both on and off the pitch in terms of all the supposed ‘rebellion’ by JT and so forth)?
It’s certainly notable that an awful lot of the Premiership contingent that went to South Africa haven’t particularly shone, bar the odd exception.
Hmmm, but John Terry has just had his best season for two or three years, surely?
You think? I think he’s looked creaky this year, with a much higher error count than usual. Don’t think he’s looked a patch on the player who combined with Riccy.
Agree, JT lhas looked solid as a rock this season.
Is there any that’s in a position to enlighten me slightly on what it is that Essien brings to this team?
I haven’t been able to figure that out myself all the 4 seasons he has been with us.
Well a good result for me and finally a properly good performance from us.
I thought it was reasonably good natured game (the Ivanovic/Rooney duel notwithstanding) and it’s difficult to know how much weight to give tactical analysis etc given you conceded after 37 seconds. Plenty of players looked spooked for the rest of the half and you took a surprising amount of time to settle.
I expected Mikel to start after his run of good performances and was concerned he might limit Rooney but he did struggle to pick him up throughout that half and didn’t impose himself at all. Essien might not have been great but I noticed him that half far more than Mikel.
I really don’t think you need a huge revolution. The fact that everyone in the stadium was so nervous pays some testimony to how seriously we believed you could get a result.
I think you’re being harsh on Cole. Valencia is one of the few players who matches up to him in terms of discipline and athleticism. He shuts him down as an attacking outlet very effectively but I didn’t think Cole was too bad defensively.
For me, your front three don’t work hard enough and placed too much pressure on Lampard/Essien/Cole and the team in general. None of them seemed to want to make runs into space and you seemed to just pass the ball from wing to wing with no-one making incisive runs of any kind.
It seems like Carlo is gone which is a shame as I liked him and I think he is a good manager. Mourinho also failed to win the title every year and he had a better team relatively. One good winger (like Hazard) and a proper right back (Van de Viel) and you’ll look very different I would guess.
Well 24 hrs on, and I thought I would come to terms with the harsh reality of yesterday… nope the bastards nicked my balloon and then burst it in front of me.
Could someone give me an alarm call in August, unless of course the B teams do for Utd and we still win the league.
Oh, we need to bolster the left side of the defense as well…..Terry isn’t going to last forever and Cole will need a break too. Frankly I think the right is stronger with Alex, Luiz and Ivanovic. Depth is the key, we’re back in CL next year (and I’m happy for that at least).
And while I said I think we should keep Carlo, he had the look of a man who’d lost his job at halftime. I think he really likes being at Chelsea. I won’t be too sad for him, though, he’ll probably get his dream job at Roma (though that spot might not open up if they keep their CL spot, very iffy at this point tho).
Oh, I forgot Bertrand……if we’re going to complain about not developing talent then I suppose he might provide something. Can he do CB? probably not if he’s a converted midfielder, eh?
I’m about to make an observation about Carlo. Please don’t construe this as a request to get him sacked.
Carlo seems slow to learn and keeps repeating actions that don’t work for him. There is no better example than Mikel. I’m not arguing whether Mikel should or shouldn’t start. However in the last few games Carlo has started with Mikel then pulled him off at half-time. Surely this means that Carlo doesn’t think Mikel is doing the job he was requested to do? If so why persist in starting with him against Utd. The same is true for Kalou but the other way round. Carlo seems confused and/or indecisive.
Talking of pulling people off at half time reminds me of a Rodney Marsh story. He’d been picked for England and Alf Ramsay advised before the game “Listen Rodney, play your normal game but if it isn’t working out I’ll pull you off at half time” to which Rodney replied “Thanks Alf, that’ll be great, at QPR all I get is a cup of tea and a slice of orange”. Needless to say he wasn’t selected again.
Never rains but it pours, or whatever the analogy.
So Essien today confirms his comeback to International football in June for Ghana’s African Cup of Nations qualifier.
Yep, ACN next season, so (depending on who stays / goes) we’ll lose him, Kalou, Drogs and Mikel again. We’ve coped in the past, but it’s only going to be a hindrance again….
I think if you check back over the years that the ACN has been on, we’ve had a good run of results with who was left behind.
Congratulations to a very youthful reserve team:
http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2356703,00.html
Having been spanked by the Mancs at senior and yoof level, perhaps we’ll make it a trifecta a week from today.
Someone at the club has obviously leaked something.
Virtually every paper is leading with the same story. Old guard out (Didier, Paulo…the usual names) and it looks like we’re down to 3 regarding the managerial situation. Guus, Villas Boas and then Van Basten. Who’s your mone on now?
Someone at the club leaking something or a bored media beginning to tire of writing endless stories about the second coming, Alex Ferguson. Therefore returning to their time honored tradition of trying to destabilize our club. I somehow doubt that a club run like a politburo would have as many leaks the media purports. Pretty sure the source of the leaks would be sent to a Siberian work camp.
Got a funny feeling Carlo stays. Habs, I honestly don’t see how losing Didier and the “old guard” helps us in trying to win much of anything next year. Wasn’t that part of the problem we had this season. How bad were we screaming out for a Deco on Sunday, who was immense in this fixture last year and pretty much in most games down the stretch. However I doubt many tears were shed upon his departure. Also regarding Paulo, I’d take his performance last year in Manchester versus Mr. Ivanovich’s performance any day of the week and twice on Sunday. The two you named were definitely not the problem.
JD, thanks for the very measured response on the match report. It just re-affirmed why I frequent this blog. It is the home of well measured thought and stays away from the sensational over the top drivel you often find on many other supporter blogs.
One last thought. A huge kudos to the away support on Sunday they were fucking brilliant. Even down by two goals the “Chelsea are Champions” chant came through loud and clear. It seemed to come on for 10 minutes uninterrupted. Cheers!
From the (Madchester) Guardian
“……..effectively ended Chelsea’s title defence, condemning the club to the third trophyless season of the Abramovich era.”
“Condemning” no less. Oh my that only leaves 5 out of 8 seasons where we’ve won something..
That of course pales in comparison with United who have only had 1 trophyless season in 8. Significantly, that would also have been 3 but they won the League Cup in 2005-2006 and 2009-2010 to save them from such a shameful record.
So the lesson is: Win more League Cups
Sigh…..
I think we should count Manager of the Month awards, didn’t we win a few of them, even though they’re a curse!
Manager of the Month
They gave it to Carlo for March and April just to make sure we were sunk. He only got it once, in November, last year and we did the Double.
3 this year in total. Blatant
They gave it to Fergie in January, so if they wobble there’s time to recover, Wenger February, au revoir to the title but no King Kenny?
Surely with the turnaround at Anfield there is no better candidate? Why did Carlo have to get 2 in a row against such a strong claimant. And just before the key game of the season.
There’s a conspiracy. I’m not sure what kind of conspiracy but there is one.
(btw Carlo has won 4 MoMs in only 2 seasons to JM’s 3 in 3 so they obviously see him as more of a threat. Fergie has only won 25 in 18 years, less than 2 a year so as to make sure they don’t ruin his chances. And when they gave him 2 in a row at the end of a season it was in 2000 when they were leading by a country mile.)
I see Guardiola is lulling Slur Alex into a false sense of security, this little extract from the BBC website…
That prompted Guardiola to add: “They played a Champions League semi-final with
a team full of reserves and they won 4-1 – that says everything you need to know
about the quality they have.”
Err? I think you might find Mr Guardiola, it said more about the poor quality of opposition that managed to get to that stage of the competition.
Damn, am I starting to sound like a bitter Liverpool fan?
Out of interest, why the lack of criticism of the management of the club by those above Carlo?
To an outsider it seems (perhaps simplistically) that much of the season could have been saved had sensible decisions been made: not ridding the squad of valuable experience (Carvalho, Ballack etc), more considered recruitment, not firing Wilkins mid-season, not burdening the squad with a expensive but misfiring Torres and so on?
I understand there is nothing you can do about it, so to some extent why bother, but given the extraordinary position you were in when Mourinho left to the extent that despite poor management and no continuity you’ve challenged the for the title and the CL in almost every season, surely it’s immensely frustrating to see such a position of strength frittered away or wasted.
How is anyone supposed to have the patience and time to bring through your young players if they get fired for not winning the CL or league each season?
I think DE if you read the match report JD has mentioned the circus that is CFC with regard the owner and his minions.
As a matter of fact there has been enough mentioned on this blog over the season with regard Gourlay etc and the seemingly daft decisions.
Over an extended period of time many of us have questioned the role of a number of the higher tier of management and what responsibility they have to play in the revolving door. Is some of the instability due to in-fighting for the ear of RA.
Perhaps the media fight shy of doing so, because it’s easier to look at either the football staff or Abramovich, which keeps it simple.
Or maybe they’re right and the suits are all just there to push the paper around and do what they’re told.
I hope the rumours in the press about replacements for Carlo are just that – rumours. If not, I’ll take Guus as our next 24 month contract employee.
Donkeys Ears. It’s frustrating that ridiculous decisions are made in the upper echelons of the club, seemingly by people who’s goal is more instability. Getting rid of Butch before Xmas ranks up there as the stupidest one. But we’d not have seen the playing personnel or success without Roman and his finances. A case of taking the rough with the smooth I guess. Yeah, I’d love Roman and his cronies to meddle less, but he’s spared enough of his personal wealth to make me a happy Chelsea fan. I know you’ve enjoyed success over a longer period but (I assume) you’d rather not have the Glazers using OT as a debit account?
Obviously I’d rather the Glazers weren’t around with their debt but I do appreciate that they could have been worse. They’ve largely left Ferguson to get on with it and that is something not to be underestimated.
The real issue for us, obviously, will come when Ferguson retires because then the Glazers can’t hide behind his credibility.
From my perspective it seems pointless to criticise Carlo until he’s given proper backing to do what he wants. I’m not convinced he wanted any of the players he’s been given so far.
I’m intrigued because there seems a huge amount in common between the clubs, particularly in terms of the winning mentality (instilled by Jose and SAF) and the ability to perform when it matters, and the difference seems to be we benefit from stability and continuity whereas you have to withstand some degree of annual commotion and strife.
I
The longevity and success of Ferguson is a one off. It’s pointless to measure everything against that. Successful tenures of say half a dozen years seem a reasonable expectation.
Let’s reveiw recent history.
The replacement of Ranieri (wipes tear)) with Mourinho was a success obviously.
Sacking JM can be understood within the context of a breakdown in a relationship.
Putting in Scolari didn’t work but that’s hindsight. There were concerns that his recent success was at international rather than club level but he still had a good reputation so we’ll allow it.
The sacking of Scolari was probably correct. He’d lost the dressing room. The appointment of Hiddink as a stop gap worked.
The appointment of Ancelotti has worked.
But when you stare into the eyes of Chelsea Football Club, they wont hold your gaze. They have a faraway, sedated look. Something seems a little off. Traces of spittle on the lips. Tell tale marks of electrodes on the temples.
Ah yes. Buried under the floor boards is the body of Mr Grant. That’s the one that gives it all away. That’s the one that makes us nervous. Everything else has a rational (ish) explanation.
If they did it once. They can do something similarly insane again.
Succinctly put. The concern is we’re about due a managerial appointment brain fart from Roman and his inner circle.
Rafa, for example.*shudder*
Rafa *vomit*
off to lie on a high speed rail line until the club state definitevely that it will not be the mad fat Spanish waiter.
I assume you’ve chosen a high speed link so that you minimise the time between you sensing the approach of the train and its arrival.
Otherwise a slow goods or local commuter train will do the job just as well and means you don’t have to travel so far in search of the appropriate line.
Just a thought.
Yes the Ferguson dynasty is a one off, and lets look at the nearest to that, Mr Wenger, yet he hasn’t won anything since the “big bang” yet the meeja seem to think he should stay at Arsenal, and lets hope he does.
Unless of course RA is attempting a hijack of said frenchman, another *shudder*
DE- I think also we are rather more sanguine about the bad management of the club because we are used to it. Before Roman we had Ken Bates, remember, who was just as likely to sack a successful manager on a whim (Gullit, Vialli), sanction poor signings (Bogarde, Fleck, Sutton), be accused of picking the team himself or give a plump job to his mate (Bobby Campbell). It’s like living in an earthquake zone or something, we’re acclimatised to fuck-ups and anything else wouldn’t really be Chelsea.
And we can balance the lunacy with the good – the investment in the training ground and youth team, the restoration of key parts of our history (the badge, which Bates banned) and the success of the team. Maybe we could have won more, but it’s not all about the cups.
Too true.
It’s not like all this is a new experience.
I can do no better than quote from the ever on the ball Pat Nevin’s column on the official website today:
“this isn’t the time for extreme knee-jerk reactions, it’s the time for considered, well-planned and focused decision-making. As ever I hope the club make the right decisions, it is the management’s time to get it right.”
Sadly, like the good Lord Kaiser, many of us fear another “brain fart” managerial appointment as he so pithily put it. This fear is partly reinforced by the sudden, capricious turning on of the money tap again in January at extreme levels after a couple of years of the 2010 break-even mantra almost beginning to look like a real strategy.
It’s heartening to read Uncle Ray still stalwartly remaining loyal to Carlo, and claiming on Sky at the weekend that Torres and Luiz were both purchases he wanted last summer “but there was no money available then”.
So why was there in January?
Yes I thought good on you Ray, (and I would assume it’s true) for putting right all the speculation from every man and his dog they were whim buys from RA.
As far as January goes for the money, perhaps the price was too high last summer, who knows.
Roman had a dig down the cushions of his sofa…
The Guardian’s analysis of who is in the running should Carlo get the bum’s rush in a couple of weeks makes for amusing reading:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/09/chelsea-guus-hiddink-andre-villas-boas
An almost flawless exercise in how to say “No, we haven’t got a fecking clue either” in 900 words or so. Phil Space?
Oh dear, see what you’ve done now Tony, you’ve woken Casey Jones. 😉
Oh yes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQF8CILMt8c&feature=related
and while we’re at it The “Dead” doing the old Bob Dylan Classic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HcGdhrst18
Well DE, we can complain about management meddling, but it’s difficult because it’s hard to know what to attack. Sure RW was fired, Emanolo was his replacement, managers get changed too quickly. But we’re not privy into what EXACTLY goes on to cause these things. So we can mumble and grumble all we want about the way we would like things to be, but the reasons for it all are mostly speculation. Is Roman doing all this himself, or is he just King Theoden who has a Wormtongue (or two) as an advisor? We can see exactly what Malouda is doing out there on the football field, for instance, and debate whether his laziness (or whatever else his causing him to walk up the field) is worth his other attributes. With any player we always grasp onto tangible results. That just isn’t the case with management.
Well done. There should be extra points for a Lord of The Rings allusion in a football related comment.
Seconded. I feel there’s a future in that angle. We should look out for an end-of-season review written entirely by analogies with the history of Middle Earth.
Sir Ferg would definitely be Smaug. Sitting for countless eons on his great big massive pile of treasure, reeking of evil self-satisfaction.
DE: I’m sure you’re right. There’s no model at Abramovich’s Chelsea for steady evolution of the kind that you up at OT seem to be good at: replacing one good team with another good team, continuously, without ever feeling like there’s any dramatic breaks. Roman’s modus operandi has always been to throw money at the quick fix and hope it works.
In a way, we are (and he is) cursed by the fact that it worked so spectacularly well almost the first time. I well remember that when José arrived everyone was saying it wasn’t reasonable to expect him to succeed straight away, he’d need two or three years to shape the team as he wanted, etc. etc. Then we won the first available trophy (League Cup), and only lost one game on the way to winning the league.
Hardly suprising that he keeps trying the magic wand wave. “Shevchenko! Scolari! No, Hiddink! No, Ancelotti! Torres! Damn it [shakes wand furiously], what’s wrong with this thing?”
As others have said, I suppose we’re more or less resigned to it. I think the only thing we really dread is that the short-termism and the lack of a proper managerial plan will end up losing us our young talent, and that we’ll end up like an NHL franchise, where the manager and 40% of the players are new virtually every year.
I hope we don’t use LoTR’s analogies, as I’ve never read the books or even seen the films, so I’ll be totally lost.
I will say that I’m familiar with Harry Potter, so if some of that can be thrown in, at least I’ll feel part of the discussions. 🙂
(Pick up _The Hobbit_ for your summer reading. Shorter, funnier and better than LoTR — the trilogy needs to be one’s cup of tea to be enjoyed but the original story should suit everyone.)
“A Mountain TrollAdded by Middle-Earth”They even have normal names: Tom, Bert and Wayne.”
Gawd, I was the kind of geek who wrote stuff in elvish runes on my pencil case.
I loved Lord of the Rings in my early teens but never really read fantasy as a genre. I’ve read it a couple of times since then and was surprised to still enjoy it. There is something epic about it that I always thought made it stand apart from the usual wizards and wands type of stuff. It is uneven but reasonably well written I think. There is a sort of scholarly depth to it as well as a melancholy and wistfulness for the passing of time and what that brings. There is perhaps a worrying undercurrent emphasising the qualities of peoples in Midde Earth who resemble celtic, norse and other northern european types as against dark haired beardy fellas from eastern lands
.
But not everyone’s cup of tea I’d agree. There are a good few books I’d grab when the house was burning down before that one.
Hmmm. If other cities can duplicate this, “soccer” has a chance here in the states
http://www.droppingtimber.com/2011/05/the-soccer-city-experience-dropping-timber-documentary.html
Yes, that was their first time MLS game, but I just saw a game the other day and they’re still at it.
It might be fun to go up for their West Brom match this Summer.
Great to see “Wee Johnny Spencer”. As he is coach of the team perhaps we should keep an eye on their progress.
The potential for excruciating headlines “They’re not out of the woods yet” ,”It’s Tree-Nil to the Timbers”, “Timbers fans are saw losers” etc. etc. is a very exciting prospect. To have a lumbering centre back takes on a whole new meaning.
Not sure which Scottish Detective Spencer takes after though.
More bad news for Plymouth. First the relegation of the team and now their Bretheren are about to be overshadowed.
Kaka’s mum has tweeted that they will be in London for next season preaching the Word of God (her son may have to play a bit of football as well of course).
Wonder if they’ll take that pitch between the bookie’s and the flower stall at the bottom of the Narrow Way in Hackney Central?
Ah, deep joy!
Another old favourite hardy perennial puts in an early appearance in the Summer Transfer Madness Merry-Go-Round.
Mind you perhaps it’s ‘Arry who’s tempting him with the Spuds’ fading prospects of even Europa League football to match his fading talents.
Kaka is going to fit in well with JT, Ashley and the boys.
The Gospel according to Wikipedia:
“He is respected throughout the world as a Christian sportsman role model who has been invited to read the Bible
along with Pope Benedict XVI and other celebrities in the 2008 24 hour Bible reading marathon.”
mmmm The Pontiff just a celebrity now…….
I have to say the Bible Reading Marathon passed me by in a manner of speaking.
Some of you may remember it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/3146418/Pope-Benedict-XVI-begins-marathon-televised-Bible-reading.html
Any future as an Olympic Event?
Perhaps having a “man of god” praying before kick off like Hernandez might not be a bad thing, it seemed to work for him and Utd on Sunday. 🙂
Probably the only raucous lightning storm we’ve had in San Francisco the last decade was when I stepped into a church.
David Luiz is devout as well, and it didn’t do him much good.
Still, I think we all know that if God does exist, He certainly isn’t a Chelsea fan.
Very true. I’d go as far as to say that if ‘He’ is out there, He probably created our dear club solely for his own amusement with the odd bits left over.
There’s a guy who stands outside Stamford Bridge on matchdays with a mike and speaker combo, rattling on about how much God loves us. I seem to remember after the Barca debacle (Ovrebo game) he was there for the following home match. He was reciting a verse from the bible espousing the love that God has for everyone irrespective of creed, colour etc…….
Some wag* then shouted above the hubbub “Yeah so where the fuck was he on Wednesday……taking a Spanish lesson?” ….cue a slight loosening of the smile on said freelance minister of God……..followed by a separate wag shouting “well why doesn’t God just fuck off and leave us alone”
Much raucous laughter was then followed by a quick chant of “God, you’re a c**t, you’re a c**t, and you’ll always be a c**t”
I’m fairly sure said Angel of God truly didn’t know what that word meant.
* that was a particularly bitter me embracing my new found atheism.
**Skulks off to the toilet to face whatever direction Pope Dawkins is currently located in**
Aren’t you being a tad ungrateful after he sent us Roman, in his image, to work with us here on earth?
While we’re on the subject of God bothering, it does really seem like we’re all going to know very shortly. Sorry to be all Millenarian on you all but it’s important to know about hats…………….
This from a column by John Walsh in the Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/john-walsh/john-walsh-mississippi-rising-or-the-end-of-time-2282575.html
“The 21st? “That’s when the river reaches its highest point. May 21st. We
won’t know till then how many folks’ll find it creepin’ under their doors.”
With Nasa-like precision, American meteorologists have predicted Flooding
Day. Inundation, like fate, is grinding towards the people. The levees can’t
be built any higher; you can’t just pile more sandbags on and hope for the
best. All the Mississippians can do now is watch the flood heading their
way, like Romans watching lava pour down the side of Vesuvius.
The state was eerily quiet and depopulated, as if families were staying
indoors, keeping vigil. But as I was reflecting on all this, CNN reported on
a travelling band of fundamentalist fans of the sturdily Christian,
California-based Family Radio, who are currently traversing Florida, from
Jacksonville to Tampa, in caravans, warning people that the world’s about to
end. They’ve left their homes and families, given away their possessions,
cars and pets, and festooned their vans with banners saying “Awesome
News” – namely, that Judgement Day, as promised in the Bible, will be
on 21 May. The saved will be “raptured” into heaven, as though
beamed up into the Starship Enterprise. The rest will suffer five months of
cataclysmic weather and mass death, before the world ends on 21 October.
What a pain for the good people of Mississippi. Here they are, waiting for the
end, wondering if the flood waters will trash their homes and all they hold
dear – and along comes the news that, the very same day it happens, with a
kind of mad divine irrelevance, the world will end anyway. Honestly.
Saturday week will be a bad day to be in Mississippi. Or anywhere.”
I’m currently combing the Book of Revelation to see if it says anything about United winning 19 titles being the signal for it all to end. It’s a heavy burden on Blackburn if that is the case.
A spot of repentence wouldn’t go amiss in the meantime Mr T.
Harking back to the previous discussion about Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth, fans of Elvish should be aware that Gracelands is not threatened apparantly.
I’ll get my cloak
What about for Muslim players? When they pray they have to be facing Mecca, don’t they? In which case, would that necessitate an arrow being painted on the pitch?
Wossitallabout?
Finally get a little time to comment on the Sunday Shambles, and we’re in deep theological mode. At least our esteemed Grocer has given us a clue as to why we’ve been so severely punished this season.
On the footie front, JD’s report squares with my recollection of the weekend’s events.
Must say that Luiz looked far worse at the time than on the replays, he might have got a touch on the ball, but it wasn’t enough to divert away from the Mexican.
But surely that was in Steve Clarke territory.
When defending 2v1, one goes for the ball and the other stays with the forward, so wtf happened? If we can’t get the basic bits right, what chance is there?
And where did all this slicky, flicky stuff come from?
OK, so we’re quite good at it, and it looks cute, but that means nothing when we can’t make a decent forward pass to one of our own players.
The biggest consolation for me, is that FT has played a big part in causing Poo to lose their record, I just don’t get those scouser’s obsession with wanting him to fail – a bit of the old ‘Be careful what you wish for’ kinda karma. (Returns to theological discussion).
Meanwhile through the Looking Glass
http://www.premierleague.com/page/Headlines/0,,12306~2358632,00.html
I asked LFC friend that if they don’t want ManU to win a 19th, isn’t about time LFC got off it’s arse and did something about it? Arse and Chelsea can’t do it for them EVERY year.
Congrats to the reserves!
Anyway. This: “I don’t want to smarm up to the Yanks, but I must say; Mississippians are the friendliest people I’ve ever met.”
Yeah, when you look like them. A recent poll of Mississippi Republicans showed 40% still favoring miscegenation laws.
If we want to wallow in nostalgia – and I’m sure we do – there are some great old videos here. I haven’t seen the Spurs 0 Chelsea 3 one from 1991 for years. Think I used to know the commentary off by heart. And just listen to the atmosphere. (I’m actually in it, if you know where to look -bottom left corner, small chap in glasses – when Wise is lining up his penalty.)
http://www.youtube.com/user/razer4660#p/u/8/7gEyIAZvAfw
Then you’re the bloke that borrowed a tenner from me a few weeks earlier.
And don’t give me any of that “I don’t remember” tosh.
Just let me work out the interest…
Ooo, on certifable top form with that last sally, Dr Bayou.
I must say, the weekend misery seems to have brought out the best of the bloggers.
I’m only waiting now for a classic Habs post, along the traditional “there’s nothing that much wrong, if we buy X + Y + Z we’ll run away with the league next year” lines. (Where X, Y and Z are the unavailable megastars of the moment: at the moment, maybe Özil, Neymar and, I dunno, Krkic?)
Incidentally it’s been odd seeing Franco Di Santo pop up on MotD as Wigan slide towards relegation. Wasn’t he supposed to be the next Maradona? It’ll be odd for him clogging around
Burnley and Watford and Doncaster after his few months as the big Chelsea prospect.
Is this an omen for Slur Alex? the times are about right, 20 odd years are long enough for both to go.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1386340/ITV-axes-crime-drama-Taggart-28-years.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
So KK has got his three year deal, and even if the media don’t know who the first team coach is, Kenny certainly does:
“We are delighted it has gone as well as it has done,” said Dalglish. “[Coach] Steve Clarke is as important as I am to the club – we came in as a partnership and he has made a great contribution.”
Heard Criag Burley and the commentator on R5 at half time, expressing surprise at how Swansea had maintained a relatively attacking outlook against Forest after going down to 10 men in the first minute.
Given that Brendan Rodgers was at Chelsea in the Mourinho years, training for and playing 10 on 11 would hold no fear for him I would suppose.
I wonder how they overlooked that………tut tut Craig I am surprised. Wee Pat Nevin wouldn’t have made the same oversight.
BB just saw some highlights and read some reports from the Swansea match. Apparently Borini was by far the most dangerous player on the pitch. He nearly scored another trademark free-kick. It would be ashame we could not hold on to this kid. He looks like the real deal.
Hope Swansea can pull this out. Got a soft spot for the club. My old man was a proud alum of Swansea University.
Of all our ex players, Craig Burley is one who I would have file under ‘least likely to make a post-retirement career as a media pundit’. Hardly a bright spark on the pitch, but they do like their provincial accents.
When I’ve heard him he hasn’t been too bad, which considering what he’s up against is faint praise indeed I suppose. I’d say he’s not a pro Chelsea pundit in the way Le Saux, Peacock and others were. And where have they all gone btw?
Talking of ex-Chelsea chaps, I hope Huth gets to play in the Cup Final tomorrow. Good luck to him.
If he does play and the win I hope the ground staff keep all their vehicles locked up!
Not sure if it was a rhetorical question, but in the case of Gavin Peacock, of course, it’s back to the God-bothering theme of the week in some frozen, forgotten backwater in Canada:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/gavin-peacock-calling-fires-journey-from-wembley-to-pulpit-2148612.html
Doesn’t appear to be an apocalyptic branch, so perhaps he’ll put in a good word for us with Kaka.
Thanks for that. I remember now. Old age and alkaseltzer made me forget I’d read it.
He was lucky to have his “Road to Damascus” moment when he did. If you’re on that road today you wont be receiving the Word of God but more likely a bullet up the jacksy from a nervous conscript.
They’re gradually killing off the magic of the Cup while simultaneously claiming to be trying to build it back to its rightful place.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/12/2012-fa-cup-final-premier-league
‘The FA Cup review was originally intended by the former chief executive Ian Watmore as a blue-sky thinking exercise designed to breath new life into the competition but Bernstein said the recommendations had been narrowed down to “a fairly small number of items”.’
Pitiful.
In view of the Grove Hotel’s rather shabby treatment of lil’ ol’ Stoke, preferring to suck up to Mr Moneybags City…
I shall be boycotting this establishment for the forseeable future. Let them try and soldier on without my patronage.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/13/stoke-city-manchester-city-fa-cup
(ps Clive you may be interested to know that the Grove Hotel building and grounds was previously owned by British Rail and London Midland and Scottish Railways before them)
I’m sure you must have had fond childhood memories of the place, it will be very difficult not to be able to return. 😉
I can’t see the problem? The Premier Inn is perfectly adequate and within easy walking distance of Tesco’s and the Harlequin.
And just to add BB to think that you will miss out on this as well, being a man of art and fine culture I’m sure there would have been some old rolling stock lying around. http://www.thegrove.co.uk/offers/sculpture_at_the_grove.aspx
Heartbreaking for me Clive but I’m a man of Principle.
Having worked out that way in days gone by I’m always amused by how the manage to avoid any mention of their proximity to Watford and the wonders of the Harlequin Shopping Centre.
Chandlers Cross my arse as Jim Royale might say.
Blackburn are a f****** joke. I hope they go down because of the last ten minutes of this game. Collusion is the word of the day.
Blackburn are a f****** joke. I hope they go down because of the last ten minutes of this game. Collusion is the word of the day.
I thought ManU were going to lose on purpose to make us play our regular starters again.
So, tomorrow’s team?
Torres, certainly. On either side of him, Kalou and Malouda, I’d imagine.
Yossi might get a run out in midfield. Plus two from Obi, Frank, Josh, Ramires. Obi, Ramires and Josh would be a nice balance and a sense of what the next two or three years might look like.
JT will have to be captain for the final home game. Luiz next to him, as the future of Cheslea. But if Pat Van A is technically finished with his loan spell he might appear for Cashley; or it might be Cashley and then Bertrand on the other side instead of Branners.
Big Pete will play.
Three subs around 65 minutes, I bet. The big guns if we’re not winning.
The ref is utter shit.
Josh one of our best players. Loan him out next season? No, start with him. More creative than everyone else. And not afraid to get stuck in.
Josh must have been injured, there’s no other reason fir him to have gone off.
Did we take 4 off? Torres not been near the ball since the subs came on.