Chelsea match review
By: j | September 14th, 2008The storybook start of the “new” Manchester City ended with a thorough 3-1 loss at the hands of Chelsea. With the bandwagon overflowing and Eastlands bathed in a swarm of sky blue and a hint of Brazilian colours, the lesson that it takes more than money to win Football matches was reaffirmed.
Ten minutes into the match new-man Robinho scored on a free-kick that was more of a blunder from the Chelsea wall. I’ll refrain from adjectives of a “swirling kick” or anything else to describe a perfect strike because quite frankly Chelsea’s wall did a deplorable job and ignored the direction of Petr Cech. This strike was going-on as clear as day simply because of the set-up and after the goal, the ‘keeper let John Terry have it. However with the ball plunked into the back of the net, Robinho had his first goal (yes, thumb-sucking celebration with a 12:1 payout) to the delight of the fans. The lead didn’t last long and three minutes later Ricardo Carvalho silenced Eastlands and drew the match level. From there the match definitely swung heavily in the visitors direction with scoring opportunities at a minimum for City. Eight minutes after the break Frank Lampard nailed a beautiful strike to the back of the net only to be followed up with twenty-one minutes left by a Nicolas Anelka goal that was set-up by Joe Cole. For Chelsea fans this came two minutes after John Terry was red-carded and although City had a man advantage they weren’t able to find the score-sheet again.
Why some “fans”, I tend to think new found ones, started to chat something to the likes of “a waste of money”, it was a “fine” start with the new man. I note “fine” because, well, there wasn’t any practice time and it’s clear they are strangers on the pitch. This will change in time but there is a lot of work to be done. If there is a negative, what I didn’t like was that City was completely exposed and lacked good marking, as if they forgot about fundamentals. I appreciate “flair” but Football is more that offensive attacking and this needs to be remembered because technically this was Man City’s worst match of the early Premier League season and lacked discipline. Finally for those that insist upon wearing the new hybrid Brazil – City scarf, try something with the Three Lions instead.
Man City:
Hart, Zabaleta, Richards, Dunne, Michael Ball (Sturridge 84), Wright-Phillips, Hamann (Gelson 61), Kompany, Ireland, Robinho, Jo.
Subs Not Used: Schmeichel, Elano, Garrido, Evans, Ben-Haim.
Chelsea:
Cech, Bosingwa, Terry, Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Obi, Lampard, Deco, Joe Cole (Belletti 70), Anelka (Alex 79), Malouda (Drogba 70).
Subs Not Used: Hilario, Ivanovic, Bridge, Kalou.
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Comments
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Yeah,a fair reflection of the game i.A big problem for City is the dreadful form of Richard Dunne.He looks like he doesn’t want to be there.He’s been great for so long I sincerely hope he recovers his enthusiasm and form.Chelsea gave City a lesson let’s hope they’ve learned from it.On a positive note Robinho looked as if he enjoyed himself and their was a decent rapport with SWP.There were some decent moments in the game let’s hope there’s plenty more to come.
Posted from
United Kingdom
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This was called the battle of wealth and what not, but to be fair, City’s only bought one player. It’s going to take a few more on the payroll before they can really make an impact.
Posted from
United States -
Well, this wasn’t really a full strength side that we had out on the pitch, was it? We really missed Petrov on the left and Johnson in the middle which would’ve made a HUGE difference. Zabaleta was awful. Maybe he just needs time to get bedded in the team, but why in the world did we let Corluka go? He was awesome! I’m actually one of the few that wishes we never let Sven go. At the very least, tactically, we were a really tough side to play. Granted, once Micah got injured last year, we started to let some goals in, but this year, even with Micah, we look really unorganized and vulnerable at the back.
Posted from
United States -
actually, I’m not one of the few… there are many City supporters that would agree that letting Sven go was a big mistake.
Posted from
United States -
Vincent – glad you agree. It was a pithy affair to me and I temper my sarcasm in the posts. I’m not delighted by a few nice touches when you lack any sort of disciplined play. It was a miserably played match and I hope we’re not going to see fundamentals thrown out.
CSD – thanks for joining and I agree totally. I’ll be glad when people want to talk Football as opposed to what they can buy.
Kenny – I strongly agree with you re Sven but the former ownership was a black spot on the clubs history and many decisions were suspect. I could go on and on about it but City got very lucky to have convinced Sparky to come over. As far as this match, I’ve said enough but I have a disdain for sloppy, undisciplined Football like this -
Posted from
Germany
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