Chelsea 2-2 Newcastle. Typical of our season really!
I think all of us have been left tonight with the same feeling about the game today. The feeling we have is that it's typical of our sea...
https://www.chelseadaft.org/2011/05/chelsea-2-2-newcastle-typical-of-our.html
I think all of us have been left tonight with the same feeling about the game today. The feeling we have is that it's typical of our season. We made a great start, suffered a dodgy patch through the middle of the game, got ourselves together and back in the running towards the end but let it slip in the final moments!.
I have to be honest and admit I was surprised with the amount of changes Carlo decided to make from last week. Alex came in for Luiz. Benayoun and Ramires came in for Essien and Malouda, McEachran came in for Mikel and Torres and Anelka came in for Drogba and Kalou.
We made a great start as a Lampard corner was flicked on at the near post by Torres and Ivanovic followed up to knock the ball home. Just two minutes were on the board and as most of us thought, we would kick on and score a couple more so changes could easily be made at half time, but no, this is the Chelsea of this season.
To their credit, Newcastle made a game of it and played really well. They fought for everything, looked to hit Chelsea on the counter attack and in set piece situations, they always looked dangerous and it was through a set piece that they equalised. Ryan Taylor's free kick hit the back of Gutierrez and deflected the ball into the empty corner of the net as Cech was wrong footed.
The rest of the first half was spent with too many free kicks being given away and awarded by one of the fussiest referee's I've seen at the Bridge this season. Chelsea did create a couple of half chances before the break with the best one coming to Ashley Cole who headed wide.
The second half started the way it had finished with plenty of tackles flying in and free kicks being given away in midfield. Nothing of any real note was being created by Chelsea so Ancelotti made three changes with 25 minutes to go. On came Drogba, Malouda and Essien for McEachran, Benayoun and Ramires.
The changes seemed to breathe new life into Chelsea and soon after the changes, Droga flicked a ball onto Cole inside the left hand side of the box and rather than shoot, Cole pulled the ball back but no one had gambled on him doing that and Newcastle cleared away.
Next JT sent a header high over the bar at the back post when maybe he could have done better.
Newcastle were still working hard to close down Chelsea and it looked like we would be frustrated again until a couple of minutes from the end when as a free kick was played high into the box, The Newcastle keeper came out and missed the ball as Alex, reading the flight of the cross perfectly, headed the ball into the empty net!. Chelsea were finally 2-1 up and it looked like the perfect result.
However, due to Chelsea's slack defending and Newcastle's pushing men forward to the last to get something from yet another set piece, Chelsea let the lead slip again as a corner came over and Nile Ranger headed the ball back into the 6 yard box and Steven Taylor, unmarked headed into the corner to make it 2-2 and it was game over.
You have to give Newcastle credit for their performance with some of their big players missing. They kept battling and trying to close us down and make life difficult and for the most part they did that.
Chelsea once again after a good start, got sucked into playing a slow and laboured game with any real killer instinct or killer pass. We seemed to be playing in second gear and when sides see us like that it makes it easier for them to deal with.
Chelsea's strength in the 4-3-3 formation is to move the ball quickly and we never did that today. Fernando Torres was well off the pace and looks as though he needs complete rest and then a full pre season at Chelsea to see the real quality he has. Benayoun started ok then drifted out of the game. Anelka never held his position enough and we often saw him dropping too deep to pick up the ball.
Young Josh and Frank played well today, but we never saw enough of Frank making his late runs into the box today. Our back four did ok but you have to look at the last goal and they will be disappointed with conceding from yet another set piece.
So overall we wanted to see the Premier League out at home in style and although we started well, it never really materialised. At least Arsenal threw another chance to catch us up away and we now have the second place confirmed!.
KTBFFH
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I have to be honest and admit I was surprised with the amount of changes Carlo decided to make from last week. Alex came in for Luiz. Benayoun and Ramires came in for Essien and Malouda, McEachran came in for Mikel and Torres and Anelka came in for Drogba and Kalou.
We made a great start as a Lampard corner was flicked on at the near post by Torres and Ivanovic followed up to knock the ball home. Just two minutes were on the board and as most of us thought, we would kick on and score a couple more so changes could easily be made at half time, but no, this is the Chelsea of this season.
To their credit, Newcastle made a game of it and played really well. They fought for everything, looked to hit Chelsea on the counter attack and in set piece situations, they always looked dangerous and it was through a set piece that they equalised. Ryan Taylor's free kick hit the back of Gutierrez and deflected the ball into the empty corner of the net as Cech was wrong footed.
The rest of the first half was spent with too many free kicks being given away and awarded by one of the fussiest referee's I've seen at the Bridge this season. Chelsea did create a couple of half chances before the break with the best one coming to Ashley Cole who headed wide.
The second half started the way it had finished with plenty of tackles flying in and free kicks being given away in midfield. Nothing of any real note was being created by Chelsea so Ancelotti made three changes with 25 minutes to go. On came Drogba, Malouda and Essien for McEachran, Benayoun and Ramires.
The changes seemed to breathe new life into Chelsea and soon after the changes, Droga flicked a ball onto Cole inside the left hand side of the box and rather than shoot, Cole pulled the ball back but no one had gambled on him doing that and Newcastle cleared away.
Next JT sent a header high over the bar at the back post when maybe he could have done better.
Newcastle were still working hard to close down Chelsea and it looked like we would be frustrated again until a couple of minutes from the end when as a free kick was played high into the box, The Newcastle keeper came out and missed the ball as Alex, reading the flight of the cross perfectly, headed the ball into the empty net!. Chelsea were finally 2-1 up and it looked like the perfect result.
However, due to Chelsea's slack defending and Newcastle's pushing men forward to the last to get something from yet another set piece, Chelsea let the lead slip again as a corner came over and Nile Ranger headed the ball back into the 6 yard box and Steven Taylor, unmarked headed into the corner to make it 2-2 and it was game over.
You have to give Newcastle credit for their performance with some of their big players missing. They kept battling and trying to close us down and make life difficult and for the most part they did that.
Chelsea once again after a good start, got sucked into playing a slow and laboured game with any real killer instinct or killer pass. We seemed to be playing in second gear and when sides see us like that it makes it easier for them to deal with.
Chelsea's strength in the 4-3-3 formation is to move the ball quickly and we never did that today. Fernando Torres was well off the pace and looks as though he needs complete rest and then a full pre season at Chelsea to see the real quality he has. Benayoun started ok then drifted out of the game. Anelka never held his position enough and we often saw him dropping too deep to pick up the ball.
Young Josh and Frank played well today, but we never saw enough of Frank making his late runs into the box today. Our back four did ok but you have to look at the last goal and they will be disappointed with conceding from yet another set piece.
So overall we wanted to see the Premier League out at home in style and although we started well, it never really materialised. At least Arsenal threw another chance to catch us up away and we now have the second place confirmed!.
KTBFFH
Check out my blog posts on the Official Chelsea Website - http://bit.ly/mRUOqw
Follow me and my blog on Twitter - http://bit.ly/gP9Dwt
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