Match Preview

Bruised, battered and Blue. We were certainly taught a lesson on Wednesday night by an excellent Chelsea side inspired by the brilliance of Zola. Still this is the same Chelsea side that has beaten both United and Liverpool 5-0 in the not to distant past but has also struggled to draw 1-1 at Bolton only two weeks ago.

Moyes will have learnt plenty from the hammering, very probably as much as he learnt in the previous 6 wins. If he just accepts that we can't play 4-3-3 then that will be a start! Still with a whole international midfield out its hardly surprising that he played 3 forwards.

Moyes is very keen to not talk about injured players but a reality check does show us that Alexandersson, Linderoth, Carsley, Pembridge (after 30 minutes) and Rodrigo were all injured which when added to the injury of Steve Watson and the perennially injured Big Dunc actually means we had 7 senior members of our 1st team squad unavailable and rested Hibbert and Stubbs.

With only the rested players likely to return for Saturday Moyes has a heck of a job on his hands to turn that result around.

Two major concerns will be testing his grey matter:

1. Who to play right side midfield - There is the potential that Watson will be back but that has to be unlikely. We may see a Pistone/Hibbert right side which should be solid but may be ultimately lacking in an attacking sense - Who would have thought that we would miss Lee Carsley a few weeks ago?

2. How on earth to stop Zola. If he drops deep someone has to be ready to pick him up. His two passes in the first half were simply wonderful but on both occasions he had the time to collect the ball, turn, look up and pick his pass - Give him that time at Goodison and he will hurt us again. Li Tie is the obvious choice.

To me how we cope with Zola is key. We are unlikely to score more than one - That Chelsea defence is awesome and we can't count at Gallas again. If we let Zola run the game they will score more than one.

It makes for a cracking game. Moyes should have our boys smarting for revenge and Chelsea are running into Championship style form. A draw would be a creditable result and would keep our unbeaten record intact.

1-1 and we stay top 5.

BlueForEver

Report

Having reached the dizzy heights of third place, there were many who
insinuated that we were in a false position. Chelsea was in a run of games
that would let us know where we truly stood. Newcastle away had ended in
defeat, albeit in circumstances that made a judgement difficult. Chelsea at
home would prove to be another good test for us, especially in the light of
Wednesday's Worthington Cup defeat at their hands.

With Lee Carsley recovering from his bruised foot the team lined up as
expected with Naysmith filling in for the injured Pembridge.

Despite an early chance for Naysmith, he should have done better with a
diving header even if it did arrive at an awkward height, it was Chelsea who
looked the better team early on. They had a bit of early pressure, a couple
of corners and then we conceded a soft one. A Le Saux corner from the right
it glanced off Gravesen's head at the near post and Stanic came in unopposed
at the back post to convert all too easily.

Despite the early wake up call we still struggled to get into the game.
Chelsea weren't playing particularly well but they were closing us down very
efficiently and disrupting the flow of the game at every opportunity. Then
on 25 minutes we made things even harder for ourselves. Lampard was allowed
a shot from distance, it was hit with some power and there was also quite a
bit swerve on the ball. Rather than catch it Wright tried to parry it down,
it's actually something he does quite often. However his parry put the ball
too far away and Hasselbaink was quicker to react than any of our defenders
and he gratefully accepted the gift.

It now looked bleak but we continued to plug away and were rewarded with a
goal just before half time. Campbell did very well on the edge of the box to
slip the ball into Naysmith's path as he ran into the area, Naysmith kept
his nerve to finish well, and suddenly we were back in the match.

Having got the fillip of the goal we came out all guns blazing in the second
half. We looked much more assured and looked more like the team of November.
Crucially, though, just like the team in November, we struggled to convert
territorial advantage into goals.

We did come mighty close though. Le Saux cleared off the line with his head,
Campbell hit the bar, Rooney pulled a sprawling save out of Cudicini. There
were also a number of scrambles, but the ball just would not cross the line.

Chelsea, for their part, were restricted to a couple of long distance raids.
Their approach was summed up when they put John Terry, a centre back, on for
an attacking midfield player, Di Lucca. They really were under that much
pressure.

The game ultimately finished amidst some acrimony. Chelsea had aggrieved
the faithful with their spoiling tactics and general "professionalism".
Stanic was booked early in the first half for diving and that summed them up
rather. Gallas was booked for time wasting, Hasselbaink for a crude
challenge on Unsworth, Lampard for feigning injury (when invited to leave
the field of play for treatment his condition suddenly improved). Add this
to any number of bizarre decisions by the referee, who I reckon had lost
control of the game by about the twentieth minute, and the frustration was
well and truly welling up. This all boiled over in injury time, Unsworth was
wrestled to the ground by Gronkjaer there was then some further wrestling as
they tried to get up (I must say that at the time I did think that Unsie had
lamped him). The referee decided, in his wisdom to book Gronkjaer and send
off Unsworth with a straight red.

To rub salt into the wound, we were then denied a very good penalty shout
(Desailly on Campbell), before they sprung our offside trap and Gronkjaer,
who else, rolled the ball into an empty net. That was virtually the last
kick and the ref blew his whistle to a crescendo of boos, aimed squarely at
him. Stubbs went over and, very forcibly, made his feeling's about the
referee's performance known. Moyes added to those views when the referee
finally made it to the touchline. Chelsea's reaction to the final whistle
also told a story, they celebrated with much gusto - they knew they'd been
in a battle.

All the stuff at the end shouldn't hide the truth of the game - that we lost
by conceding two soft goals and that we don't have the necessary guile to
consistently unpick tight, well organised defences. Our industry, heart and
energy could never be questioned, but it's always an uphill battle after
conceding to a team like Chelsea.

So, where does all that leave us. I think it fair to say that third was a
false position for us. If you analyze our good run it was largely against
teams we should have beaten. That we did beat them all is a sign of progress
in it's own right. Against better, in form sides, we have been found
wanting. But it wasn't by much and a very strong case could be put for us
deserving something out of both the Newcastle and Chelsea games. We are
definitely worthy of a place in the upper reaches of the table.

• Wright 6 For the most part he did OK, but still not 100% confident in him.
  He definitely should have done better with the goal, if he was unhappy about
  catching a well struck swerving shot, he should have put it well out of
  harms way.
• Hibbert 8 Yet another excellent performance. I've noticed that they've
  started leaving him back as the last defender when we have corners. A sure
  sign of the team, and managements confidence in him. One other thing that
  caught my eye was a cracking tackle over on our left flank. Someone was
  trying to out pace him on the outside, he was last man so couldn't afford
  any slip ups. The player gave Hibbert one slight opportunity to knick it off
  him, Hibbert saw the, brief, opportunity and executed it to perfection. A
  sure sign of a confident player on top of his game.
• Yobo 7 Perhaps not as commanding as of late, especially in the first half,
  but not a bad display.
• Stubbs 7 Another accomplished display.
• Unsworth 7 Played well, didn't deserve to be sent off.
• Carsley 6 Still doing a decent job, but this was a day crying out for a bit
  of pace and guile down the flank.
• Gravesen 7 His usual mixed bag.
• Li Tie 6 Did ok, but subbed midway through the second half.
• Naysmith 6 Very adept at getting into scoring positions, maybe the rest of
  the midfield should take note. His general play was OK but he's still
  struggling a little.
• Radzinski 6 One of his quieter days.
• Campbell 8 Excellent. Played with a great deal of intelligence and deserved
  a goal.
• Rooney 6 Always provides something. Got the beating of Terry once, desipte
  Terry's attempts at pulling him back (more spoiling tactics from Chelsea),
  and was only denied by a good Cudicini save.
• Gemmill 6 Did his usual quietly efficient job.

Team 6 Undone by sloppy defending but gave Chelsea a game and a half.

Man of the match - Hibbert edges it from Campbell.

Richard Marland