FAN ARTICLES

HighLee ImProber Officials

David Moyes's 400th game in charge of us and there have been debates to and fro about his tenure on ToffeeWeb and other lesser forums. I must admit that after last week's debacle I was crossing my fingers and toes before the Chelsea game.

With Arteta suspended for 3 games, I figured that the midfield would choose itself with Rodwell and Fellaini patrolling the centre of midfield and Pienaar and Coleman providing the width. The striker conundrum lingered on and I was torn between Beckford and The Yak. When the team was announced, I was surprised to see Saha starting upfront.

Lee Probert was the ref and that seemed fine to me since he was no Webb/Clattenberg. Chelsea had Terry back and seemed up for it with Kalou, Drogba and Anelka upfront although in practical terms, one of them played wide as a right-sided midfielder. Lampard hadn?t returned to the side which was a relief since he always seems to score against us.

The game started brightly enough for us with Saha lashing a shot at Cech early on and us showing good composure and build in the first few minutes. That soon turned to Chelsea pressure as the game progressed. We were giving the ball away cheaply in midfield and were lucky not to be punished for that.

Then came one of the incidents that really got me vocal (and there were a few, mind you, in this game!). Neville went in hard on Malouda and the Chelsea man retaliated angrily. To Neville's credit, he walked away from it instead of acting out an Oscar-winning writhe. I was expecting a red for Malouda, but instead Lee Probert decided to just warn him (I guess he will deal with a two-footed lunge with a peck on the cheek!!!). The commentators were blatantly pro-Chelsea and hoped that that incident would wake the Bridge crowd up.

Chelsea seemed to have more meaningful possession for a while after that although Rodwell and Fellaini seemed to be getting more of the ball when we had possession. Baines and Coleman had a few forays into the Chelsea half but nothing significant came from it.

Just before half-time, disaster struck ? a Neville backpass was well short and was pounced on by Anelka. Howard rushed towards him to narrow the angle but Anelka deviously (like an experienced striker as the bloody commentators called it!) played the ball to the left of Howard and instead of running round him, decided to knock down the then stationary Howard leading to a wrongful penalty and a yellow for Howard. Replays clearly showed that Howard was looking at the ball and hoping to move towards it when Anelka flattened him.

Drogba knocked in the penalty and acted like he had won the World Cup for the Ivory Coast. The state of officiating in the Premier League has always leaned towards helping the ?Big four? or at least giving them the benefit of every fifty-fifty decision and the first half of this game didn?t make me think otherwise. Lee Probert?s stupid grin as he left the field made me wish I was at the ground to tell him what I thought of him.

I was hoping that the half-time team talk would include a good kick up the backside for some of the lads who didn?t seem to have got out of first gear. I was also hoping that Saha would come off as he seemed very ineffective in the first half. The teams trooped out in the second half and it was obvious we hadn?t made any changes to the squad.

Chelsea started the second half the better team and although we had small spells of possession, we didn?t retain possession for long enough periods. Baines was looking bright down the left and his crosses were threatening to their back four. Beckford came on for Saha in a straight swap upfront. A few poor touches from him made me wonder why the Yak wasn?t also sent on to go all out, since losing 1-0 or 2-0 were pretty much the same. The bookings for our challenges continued as did the Chelsea whining and exaggerations.

A great ball in from Baines saw Rodwell head it towards goal. Cech was well and truly beaten but the ball hit the left post and rolled across the goal line and was cleared. Another ball into the box led to Cech coming off his line to cut off Cahill who, in his attempt to get the ball, happened to kick Cech on the forehead. It was clearly a 50-50 ball and Cahill had every right to go for it but Terry reacted very strongly to it by shoving Cahill who gave as good as he got.

The feud simmered on for a while with poor Coleman getting booked for his two penny?s worth. Five minutes of fuss over the broken crown of Cech. To hear the inbred commentators say ?Only Cahill knows what his intentions were with that challenge? made me swear at the screen.

When it seemed like all was lost, another peach of a cross from Baines was met by Cahill at the back post. He cleverly headed it back across the face of goal where Beckford headed in from close range to send me out of my seat and pumping my fist and swearing in joy.

Bily was sent on in the dying minutes when I again felt that the Yak/Big Vic/ even poor Gueye would have been a better choice. Seven minutes of added time left both teams with a chance to take all three points. We should have done better with Fellaini, Rodwell and Bily being wasteful with their chances.

The final whistle went and I must say, I was pretty happy with our performance. We could have won, but with this ref we could have also easily lost our keeper and all the points. Wigan next and we need to go on a good run and try and get Donovan and that guy from Wolves in the January window. Let's try and keep the spirits up?

COYB

Player performances:

• Howard: Decent game, although he did spill the ball on two occasions. Needs to work on that in training I think.
• Neville: Shocking back pass and he knows it too I'm sure. Say what you want but what I remember more about him from the game was his walking away from Malouda after the retaliation from the Chelsea player when he could have easily tried for Best Actor at the Oscars/BAFTAs
• Distin: Good game
• Baines: Cole the best left back in England? Not by a long, long way? peach of a cross for the equalizer and some good corners too.
• Rodwell: Composed on the ball but needs to work on his shooting from long range if he wants to go for glory. Good header but unlucky to hit the woodwork.
• Fellaini: Good game coming back after suspension and a Thai vacation.
• Coleman: Needs to add to his repertoire. Opposing teams will figure out his running at them each time, although it's nice to have an option on the right wing.
• Pienaar: Was involved in patches. Hope he will stay till the summer at least.
• Cahill: Clever assist to help Beckford score. Passion and hard work are always more than 100% from this guy.
• Saha: Poor game.
• Beckford: Deserved his goal. Happy for the lad. Hope he goes on from here and proves the doubters wrong. Should start the next game with the Yak in a 4-4-2.
• Bilyaletdinov: Too short an appearance.

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