Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

From My Seat: Chelsea (H)

By Ken   Buckley  ::  11/02/2012   20 Comments (»Last) Another three points toward safety, or could it just be something more, as the Blues send the Pensioners packing.

Forget the match day threads, foreign channels or internet streams ? the only place to be to really appreciate our win was Goodison Park. You found yourself wrapped up in the sweat, blood, graft and commitment as both players and fans came together to put on a show that not only beat the mega rich but firmly left them on their uppers and by the end both sets of fans were in agreement as the Chelsea travellers chanted ?Yer don?t know what yer doin? to be followed by the faithful assembled chanting ?You're getting sacked in the morning?. ? There were no dissenters which must be worrying for the AVB man and his oil-rich boss.

Almost 34,000 of us assembled and most wondered which Everton would turn up. In our alehouse before the game I was encouraged greatly when I was presented with the stat. that the last time we achieved back to back league wins was a win against City followed by a win against Chelsea. That convinced me so on the way up to the game the bookies took my money on a Blues win.
The teams as announced showed young guns Rodwell and Anichebe along with new signing Jelavic were missing from starting and subs positions. However the team as announced looked capable and so it proved.

We hardly had time to digest things when within the first five minutes we were one up courtesy of a Pienaar rocket into the roof of the net which should not have come as a shock to Chelsea as our scorer started as he meant to go on when in just the first minuet he burst through the Chelsea rearguard in a move that ended when Donovan could only shoot wide. A throw in for Chelsea seemed to lack purpose and Pienaar intercepted and the ball went to Cahill who was tackled by a Chelsea player but the ball bounced into the path of Pienaar who strode on and smashed the ball into the net. The ground erupted. The prodigal son need fear a backlash no more.

We wondered if we could sustain our lead and the answer was found by the players who were if nothing else aping the commitment shown v Man City. We stayed on the front foot and our next serious attack saw La Traca pressurise Luiz from a Neville cross and force him to head away for a corner. Then Donovan had a shot but straight at Cech. Chelsea did peg away and from one attack Sturridge had a shot when fed by the impressive Mata but it was deflected for a corner by a desperate last ditch interception from Neville.

As the half went on we played with some caution and were happy to see what they had to offer as Heitinga cajoled the back four and created a platform for us to both defend and attack. This did cause some panic but from the faithful rather than the players as Chelsea did try to rally and Mata gave Lampard a chance but he dragged wide. Pienaar and Baines were getting back in tandem and the South African put a ball in the box that Cahill fluffed his control as he turned to shoot.

Then from a Baines free kick Cahill hit the legs of Cech but was flagged offside. Coming up to the break the ex Red Meireles was booked for kicking our Denis and Torres was not amused when the impressive Heitinga eased him out and cleared. The Spaniard thought it was a pen and soon let the Ref know and as the whistle blew he continued his protests as Fellaini ushered him down the tunnel and the faithful gave him a rendition of ?Ladyboy?.

Half-time and the chat was positive. Most thought the manager had it right and that Pienaar should consider his position come the summer. But can we afford him? He is helpful though.

Second half and I thought if we can keep the sheet clean for 15 mins we would go on to win. We did and we did.
As you would expect Chelsea pushed on but we held firm and the combination of Heitinga and Distin gave confidence for the others to dig in and raid when they could. Yes we were under some pressure but none of it enough to cause palpitations and from time to time we relieved it in a positive way and for all the Chelsea pressure and sideways football we did look the more dangerous when we broke.

Strac robbed Ivanovic but his shot was blocked in the area. Torres took centre stage for a few mins much to the delight of the faithful. First when he got booked for upending Pienaar after he had got narked about the Africans close control. Then he headed straight at Howard from a good cross which led to another ?Ladyboy? episode from the faithful. Chelsea were rattled and the next comical episode was when Donovan refused to give up on a ball in a challenge with Ivanovic near the corner flag at the Street end and the Chelsea man was no more than pushed over but his petulant reaction earned a telling off from our Ref.

The Chelsea manager started to ring the changes and replaced Essien with Malouda which did not go down well with their travelling fans. We could not care less as we were now confident within ourselves so much so that immediately after the Chelsea sub we made it 2-0 when Neville repeated the Ronaldo tackle from some years back and left Cole in a heap and Donovan free to gallop forward. La Traca matched his run and when Donovan played him in he seemed to give Cech the eyes and Cech went one way and Strac shot the other and despite a valiant attempt to recover his ground -- 2-0

All hell broke loose, game over and when all celebrations had died down Cole was still on the deck receiving attention and some 5mins later he would be replaced along with Mata by Bertrand and Lukaku respectively. This prompted the Chelsea faithful to regale their manager with a chorus of ?Yer don?t know what yer doin? which was quickly followed by ?you?re getting sacked in the morning? by the home faithful.

To be fair the last 10 or so mins belonged to Chelsea but with Heitinga and Distin in rare good form no near squeaks were witnessed and at the final whistle it was a treat to hear the bellowing of ?If yer know yer Istory? belted out and the smiles and good humour shown all the way back to our alehouse was a pleasure to behold. Back in the alehouse and Scouse on the menu, good chat and a pint made for a super day out. You see it can happen. One of my mates headed straight to the bookies and backed La Traca to score the first goal in the final at Wembley. Just shows what back to back wins against the mega rich can generate.

MotM ? Too many decent displays to choose just one but for me take your pick from Heitinga and Distin at the back, Fellaini, Pienaar and Donovan in mid-field and Strac up front. Cahill did well today too. Baines a model of consistency.

Overall a good day out and the belief that something can be achieved. It?s just getting finances to a point where this or any other manager is given a fighting chance of being able to manage the team building as and when required allied to our youth development programme. But that?s for another day. Tonight I will enjoy today and next week be up for the cup and hope to hell that my mates bet for Stracq to get the winner at Wembley comes off.

See you next week for part one of the bet.
UP THE BLUES.

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