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| How many did we score? |
Another great week in the Di Matteo era; wins, wins, wins and a draw - where was this all season I hear you say, the question that footballing world is trying to answer
- Sunday, 15th April - Tottenham Hotspur 1-5 Chelsea (FA Cup Semi Final)
Will anyone really forget this? You know, other than those Tottenham fans who didn't even stay to see the fifth goal go in? You can see the match report but let's talk about everything else. It wouldn't be far fetched to say that "underdogs" with most predicting a Tottenham win. It makes you really think, have they ever seen Chelsea at Wembley in the FA Cup? We're invincible there - literally! The king of Wembley is Didier Drogba and the princes are Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda. It's a kingdom so dominated by Chelsea that decisions fear against going against us. Example numero uno - Juan Mata's "goal, no goal, I have no idea". You cant take anything away from the other goals either. Didier's will be the one in most's memory but for me the stand out goal was Lampard's. The pure emotion he showed after scoring it, was amazing. The man's a legend and can still play no matter what some Chelsea "fans" may say or what the media says. You could see how much it meant to him and just how much he loves this club. Still he doesn't get enough credit, unfortunately. Life goes on and he continues to prove the doubters wrong, the best way of getting your own back. Win number 1.
- Wednesday, 18th April - Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona (Champions League)
What can you say about this match? A revenge match? A match filled with irritation at the FA's idiotic timing of the FA Cup semi final? A chance to put things straight? Well, on the night, to me at least, it seemed like a Champions League semi final with both teams knowing exactly what the other's going to do. It wasn't your usual Chelsea-Barca, it had a proper ref for one! We sat back and defended. I wouldn't say we parked the bus, just put it in first or second gear... Anyway, the tactics were referred to as going back to the Mourinho tactics. Now, is defending well a certain manager's tactics? Just because we knew how to defend doesn't mean they're "Mourinho's tactics." How many times have Jose's Real tried what we did vs Barca but completely capitulated? Many times. A goal once more from the Drogs. Lampard dispossesses Messi (that makes the goal that little bit sweeter), pings in a pin-point cross field ball like only a few in our team can to Rambo. Rambo chest controls it forward, runs and runs till he loses his footing but manages to get in a low cross that Didier scored. Didier's continuous falling was irritating and it seems to have affected him since he's now got a knee injury. Another game, another goalless Messi against Chelsea. Mr Guardiola and his star team just don't like playing the Chels. Win numero dos.
- Friday, 20th April - Chelsea Youth 4-0 Blackburn Youth (FA Youth Cup Final 1st Leg)
It wasn't all about the first team this week. We may end up with no trophies for the first team this season but the youth team have already got one hand on the FA Youth Cup. They pretty much destroyed Blackburn, and it wasn't even their best performance of the cup! To be fair we were under pressure (!) for the first 20 or so minutes but a Nathaniel Chalobah goal out of nowhere really put us in front. Great work from Amin Affane. The second was a great team goal; from Kane to Piazon to Baker to goal. Lewis Baker scoring a great goal from the edge of the area. The second half added another two goals with mister Chalobah once again involved. A ball from Baker to Chalobah in the middle of the Blackburn half, and a great through ball from the latter paced perfectly between two defenders ended up with a Feruz finish. The youth team don't do easy or ugly goals, that's for sure. And a fourth goal just topped it all. Similar to the 3rd, Piazon dribbled near the edge of the area and played a through ball to Feruz who had the slightest of touches to divert it into the net. 4-0. The youth team play the second leg at Ewood park on the 9th of May where if they don't suddenly get awful, will win the FA Youth Cup. They're a great team. So much skill and offer plenty of entertainment. Thank you, Adi. Win number 3.
- Saturday, 21st April - Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea (Premier League)
A draw came after a week of wins. Huge changes from the Barcelona game with many rested probably shows that RDM sees the Champions League as the priority over the Premier League. And to be honest, with this result, we're probably going to have to win the Champions League to qualify for it next season. "Same old Chelsea, doing it the hard way!" To be honest, I'd rather win the Champions League than finish fourth. Back to the Arsenal game. It wasn't a classic to be blatant. Not the greatest spectacle, but we had another solid defensive performance. Ryan Bertrand came in as one of the 8 changes and he was one of very few that actually impressed. You wouldn't be able to tell he's only played something like 10 games all season for the first team. He won the Sky MOTM award but he did have to get substituted for injury. Hopefully he'll be okay though. I'd imagine if Ash puts in another performance like he did at home v Barca away, Ryan may very well come back into the team for the QPR game. A draw leaves us in 6th with only 4 games left this season. It's a tough one. With us still having something to fight for in 3 competitions, Robbie's life seems a little bit hard. Rotation, rotation, rotation is the motto he has to go with. A reserve-like team played today and were probably better than a full strength Arsenal and kept a clean sheet. Fair play, but should we have played a "stronger" team so that we could have really helped our top 4 chances? Only Tuesday will tell us. *Update: With Tottenham just dropping points, top 4 still seems possible!*
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| MOTM and bossed the game |
Wonderful.
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