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16 02 2008 Chelsea 3 Huddersfield 1
In the end this game was a stroll for Chelsea, despite a scare towards the end of the first half.
At one stage, the pitch invasion by three pigeons was more exciting than the game. Chelsea now
have their full strength squad back, and should in theory win most of their remaining games this
season. The only one who will probably struggle to get a game is Kalou, who was back to his
worst: knocking the ball in from an offside position when it was already going in the goal, and
generally being useless - he shockingly managed to score a goal himself which deflected off the
goalie's bum.
Congratulations are in order for Frank, who continued his fantastic goalscoring form and hopefully will now be a regular
starter since returning from injury. The most interesting thing is what kind of formation Avram will play now. Will he drop
Ballack to accommodate two wingers, two strikers, Lampard and a defensive midfielder? Or will either Drogba or Anelka
be dropped now? There is certainly going to be some sulking taking place on the Chelsea bench in the coming weeks.
It's just the same old tedious affair at the Bridge when we play lower league opposition: clubs that will struggle to take
more than a few hundred to their next league match, singing "where were you when you were shit" etcetc.
The rest of the day, however, was fantastic. Stopping off at Sainsbury's in Wandsworth before the game, I was shocked
to find that the League Cup was on display and you could have a picture taken with it! (Please note Chelsea, I only had
to buy a can of Carling and they took a free picture for me!) With hindsight, I should not have touched the cup ahead of
the Final against Spuds, but it certainly provided some good luck for the rest of the day.
Even better was hearing Liverpool losing to Barnsley at home. It seems to be the tactic in recent seasons for the club
with such a proud 'istoree to only concentrate on the Champions' League. And it is a good move - if they should fluke
their way to Moscow, such defeats will be forgotten as loads of Cockney Scousers make their one trip a year to the Final
and declare how brilliant their team is.
More disturbing perhaps was the reaction by the Arsenal players to their annihilation by Manchester United. Their
behaviour on the pitch was nothing short of disgraceful: Eboue's karate tackle; the challenge by judas Gallas on Nani
was even worse considering his experience. When Arsenal lost to Spuds the players turned on each other, and last year
who can forget Fabregas squaring up to Mark Hughes? Now if this had been carried out by Chelsea, we would hear
endless talk of how football has been murdered by clubs like ours, but the Arsenal PR machine has gone into overdrive
and now it looks like it was all Nani's fault for showboating! What an irony considering Arsenal have done the same in
the past with annihilations of Boro and Everton - and what about that cocky penalty that Henry and Pires screwed up not
too long ago? Yet again, Arsenal seem to be above the law as they have been for nearly a century.
Onto Olympiakos - due to work I shall have to miss my first European away for a while, but we should really breeze
through.
At one stage, the pitch invasion by three pigeons was more exciting than the game. Chelsea now
have their full strength squad back, and should in theory win most of their remaining games this
season. The only one who will probably struggle to get a game is Kalou, who was back to his
worst: knocking the ball in from an offside position when it was already going in the goal, and
generally being useless - he shockingly managed to score a goal himself which deflected off the
goalie's bum.
Congratulations are in order for Frank, who continued his fantastic goalscoring form and hopefully will now be a regular
starter since returning from injury. The most interesting thing is what kind of formation Avram will play now. Will he drop
Ballack to accommodate two wingers, two strikers, Lampard and a defensive midfielder? Or will either Drogba or Anelka
be dropped now? There is certainly going to be some sulking taking place on the Chelsea bench in the coming weeks.
It's just the same old tedious affair at the Bridge when we play lower league opposition: clubs that will struggle to take
more than a few hundred to their next league match, singing "where were you when you were shit" etcetc.
The rest of the day, however, was fantastic. Stopping off at Sainsbury's in Wandsworth before the game, I was shocked
to find that the League Cup was on display and you could have a picture taken with it! (Please note Chelsea, I only had
to buy a can of Carling and they took a free picture for me!) With hindsight, I should not have touched the cup ahead of
the Final against Spuds, but it certainly provided some good luck for the rest of the day.
Even better was hearing Liverpool losing to Barnsley at home. It seems to be the tactic in recent seasons for the club
with such a proud 'istoree to only concentrate on the Champions' League. And it is a good move - if they should fluke
their way to Moscow, such defeats will be forgotten as loads of Cockney Scousers make their one trip a year to the Final
and declare how brilliant their team is.
More disturbing perhaps was the reaction by the Arsenal players to their annihilation by Manchester United. Their
behaviour on the pitch was nothing short of disgraceful: Eboue's karate tackle; the challenge by judas Gallas on Nani
was even worse considering his experience. When Arsenal lost to Spuds the players turned on each other, and last year
who can forget Fabregas squaring up to Mark Hughes? Now if this had been carried out by Chelsea, we would hear
endless talk of how football has been murdered by clubs like ours, but the Arsenal PR machine has gone into overdrive
and now it looks like it was all Nani's fault for showboating! What an irony considering Arsenal have done the same in
the past with annihilations of Boro and Everton - and what about that cocky penalty that Henry and Pires screwed up not
too long ago? Yet again, Arsenal seem to be above the law as they have been for nearly a century.
Onto Olympiakos - due to work I shall have to miss my first European away for a while, but we should really breeze
through.
