After everybody else in football decided to go mad on January 31 st, our transfer window thankfully closed with a bit of style a day or so earlier with the arrival of Muntari and Sessegnon, although the former had to miss tonight’s game as he still had papers to sign in Italy.

Seriously, how long does it take to write your name a few times? Them up the road managed to turn their star striker’s sale into a pantomime – “ah wuz forced oot”, “nah you wasn’t, me old cock sparra” - but the only bit I didn’t find hilarious was the amount of money they got. It’ll take Ashley a few nights to lose that in the casino.

Gordon
Onouha Ferdy Bramble McBards
Elmo Steed Hendo Sessegnon
Rico
Gyan

Chelsea fielded a fairly scary team, and one that has found its way back into form after the slump precipitated by our victory at the Bridge a few months back. Strangely, we started off kicking North, and the game set off at a frantic pace. It seemed like more than three minutes in when Bardsley first put in a great tackle, then picked up the ball and cut in from the left, forcing his way between two defenders and firing a tremendous shot from the edge of the box across Cech and into the far side of the goal. Brilliant start to the night, and, while Chelsea had a lot of the ball, Steed was working his socks off in central midfield to provide us with a focal point. Elmo broke down the right, but his cross was too close to Cech, and at the other end a lucky bounce let in the visitors, but the shot was wide.

The game was going at a frantic pace, and when they launched a ball into the box on 13 minutes, Cole knew exactly what he was doing when he stopped in his tracks and allowed the backtracking Elmo to jump over him. A soft penalty which Lampard put away, giving Gordon no chance. We didn’t let up, with Rico and Gyan putting Terry and Ivanovic under pressure. Ferdy launched a free-kick in from our half which Elmo headed into the box, and Gyan’s overhead kick was wide but it was Chelsea who struck next. We lost the ball in the centre and Chelsea broke with Kalou, and Gordon came out way too early, allowing their man to slot the ball past him for 1-2. Two soft goals, and all of that good, hard, work undone. To our credit, it didn’t put us off, and a great passing move saw us move the ball across the edge of their box and forcing Ivanovic into a good clearing header. When Elmo cut inside to the edge of the box, he was brought down and Rico set himself, as usual, to take the free-kick. Ho hum, we’ve seen this before, but this time he made Chelsea look silly as he fired in a grass-cutter past the left end of the wall with Cech rooted to the spot at the other side of goal, and the ball nestled satisfyingly in the net for 2-2. Hell, we were only half way through the first period and we’d already seen more action than most games produce.

It could have gone all wrong, but Gordon saved from Essien, then Ivanovic whacked one off the bar and Anelka blazed over, then Chelsea survived a blatant block on Sessegnon to fire in a shot which took a horrible deflection, but Gordon was equal to it. The half continued to the break at the same frenetic pace, with chances at both ends, and Anelka dropping deep to pester Steed at every opportunity – the beauty of a flexible system with three strikers of top quality. Chelsea were very good at getting between their opponent and the ball, winning a number of decisions in the process from a hopelessly out of condition Mark Halsey, who simply could not keep up with the pace of the game.

Only one added minute, and we were wondering if we could keep up the same speed in the second half. There were large spaces in central midfield that we were conceding to Chelsea, with only Steed really getting to grips with the game.

We started the second half unchanged, but with Gyan late out – presumably he’d been putting on clean undies in case the need to strip off arose after the game. Chelsea piled forward, and we needed Gordon to follow up a great block with an equally great save – and not for the last time. Lampard was firing in his usual bullets which required Gordon to be on his toes constantly, A shocking foul by Drogba on Steed brought a booking when the play eventually stopped, but Chelsea looked calmer in possession than we did. Terry, that odious apology for a man, began to boss the ref, and the ref fell for every claim. A couple of decisions by the east stand linesman were ridiculous, as he had players and two posts between himself and the action, but decided on a corner to Chelsea anyway. When Terry volleyed wide, he screamed for, and got, a corner, which we couldn’t properly clear, and when the third opportunity to shoot presented itself, it was to that bugger himself, and he thumped it past the hapless Gordon. If he’d been unpopular already, the crowd really went off him after that spot of ref bossing.

While we might have spent large parts of the second half sitting back in our own half, and while Kalou might have hit both posts with one shot (put it on target and it’s a goal, matey), we had our moments, with Gyan’s pass a yard too far in front of Sess. They brought on Ramires for Mikel, we brought on Colback for Steed, then they brought on Malouda for Kalou. Rico lost his patience when their man went down way too easily, and most players were involved in one of those modern-day pieces of nonsense when they all stand in a big circle and nobody really does anything. Obviously, there would have been a really good chance to chin John Terry, but it would have been caught on camera, so maybe it’s just as well nobody did. It would have been nice, though. With four to go, Onouha made way for Jordan Cook, and the youngster provided some nice touches and buzzed around the edge of the box. On 90, Bosingwa took ten minutes to be replaced by Fereira, with the ref running about and pointing, but ultimately refusing to do anything about the blatant time-wasting. The visitor’s fourth, well into the five added minutes, was poked in from close range by Anelka from Malouda’s cross, and was a bit harsh on us.

So we were beaten by a bloody good team, but one which is becoming unpleasantly professional. Nowhere near the Dorty Leeds dies of forty years ago, but they’d bet be careful or they might just get there. Not because of hatchet-man tactics, but because of the constant blocking, the winning of free-kicks by going down way too easily, and because of the bleating of Terry and company when the decision doesn’t go their way. And Halsey’s weak officiating didn’t help our cause either, accepting virtually every plea from a blue shirt.

Man of the Match? A decent debut from Sess (Haway, Sess!), showing good touches and strength on the ball, and good play from the two centre-backs. Another belting goal from Bards, and solid from Onouha, despite trying to play football in the wrong places at time. In midfield, Hendo was forced off the pace a bit with the movement of Anelka and Lampard, while Rico was in and out of it behind Gyan. Elmo had them for pace, but they did him for guile with the penalty. I’ll give it to Steed, who was everywhere in the centre, and was the only one who really got amongst them in that area.

No disgrace, but let down by a couple of soft goals and a soft referee.

Keep the Faith

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