Liverpool FC Forum

by **bigmick** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:23 am

I watched quite a lot of the Pompey Chelsea game just now on the replay, and the difference between Chelsea now and the shambles they've been for the last three or four months was striking.

The most obvious, stand out in your face difference was that Drogba was playing, and was up for it too. I know he's a diving, cheating, horrible ponce but he's the best English style centre forward in the Premiership when he's in the mood and a huge handful to look after. He scored the winner, as well as heading out a last minute free kick and was leading the Chelsea celebrations in front of the Away end at the final whistle.

Elsewhere the team was almost exactly the same, with Mikkel the sitter, Ballack and Lampard bombing on and Malouda and Kalou taking up the wide midfield slots. They play a similar system to us, except that neither Lampard nor Ballack start as advanced as Gerrard, while both of the Chelsea men are far more advanced than Alonso. Where they currently look a much better team than they did for me is in the desire and motivation, Drogba's return to form and also in that the two full backs aren't quite so keen to go on the rampage every five minutes.

By their reactions at the end, they still think they can win the title I'm certain of it. Hiddink too is making very bullish noises, all the while no doubt hoping we can turn Man Utd over. I'm quite glad we've already played Chelsea twice to be perfectly honest, and if we can finish ahead of them in the league given we are currently level, that'll be a decent achievement I think.

by **bigmick** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:19 am

I should also add as an aside that I thought Chelsea's goal against Pompey was offside. Malouda I think it is gets right in front of James and impedes him from an offside position IMHO. They never even mentioned it on the telly.

by **Mikz** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:56 pm

Bullish noises?

mooooooo

i dont think they believe they can win the title , they want second like everyone else and the bullish noises are for the new togetherness and new found form. They do seem a lot more motivated, but still not in the same class as the Mancs or us :;):

by **maypaxvobiscum** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:27 pm

if we're totally out of the title race i would gladly give the points we took from them back to Chelsea in hope they prevent the scums from equaling our record. im telling you it will be worse than anything in the world the shower of scum boasting bla bla bla. such fkers all of them. :angry:

by **GYBS** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:29 pm

The most annoying thing at the moment is according to the media we are out of the title yet chelsea are still in the hunt yet we have the same points ??!?!?

by **ste123lfc** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 7:02 pm

I think this is a simple case of player power, I don't for one minute think Hiddink has had to make too many changes, the players have decided that they will play for him. Its the most simple way to get rid of a manager you don't like. Fat Frank and Terry decided they didn't like scolari so decided to spread the word in the dressing room.

by **yolz** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:23 am

Chelsea under Hiddink does indeed look more focused and determined
However, IMHO, it's a 2 horse race, straight up between the bloody ManU and us
It's all about the desire and belief, and I don't think anyone else has as much as us right now

by **tubby** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:10 pm

Well at least they have had a defeat now so the honeymoon period is over. Now they face a Newcastle whose spirits should be lifted by Shearers apointment. Plus they really have to win this game otherwise they are in serious trouble. Hopfully they can get a draw and put the heat on Hiddink in time for Wednesday. Then again they are probably more interested in Europe this season.

by **bigmick** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:22 am

Well there's no question I don't think based on their latest performance that Chelsea are an entirely different outfit to the one which has floundered around in the Premiership for much of the season. There are probably more than a couple of reasons, but the return of Drogba back to somewhere near (but not actually at) his best, and the return of the excellent Essien are bound to give any team a huge fillip. Both when anywhere near their best are absolutely monster players, and I also thought Soloman Kalou played with plenty of intelligence as well in this latest match. All three of those mentioned have proven to excellent aquisitions by their manager at the time for Chelsea.

As for the fella who scored the first two goals, I must confess that I'd never heard of him before the match. He, unlike the other three, was signed by Avram Grant for an eye watering 9 million quid apparently. I must say though, that given the nature of his two headers that a couple of things are obvious about him. First, he's obviously very good at finding space and attacking set plays. He's no doubt done it before in his career, and my guess is that if he plays regularly he will score plenty more times for Chelsea. Infact, such could be his potency at attacking set deliveries that he may even make a stab at keeping out Boswinga, who is probably the better player in most other departments.

The other thing which was fairly obvious about the two goals (the first two) was that they weren't accidental in their execution either, and for that some credit must go to the management team at Chelsea. For both goals the fella (who's name has already escaped me) moved laterally accross the front of markers, and the delivery was on the button. They picked a flaw in our zonal system, and exploited it ruthlessly. It had something of the twin towers about it in that when it happened the first time it looked like an accident, the second one though confirmed it as a well thought out and executed plan.

There was also some cleverness in the way that Essien was detailed to pick up Gerrard, and a repeat of the old "Bermuda triangle" technique which Makeleli was so adept at. The Ghanain is one of the few players who has the physicality to make any kind of fist of actually marking our captain, and I thought was probably the man of the match. Equally, I thought Ashley Cole was back to somewhere near his best as well. All in all there is no doubt in my mind that had Hiddink been Chelsea's manager all season, they would have made a much better fist of challenging for honours. They are a better team in every department from the one of three months ago.

by **tubby** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:25 am

Drogba didn't conduct himself well under Scolari and the same can be said for a few of the Chelsea players. Gerrard I guess was a victim of his own recent forum last night. He was not able to influence the game at all. If he is man marked like that next week this tie is as good as over.

by **bunglemark2** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:25 am

Good points there Mick...but Ivanovic ain't the tallest bloke in the world...yet still he managed to get clear unchallenged headers lst night. You can't help but wonder if somebody actually challenged in the air last night, would it have been so bloody easy for him ? It's not as if he had a whole lot to do to put the ball in the back of the net...

by **tubby** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:28 am

Skrtel didn't even see him coming for the 1st goal. Can't believe we let in 2 from set pieces though. Im still shocked at the result.

by **GYBS** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:16 am

Good post mick - think hiddink coming in has been timed perfectly with the return of essien - if he didnt play last night i think it would of been a totally different result - he was MOM by a country mile .

by **stmichael** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:31 am

GYBS wrote:Good post mick - think hiddink coming in has been timed perfectly with the return of essien - if he didnt play last night i think it would of been a totally different result - he was MOM by a country mile .

And we could have signed him for £6m when Ged was manager.

Outstanding player.

by **bigmick** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:21 pm

bunglemark2 wrote:Good points there Mick...but Ivanovic ain't the tallest bloke in the world...yet still he managed to get clear unchallenged headers lst night. You can't help but wonder if somebody actually challenged in the air last night, would it have been so bloody easy for him ? It's not as if he had a whole lot to do to put the ball in the back of the net...

You're right mate he isn't the tallest, but when you are attacking a ball which is delivered in as flat as the two were last night it's not "tallness" which dictates who gets it, but the question of who attacks it more.

His movement for the first was clever, as was the delivery. My feeling having watched it a couple of times is that the move was essentially to plant the corner kick squarely onto the forehead of the front zone marker (in this case Martin Skyrtel) and ask Ivankovic to get himself there first. If you look at the way the Chelsea player spins away from Alonso without even looking at the delivery, it's fairly obvious that he's heading for an area where he knows there's a fair chance the ball may be delivered into. Having got there and taking account of Skyrtels tendency to ball watch, he simply steps in front of the central defender and directs his header into the net. Clever movement and the delivery was absolutely on the button as well.

There are a couple of points which come out of the goal. Firstly, we had problems for a long time with players "getting a run" on our static zonal defenders. We managed to curtail that somewhat by dotting smaller players in and around to block off runs etc. This lateral movement though accross the six yard box asks a different question when the run and delevery are performed as well as they were, and it didn't look to me like we coped with it too well. Essentially the answer to both conundrums is the same, the defender must attack the ball. If he doesn't, and the attacker does, you will concede goals regardless of which defensive system you choose to employ.

As for Skyrtel, I'd like to see the front zone header raking behind him with his trailing hand and feeling for precisely the move which the Chelsea player pulled off. It's all very well lining up the header and picking out your spot in row Z to power it into, only to find some bloke steps in front of you and you are flexing your neck muscles into thin air. A bit more awareness from him is needed there, as well as like I say the sweep in behind with his trailing arm which is like a radar for any incoming.

Back to the subject in hand though, clearly Chelsea had looked at our defensive set up and had a plan to cause us a problem. Blackburn will try and do the same should they get any corners, so we'll have to be onto it.

Anyway, the post is getting longer and more technical/boring so we'll leave the secoind goal and "Bermuda triangle" thing for another time. I also found Lampards positioning throughout the game interesting but that's for another time too.

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