Posts Tagged ‘Boring Chelsea’

Poor Chelsea Display Still Results in Six Goal Defeat of Wigan

Drogba and Anelka Celebrate One of the Six Chelsea Goals

It is often said that in order to be Champions a team must win even when they are not playing well, after Saturday’s six goal defeat of Wigan, Chelsea fans will hope that this adage holds true.

This is because at the DW stadium Chelsea looked second best for an hour of the game against a side that got taken to pieces by newly promoted Blackpool. Dominating possession and the play Wigan were effective for large spells of the game, despite being unable to breach the Chelsea defence.

However Chelsea only needed five minutes in the first half, and the first and last 10 minutes of the second half to score the goals that would make this contest seem like a rout rather than a touch and go affair.

Chelsea started the game nervously and the dogged tackling and pressing of the Wigan front line and midfield was effective in denying key players the ball, it took 30 minutes for the Champions to carve out the first meaningful chance of the game in which a saved Frank Lampard shot was finished by Florent Malouda who showed hunger to be the first player to the ball after a fingertip Chris Kirkland save.

After the break Chelsea sought to finish the game quickly and two Nicholas Anelka goals within ten minutes of the restart put paid to any serious considerations of a Wigan fightback.

Wigan did come back into the game however dominating for a good 25 minutes and they even had the ball in the net at one point only for the linesman to put an abrupt halt to the home fans celebrations.

With ten minutes left Chelsea sparked back into life with substitute Soloman Kalou taking advantage of an unselfish pass from Didier Drogba to seal his first goal of the campaign. The two Ivorians worked in tandem again to quickly add another goal in the last minute of the match, with Yossi Benayoun opening his Chelsea account with the last kick of the game.

Wigan did not deserve to lose by six goals, but paid the price for keeping such a high defensive line and not capitalising on their periods of dominance.

Chelsea Player Ratings

Petr Cech – 7 – A relatively comfortable game, however did what was required at key moments with a reassuring confidence

Branislav Ivanovic - 6 – An average performance from the Serbian, looked relatively solid but a few slips nearly let the Latics into the game

John Terry – 8 – The best performance from the Chelsea captain in a long time, his usual commitment was matched by his guile with some great last ditch tackles to save a lacklustre side at times.

Alex - 7 - Strong at the back as Chelsea faced continued pressure from the home side

Ashley Cole - 6 – Strong as ever going forward and creating chances looked a little exposed at times defensively

John Obi Mikel  -6 – Despite a sublime pass to set up one of the goals, Mikel was marked out of this clash by the young Wigan attacker McCarthy for long periods and was caught in possession on too many occassions

Florent Malouda – 7 – Two goals but not one of the Frenchman’s vintage performances

Frank Lampard - 6 – Not the best performance based on his own high standards as the midfield looked overrun at times, but still had moments of class and a hand in at least two of the goals.

Michael Essien – 6 – Still working his way back from injury, there will be better performances to come.

Nicholas Anelka - 8 – Two goals and a return to the scoresheet to help soften the pain of an effective international retirement this week.

Didier Drogba -9 – Three assists including a very unselfish pass to set up Soloman Kalou’s first, he had a hand in everything good Chelsea offered going forward, no goals this week but I doubt anyone is concerned. 

SUBS:

Kalou - 8 - 2 goals in late rout

Benayoun- 7 – Late goal to open Chelsea account

Ferreria - 7 – Late assist to show he still has something to offer this Chelsea side

View from the Shed

Chelsea still seem to be in pre-season mode and fortunately the fixture computer has been kind as the opposition has allowed for two large victories against vastly inferior oppostion, hopefully the side will be coaxing its way towards the peak of its powers.

Six points, twelve goals and two clean sheets whilst not playing well, I would be worried if I was a Premier League manager this season.