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Match Report By
Tanzo
(11 November 2005)
As I boarded the train along with my fellow travelling party, the excitement had built further. Discussing the game, many of us felt a point was achievable even without Alan Shearer. “Owen will tear them apart,” we roared as we sipped on cold cans of lager, at the luxury of our table. It was when we’d made the jaunt from Kings Cross to Fulham Broadway via a change at Earls Court and we were happily supping pints of lager in a Wetherspoons near Stamford Bridge, when one of the lads got a text message. It was cold, and to the point. ‘Owen is out!’ it read. There were gasps from our lot, and cheeky grins from the Chelsea fans overhearing our exclamation. The mood disintegrated in seconds. “We’ll be bloody lucky to get a point now” snapped disillusioned Toon followers. I took my seat just as the players were lining up to the Premiership tune under this new fair play malarkey. Despite the news, the Newcastle fans applauded their heroes and began to ‘make some noise’ (as Alan Robson used to once bellow over the PA). The game kicked off, and Crespo chased a weak back pass from Bramble with only seconds on the clock. Shay Given though was able to get him out of jail, by racing out to clear. Despite this Newcastle played well in the opening period. It became clear Ameobi was playing as a lone striker and Lee Bowyer was floating off him from midfield. While te midfield, led by Parker were harrying and trying to keep the pressure on Chelsea. In our first meaningful attack of the first half, Ramage fed Lee Bowyer and running away from goal on the right hand side, he was felled by John Terry. The Newcastle fans screamed for a penalty but the referee indicated no spot-kick. Shortly after this, in a collision with Scott Parker, Claude Makelele took a knock and despite re-entering the field he had to be substituted and was replaced by Essien. Whilst Essien is a decent player, I was quite pleased Makelele was going off as he offers great protection to Chelsea’s back four. Hopefully, we may fashion something I thought, in his absence. We did manage to fashion a half-chance when a free-kick swung in by Emre, after Bowyer and Ameobi were unable to find space for a chance, saw the ball come to Solano and only an interception from Del Horno prevented him from creating a decent opportunity for Newcastle. The corner though was wasted, as Glen Johnson cleared. Chelsea then came close as a Damien Duff free-kick was headed over by Ricardo Carvalho who had time and was alarmingly unmarked. Newcastle kept at it and they created a few chances but we never really looked like breaking through the staunch Chelsea rear guard. A chance fell to Bramble but he had a shot blocked, whilst a fantastic interception stopped Ameobi from being sent through on goal from a Solano through ball. Chelsea were also creating a few half chances when Babayaro was harshly adjudged to have handled in a dangerous area, the resulting free-kick from Duff cleared by Parker. Frank Lampard also tried his luck from 25 yards but his shot was high and wide. Crespo had the ball in the net shortly before half-time but it was ruled out for offside. Television replays later showed it was arguably a legitimate goal, but then I’d point to the balls-up at the other end with a fair penalty claim. As the game fizzled out for half-time, the mood in the camp had slightly improved, but we were under no doubt about the enormity of the task we still faced in earning a share of the points. The second-half began with Newcastle looking to break the deadlock. A low left-wing cross from N’Zogbia was turned behind for a corner, but Del Horno easily cleared Emre’s set-piece. As the ball was knocked down the other end and Chelsea pressed Titus Bramble’s weak pass/clearance, the ball went straight to Gudjohnsen. He played Joe Cole through on goal with a tremendous ball, and he placed his shot across the goal and past Shay Given for Chelsea’s opener. Despite our decent start we’d leaked a goal through a poor mistake, and we now faced an uphill task. It just didn’t seem fair. Chelsea then promptly doubled their advantage. Again Titus Bramble was at fault. Standing off Crespo, the clever Argentinean international pulled away to his left hand side, and as the ball was rolled to him Bramble half-heartedly tried to get across and tackle him, but Crespo danced around him with ease and slotted it past Given for 2-0. By now we were down, and just about out. Sensing the best we could hope for now was to keep the score down, the Newcastle fans continued undeterred in their backing of the lads. “2-0 and you still don’t sing” and “your support is fucking shit,” we roared defiantly at the Chelsea fans that mocked us to our right. This prompted a hefty boiler to go spare and gesture profusely at us, accompanied by her half-wit partner. This was met with roars of laughter and the Toon fans hit back at her labelling her “Your just a fat Vicky Pollard” in reference to the charvaish character in the BBC’s ‘Little Britain’ show. I’m guessing you know the rest. Having opened us up, Chelsea continued to attack us, with Newcastle offering little at the other end. It really was a Jekyll and Hyde performance from out first-half display. We managed one effort on goal when N’Zogbia’s shot was saved from Cech. While Chopra on for Solano had an effort on goal later on, which was straight at Cech and he saved the weak effort. Chelsea playing for time now had a few half chances that didn’t really trouble our backline. With 90 minutes on the clock they scored their third goal of the game. Damien Duff cut in from the left and his shot was deflected off Scott Parker and eluded Shay Given. If it hadn’t already been, it was now well and truly game over. As we headed back to the tube station for Kings Cross, we held our heads up high, sang more Toon songs and headed for the ‘Flying Scotsman’ near Kings Cross for more lager and enjoy some “exotic dancing”. We put in a tremendous first-half shift, but as ever until we find a centre-half pairing that can adequately defend for 90 minutes, we’ll continue to allow sloppy goals that win matches and kill off any chance we have of getting anything from the games. A good performance and a win are vital at Everton next week to try and claw our way back up the table. We’re only 3 points off Tottenham in 6th place. Get into them United.
Lineups & Match Stats
Booked: Terry, Lampard. Goals: Joe Cole 47, Crespo 51, Duff 90. Newcastle: Given, Ramage, Bramble, Boumsong, Babayaro, Solano (Chopra 70), Parker, Bowyer, Emre, N'Zogbia, Ameobi. Subs not used: Harper, Faye, Clark, Brittain. Booked: Solano. Att: 42,268 Ref: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).
Post-Match Reaction: Newcastle
"But I don't talk about referees and you don't ask them anything, because you don't get any sense out of them. "There was not a lot between the two teams in the first half but within six minutes we were two goals down and that changed everything. "Three-nil is hard on us and apart from two mistakes and a deflected goal there was not a lot between the teams."
Post-Match Reaction: Chelsea
"I said in pre-season that we will win the title on the last day of the season and I still think so. "My half-time talk was more about preparing the team for the changes I would make in the last 20 or 25 minutes in case the result was still 0-0. "The team played well in the first half but we were not winning because Newcastle gave us a difficult game." |
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Match Report: Chelsea 3-0 Newcastle United