Newcastle 0-1

Guardian:

Chelsea are caught cold by Kluivert and injuries

Mourinho counts the cost with Bridge carried off and Cudicini sent off as Blues wobble ahead of vital Champions League encounter in Barcelona on Wednesday

Kevin McCarra at St James' Park

Monday February 21, 2005

The fates got their own back on Jose Mourinho. This manager of destiny was so bombarded with problems that even he ran short of solutions. Chelsea's hope of a quadruple vanished in the FA Cup tie and several players may have been plucked from them as they prepare for Wednesday's Champions League game in Barcelona. Wayne Bridge, in particular, is believed to have a broken ankle.Chelsea came to so much harm at St James' Park that the merits of a tight-knit Newcastle United may wrongly be overlooked. There was a ghoulish drama to swamp normal events. Mourinho, with his makeshift team 1-0 down, employed all three substitutions at the start of the second half but, within two minutes, Bridge was injured by a legitimate challenge from Alan Shearer. The left-back was borne away on a stretcher and Chelsea had to make do with 10 men.
Damien Duff, one of the players introduced at half-time, stayed on the field only because the visitors needed to maintain their numbers. He was hurt while making a desperate tackle when Stephen Carr looked ready to score in the 73rd minute, and the Irishman was afterwards reduced to half-pace by a knee problem. He thinks, though, that he can recover quickly. William Gallas was also in difficulties before the end with a muscle strain.
There was one further casualty but his is a personal misery. Carlo Cudicini would have been chosen for Sunday's League Cup final with Liverpool had he not been dismissed here for bringing down the substitute Shola Ameobi just outside the penalty area. Chelsea will be happy to have their first-choice goalkeeper Petr Cech between the posts at the Millennium Stadium.
Little else comforted Mourinho here but he is not a man for half-measures or regrets. "My life is a risk," the manager said, standing by his decision to commit all his substitutes simultaneously. This time the force was not with the Portuguese.
Chelsea competed proudly when outnumbered but the Newcastle manager Graeme Souness was right to state that his goalkeeper Shay Given had little to do. The loss of Arjen Robben was a blow to Mourinho and his team have scored only once in 355 minutes since the Dutchman left the pitch at Blackburn Rovers. Only a handicap could check Chelsea's gallop through the fixture list and now there is a weight in the saddle bags that could bring the side to their knees.
Newcastle might have applied serious stress even in normal circumstances. Some managers dream of routs but Souness, as he had suggested in his programme notes, pines after 1-0 victories. This was the first occasion since he came to the club that his side have won through by the single goal of the game against Premiership opposition.
"We became a bit nervous after we scored because we're not used to holding a 1-0 lead," Souness said in a merrily indulgent tone afterwards. He credited half his happiness to the success of his former club Rangers in the Old Firm derby but, no matter what factors came to his aid, it is the defeat of Chelsea that will benefit the manager most.
Mourinho's side were beaten at Manchester City and also lost to Porto in the Champions League but this was the first game to do irrevocable damage to Chelsea this season. When there is so much scepticism and budding dissent in the St James' Park crowd, a result like this provides the endorsement Souness needs so badly.
His judgment was vindi cated in one particular area. Souness did not allow his faith in Titus Bramble to be sapped by the centre-half's miserable display in Thursday's Uefa Cup tie. "Titus had a stinker in Heerenveen," said the manager. "He knew it but he had been arguably our best player in the previous six games. He's got everything. He's big, he's powerful, he can pass it and he's got pace."
Souness was confident enough in the defender even to visualise a future for him in the England team. There could be no better indication of the euphoria that swept through St James' Park. With Bramble so commanding, only Newcastle had a centre-forward who will treasure the tie.
With four minutes gone, the influential Nicky Butt played the ball to the left and Laurent Robert flighted the searching cross that saw Patrick Kluivert getting the better of Gallas to score with a strong header. There were only two occasions when Chelsea suggested they would equalise.
Jiri Jarosik hit a well-directed drive that Given put behind for a corner-kick in the 34th minute but the side had come closer still nine minutes earlier. Tiago's cross was deflected and Mateja Kezman applied an artful touch that lifted the ball over the goalkeeper. It then clipped the underside of the bar and declined to bounce over the line.
The Serb's misfortune is becoming famous but he went on to play very poorly here and, when possession came to him, the threat to Newcastle was blunted. In a period where Chelsea's long injury list includes Didier Drogba, Kezman's struggles are far more than a private woe. Mourinho, too, will be dismayed.
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Telegraph:

Kluivert puts Chelsea dream in deep freeze By Henry Winter (Filed: 21/02/2005)
Match details

Newcastle (1) 1 Chelsea (0) 0

Chelsea were gripped by the Big Chill at Ice Station St James' yesterday, suffering far more than the frosty indignity of ejection from the FA Cup by a magnificently spirited Newcastle United side. Jose Mourinho's erstwhile quadruple-chasers finished this compelling tie with their right-back, Glen Johnson, in goal and only six outfield players capable of meaningful movement. How the financially mighty were fallen yesterday.
Pain game: Wayne Bridge of Chelsea is stretchered off with a suspected broken ankle
The season's songs of praise were replaced by alarm bells and the concerned chatter of medical staff. William Gallas and Damien Duff were hobbling around at the final whistle, unable to contribute after sustaining knocks – groin and knee respectively – that make them highly doubtful for Wednesday's Champions League examination by Barcelona.
Wayne Bridge was already in hospital, undergoing tests on a suspected broken ankle that definitely precludes the left-back's participation at the Nou Camp. With Mourinho having boldly sent on three substitutes at half-time to find an equaliser to Patrick Kluivert's imperious header, Bridge's 47th-minute accident following a blameless challenge by Alan Shearer was desperately unfortunate. Lady Luck refused to flirt with Mourinho on Tyneside.
The mishaps continued. Down to 10 men, Chelsea ended with nine as Carlo Cudicini was banished to the dug-out, his face as red as the card he received for upending Shola Ameobi. Cudicini misses next Sunday's Carling Cup final, though Petr Cech will simply step in.
Weaker managers might have bemoaned their ill-fortune. Not Mourinho. The self-annointed `Special One' was in defiant mood afterwards, rallying his players with typically inspirational rhetoric. He ordered them to focus on the current players of Barcelona, rather than wallow in the disappointment of damage inflicted by a former resident of Catalonia. Kluivert's third-minute goal shredded the pre-match script and tossed the little pieces into the blizzard swirling around St James'. Fittingly, the move was begun by another determined act of ball-reclaiming by Titus Bramble, comfortably the man of the match.
After dispossessing Joe Cole on the left-hand touchline, Bramble triggered a move which saw the ball worked swiftly to the right flank. This was a regular ploy of Newcastle's yesterday, switching wings quickly to unsettle a Chelsea defence patently lacking the aerial and organisational gifts of the suspended John Terry.
The tactic paid off spectacularly. Stephen Carr found Kieron Dyer, who re-directed play back inside to Nicky Butt. Newcastle's anchorman, returning confidently from injury, promptly whipped the ball out to Laurent Robert on the left. Chelsea's defenders and midfielders resembled spectators at a tennis duel, heads twisting this way and that to follow the ball.
Few back-lines could have dealt with Robert's cross towards Kluivert. Here was the Dutchman at his best, rolling back the years, eluding Gallas and rising high to meet Robert's cross with the meatiest of headers. It could have been Shearer.
The desire seizing countless Geordie hearts is for Shearer to lift the Cup in his final season. For those obsessed with portents, Newcastle's last FA Cup glory came 50 years ago – and they defeated Chelsea in the fifth round that season as well. A decent quarter-final draw at lunch-time today will convince them that Cardiff awaits.
Newcastle were assisted by Mourinho starting with his second-string – he even rested his famous charcoal-grey overcoat, preferring an insulated wind-cheater – but nothing should detract from Newcastle's admirable effort. Bramble was not the only one excelling. At left-back, Celestine Babayaro reminded Mourinho what he had let go, painfully so given Bridge's incapacitation. One Babayaro tackle on Jiri Jarosik had the Toon Army on its feet, revelling in this show of agile resistance from their beloved side against such vaunted visitors.
Newcastle's defence was helped by another hapless display by the lightweight Mateja Kezman, whose only moment of note came with a flick against the crossbar. In midfield for Newcastle, Butt was busily effective alongside Jermaine Jenas while Robert, the mercurial Frenchman, was so in the mood that he even won a tackle.
Chelsea proved a more threatening force after the break, despite the loss of Bridge. Frank Lampard arrived to bring passing and enterprise to the middle. Duff menaced until he collided with Carr and Cudicini and hurt a knee. Cudicini then departed with three minutes remaining, handing his shirt to Johnson, who immediately saved a powerful free kick from Kluivert.
As well as bringing a smile to the lips of bookmakers faced with £10 million pay-outs if Chelsea had lifted all four trophies, this victory for Newcastle inevitably thrilled Graeme Souness. The Newcastle manager has enjoyed an uneasy relationship with the club's fans but he certainly came in from the cold yesterday.

Match details
Newcastle United (4-4-2): Given; Carr, Boumsong, Bramble, Babayaro; Dyer (Milner 67), Jenas, Butt, Robert; Shearer (Ameobi 64), Kluivert. Subs: N'Zogbia, Hughes, Caig (g). Goal: Kluivert (3). Chelsea (4-1-2-1-2): Cudicini; Johnson, Gallas, Carvalho, Bridge; Smertin; Geremi (Lampard, h-t), Tiago (Gudjohnsen h-t); Jarosik; J Cole (Duff h-t), Kezman. Subs: Cech (g), Ferreira. Booked: Tiago, Carvalho. Sent off: Cudicini. Referee: M Halsey (Herts).
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Sun:

Newcastle 1 Chelsea 0
DUTCH OF CLASH ... Patrick Kluivert beats William Gallas to head a stunning winner By SUN ONLINE REPORTER
PATRICK KLUIVERT'S bullet-header left Chelsea's quadruple hopes in tatters.

The former Barcelona frontman netted after just four minutes to decide a tie which turned into a total disaster for Jose Mourinho's side.
It's bad enough that the Blues' air of invincibility has been shattered on the eve of one of the most important weeks in their history.
Barcelona away in Europe on Wednesday is followed by Liverpool in Sunday's Carling Cup final.
But Chelsea had to play the last 43 minutes of this tie with 10 men after Wayne Bridge was carried off on a stretcher with a serious leg injury.
The England full-back was rushed to Newcastle General Hospital with a suspected broken ankle which could rule him out for the rest of the season.
To add to Chelsea's woes Damien Duff and William Gallas were limping badly in the closing stages of this clash.
Then Carlo Cudicini was sent off in injury time - which means he misses the Carling Cup final, a match where he was due to captain the side.
Even so, Blues boss Mourinho refused to bemoan his side's luck.
He said: "A lot of things were against us today, but I thought we were magnificent.
"I am not happy we lost, of course I'm not. We care greatly about the FA Cup.
"But the most important thing for us is the Premiership. Newcastle was not the best team out there, but at Stamford Bridge they were the better side for 45 minutes and we ended up beating them 4-0.
"Good luck to them, they are a big team and I hope they go on and win it."
Mourinho added: "Today's message was of a very proud team that is together.
"Sometimes you are proud of your team when you win and sometimes you lose and you are even more proud of them.
"We were magnificent, our mentality was fantastic.
"Today is not a good moment for us, but it is not a drama.
"I have never been one to cry over injuries. If we have 11 players to play in the upcoming big games then we will go into them with the same mentalilty. Toon boss Graeme Souness was relieved to still be in the hunt for two cups.
He said: "If you're a manager of a big club you are always under pressure, but there are different degrees. It's either intense or very intense.
"But we have got a result today against a very good side.
"We scored a goal and became nervous. They are a top team and were playing with all the confidence in the world."
BRIDGE OF SIGHS ... Wayne Bridge is carried off with a suspected broken ankle
Souness paid tribute to Laurent Robert, who set up the winning goal with a fantastic cross.
He said: "We know he can do that. We keep trying to make him work a bit harder when we don't have the ball.
"He delivered a great ball and Patrick dispatched it very well."
Everything Blues boss Mourinho has touched this season has turned to gold - until now.
This match could hardly have turned out any worse.
The former Porto manager put out a weakened side with Frank Lampard, Damien Duff and Eidur Gudjohnsen on the bench.
Mourinho was hoping the players on the pitch would get a result, allowing him the luxury of resting his big stars for Wednesday's massive Champions League clash in Barca.
With his side in danger of going out he made a triple subsitution at half-time - bringing all three big names on - which meant when Bridge was injured two minutes into the second half Chelsea had to play the rest of the game with 10 men.
Keeping the quadruple dream alive was always going to an uphill task - even for a team with as big a heart as Chelsea - and so it proved.
Newcastle were quickly into their stride on a difficult pitch which had to be cleared of snow in the morning.
Toon fans saw Robert at his worst in the second minute when he sellfishly blasted over the bar from an impossible angle with men queuing up in the box.
Two minutes later the Frenchman showed the other side of his game. Robert curled a delightful left-foot cross into the box and Kluivert rose majestically to thump a header past the helpless Cudicini.
Butt slashed a shot high and wide before Chelsea finally got into their stride midway through the half.
Kezman was caught off-balance from a Geremi cross and headed over from a good position on 23 minutes.
A minute later Tiago and Joe Cole combined before the Portuguese international put a wickedly-deflected cross into the box.
Titus Bramble and Celestine Babayaro looked at each other while the alert Kezman nipped in to flick the ball over Given. The goal-shy Serbian looked at the heavens as the ball crashed back off the bar.
Jarosik then saw his low shot parried away by Given after Kezman's lay-off from a throw-in.
KEEPER WEEPER ... ref Halsey sends off Carlo CudiciniPicture: MARK ROBINSOn
Mourinho made his triple change at the break and within two minutes was regretting it.
Shearer made an innocuous-looking challenge on Bridge but the Chelsea man stayed down for ages. Medical staff put a brace on his leg before carrying him off.
Lampard's 25-yard shot went under Bramble's foot but the shot was straight at Given.
Shearer - who had passed a late fitness test on a hamstring strain - made way for Shola Ameobi and James Milner replaced Kieron Dyer.
Kezman volleyed wide but not surprisingly the best chances fell to the team with the extra man.
Carr looked certain to extend the Toon's lead when he got away down the left, but he was denied by a combined last-gasp tackle by Duff and Cudicini.
More bad news for Mourinho has that the Irish international was left limping for the last 20 minutes - and must be a doubt for midweek.
Then Cudicini felled Ameobi as the striker tried to take the ball around him and was shown red.
Fullback Glen Johnson had to take the goalkeeper's jersey and made a superb save with his feet from Kluivert's free-kick.
DREAM TEAM STAR MAN: STEPHEN CARR (Newcastle). Brighter and more confident with every game back from a hamstring injury.
NEWCASTLE: Given 6, Carr 8, Bramble 6, Boumsong 6, Babayaro 6, Dyer 6 (Milner 4), Jenas 5, Butt 6, Robert 7, Kluivert 6, Shearer 6 (Ameobi 5). Subs not used: Caig, Hughes, N’Zogbia.
CHELSEA: Cudicini 6, Johnson 6, Carvalho 6, Gallas 6, Bridge 6, Smertin 6, Jarosik 7, Tiago 6 (Lampard 7), Geremi 5 (Gudjohnsen 6), Cole 5 (Duff 6), Kezman 5. Subs not used: Cech, Ferreira. Booked: Tiago, Carvalho. Sent off: Cudicini.
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Independent:

Chelsea disarray after Cup fiasco in the snow

By Sam Wallace

21 February 2005

Jose Mourinho's dream of winning an unprecedented four trophies this season was ended by defeat to Newcastle in the FA Cup yesterday, and now the Chelsea manager faces a serious injury crisis ahead of Wednesday's game against Barcelona, after injuries to Wayne Bridge, Damien Duff and William Gallas.
The Chelsea team touched down in Barcelona in the early hours of this morning still waiting to find out whether Duff will recover from a knee injury in time for the first leg of the Champions' League first knock-out round match. Gallas has a groin problem and is doubtful but Bridge is definitely out of the game with a suspected broken ankle.
After an extraordinary game at St James' Park which Chelsea finished with just nine men - following Bridge's injury and a red card for the goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini - Mourinho said that he would not "cry about injuries".
"I never like to cry on injuries. I don't think it's the best way to look at it. I will see when I get on to the plane tonight, I will think about the team I will put out in Barcelona because it's time to think about that and not time to think or to cry about injuries."
The Chelsea manager, who is also without Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben, also insisted that winning the Premiership, the Champions' League, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup in one season was not impossible.
"It's possible because I did it in Portugal when we won the League, the Uefa Cup, the Portuguese Cup and the Portuguese Super Cup," he said. "I know it is difficult in England when you have no control over the fixtures and you have to play like we did today without our best team. We had to play against a team who were competing for their only chance of silverware."
Mourinho held good to his promise to play a weakened team in order to prepare for the match against Barcelona. With John Terry suspended he put Frank Lampard, Duff and Eidur Gudjohnsen on the substitutes' bench but, after falling behind to a fourth-minute headed goal from Patrick Kluivert, the Chelsea manager controversially decided to send on all three players at half-time.
In blizzard conditions that had put the 4pm kick-off in doubt for much of the day, Chelsea were reduced to 10 men when they lost Bridge just two minutes into the second-half after a challenge with Alan Shearer. "I don't know what happened," said the Newcastle captain. "We clashed and he got his foot stuck in the ground."
Cudicini was sent off in injury time after he tripped Shola Ameobi outside the area and Glen Johnson was forced to deputise in goal. "It was a big risk," Mourinho said of his triple substitution. "I am the manager, I make the decisions and I am responsible for the defeats, not the victories. I felt it was the best thing for the team at the time. Even though we only had 10 men for much of the second half it seemed like we had 11." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Times:

Tinkerman Mourinho pays the price

By Matt Dickenson

Newcastle United 1 Chelsea 0

FOR A MANAGER WHO THRIVES ON meticulous planning, there was far too much chaos yesterday. José Mourinho could stomach defeat in the FA Cup fifth round — his selection of a weakened team said as much — but there was mayhem in the driving snow at St James’ Park that he must hope did not pursue him on last night’s flight to Barcelona. Chelsea finished with nine men, including Glen Johnson in goal, and it might as well have been eight, given the injury to Damien Duff. Misfortune played its part, particularly in the bad break suffered by Wayne Bridge in the 47th minute, but Mourinho had invited trouble by making three half-time substitutions.
The Portuguese’s boldness is one of the traits that has made him such a welcome and refreshing addition to the English game, but he must know that his triple change backfired. First Bridge departed to hospital, with a suspected broken ankle. His manager would only confirm that “for sure it is something big”.
Duff’s knee injury was a direct consequence, because it was covering for the full back that he injured himself in a collision with Carlo Cudicini. The Ireland winger limped on to the plane last night, but should he miss Wednesday’s European Cup tie in the Nou Camp, the impact would be massive given Arjen Robben’s absence with a broken foot.
William Gallas also departed from Tyneside with a sore groin and was declared a doubt for Barcelona. “I am not going to cry over injuries,” Mourinho said, but he had picked a weakened starting XI precisely so that he would not have to take a sackful of worries to Catalunya. It was only Chelsea’s third loss under their Portuguese manager — after Manchester City in the Premiership and FC Porto in the European Cup — but it still seemed a very un-Mourinho like defeat.
The disorder was compounded when Cudicini was dismissed in the five minutes added on for stoppages for felling Shola Ameobi just outside the penalty area. Johnson borrowed the goalkeeper’s shirt and gloves, presumably sent between the posts because of his erratic play in defence. He blocked a fizzing Laurent Robert free kick and, seconds later, St James’ Park erupted in celebration at the final whistle.
Newcastle were through to the quarter-finals, their quest for a first trophy in 36 years surviving an anxious second half, while Chelsea’s hunt for four in one season will have to wait for another campaign. “There is no time for dramas,” Mourinho said, “especially when you are in a fantastic position to win what is most important for us — the Premiership.
Newcastle had begun brightly enough, buoyed by a goal after only four minutes when the ball was fed wide to Laurent Robert. The winger picked out Patrick Kluivert, who soared above Gallas to head past Cudicini.
Tyneside’s mounting despair at the Graeme Souness regime eased for the next 20 minutes, until Mateja Kezman met Tiago’s deflected cross and glanced the ball past Shay Given. To the striker’s despair, the ball bounced down from the underside of the crossbar and away from goal. “The boy is really, really unlucky,” Mourinho said. On most of this season’s evidence, that is a kind analysis.
Kezman, rather than Joe Cole, should have made way at the interval, when Mourinho threw on Duff, Frank Lampard and Eidur Gudjohnsen. Newcastle had already begun to retreat and even when Bridge departed on a stretcher after a seemingly harmless challenge by Alan Shearer to make it ten against 11, Souness’s players reverted to bad habits.
Kluivert and Kieron Dyer disappeared and Newcastle’s midfield suddenly looked desperately ordinary compared with the running and touches of Lampard. Nicky Butt could claim rustiness. The big disappointment was Jermaine Jenas, a bright young talent who does not appear to be progressing. Still, Newcastle could temporarily forget their troubles. Titus Bramble had one of his less jittery afternoons, while Stephen Carr was unlucky not to be declared man of the match. A home draw against anyone other than Manchester United in the next round would allow Shearer, who came off early with a tight hamstring, to dream of retiring in Cardiff.
For Chelsea, it was off to Barcelona with Mourinho admitting that it was “a big risk” to make three substitutions at half-time, but he was touchy when it was suggested that he might have regrets. “Of course,” he said with a sneer, “I am responsible for the defeats and not for the victories. You can have your headline. Mourinho is guilty.”
The Portuguese wished Newcastle luck as they attempt to win the game’s oldest knockout competition for the first time since 1955. He has bigger prizes to chase. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------