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The Observer
Drogba has hand in another win
Kevin Mitchell at Stamford BridgeSunday March 26, 2006
The growing army of Chelsea haters might have reason to object to the West Londoners' wealth and their eccentric manager (while Jose Mourinho's swagger is not what it was, his dress sense remains impeccable), but you can't complain about the quality of their football. They toyed with Manchester City, from start to finish in what was, ultimately, little more than a tune-up for their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool on 22 April. They ought to have the Premiership locked up by then, too. After 10 minutes this looked a bigger mismatch than Amir Khan versus, well, anybody. Chelsea might have been 4-0 up before they had worked up a sweat with Didier Drogba, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvahlo all going close. David Sommeil was working overtime to contain Drogba, Damien Duff and Gudjohnsen. All around him was unalloyed chaos. Brave punters might have fancied a long-priced go at Manchester United making up the 12 points on Chelsea (they play each other in the second last fixture and United, in decent form, will still have a game in hand after what ought to be a three-pointer against Birmingham), but it would have been a hideously adventurous wager.
City were barely hanging against the Blues, and it took a wonderful reflex save by David James to keep the rampant Drogba at bay again. Danny Mills kicked Gudjohnsen up in the air and was booked. When Mills got a sight of the ball going forward, he put in a fair shot that forced the first proper save out of Petr Cech. Drogba finally got the better of Sommeil, turning him beautifully after picking up a perfect pass from Gudjohnsen and sliding it past James's left hand.
Drogba was in again after a ping-pong exchange yards in front of James, finally bringing the ball down with what might have been an arm and blasting it low and to the goalkeeper's right. Chelsea were meshing like a Ferrari gearbox, Claude Makelele and John Terry snuffing out the rare moves forward by Stephen Ireland and Darius Vassell, Frank Lampard feeding Gudjohnsen, who threaded pass after pass Drogba's way, Duff scaring City on the left, Joe Cole doing the same on the right.
How anyone can doubt Chelsea's pedigree is beyond belief. When they are on top of the game they are irresistible. And this was a wounded Chelsea who look to have put the Fulham blip behind them. Drogba could have had a third two minutes before the interval, only just failing to get enough of his head on a Lampard cross. Then came a bizarre interlude. After the half time whistle had gone Sylvain Distin was booked for arguing over the second goal, refused to give the referee the ball - and was booked again. Kiki Musampa was also booked.
With 11 they were really struggling. Down to 10 and without the captain, City had set themselves up for a proper caning. And only another fine save by James just after the resumption, diving at Gudjohnsen's feet, kept them in the contest. Mourinho felt comfortable enough to bring Duff off after only nine minutes of the second half, replaced by Michael Essien, and Hernan Crespo came on a few minutes later for Gudjohnsen. With only the suspended Robben and Gallas unavailable, the manager has at his disposal a truly formidable arsenal to call on in the remaining seven games.
Chelsea, reinvigorated, continued their stroll with only rare hiccups, Danny Mills blasting a long free-kick on to the post with Cech beaten. Cole, breaking into the area to seize on an Essien break, delayed the trigger on his shot but James timed his dive to perfection. The keeper, playing his 85th consecutive game, the longest unbroken run by a keeper in the Premiership, was having one of his better days. Only Gary Speed (474 games) and Alan Shearer (436) can better his tally of 430 appearances.
James was on the turf again soon enough, in anticipation of Essien's shot, but it took a deflection and went wide. Drogba should have had his third a quarter of an hour from the end, when a Shaun Wright-Phillips cross scooted just out of reach two metres from goal. Crespo botched an easier chance, a diving header from Drogba's cross, within minutes. That City managed to keep it to 2-0 owed as much to those near-misses as anything contributed by their own thoroughly outplayed personnel.
Man of the Match - Didier DrogbaScored two quick first-half goals to centre a formidable Chelsea attack. Had David James not been stellar then he could have easily had four or five, ending doubts about Chelsea's ability to bounce back after a league loss.
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Independent ;
Chelsea 2 Manchester City 0: Drogba's double a handful for City Dubious goal and Distin red card pile on misery as Pearce's men lose third successive game By Jason Burt at Stamford Bridge Published: 26 March 2006 Maybe, just maybe, when Jose Mourinho reviews the videotape of this match and Didier Drogba's second goal in particular he will admit to himself that there just might not be that conspiracy against Chelsea after all. The striker's blatant handball - unlike last weekend against Fulham - was not detected and such was City's anger that their captain, Sylvain Distin, received two yellow cards for protesting and was dismissed at half-time. The second caution came because he did not hand the ball back to the referee, Rob Styles.
Not that Mourinho was asked whether he agreed that those slings and arrows do not always just rain down on his head. The manager's omerta continued and he, once more, would not speak to the media. But, hey, according to the chief executive, Peter Kenyon, this is not a club with an image problem.
Instead there were Mourinho's programme notes and the accusation that some people are guilty of "not wanting to see this club grow up". Really? The siege mentality is truly a mindset and maybe maturity is something that is missing not just from Chelsea's critics.
Instead, it was down to City's Stuart Pearce to speak. Yes, he had talked to Distin and said the defender had indeed been told by Styles to "give me the ball back". Distin protested that: "I'm coming to you as the captain of the football club".
"I don't think he used foul or abusive language," said Pearce, who has captained many a team. "If it had been me there would have been the additional f-word coming out." The manager added that he abided by Styles' decisions, even if he agreed Drogba had handled. "When I first saw it I thought it was," he said. Replays only confirmed that.
It was cruel on City. Chelsea's victory was routine enough even if they did not play well - leaving them to garner just four more, according to their manager, to achieve back-to-back Premiership titles - but it was made all the more comfortable by the appalling misfortune that befell the visitors with their list of absentee players.
It meant their young team was even younger with 17-year-old Micah Richards starting in midfield, flanked by 20-year-old Willo Flood and Stephen Ireland, 17. They lacked experience, bite and numbers but no one could accuse them of lacking heart although Pearce felt some of his older players could have stood up more.
But there was no capitulation, no goal rush. Indeed of the two teams City came closer to scoring in the second-half when Danny Mills' curling free-kick struck the outside of the post. Still City began with a fragility that made the result somewhat predictable as if they believed too readily Pearce's claim that Chelsea are "one of the best [teams] in the world".
Drogba terrorised their three central defenders, with David James saving smartly from his low shot, tipping over Ricardo Carvalho's drive and watching as Eidur Gudjohnsen, also playing as a striker, dragged his effort wide. Finally Gudjohnsen slipped the ball to Drogba, afforded space by David Sommeil on the area's edge, and he checked back outside the defender to drive a left-foot shot over James.
If that goal was laudable in its execution, Drogba's second was not. James saved brilliantly from John Terry's header - after the Chelsea captain had again met a corner - and following Joe Cole's mishit shot Asier del Horno headed across the six-yard area to Drogba. The Ivorian clearly handled before the ball dropped and he slammed beyond James and into the net. The handball was so obvious that City appeared stunned. Drogba was unrepentant. "Yes, it was handball," he said. "But, you know, sometimes this is the game. I don't know how to explain. The ball comes to me and I cannot do anything about this."
Into the second-half and Gudjohnsen was released but Richards, now in defence, recovered with a wonderful tackle before Drogba got his angles wrong with an unmarked header, while James held on to Cole's side-footed effort.
Chelsea made a flurry of changes. Among them was Shaun Wright-Phillips, formerly of City, and he beat Richards to square just in front of Drogba. James once more denied the striker before Drogba found Hernan Crespo who stooped but headed wide with the goalkeeper stranded.
But City did not lie down. They pushed on themselves, continued to probe, but could not fashion a recovery or even a consolation, with Petr Cech holding on to Darius Vassell's low shot. A goal would have been deserved. But then, as Mourinho readily claims, there isn't always justice in football.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Telegraph:
Distin dismissed after Drogba proves a handfulBy Patrick Barclay
Chelsea (2) 2 Man City (0) 0
Mike Dean and the assistant who buzzed him after Didier Drogba had handled before finding the net against Fulham last Sunday were rather faintly praised, I thought, and the players and supporters of Manchester City must have wished these officials had been in charge here. Instead both the referee, Rob Styles, and the relevant linesman failed to discern that Drogba's second goal followed a similar offence.
This is not to accuse either of incompetence; they can only give what they see and the thicket of City arms that appeared as soon as Drogba had made contact could hardly be taken as conclusive evidence. Nor was there any excuse for Sylvain Distin's refusal to hand the ball to the referee at half-time, which, according to the City manager, Stuart Pearce, prompted Styles to flourish a second yellow card and a red.
You need hands: Chelsea striker Didier Drogba scores his second On this evidence, Distin left Styles with no alternative bar the kind of supine retreat that demeans refereeing. And finally, on the context front, let it be understood that City were never in the match. Not even remotely.
So there was no miscarriage of justice, merely an error that hastened City's relief from the misery of their hope, if any existed, that a display as flaccid as this would be enough to trouble the champions at a home, where they have not lost in the Premiership for 25 months.
Pearce, his resources stretched by injuries, appeared preoccupied with damage-limitation. Afterwards he was characteristically kind towards the referee, saying: "I thought it was a handball straight away - but it's a very quick game out there.'' And, without being asked to talk tactics, he was off.
The only club to beat Chelsea in the Premiership last season, City lined up yesterday with five in midfield and Darius Vassell isolated at the front, handing Jose Mourinho's men an invitation to take the initiative which they had pleasure in accepting. As if life were not difficult enough for City's battalion of defenders, an additional difficulty seemed to be the constant stream of advice from Pearce: all of it judicious, no doubt, if a little distracting. They were reprieved when, from Asier del Horno's long ball, Drogba lobbed over the crossbar and when David James brought off an excellent one-handed save from the Ivory Coast striker.
Danny Mills tried a foray and shot from 25 yards. Although Petr Cech spilled the ball - drizzle was making the pitch slippery - John Terry cleared and the onslaught resumed. By now City had five at the back, but David Sommeil's presence alongside Distin and Richard Dunne proved no protection as Drogba, collecting from Eidur Gudjohnsen, twisted Sommeil inside out before beating James with a left-footed drive that flew high into the net.
That was Drogba's ninth Premiership goal of the season and although his 10th, a few minutes later, was shown to be illegitimate by video replays, no eagle eye alerted the referee. James did well to block Terry's header from a corner and, after the ball had been partially cleared, Joe Cole's miscued shot was headed into the goalmouth by Del Horno to Drogba, who used an arm in establishing control before whipping it past the hopelessly exposed James. Distin received his first yellow card for protesting.
Although City appeared to do better with 10 men, Chelsea were coasting, waiting for the occasional chance to arise. Gudjohnsen, having made one for himself, was foiled by a superb last-ditch tackle from young Micah Richards and the substitute Hernan Crespo headed wide of a near-open goal.
City were forced to chase. If they require consolation, it might be that some of their better performers, Richards included, have time on their side. Chelsea's behaviour, meanwhile, was impeccable. A delicious quote came from their chief executive, Peter Kenyon, after the dismissal of William Gallas at Craven Cottage. "Our image,'' he said, "is not as bad as people think.'' When paradox meets tautology, you might think confusion is bound to ensue, but I reckon we knew exactly what he was trying to say.
The truth is that Chelsea have become unpopular among not only neutrals but many of their own traditional supporters and blame should reside less with Kenyon or the director of communications, Simon Greenberg, than Roman Abramovich.
To paraphrase Arsene Wenger: how can we warm to him if he refuses to tell us what he is about? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times:
Chelsea 2 Manchester City 0: Drogba hands win to ChelseaRob Hughes at Stamford Bridge ANOTHER Saturday, a thoroughly wet one in west London, and another inevitable victory for Chelsea towards the also inevitable retention of their Premiership title. They will win it. There will be no abdication in the manner that Newcastle, under Kevin Keegan, threw away the championship in 1996, but woe is the spirit with which Chelsea persist in grinding sportsmanship into their newly laid turf. We will not hear complaints from Jose Mourinho about this one because the clear miscarriage of justice, the error of a referee and linesman on this occasion heavily favoured Chelsea and allowed Didier Drogba to be named the home club's man of the match.
The portents for a mismatch were pre-ordained long before Drogba scored his two goals around the half-hour mark and before everyone realised that he had handled in setting himself up for the second.
That piece of deceit, seen by almost everyone bar the referee Rob Styles and his myopic linesman, had further repercussions when Sylvain Distin, having already been booked for protesting, received a red card during the half-time interval when he foolishly regarded it as his duty as captain to have further words with the linesman.
Mourinho had nothing to say to the media afterwards, unlike his counterpart at Manchester City, Stuart Pearce, who showed how to take defeat and how to treat refereeing error as an impostor. "It happens," he said. "It's a very quick game out there and it's not for me to criticise officials who have a very difficult job. Perhaps next week it will break for us and the referee will be just as generous to Manchester City."
We cannot start condoning disrespect for authority by the players, yet if ever one man's ire was understood, it was Distin's on this occasion.
Why on earth must Drogba sully his performance, seemingly every match, with gamesmanship? He had already made a dreadful, amateurish attempt to con the referee with a dive when no opponent was within a yard. He had scored twice, left foot and right, and he had missed at least two chances to help himself to a hat-trick.
City had come for damage limitation. They strung five defenders across the back, although Danny Mills seemed confused about whether his chief task was to track back and snuff out Damien Duff. City had excuses. They were without 10 members of their first-team pool and some of the absentees — Joey Barton, Georgios Samaras, Andy Cole, Trevor Sinclair among them — are key to the strategy and the heart of Pearce's philosophy.
As it was, to lie back and wait for the inevitable was misplaced. After barely three minutes, the ball was in City's net, correctly ruled out for offside. After six minutes Frank Lampard prised open the defence for Eidur Gudjohnsen and although the Icelandic striker's first touch was immaculate, his second was a dreadful, miscued shot, dragged wide from eight yards.
It continued, however, to be one-way traffic, and had Drogba been decisive after 20 minutes, he would surely have beaten David James one on one. But his shot was meek, and the big goalkeeper crumpled to the turf to save it.
In the 30th minute, obliged to live on his instinct rather than his thought, Drogba did score, and a marvellous execution it was. Gudjohnsen fed the centre-forward, who was lurking with intent on the edge of the penalty area in a central position. With his right foot, Drogba took control, shifted his body weight to the left, shrugging off David Sommeil, and then with the other foot swept the ball inside the far post.
Three minutes later came the controversy. Chelsea had caused confusion with a corner whipped in from the right. John Terry's header was saved but not held by James, the ball was driven back in by Asier Del Horno and there, six yards from the net, was Drogba. He controlled the ball with his right hand, got away with it, and then scored with his right foot.
The yellow shirts of City stood inert around him; three of them had their hands in the air, another three ran over to harangue the linesman, and both Kiki Musampa and Distin were booked for arguing.
City were spirited but toothless. Pearce responded to the red card by withdrawing another defender, Sommeil, and putting on Alberto Riera, an attacking midfielder. However, apart from a free kick by Mills that grazed the foot of the left post, they failed to trouble Chelsea's defence.
Player Ratings: Chelsea: Cech 6, Ferreira 6, Carvalho 6, Terry 7, Del Horno 6, Makelele 8, Lampard 6, J Cole 6 (Wright-Phillips 72min, 7), Gudjohnsen 6 (Crespo 57min, 6), Duff 6 (Essien 53min, 5), Drogba 6 Man City: James 7, D Mills 7 (M Mills 84min, 5), Sommeil 4 (Riera h-t, 6), Dunne 7, Distin 5, Thatcher 6, Flood 5, Richards 6, Musampa 5, Ireland 6 (Croft 73min, 5), Vassell 6
STAR MAN: Claude Makelele (Chelsea)
Scorer: Chelsea: Drogba 30, 33
Referee: R Styles
Attendance: 42,321
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