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The Sunday TimesAugust 26, 2007
Lampard on strikeChelsea 1 Portsmouth 0
Brian Glanville at Stamford Bridge Jose Mourinho, Chelsea’s manager, seemed to have been resigned in advance to what kind of a disappointing game this would turn out to be. He makes no secret of the fact that he dislikes those weeks in which a host of international matches take place, taking his players away from him in numbers.
“I don’t like to play after one of the international weeks,” he said. “Some train very hard, some don’t train at all, some come back and train yesterday. I can’t train with the team. At the same time, I think Portsmouth is a good team, with good players and they made it difficult for us. Also, the weather is very hot. Very difficult to play in the first half. I have to shake them at half time.”
Though Chelsea won by Frank Lampard’s solitary goal, and thereby extended their remarkable unbeaten home sequence to 66 games, they could so easily have been caught at the end by a Portsmouth team less dynamic and well organised, consistent, persistent, and intelligent.
It was then that Sulley Muntari Pompey’s Ghana international, eulogised by his manager Harry Redknapp, after the game, sent in a high corner from the left. Hermann Hreidarsson who had adventurously moved upfield from defence, got his head to it strongly, obviously beating Petr Cech in Chelsea’s goal but Ashley Cole resourcefully cleared off the line. It was by far Cole’s most important contribution of a hot afternoon on which we scarcely saw him overlapping as he so famously can.
Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, had praise for the only goal of the game, which was scored, characteristically, by Frank Lampard. After 31 largely soporific minutes, Cech booted the ball Route One upfield, Didier Drogba controlled it and flicked it on, and on ran Lampard to send his strong right-footed shot home, though the Pompey goalkeeper David James did get a hand to it. Lampard, said Redknapp admiringly, gambled that Drogba was going to get the ball, ran past him, and was duly rewarded.
“Frank scored at Reading and Liverpool and now it’s four consecutive matches for England and Chelsea. They were important goals for us and every goal meant something,” Mourinho added.
Unsurprisingly, Redknapp had high praise for the intricate virtuosity of the lanky Nigerian, Kanu, in attack. “Kanu,” he said, “was terrific for us, he held the ball up, got people into the game, gave John Terry a hard day, which isn’t easy. What a footballer! Can you imagine what he must have been when he was 20 years old? The man’s a top-class footballer. He’s always got a smile on his face. He isn’t going to run all over the field like a looney, he’s a footballer.”
Memory was stirred to recall a still more remarkable display by Kanu on this very field. Playing for Arsenal, getting the ball on the left-hand goal line, he picked his way like some chamois past man after man, before finding the net.
Redknapp also rejoiced in the fact that “we can give anybody a game, now. I think we’re a decent team, we don’t come here thinking, my God, we’re going to get a real caning.”
He was also predictably pleased with the resilient performance in central defence of Sol Campbell, who, he pointed out, had had only one day’s training.
For the first half hour, the game stuttered in the sunshine. Drama was at a premium, though on 12 minutes, Kanu found Matt Taylor, always eager to strike, whose shot flew over the crossbar. Stepping his way past tackles, Kanu continued to keep his team on the move and then there was Taylor once again to shoot only narrowly wide from Kanu’s left-wing cross.
Lampard’s goal, however, brought Chelsea finally and belatedly to life.
On 44 minutes the same player had a powerful right-footed drive from outside the box that James threw himself full length to block. And now, Shaun Wright-Phillips, who had done so well for England last Wednesday at Wembley despite being brought on only in the second half and stuck on the left wing on his wrong foot, began to show his speed. Less than a minute of the second half had gone when he sidestepped his marker and shot just wide of the target.
But you never knew when Portsmouth were going to hit back and this they did when Kanu capped a perfect invitation to Sean Davis, only for Davis close in to shoot high over the bar and pantomime his dismay.
In due course, Chelsea sent on their newly acquired Brazilian right-back from Barcelona, Juliano Belletti, which enabled Michael Essien, another Ghanaian who is appreciated by Redknapp, to move into his preferred position in central midfield where we soon saw him bring James to full length with a fierce drive. On 84 minutes, there was James again to frustrate Drogba, who has been served by Florent Malouda.
There was still time for Chelsea’s narrow escape when Ashley Cole frustrated Hreidarsson. On the balance of play, and opportunities you might say that Chelsea just about deserved their exiguous victory. But who, even with enough Portsmouth supporters, could have begrudge the away team the draw they so nearly achieved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Telegraph:
David James blunder hands Chelsea top spotBy Roy Collins at Stamford BridgeChelsea (1) 1 Portsmouth (0) 0
If ever there was an accident waiting to happen it was David 'Calamity' James appearing in the dress rehearsal before his official unveiling as the new/old England goalkeeper, with the emphasis very much on the old.
Both England manager Steve McClaren and his assistant, Terry Venables, thought it necessary to monitor the form of James, 37, who appeared to have reclaimed his old international job when he replaced the hapless Paul Robinson against Germany in midweek. But James never lets the headline writers down, allowing a half-hit shot by Frank Lampard to bounce under his left hand and into the net as the England management team threw their heads into their hands.
What does McClaren do now? Having attempted to make himself look like a fearless manager by briefing against Robinson 24 hours after the Germany game, he now faces going back cap in hand, which is the only thing his goalkeepers seem capable of holding on to, to tell Robbo that he is still the man.
Another fine mess McClaren has got himself into, although Pompey could not have expected anything else but embarrassment on a ground on which they have not won for 52 years and which has seen every Premier League game end in defeat.
As it turned out, they were unlucky to lose, especially to such a soft goal, manager Harry Redknapp diplomatically claiming not to have seen it clearly.
For all Jose Mourinho's promise of a new, attacking and exciting Chelsea, this was the same old boring stuff, the Lampard goal coming from a 70- yard clearance by goalkeeper Petr Cech, albeit embellished by a nice back-heel from Didier Drogba, who then immediately fell over and rolled around for a bit, as is his wont.
Pompey fans serenaded James beforehand as "England, England's number one" but we did not hear a peep out of them after his error, nor after he then proceeded to fumble a weak effort from Shaun Wright- Phillips, who continues to keep Joe Cole out of the side.
Mourinho left his new £3.5 million right-back Juliano Belletti on the bench, which meant Michael Essien once again filling an unfamiliar role, which he should perhaps take as a compliment, even if he covets the marauding midfield role of John Obi Mikel. He got that wish in the 64th minute when Mikel was replaced by Belletti.
The pick of the Chelsea new boys was Claudio Pizarro, who almost scored in the opening minutes and then showed great awareness to volley a free-kick from Florent Malouda over the bar. His sharpness and eye for a chance suggest it will be a long time before Andrei Shevchenko forces his way back in. The latter's whereabouts are a mystery, in any case - injured according to the club but as fit as a flea according to his website, though presumably a flea with a limp, given his performances last season.
For Chelsea, as always, gathering points is the only sort of entertainment they believe in, happy to hold on to their lead for a victory that puts them top of the league, just ahead of Manchester City - yes City, not United - with the slackers from Old Trafford already eight points behind.
Pompey took the Henry Ford view that all history is bunk, almost scoring when Matt Taylor's angled shot was diverted to safety by Ben Haim. Sean Davis also squandered a glorious second-half chance before Gary O'Neill lashed one into the side-netting. In between times Kanu pulled the attacking strings with that extraordinary ball control that only a man of his elastic limbs could manage.
McClaren and Venables looked so concerned in the stands that they might have been watching England. And they hardly needed to come here to check the fitness of Lampard, Terry or even Sol Campbell, though they did get the chance to watch a cameo by Joe Cole in the final 15 minutes. He came closest to making the game safe with a rasping shot past a post which James had covered. At least, he appeared to. And Campbell, who pulled out of the England squad with injury, produced a great recovery tackle to dispossess Drogba.
It was a curiously unconvincing performance by Chelsea, for whom Terry looked like a man still recovering full fitness, almost as lackadaisical as he was for England in midweek. Mourinho blamed it on international week and the weather, though his side were lucky not to pay for it in the dying minutes when only an acrobatic header off the line stopped Herman Hreidarsson scoring what only Mourinho would have denied to be a deserved equaliser. Why should he care after his 98th unbeaten home game here and in Portugal?
Chelsea are once again out in front in the title race, where they prefer to be, with the season just settling down. On Friday the draw for the group stages of the Champions League will put a spring in their step as they anticipate the big nights yet to come.
If Pompey continue to play with such spirit and flair, they might even be entertaining European ambitions of their own for next season. But one could not help feel sympathy for James, a consummate professional who performs brilliantly for over 90 per cent of the time, except on the occasions when it really matters.
Match summary Moment of the match: Ashley Cole's fantastic goal-line clearance with an acrobatic header which denied Hermann Hreidarsson a deserved equaliser, not that you would have got Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho to agree with that statement. Match rating: 5/10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Indy:
Chelsea 1 Portsmouth 0: James fails to convince as Chelsea take pole position McClaren's dilemma goes on after hesitant display from England's No 2 By Nick Townsend at Stamford Bridge
Whether in artistic or goalkeeping guise, David James enjoys giving an exhibition. Yesterday, even he would probably admit, it was not his finest piece of work that he placed in front of his most demanding judges, the England coach Steve McClaren and his assistant Terry Venables, who, if they were looking to solve their goalkeeping dilemma after England's defeat by Germany, were no more the wiser after this. For that duo, it is back to the drawing board.
The curious aspect was, given that James was facing the club who already consider themselves champions-elect, the 37-year-old was not exactly overworked. However, he will not reflect well on the manner in which Frank Lampard's venomous drive from outside the area eluded him for what transpired to be the winner during an unconvincing first half for the former Aston Villa and Liverpool man.
It did not exactly rate full-on "Calamity" status, but nor will it have instilled karma in the watching England hierarchy. "I don't know if it took a deflection; I'll have to have a look later," was about the extent of his manager Harry Redknapp's non-committal reply, preferring to stress his admiration for James's quality as a "fantastic professional".
Unconvincing was also an adjective which could also apply to Jose Mourinho's men after a victory that left Chelsea top of the table, and more crucially eight points in front of Manchester United. The Chelsea manager attributed a generally turgid performance to post-international-week-itis and the heat. Certainly, for half an hour his players had the look of men who had forgotten each other over the preceding few days.
James, who could be restored as England's No1 against Israel in 13 days' time after Paul Robinson's indifferent display on Wednesday night, was virtually redundant as Portsmouth largely negated the threat of the Londoners. Claudio Pizarro headed over Florent Malouda's inswinging free-kick, but otherwise the visitors, with Sol Campbell restored to the side, defended stoutly. Indeed, Pompey had the best opportunity of the opening exchanges. Kanu's low right-wing cross was well-struck by Matt Taylor, but a challenge from Tal Ben Haim deflected the ball wide.
Mourinho's irritation with his side was evident from his histrionics on the touchline, but his men duly responded on the half hour. Didier Drogba collected Petr Cech's long clearance, and cleverly back-heeled the ball to Lampard who thumped the ball low and firmly past James. It seemed to affect the keeper, too. Before half-time, James spilled Wright-Phillips's effort, and then had his hands burnt by another attempt from Lampard.
The England coaches were also scrutinising Campbell and the Chelsea quintet, Terry, Lampard, Wright-Phillips, Ashley and Joe Cole, although the last-named started on the bench again. All impressed, although Terry, as Redknapp opined, was given a severe examination by the remarkable Kanu who appears to improve with the years.
The Brazilian attacking right-back, Juliano Belletti, Chelsea's £3.75 million acquisition from Barcelona, began his new career on the bench, but appeared late in the game, as did Pompey's David Nugent, who has been linked with a swift move on to Derby. Redknapp did not dismiss that possibility, but added: "we're happy to keep him".
If Chelsea believed they could stroll to victory, having forged into a lead, they were sorely mistaken. Pompey have a touch of class about them which extended their hosts to the limit, with Sulley Muntari prominent.
Just after the break, Kanu, under pressure in the area, set up Sean Davis, but the midfielder turned the ball over Cech's bar. Then O'Neill fired just wide. He was immediately replaced by Benjani Mwaruwari, who went close as Pompey strove for an equaliser they fully merited.
Though James, with an improved second-half performance got down well to save a deflected attempt from Michael Essien and later also thwarted Drogba, there was too much activity at the opposite end for Chelsea fans liking. The Portsmouth bench were all ready to celebrate the equaliser when Nugent contrived to strike the back of Kanu with a goal-bound effort. Then, as the ball bounced up off the striker, Hermann Hreidarsson's header had to be cleared off the line by Ashley Cole.
Essien, who made a fine contribution, apparently does appreciate the perils of hubris, claiming before yesterday that Manchester United are already too far behind Chelsea to catch up. Now that advantage has been extended further. But after four games? Sir Alex may have something to say about such audacity today.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------James error hands win to lacklustre Chelsea
Will Buckley at Stamford BridgeSunday August 26, 2007The Observer
It is now over a year since Chelsea produced a performance that showcased all their talents, their championship-clinching 3-0 victory against Manchester United in April 2006, which culminated with Ricardo Carvalho's length-of-the-pitch team goal.The oddity of last season was not that Chelsea should finish second but that they should do so having played so moderately. It is meant to be a sign of a good team that they win when playing badly but Chelsea took it to ridiculous lengths. It is also surely the sign of a good team that they occasionally play to their full potential.
Yesterday, they were at it again. Chelsea managed to go top of the table and they achieved their first clean sheet of the season but that was the limit of the positives. They played dismally and if the goalkeepers had been exchanged the result would have been reversed. Even with David James at his most jittery, Portsmouth can consider themselves unlucky not to have emerged with at least a point.'I felt we was always in the game,' said Harry Redknapp, the Pompey manager. 'There were some terrific performances.
'I thought [Sulley] Muntari was outstanding, you can see why he and [Michael] Essien are so good in the middle for Ghana,' he added, having watched the Black Stars draw 1-1 with Senegal at Millwall's New Den last Tuesday.
Jose Mourinho did not pretend that Chelsea had been anything other than average. 'I don't like to play the week after national games,' he said. 'I cannot train with the team, I cannot prepare the team. Some arrive on Thursday, some yesterday, some happy, some tired, some frustrated. If we play a bad game next Saturday I will be very frustrated. We are top of the league but we can play better.'
The game started slowly and it was not until the quarter-hour that a Florent Malouda free-kick presented Claudio Pizarro with a header, which he negligently put over. Essien was prominent at both ends, marauding down the right and producing a sharp tackle on the six-yard line to prevent John Utaka reaching a dangerous cross.
Pompey threatened again when Nwankwo Kanu smartly dragged the ball back for Matt Taylor whose shot curled just wide. On chances, if not possession, Portsmouth were shading it. 'We had no real problems in the first half-hour,' said Redknapp.
They were unfortunate therefore to fall behind thanks to - and how often have you heard this phrase? - a howler from an Observer columnist. There appeared little danger when Frank Lampard collected a knock-down from Didier Drogba, passed the ball to himself on the edge of the area and shot towards James, standing in the middle of the goal.
However, the England goalkeeper saw things rather differently and somehow contrived to dive over the ball. He got things half-right in that he went the right way, but his timing was awry.
Soon afterwards Shaun Wright- Phillips tested him again with a shot and he went all shaky before finally hanging on. It was enough to have the watching Steve McClaren checking his contact books for Joe Corrigan's number.
A minute before the interval there was another juggle when he was confronted by another unthreatening effort from Lampard. And at the other end another fine effort from Taylor, his crafty lob drifting just over. If James had been less calamitous, Portsmouth might have gone in at the break ahead rather than behind.
Chelsea should have increased their lead in the opening minute of the second half. Drogba stepped over and shielded the ball, shrugging off a defender in the process, and produced a perfect pass to Wright-Phillips but the winger over-elaborated.
Sean Davis fluffed a decent chance after wonderful work by Kanu. Minutes later the visitors broke swiftly from a Chelsea corner after Muntari had pulled off one of the braver challenges of the season, stopping Essien at full pelt, but Gary O'Neil shot wide.
Mourinho rejigged his line-up bringing on Salomon Kalou for the ineffectual Pizarro, the Peruvian having made a lesser attacking contribution than Essien at right back. Next, the Chelsea manager brought on new signing Juliano Belletti for the impressive John Obi Mikel, thereby releasing Essien to play in the middle of midfield. His best player, at last, in his most effective position.
It was not until the 75th minute that Joe Cole was finally introduced. One of the reasons given for the dour nature of many of Chelsea's performances last season was Cole's absence. Now he is fit but rarely used. In the short period available he did enough to suggest he deserves more time.
Five minutes from time, Portsmouth should have levelled when a goalmouth melee ended with Ashley Cole clearing Hermann Hreidarsson's header off the line. 'I was waiting for the ball to hit the back of the net. But never mind,' said Redknapp.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mail:
James fumbles main chanceChelsea 1 Portsmouth 0
By DANIEL KING
Frank Lampard stuck another one in the eye of his critics and David James gave his detractors some more ammunition as under-par Chelsea ground out a trademark victory to go top of the table.
Lampard's goal a little after the half-hour mark, his third in a week after last weekend's controversial penalty at Liverpool and the opener against Germany, was enough to decide a game which never did justice to the long-awaited sunshine.
The strike may also be sufficient to put a few clouds of doubt in the mind of England manager Steve McClaren. Both he and assistant Terry Venables were in the stands to cast an eye over the man they apparently intend to restore to the national starting XI, but they may well be less secure in that conviction now.
Not that James's error, if it can be called such, was of the magnitude of the Paul Robinson blooper which had allowed Kevin Kuranyi to equalise and turn what had begun as a promising evening at Wembley into another long dark night of the soul. But most felt the Portsmouth keeper could have kept Lampard's low, 20-yard drive out of the net if his left hand had been stronger. A couple of nervous moments soon afterwards served only to cement that impression.
Ashley Cole had to nod Hermann Hreidarsson's header off the line with three minutes remaining, but apart from that late scare Portsmouth rarely threatened to take anything from a game which they had begun quite impressively. Chelsea, despite looking far from fluent, did just enough to win, and manager Jose Mourinho said he had expected nothing more.
"It is always like this after an international week," he said. "I knew it would happen. I had some players back on Thursday, some on Friday,some happy, some unhappy, some frustrated.
"I had to shake them at half-time to improve in the second half."
Since returning to the top flight, Portsmouth have taken not so much as a point off Chelsea and must still look back to 1955 for their last win at Stamford Bridge, but for half-an-hour, Harry Redknapp's game-plan had worked perfectly.
Pressing high up the pitch, his team were happy to let Chelsea play keep-ball across their back four, but stifled any sign of loftier ambitions so that the best chance for the home side was Claudio Pizarro's free header over the bar from a Florent Malouda free-kick.
Signs of frustration soon emerged from the Chelsea bench and crowd, and Portsmouth, as if sensing Chelsea had already run out of ideas, created two decent opportunities of their own, for John Utaka and Matt Taylor, before Lampard's goal arrived straight from the route one textbook.
Petr Cech launched a huge free-kick down the field which Didier Drogba won in a challenge with Sylvain Distin. The Frenchman and his team-mate Sean Davis then impeded each other,the ball broke to Lampard and although he struck the ball firmly, the feeling was that James should have done better than merely to delay the billowing of the net.
Redknapp preferred to praise the goalscorer, his nephew — "Frank does that better than anyone else" — but the impression James was partially at fault gained strength after the incident when the would-be England No 1 fumbled a cross-shot by Wright-Phillips and a save at the end of the half from Lampard was not much more convincing.
"Who else is there, again?" McClaren and Venables might have been forgiven for asking each other at the break. There was some encouragement for the away team in a scoop over the bar by Davis and a shot just wide by Gary O'Neil early in the second half, but little to suggest the game would end in anything but a home win.
So Redknapp threw on Benjani for O'Neil and moved Utaka to the wide position where he had enjoyed success in the previous three games.
But not this time. Mourinho brought on his latest make-do-and-mend signing, Juliano Belletti, allowing Michael Essien to take up his preferred midfield role, from which he tested James with a deflected shot after Malouda had sent a left-foot drive fizzing past the goalkeeper's right-hand post.
In between, Benjani had wasted Portsmouth's best chance yet to force Chelsea to find a higher gear by failing to control a crossfield ball well enough on his chest to allow himself a decent shot on goal.
"I thought we were always in the game," said Redknapp, but that was as much a product of Chelsea's failure to find a second goal as his team's opportunities to equalise.
Ashley Cole's clearance from Hreidarsson after the late goalmouth scramble ensured that Lampard's goal was decisive.
But James's performance,even allowing for a smart stop from Drogba, offered more questions than answers. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

morning papers liverpool away

The Times August 20, 2007 Chelsea wolf bites Red Riding Hood Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1 Oliver Kay at Anfield It started as a fairytale afternoon for Liverpools new darling, slowly turned into a nightmare for the referee as Chelsea fought back and ended, amid plenty of mud-slinging afterwards, with Rafael Bentez talking about Little Red Riding Hood. If this is a sign of things to come in the Barclays Premier League title race, it promises to be a season full of twists, turns and a taste of the bizarre. Frank Lampards second-half penalty earned Chelsea a draw that they will treasure after falling behind to an early goal from Fernando Torres, on his Anfield debut, but that does not begin to describe the events of a quite breathless afternoon. Throw in the hugely controversial nature of that penalty, nine bookings or ten if you include the rogue second yellow card that Rob Styles, the referee, brandished to Michael Essien during a tense second period some spiky postmatch comments and, lest it gets overlooked, some good football from both teams, and you start to get the picture. Little Red Riding Hood? That cropped up in the postmatch press conference when Bentez, the Liverpool manager, was informed that Jos Mourinho had responded to Steven Gerrards criticism of Chelsea by painting a picture of an angelic, or at least naive, team. Bentez smirked. Then I am Little Red Riding Hood, he said. Look at their team and ask yourself how many times their players do the things they say they dont do. Their players talk to the referee all the time. And they do, as Sir Alex Ferguson, among others, has observed in the past. Mourinho expressed outrage at such accusations in the postmatch press conference, but, if ever perish the thought a team was to harangue a referee in the hope of planting a seed that might later come to fruition, it was here. Only Styles knows why he awarded Chelsea a penalty in the 62nd minute, when Steve Finnan and Florent Malouda were involved in an entirely inoccuous collision, and only he knows why he opted to wave a second yellow card at Essien soon afterwards if, as he claims, he was not booking the player. Both Bentez and Gerrard, his captain, sounded sick at the award of the penalty and it was hard not to sympathise. Liverpool, to borrow Bentezs favourite phrase, had been in control of the game for the first 45 minutes and had taken a deserved lead through Torres, their club record signing from Atltico Madrid. Chelsea got a foothold earlier in the second half, after replacing Salomon Kalou with Claudio Pizarro, but it still took a remarkable intervention from Styles to change the complexion of the game or at least to give Lampard the opportunity to do so, which he duly took. Mourinho said that he felt it was a fair result. Perhaps in one sense, if one looks beyond the injustice of the penalty, it was. Even Chelseas most unedifying quality, the one that sees John Terry and Co swarming around the referee any time a decision goes against them, is a manifestation of the mentality that Mourinho has instilled in his team. Three times in as many matches this season they have conceded the first goal and doubtless this will be a source of concern to the Portuguese perfectionist after an otherwise productive first week of the campaign but on each occasion they have fought back strongly. And yesterdays point, gained at the expense of Liverpool, could in some way prove as precious as the three they won against Birmingham City and Reading. But, no matter what other conclusions Mourinho might draw from this game, he is likely to have departed Merseyside in the knowledge that Liverpool are capable of posing a serious threat in the title race this season. Their first-half performance was highly impressive, with Gerrard and Xabi Alonso pulling the strings the former with the benefit of a painkilling injection after sustaining a broken toe that is likely to keep him out of Englands match against Germany on Wednesday Jermaine Pennant a menace on the right wing and, significantly, Torres showing signs of quality in attack. Recent history carries a few cautionary tales for Liverpools supporters Nigel Clough, Stan Collymore and even El-Hadji Diouf scored on their Anfield debuts but Torres appears to have something about him. He is no great physical specimen witness the number of times he hit the deck in the first half, with Terry imploring the referee to book the forward for diving but his goal in the sixteenth minute as, having been sent clear by Gerrard, he bamboozled Tal Ben Haim before stroking the ball past Petr Cech, was a moment of genuine class. Anfield has a new hero. Torres also appears to have brought a slickness to Liverpools play, one that could have reaped dividends in the second half, as some impressive moves resulted in chances for John Arne Riise and Dirk Kuyt, but Chelsea remain a fearsome proposition. Their second-half fightback was strong, with Pizarro narrowly missing with a far-post ahead two minutes after his introduction, and it was the Peru forward who set up the move that culminated the equaliser, releasing Shaun Wright-Phillips, whose cross resulted in that infamous collision between Finnan and Malouda. A phantom penalty to go alongside Luis Garcas phantom goal for Liverpool in the 2005 European Cup semi-final second leg at Anfield. Inevitably, Mourinho mentioned that goal last night. And if he cannot give it up after yesterday, he never will. Liverpool 1 Torres 16 Chelsea 1 Lampard 62 (pen) How they rated Liverpool 4-4-2 J M Reina Y 6 S Finnan 7 J Carragher 7 D Agger 8 Arbeloa 7 J Pennant Y 7 X Alonso 7 S Gerrard Y 8 J A Riise 6 F Torres 7 D Kuyt Y 7 Substitutes R Babel (for Pennant, 76min), P Crouch (for Riise, 83) Not used C Itandje, S Hyypia, J Mascherano Chelsea 4-4-2 P Cech 7 M Essien Y 5 T Ben Haim Y 5 J Terry Y 7 A Cole Y 6 S Wright-Phillips 6 J O Mikel 6 F Lampard Y 6 F Malouda 6 S Kalou 5 D Drogba 6 Substitutes C Pizarro 6 (for Kalou, 46min), J Cole (for Wright-Phillips, 77), Alex (for Malouda, 85) Not used C Cudicini, C Makelele Referee R Styles Attendance 43,924 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Telegraph: Penalty ignites Benitez feud with Mourinho By Tim Rich Liverpool (1) 1 Chelsea (0) 1 The voice of Anfield's Tannoy announcer was almost choked with glee. "I just want to point out that this is Manchester United's worst start to the season in 15 years," he shouted. They talk a lot about history at Liverpool but, had they checked, they would have discovered that the 1992-93 season finished with Sir Alex Ferguson winning his first Premier League title. You can tell little by beginnings, but this was a match that showed the balance of power in the Premier League is very slowly shifting under the patent leather shoes of the big clubs. On Chelsea's last two visits to Anfield, they had seen their hopes of a third Premier League and a first European Cup final drain away, and now they limped home to London grateful for a point. Having turned down a firm commitment to come to Merseyside, citing the Ashley Cole argument that a few thousand extra a week would make a significant difference to a millionaire lifestyle, Rafael Benitez had little love for Florent Malouda. The Liverpool manager would have even less desire to resume his summer conversations with the French winger as he attempted to dummy Shaun Wright-Phillips' cross and collided with Steve Finnan. The ball rolled out to an unmarked Didier Drogba, no Chelsea player appealed, Rob Styles, standing a few yards away, indicated a penalty. It was a dreadful decision, although not quite as ridiculous as one the referee was to make later in the game when he did not send off Michael Essien despite showing him a second yellow card. Significantly, Mourinho did not attempt to defend the penalty, except to argue that Chelsea had suffered so many setbacks at Anfield, including Luis Garcia's "ghost goal" in the 2005 European Cup semi-final, that they deserved some fortune. It was a curiously similar penalty to the one Malouda had won in the World Cup final, the one Zinedine Zidane had clipped home via an Italian crossbar. Frank Lampard converted, but, thereafter, a point appeared to be the limit of Chelsea's ambitions on a ground where they had won 4-1 in October 2005. When Benitez threw on Peter Crouch, Mourinho responded with a defender, Alex. "When I saw their giant come off the bench I thought it was time to bring my giant on," he said. "But we tried to win for 85 minutes. We never play here with our ideal team; last year I had to use Michael Essien as a centre half." Then, Essien had been all but humiliated. This time by pressing him into service as a right back Mourinho deprived himself of his likeliest candidate to win him the midfield. He was also extremely fortunate to finish the game. Essien had already been booked when, not for the first time, Tal Ben-Haim proved unable to cope with the pace of Fernando Torres. John Terry was booked for protesting and so, too, was Essien for a second time. Significantly, Chelsea were stretched almost to breaking point by two men who had rejected their money, Torres and Steven Gerrard. Benitez's policy of risking the broken toe his captain sustained in Toulouse and pulling him out of England's friendly with Germany was absolutely vindicated in one sumptuous pass that released all of Torres' pace and skill. It may be time to end the speculation that had Mourinho signed Ben Haim from Bolton in January he might have salvaged Chelsea's title. The Israeli blundered in, was wrong-footed and looked up to see Torres slide his shot past Petr Cech. The equaliser, however, would have done nothing to ease the dislike Benitez feels for Mourinho. When reminded of the Chelsea manager's observation that his were a "pure, naive team", Benitez quipped that if that were true, he was Little Red Riding Hood. There is no doubt whom he sees as the Big Bad Wolf. When congratulating Chelsea for breaking Liverpool's record of 63 unbeaten home matches set in the days of Bob Paisley, he talked of Claudio Ranieri, under whom the run began, and Roman Abramovitch, who had paid for it. Mourinho, who had supervised most of Stamford Bridge's triumphs, was mentioned not at all. Man of the match: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) 9 Assist for Torres' goal 82% accurate passes Completed 80% successful passes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indy: Liverpool 1, Chelsea 1: Malouda leap leaves Benitez feeling bitter By Andy Hunter There was no mention of Jose Mourinho as Rafael Benitez paid a pointed tribute to Chelsea's 64-game unbeaten home record in his programme notes yesterday but, however much he may wish otherwise, the Liverpool manager will not find it so easy to write his rival out of his pursuit of the Premiership title this season. Only a highly-contentious penalty award prevented Liverpool maintaining their 100 per cent start to the campaign at a soaked Anfield yesterday, the Kop's chorus of condemnation for the referee Rob Styles on the final whistle deafening following his dampening of what had promised to be an impressive announcement of intent from Fernando Torres. The afternoon had promised much for Liverpool as they attempt to develop into genuine championship contenders this term, the performance bright and belligerent and even the PA announcer struggling to contain his elation at events in Manchester as he revelled in United's worst start to a Premiership season for 15 years before kick-off. But this was an opportunity lost. There was a shrug from Roman Abramovich in the directors' box at full-time, yet it should have been relief that shaped Chelsea's reaction to a game in which they struggled to assert authority. Last week they had passed Liverpool's record of 63 home games unbeaten with victory over Birmingham, an achievement that prompted Benitez to write, "It is a record that was started by Claudio Ranieri when Roman Abramovich arrived at the club and we must congratulate them," and his spitefulness would not have eased after these events. "It was a very, very unfair decision," insisted Steven Gerrard. "Unbelievable," stated his manager. "Unbelievable." These sides have made a habit of nullifying their opponents' attacking edge beyond the boredom threshold in recent years and it was therefore an enthralled Anfield, and disgusted Chelsea bench, that saw the visitors prised apart and punished with beautiful simplicity by Gerrard and Torres in the 16th minute. The Liverpool captain, toe fractured yet instrumental in a strong opening from the home side that should have yielded a breakthrough from John Arne Riise after only 110 seconds, put the Spaniard clear with a weighted diagonal ball down the left, and the striker then showed the skill, acceleration and finishing worthy of a £26.5m club record signing. Tal Ben-Haim came across to cover but Torres glided away from the Israeli defender with ease before steering his shot into the far corner of Petr Cech's goal, a fine way to open his Liverpool account and to suggest he could have a major influence on the club's title aspirations this season. Benitez has long stressed the value of taking the lead in fixtures against the big four, usually after Liverpool had again failed to do so during their meagre return of four points from a possible 36 under his stewardship prior to yesterday, and the impact of the striker in whom he has invested so much money and reputation threatened widespread significance until his second major transfer target of the summer, Florent Malouda, left his own indelible mark on the contest wearing the blue of Chelsea. The French international, who Benitez has indicated rejected a move to Anfield only because of the better personal terms on offer at Stamford Bridge, had embodied the frustrations Chelsea encountered in attempting to escape the limpet-like attentions of a Liverpool team inspired by Gerrard in all areas of the pitch. Though Salomon Kalou and John Terry both failed to capitalise on half chances before half-time and the substitute Claudio Pizarro squandered an inviting header at the back post moments after the restart, Mourinho's side had failed to exert any meaningful pressure on Jose Reina in the Liverpool goal until gifted a penalty by Styles in the 62nd minute. Contact was clearly made by Steve Finnan in the back of Malouda as they converged on a Shaun Wright-Phillips pass but only as a consequence of the left-winger leaping into the Liverpool full-back as he attempted to dummy the ball for the waiting Didier Drogba. Styles, however, saw differently, awarding the spot-kick that allowed Frank Lampard to send Reina the wrong way in the goal where he registered Chelsea's only success in the Champions League semi-final shoot-out. The Chelsea equaliser was merely the start of a contentious period for the Hampshire official whose generosity with the yellow card appeared to create his own Graham Poll-moment in the 73rd minute. Booking Terry, on his return from a medial knee ligament injury, for remonstrating with the theatrical Torres, Styles also waved a card in the direction of the dissenting Michael Essien for what would have been his second yellow yet failed to produce a red card. It took clarification from the fourth official to explain that the card was meant for the Chelsea captain only, but Liverpool's annoyance would not be satisfied. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Styles pulls Poll's card trick and Chelsea escape Kevin McCarra at Anfield Monday August 20, 2007 The Guardian The teams could not be prised apart but this was an afternoon when Liverpool's spirits soared and plummeted. A likely victory was taken from them with the dubious award of a penalty by the referee, Rob Styles, whose form was so poor that he would have been substituted well before the interval had he been a player. Despite denials the footage suggests that, like Graham Poll at last year's World Cup, he showed a second yellow card to a miscreant without dismissing him. Michael Essien was the player in question and the incident involved prolonged wrangling over a decision in the 73rd minute. Styles attracts sympathy purely because the badgering of him by John Terry and others had, as is so often the case when Chelsea are at work, been frequent. There will be complaints about that, yet the proud obstinacy of these visitors has to be recognised as well. There never was a sense, following the interval, that they would necessarily be downed by Liverpool. The 62nd-minute penalty came when the substitute Claudio Pizarro sent an incisive pass down the right to Shaun Wright-Phillips. As the winger's low cross ran along the face of the area, Florent Malouda, attempting a dummy to the benefit of Didier Drogba, jumped and turned, making himself as responsible as Steve Finnan for the contact. Frank Lampard, undistracted by shame, slotted the penalty smoothly. When Jose Mourinho emerged later, he raised again the extremely questionable goal from Luis Garcia that eliminated Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final of 2005. Any sweep would have been won by the person guessing that the Portuguese would launch into the topic within moments of yesterday's penalty being raised. Nevertheless, when the bickering is over, few will claim that the result itself was a travesty. John Arne Riise might have scored for Liverpool and John Terry, returning from injury, could have forced a Lampard free-kick over the line. If Didier Drogba had enjoyed one of his superhuman moments, he could have claimed an earlier equaliser instead of heading Wright-Phillips's cross wide from beyond the far post. If Liverpool can stop themselves from recycling this fixture endlessly in their minds, they will reach some sort of serenity by dwelling on Fernando Torres's first competitive goal for the club on his Anfield debut. There was an immediate satisfaction for Rafael Bentez in the banishment of any fear that the £26.5m striker would begin his Premier League career with a long and much publicised wait to get off the mark. Better still, it was a goal that would most likely have been beyond Liverpool's scope had they not bought the Atltico Madrid attacker. Steven Gerrard, particularly impressive considering his fractured toe, hit a good pass down the left towards Torres in the 16th minute. If Tal Ben Haim imagined he was in command of the situation, he was disabused of the idea in explosive fashion. There was speed as Torres went outside the Israeli, then conviction and delicacy as he opened up his body to roll a right-footed shot across Petr Cech and into the net at the far post. It turns out that there can still be Thierry Henry goals in England even if the Frenchman has decamped to Camp Nou. While Chelsea had no such star quality, they are in an engrossing phase. Mourinho's concept of innovation would not previously have embraced a trend that entailed his men conceding the first goal in the three Premier League fixtures with which their season has begun. The manager will tolerate that, or pretend to do so, because there is a suppleness to the side he is developing. The system was fluid and, while there were periods when it resembled the old 4-1-3-2 formation, there is a key difference in having the versatile Mikel John Obi rather than the magnificent specialist Claude Makelele in the holding role. If the younger man cannot be the guardian of the back four to the same extent, he should make a more varied contribution to the team. Liverpool and Chelsea cannot be sure what they will become but there is no doubt that an abrasive rivalry will continue. Man of the match Fernando Torres No one could dominate a fixture as hard-bitten as this but the debutant came up with the most memorable contribution. Best moment The pace, confidence and refinement of the goal that put Liverpool ahead. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mail: You've blown it Styles - own up to blunders, says Gerrard Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1 By NEIL ASHTON After doing his talking on the pitch, Steven Gerrard could not be faulted for having his say after the final whistle. For 62 minutes at Anfield yesterday, the Liverpool captain had driven Chelsea to distraction with a performance that slipped effortlessly between the sublime and supreme. He ignored the pain of a fractured toe to set up Liverpool's opening goal with a superb pass but then came the moment that will rankle for the rest of the season. It has taken Jose Mourinho over three years to exact revenge for Luis Garcia's 'ghost goal' in the Champions League semi-final but he was repaid with interest when referee Rob Styles awarded a highly-controversial penalty in the second half. "Which penalty?" demanded a flustered Benitez as he began the inquest and the Liverpool manager was certainly not short of sympathy. The Premier League title will not be won or lost on the moment Florent Malouda collapsed inside the penalty area under pressure from Steven Finnan but it will certainly not be forgotten. "We felt that the referee did not play well," said Gerrard. "If players have to hold their hands up when they play badly so should referees." On that basis, Styles should walk the streets for the next week with his right arm reaching for the sky. Big games are for big names but Styles refused to explain his decision to award Chelsea's controversial penalty and he also sidestepped the issue of Michael Essien. The Chelsea right back was booked in the first half and television replays clearly showed him being cautioned for dissent when Tal Ben Haim tripped Fernando Torres on the edge of the area in the 72nd minute. It was another remarkable moment of good fortune for Chelsea but it was the decision to award the penalty that had brought them back on level terms. Until then, Liverpool had been in complete control. Gerrard, who will tell England coach Steve McClaren this morning that he will not be joining up with the national squad, weighed in with another towering display in the centre of midfield. The Liverpool skipper ran Chelsea ragged with a performance of pace, power and poise. Mikel John Obi, who played in the holding midfield role, was terrorised throughout a first half that Gerrard dictated. McClaren will have been marvelling at a performance that put his England colleagues in the shade but Wembley will not be witnessing a display like that on Wednesday. His exuberance earned him a booking just before half-time but by then Liverpool were ahead and threatening to score more. Gerrard provided the stellar moment of an absorbing first half when Chelsea's midfield gave him the freedom of Merseyside to deliver a weighted pass into the path of Torres with the outside of that mercurial right boot. With Essien hopelessly out of position, Torres showed Ben Haim one way and then the other before beating him for pace and curling the sweetest of shots beyond Petr Cech. That is what you get for £24million and the Spaniard continued to tease and torment. Chelsea's players complained to the referee that he was practising the dark arts but, in truth, they could not contain him. Instead, they simply took him out whenever he threatened to add to Liverpool's lead. He has added another dimension to their attacking thrust but Liverpool will have to find other ways to open up teams if they are to compete for the title. Gerrard delivers week in, week out remember his winning goal at Aston Villa on the opening day of the season but Dirk Kuyt, Jermaine Pennant, Xabi Alonso and John Arne Riise must also shoulder some responsibility. Benitez's side always raise their game for the visit of Chelsea and they had leaders all across their back line. They coped with Mourinho's tactical switch at the break, when he replaced the ineffective Salomon Kalou with Claudio Pizarro, but there was nothing they could do about the decision to award Chelsea a penalty. Even Malouda looked slightly sheepish when Styles pointed to the spot but Frank Lampard took responsibility. Abramovich, in the directors' box alongside his girlfriend, put his head in his hands when Lampard placed the ball on the spot but he had nothing to worry about. Lampard may have missed a penalty in the Community Shield against Manchester United but he made no mistake with a drilled effort to Pepe Reina's right. Honours even but Liverpool continued to press. Benitez is under pressure to deliver the club's first league title since 1990 but Mourinho shut up shop with his substitutions. Joe Cole, who had spent the previous 77 minutes attempting to attract the manager's attention by sprinting up and down the touchline, was finally brought on for Shaun Wright-Phillips. Five minutes from time, Alex was brought on to keep Peter Crouch quiet but Liverpool threatened relentlessly. Cech blocked Riise's effort at his near post, Kuyt's header was tipped over the crossbar and the Kop celebrated their own ghost goal when Ryan Babel's effort hit the side netting. "We tried to win the game and it was only in the last five minutes when I saw their giant come off the bench I decided to put mine on," said Mourinho. "So many times we have been unfortunate in this stadium. I really don't know if it was a penalty." Sorry, Jose, you will just have to trust Benitez on this one. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mirror: Raf justice as woeful Styles triumphs over Kop substance BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE LIVERPOOL 1 CHELSEA 1 CONTROVERY AT ANFIELD Martin Lipton Chief Football Writer 20/08/2007 You Can forget the "ghost goal", now, Jose . And be thankful for the ghost penalty. On a day when Manchester United wobbled again, their two most likely challengers had the chance to show why they both believe this could be their year. This should have been remembered as the game where Rafa Benitez's new-look Liverpool showed they are the real deal, where Fernando Torres began his love affair with The Kop and Steven Gerrard proved that even with a broken toe, nothing can break his spirit. Or the match where Mourinho's men demonstrated their resolve and refusal to yield even when playing nowhere near their best. But now it will always be inextricably linked to the man who got the got the big decision wrong. This match was all about Rob Styles. On the hour the ball ran to Florent Malouda just inside the box. The Frenchman's dummy, and a fairly obvious block of Steve Finnan, allowed the ball to run through to Didier Drogba. If there was a foul, at all, it had been committed by the Chelsea man, and Mr Styles, eight yards away, could not have had a better view. Instead, to the disbelief of the everyone inside Anfield, Styles pointed to the spot. Frank Lampard's conversion, struck unerringly into the bottom corner, meant that Mourinho stole away with a point his Chelsea side simply did not deserve - pay-back time for Luis Garcia's 2005 Champions League semi-final winner. If left Chelsea seven points clear of United, three ahead of Liverpool, and still unbeaten. And while referees do make mistakes, they should not be this blatant, this clear-cut, this crucial. Let there be no argument, Liverpool deserved far better. Where Mourinho got it so spectacularly right at halftime at Reading in midweek, yesterday, for 45 minutes, he got it just as comprehensively wrong. Michael Essien was patently unfit, Shaun Wright-Phillips a fish out of water through the middle and Drogba forced to battle away single-handedly up front. With Gerrard irrepressible and Liverpool flying out of the traps, there was only one side calling the shots. John Arne Riise's poor touch, after Essien's second-minute error, spared Chelsea once but when Gerrard brilliantly led the counter in the 16th minute, it left Torres one on one against Tal Ben Haim. It was not a contest. The Israeli defender showed the £26million Spaniard the outside but could do nothing to prevent Torres exploding into the space inside the box, before opening his body brilliantly and steering past Petr Cech and in off the post. Not a bad way to mark your home bow, especially from a player whose natural striking instincts have been doubted. Chelsea were floundering. Salomon Kalou did nothing on the right, Malouda was invisible, John Obi Mikel exposed. Only once, when skipper John Terry stole in at the back post but failed to make proper contact to Lampard's spearing free-kick, had they genuinely threatened. Mourinho, belatedly, recognised his folly, sending on Claudio Pizarro for Kalou and putting Wright-Phillips in his natural position. Yet Liverpool remained in the ascendency and Xabi Alonso should have hit the target rather than stabbing wide. It was to prove a costly miss, as Mr Styles showed his generosity to the visitors. Liverpool, rightly angered, looked to respond and lifted their game. Gerrard eased past Ashley Cole but blazed into The Kop, before Riise's flashing volley flew wide from 14 yards. Cue Mr Styles again, seemingly booking Essien for a second time - the African felt he was about to see red - and then failng to give a corner after Cech's fingertips denied Dirk Kuyt. Liverpool kept coming and the pace of substitute Ryan Babel gave Riise another chance at the far post, with Cech spreading himself superbly. Yet as Mourinho and Benitez prepared to restart the war of words, the jeers at the final whistle were directed squarely at the man in black. If his call matters in the final analysis next May, Mr Styles will have to take a long, hard look at himself. Liverpool: Reina 6; Finnan 7, Carragher 8, Agger 6, Arveloa 6; Pennant 7 (Babel, 68, 6), Gerrard 8, Alonso 7, Riise 7 (Crouch, 83, 6); Torres 7, Kuyt 7. Chelsea: Cech 6; Essien 5, Ben Haim 5, Terry 6, A Cole 6; Kalou 5 (Pizarro 46, 7), Wright-Phillips 6 (J Cole, 77, 6), Mikel 5, Lampard 6, Malouda 4 (Alex, 85, 6); Drogba 7. Referee: ROB STYLES LIVERPOOL V CHELSEA 44% POSSESSION 56% 3 SHOTS ON TARGET 1 10 SHOTS OFF TARGET 5 3 OFFSIDES 1 5 CORNERS 2 12 FOULS 18 4 YELLOW CARDS 5 0 RED CARDS 0 ATTENDANCE: 43,924 Man Of The Match: Gerrard --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun: Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1 By PHIL THOMAS August 20, 2007 TWO months ago, Rafa Benitez would have wrung Florent Maloudas neck, after the Frenchman opted against joining Liverpool. One can only imagine what the Kop boss would do if he ran into the Chelsea star now, after the wide-boys outrageous con trick saved a point for the Blues. Malouda was all set for Anfield before a U-turn saw him head for the bright lights of London instead and a move, Benitez insists, fuelled by greed as much as desire. Benitez contents himself with a wry smile and a knowing pat of the wallet whenever Maloudas name crops up. Until yesterday, that is. For the £13.5million buy from Lyon suckered referee Rob Styles into pointing to the spot for the most ridiculous of dives across Steve Finnan. Replays showed Malouda was throwing himself down before Finnan was anywhere near him. It was that blatant not even Didier Drogba was seriously appealing! But Frank Lampard was not about to argue the point and drilled a low penalty into the corner. The equaliser was probably deserved. What was infuriating was the fact it came courtesy of as blatant a piece of gamesmanship cheating in any other language as you will see all season. And, most laughable of all, when Fernando Torres threw himself to the ground under a second-half Tal Ben Haim challenge, the ref was surrounded by men in Blue brandishing imaginary cards. Torres, it must be said, does not need too big a nudge to go down although he is still miles away from winning a place in the West London School of Ballet. Sorry, make that the Chelsea side. But he certainly has a sharp eye for goal and he took just 15 minutes to prove it yesterday. First, he showed great instinct in pulling away from Ben Haim on the left edge of the box, giving Steven Gerrard the chance to pick him out from halfway. Then he showed the coolest of heads as he skipped away from the Israeli centre-back, before opening his body and sliding the ball in off the far post. Torres was bought to fill the role of natural goalscorer, a gap created by the departure of the ageing Robbie Fowler. But the finish yesterday was pure Michael Owen in his pomp running at defenders, daring them to dive in and needing only half an opening to finish the job. Not even Chelsea, for all their willingness to complain at anything and everything that went against them, could whinge about the justice of Liverpools lead. In fact, they should have been behind inside three minutes when Michael Essien misjdged Jermaine Pennants deep cross. John Arne Riise, unmarked on the left of the box, cushioned it on his instep but not enough to stop Petr Cech dashing out to smother. Then Gerrard unleashed a first-time rocket that was certainly goalbound until it struck Lampard although, to be fair, there is rather more of the Chelsea star than most midfielders. Gerrard was running the show in the heart of the engine room but Jose Mourinhos men have not won two titles without having the heart for a scrap. And slowly, surely, they grabbed a foothold as much down to the game becoming a bad-tempered series of niggles and fouls as anything else. From one of them, Lampard curled over a free-kick that only needed the faintest contact from John Terry to level things. The more the football degenerated, the more Chelsea came into it. One thing is for certain, if they are going to regain their crown they certainly are not going to do it by winning pretty. It was hardly helped by an official who never entirely had things under control and when he did, got as many decisions wrong as he did correct. A staggering NINE yellow cards are testimony to the point. Although even that figure probably wouldnt be high enough if you asked the ever-moaning Ashley Cole. The England full-backs bleating could have cost his side dear when he led that procession of men demanding Torres be booked. Ref Styles finally showed some backbone in giving a home free-kick in response. But by then Liverpool had resorted to a succession of long balls and the chance of a winner was as likely as Malouda winning a stay-on-your-feet contest. Not that there werent any openings and Riise went as close as anyone with a volley wide, while Ryan Babel rippled the side-netting after cutting inside. Keeper Cech then showed great reactions in diving backwards to tip Dirk Kuyts goal-bound header over the bar. Styles, as you may have guessed, missed it and gave a dead ball.

morning papers reading away

The TimesAugust 16, 2007
Bold moves by Mourinho help Chelsea to get the upper hand Reading 1 Chelsea 2Martin Samuel, Chief Football Correspondent
With one player sent off and nine booked, those fans who came expecting a grudge match will not have left the Madejski Stadium disappointed. In reality, though, this was a healing process, of sorts. Stephen Hunt and Petr Cech embraced after the game and the Reading man even left the field clutching a Chelsea shirt as a souvenir. This hard-fought victory may also have gone some way to soothing festering resentment in the Portuguese enclave of West London.
The previous time these teams met here, two Chelsea goalkeepers finished the day in hospital, with one receiving a permanent reminder of his stay. Last night, the only casualty was local pride; Reading must have been greatly buoyed by a deserved half-time lead and will have felt crushed that Chelsea should turn it on its head in the space of five minutes at the start of the second half.
As last year, Chelsea’s slender victory owed more to grit than polish, but when the league table shows maximum return from two matches and a four-point lead over Manchester United, who is complaining?
It was Frank Lampard who got Chelsea back into the game and Didier Drogba who won it for them, a familiar combination and a potent one. Equally recognisable is the boldness of José Mourinho, who responded to a poor first half, in which Chelsea threatened only through Lampard’s corners, by making changes that placed the emphasis on attack, with Shaun Wright-Phillips employed as an unlikely right back.
Suddenly Chelsea came alive. Lampard equalised in the 47th minute, Drogba scored in the 50th and there was barely a squeak out of Reading after that, save for the sending-off of Kalifa Cissé for what Mike Dean, the referee, perceived as a stamp on Claudio Pizarro but probably was not. At their best, Chelsea’s bloody-mindedness breaks hearts and minds, and that is what it did to Reading.
There are many that will never see the beauty in Lampard, but, fortunately, Mourinho is not among them. He picks him just about every week and the logic behind this loyalty was made plain last night. While also sticking to his team duties, Lampard contrives to get into scoring positions like no other central midfield player in England and his charge into the Reading penalty area – almost to the edge of the six-yard box – changed the match.
Pizarro, a substitute, won the first header, Drogba the second, but it was Lampard who followed the loose ball to journey’s end, slipping it past Mar-cus Hahnemann, the Reading goalkeeper, to give Chelsea an equality they scarcely deserved. The winner was more a work of art. Drogba won the ball, fed Kalou, got it back and then struck a shot from 25 yards that was goalbound from the moment it left his foot.
Preceding this reversal of fortune was a superb first-half display by Reading and it would not have flattered them had the scoreline read 3-0, capped by an out-of-character mistake by Cech, which led to the goal. None of these events was expected before kick-off.
Much of the acclaim for Reading’s superiority over 45 minutes should go to Hunt. In testing circumstances, he was outstanding, creating mayhem all over the pitch, most of it of the legal kind (he was booked in the 37th minute for a foul on Paulo Ferreira). He did not even shirk when, after 15 seconds, a loose ball on the slippery surface set up the chance of a challenge on Cech that would have mirrored their fateful coming together ten months ago. Hunt took it as far as he could go, but as the ball ran into touch, so he backed off. A lesser player would not even have gone there.
At other times he was involved in Reading’s best football and some of the most bone-shuddering challenges. He even took corners in front of the hostile away end, and were it not for excellent covering work by Tal Ben Haim in the seventeenth minute, could have marked the night with a goal. His battle with Steve Sidwell, his former teammate, was particularly wholehearted and helped to give Reading a deserved lead.
Sidwell’s 29th-minute foul on Hunt afforded the break in play that Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, needed to replace the injured Michael Duberry with Andre Bikey, sent off when these teams previously met at the Madejski Stadium. He made quite an impression on this occasion, too.
Nicky Shorey launched a free kick that was won in the air by Ivar Ingima-rsson, the central defender, forcing an uncharacteristic moment of misjudgment from Cech. The giant goalkeeper launched himself at the ball, attempting to punch, and took out two of his defenders instead, under pressure from Kevin Doyle, the Reading striker. The ball ran loose to Bikey, who had the easy task of tapping it into an empty net, from three yards, if that.
There was a suspicion that Doyle had put Cech off with a raised hand but it was hard to begrudge Reading the lead. What surprised was the weakness of their reaction when Chelsea hit back. Maybe they blew themselves out with the high tempo early on. Maybe the challenge of getting a point at Old Trafford with ten men, followed by a match against the league’s most physically punishing team, was too much. The fixtures secretary cannot like Reading for next up are curmudgeonly Everton. After this, though, they represent welcome respite.
Reading (4-4-2): M Hahnemann — G Murty, M Duberry (sub: A Bikey, 29min), I Ingimarsson, N Shorey — J Oster, J Harper, K Cissé, S Hunt — K Doyle, S Long. Substitutes not used: B Gunnarsson, Seol Ki Hyeon, U De la Cruz, A Federici. Booked: Long, Cissé, Hunt, Ingimarsson. Sent off: Cissé.
Chelsea (4-4-2): P Cech — P Ferreira (sub: J O Mikel, 46), T Ben Haim, R Carvalho (sub: G Johnson, 31), A Cole — S Wright-Phillips, S Sidwell (sub: C Pizarro, 46), F Lampard, F Malouda — S Kalou, D Drogba. Substitutes not used: C Cudicini, J Cole. Booked: Carvalho, Sidwell, A Cole, Wright-Phillips, Mikel.
Referee: M Dean. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Telegraph:
Chelsea profit as Mourinho's tactics pay off By Oliver Brown
Reading (1) 1 Chelsea (0) 2
At a stroke, Jose Mourinho ensured that Chelsea's return to Reading would be remembered not for Petr Cech or Stephen Hunt, but for his own tactical inspiration.
Enmities were simmering at the Madejski Stadium last night, with Chelsea supporters well recalling Hunt's skull-breaking challenge on the Czech goalkeeper 10 months ago, but Mourinho brushed aside the sub-plots as he transformed an unlikely first-half deficit into a galvanising win.
It was on another dank night in strange surrounds last season when Chelsea's vulnerabilities had emerged in defeat to Middlesbrough in only their second game. Mourinho was not about to commit the same error twice. Ascribing an early goal for Reading defender Andre Bikey to a brief aberration, he replied by allowing Claudio Pizarro to join the attack in an irresistible three-striker system - the clearest evidence yet of his "beautiful blueprint" and fully justified by two goals in three minutes for Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.
Explaining this ingenuity, the manager said: "We made the changes and I explained the objectives. The players were brave to accept some difficult situations."
The changes were stark, as Shaun Wright-Phillips switched to right-back while Florent Malouda anchored midfield. But when the rethink enabled Chelsea to build a four-point lead over Manchester United just five days into the season, few were arguing.
Such was the aplomb shown by Wright-Phillips in an alien position, Mourinho might have been tempted to call off the quest for Sevilla's Daniel Alves. The Brazilian full-back, who was left out of the Spanish club's Champions League qualifying round tie against AEK Athens last night, has been linked with a £21.5 million move to Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea claim there is still no agreement. Mourinho acknowledged: "We try to buy him, but the situation is not done."
Mourinho had tried, abortively, to throw three strikers forward in an FA Cup defeat to Newcastle in his first season and was roundly questioned. On last night's more successful experiment, he said: "I knew it was a big gamble, but if one day it doesn't work, I'm criticised. I accept the criticism, but I sleep well because I tried."
The defining incident of this fixture last season - or, more accurately, Mourinho's histrionic reaction to it - had stirred up an animosity between the teams, with Reading supporters perversely barracking Cech's every clearance. Judging by Steve Sidwell's reception, the midfielder's defection to Chelsea was also seen as a betrayal.
Ironically, it was Hunt, the pariah of the evening, who gave Chelsea cause for concern with his lively surges into the box. In the early exchanges, only the muscular intervention of Tal Ben Haim prevented him from scoring.
There was a raggedness about Chelsea's play, and after 29 minutes Nicky Shorey's free kick, nudged into the box by Ivar Ingimarsson, left Cech floundering. There were few players more surprised than substitute Bikey, who took one touch - his first of the game - to steer Reading into the lead.
But Mourinho then engineered his half-time changes and the dividends were immediate. Lampard, not content to lie deep, profited from Drogba's deft header to surge through Reading's scattered back line with ease. Holding off Shorey, the England midfielder showed consummate control to angle his shot beyond Marcus Hahnemann.
With Reading at their most vulnerable, it was Drogba's turn to pounce. Again, Shorey was the unfortunate victim of some irresistible play as the Ivorian cut in to unleash a superb strike from 22 yards past Hahnemann.
"At 2-1, all the energy we had in the first half evaporated very quickly," Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, said.
Stunned, Reading lapsed all too easily into impatience, and Kalif Cisse was sent off for a second yellow card as he challenged Pizarro heavily. The decision looked dubious, but Chelsea's damage had already been done.
Man of the match: Didier Drogba (Chelsea)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Indy:
Reading 1 Chelsea 2: Drogba's neat finish rewards Mourinho gamble By Conrad Leach
There was an FA Cup match that Chelsea played at Newcastle in February 2005 when Jose Mourinho used all his substitutes at half-time and ended up losing the game, with an injury then reducing his team to 10 men before the end.
It was a tactical move the Blues' manager promised not to repeat, but here at the Madejski Stadium the Portuguese had once more made all his changes before the second half. However, five minutes after half-time, unlike at St James' Park, a deficit had been turned into an advantage and a repeat of history was averted. It was an advantage they held on to for their second win of the season and true to their manager's pre-season word, Chelsea are good to watch again.
However, history of an even more recent vintage was very much on the agenda in Berkshire. It usually takes decades to build up an enmity on the scale that now exists between these two teams, but in their case it only took one match. That was last October, when Stephen Hunt accidentally collided with Petr Cech, his knee hitting the Chelsea goalkeeper in the head. It left Cech with a fractured skull and led to lingering recriminations. Cech was also out for three months and returned with the skull cap he wears in every game. To show what this victory meant for Mourinho, you only had to see him pump his fist at the final whistle to realise memories of the Cech incident are still fresh.
From the outset Chelsea were indifferent and outplayed. In the second half, they ripped into Steve Coppell's men with the result that Frank Lampard levelled Andre Bikey's goal after 47 minutes. A Claudio Pizarro header was nudged on by Didier Drogba to the midfielder and he steered his shot around Marcus Hahnemann.
Three minutes later and the Londoners had the advantage when Nicky Shorey poked the ball to Drogba, who, from 22 yards, curled his shot past Hahnemann for the winner. Reading's cause was not helped when, with 18 minutes left, their debutant Kalifa Cissé was sent off for his second yellow card – a foul on Pizarro.
The game had changed with Mourinho's alterations and he explained: "At half-time I asked if there were any unfit players as I wanted to make two changes. They said no, so I made my changes. The players were brave and accepted what they had to do on the pitch."
With Ricardo Carvalho's early injury, the changes included Shaun Wright-Phillips playing well at right-back and Glen Johnson adapting to playing centre-back. Mourinho also revealed that John Terry is fit enough to play at Liverpool this weekend, adding: "Steve McClaren can drink some champagne."
Mourinho was not in the mood for celebrating when Reading took a deserved lead after 29 minutes. From a long punt by Shorey, Ivar Ingimarsson knocked the ball down, Cech missed his punch and the ball ran to Bikey who tapped into the net, 20 seconds after coming on to the pitch. It could have been worse for Chelsea when John Oster hit the post five minutes later. They survived that and have now come from behind in both games so far.
Goals: Bikey (30) 1-0; Lampard (47) 1-1; Drogba (50) 1-2.
Reading (4-4-2): Hahnemann; Murty, Ingimarsson, Duberry (Bikey, 29), Shorey; Oster (Seol, 79), Cissé, Harper, Hunt; Long, Doyle. Substitutes not used: Federici (gk), Gunnarsson, De la Cruz
Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech; Ferreira (Pizarro, h-t), Carvalho (Johnson, 31), Ben Haim, A Cole; Wright-Phillips, Sidwell (Mikel, h-t), Lampard, Malouda; Drogba, Kalou. Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), J Cole.
Referee: M Dean (Wirral).
Booked: Reading Cissé, Hunt, Long, Ingimarsson; Chelsea A Cole, Carvalho, Mikel, Sidwell, Wright-Phillips.
Sent off: Cissé (72).
Man of the match: Drogba.
Attendance: 24,031.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Drogba digs Chelsea out of trouble after Mourinho reshuffle
Dominic Fifield at the Madejski StadiumThursday August 16, 2007The Guardian
There was a period last night when Petr Cech must have felt condemned only to suffer in this corner of Berkshire, yet by the end there was redemption to be had in victory. Chelsea, outplayed through the first period, recovered breathlessly courtesy of the sheer boldness of their manager. With the goalkeeper relieved and Jose Mourinho triumphant, last year's traumas in this arena can truly be forgotten now. Mourinho's reaction at the final whistle, punching the air as he roared his approval, was a demonstration both of the resistance encountered against a slick Reading side and of the scars that were inflicted here 10 months ago. Cech had been carried off on that occasion, his skull fractured following an inadvertent clash with Stephen Hunt in the opening 20 seconds. The fall-out from that incident, and the subsequent departure of the reserve goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini on a stretcher that night, had tarnished the build-up.
Yet while this game was played with a real edge and punctuated with yellow cards and a late red for Kalifa Cissé, it ended with a hug between Cech and the excellent Hunt. The goalkeeper had been culpable for the home side's goal. The visitors needed the manager's tactical re-invention at the interval, with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Florent Malouda switched to wing-backs and an extra striker thrust on. Mourinho, however mellow, will always be a risk taker."I knew it was a big gamble but, if one day it doesn't work, like it didn't in my first season at Newcastle [in an FA Cup tie], I'll accept the criticism," said the Portuguese. "I'll sleep well because I tried. The worst thing in life is when you don't try. That's the message I give to my kids all the time and, in my job, I do the same. If, in the second minute of the second half, somebody was injured and we'd have to play with 10 men for 43 minutes, fair enough. That's a risk that's part of the job."
Chelsea had needed his radical overhaul. They had been becalmed throughout a first half dominated by Reading but, from nowhere, generated such blistering momentum in the moments after the interval as to re-establish their class. Within two minutes of the re-start, Claudio Pizarro and Didier Drogba had combined for Frank Lampard to burst beyond Nicky Shorey's lunge and spear the visitors level. With Reading still dazed, Drogba exchanged passes with Salomon Kalou and curled a stunning second beyond the despairing Marcus Hahnemann from 20 yards to thrust them ahead.
"The players were brave," added Mourinho. "It's not easy for Shaun to play right-back, for Glen Johnson to play centre-half or for attacking players to have defensive tasks." The manager had already lost Ricardo Carvalho to a thigh problem, though his likely absence will be tempered by the return of John Terry from knee-ligament damage. The England captain trained with the reserves yesterday and will be available for England's qualifiers against Israel and Russia next month.
For Reading there was no disgrace in this defeat, even if theirs was a sense of deflation at the end. Steve Coppell's side had been dignified in the fall-out from last year's clash but they tore into this rematch so breathlessly that Chelsea were initially forced into retreat. The hosts were scintillating in the first half, hitting the post through John Oster from Hunt's fine cross and gaining a lead they merited through the substitute André Bikey after Cech's rare mistake.
Shorey's free-kick had been pumped into the area from distance on the half-hour, with Ivar Ingimarsson jumping to loop a header into the six-yard box. The goalkeeper came to claim but, perhaps distracted by the arm thrust up inadvisedly by Kevin Doyle or by the presence of Steve Sidwell and Tal Ben Haim immediately in front of him, missed his punch. The loose ball bounced through the panicked clutter for Bikey to convert with his first touch. Other chances were passed up, Cech claiming Doyle's shot on the turn, and, while the locals rejoiced in their lead, Coppell implied the home side's ultimate frustration had its roots in profligacy.
"We might have been further ahead at half-time but we knew they'd change it," he said. "We just didn't know how they'd change it. Jose was brave but it's easier to be brave when you've got £70m worth of talent on the bench. He's a terrific manager but all the big teams have got bigger guns than everyone else, more toys, more options. But consistently he has done it and it's been effective. Today was the same."
The Reading manager was disappointed with Cissé's dismissal on his home debut, the Frenchman booked for a second time when he ran his studs down Pizarro's shin 16 minutes from time, even if the Peruvian's reaction was somewhat dramatic. "His sock was laddered so it must have been a bad injury given that it was over his shin pad," added Coppell with a wry smile. "Chelsea knew they were in a game here. The way Jose celebrated at the end shows how important this victory was."
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Mail:
Bikey puts pedal down but Drogba overtakesReading 1 Chelsea 2
By NEIL ASHTON
Jose Mourinho fielded a string of highprofile summer signings at Reading last night, but the names on the scoresheet remain the same.
While the rest of this Chelsea team still need some fine-tuning as they settle into their Premiership stride, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba did what they do best.
Like reliable old motors, they never stopped running and secured Chelsea's second successive victory in a devastating three-minute spell.
They scored 31 times in the Premiership last season and underlined their importance to Chelsea with the clinical strikes that took them level with Everton and Manchester City at the top of the table.
To do it, Mourinho had to make sweeping half-time changes, but he was rewarded for his bravery. He sacrificed Steven Sidwell and Paulo Ferreira, sent Shaun Wright-Phillips to right back and added Claudio Pizarro to his attack. Until then, Reading had been rampant. Steve Coppell's side set the tone with a vibrant first-half performance and they took advantage of a rare mistake by Petr Cech to claim a deserved lead in 30th minute.
It took the Chelsea keeper 100 days to recover from the fractured skull he suffered in this stadium last season and it may take another 100 to put this performance to bed.
Stephen Hunt, cast as the villain by Mourinho last October after his collision with Cech, was the centre of attention again when they took the lead.
Sidwell marked his Madejski Stadium return with the foul on Hunt that led to Reading's goal. Nicky Shorey, improving with each game, launched a long free-kick and Chelsea's defence did the rest.
Ivar Ingimarsson rose unmarked to steer a header towards the sixyard box and when Cech failed to connect with a punch, Andre Bikey tapped the gift into an empty net.
It was the Reading defender's first touch after coming on as a substitute for Michael Duberry and it was fitting reward for a remarkable first half performance. But then, with the scent of a famous victory filling the air, they wilted under the weight of expectation.
As Coppell confessed, they should have scored a second when John Oster hit a post and James Harper sent an inviting rebound flying over Cech's crossbar.
Impressive as they were, one goal was never likely to be enough against a team with heavy artillery in reserve. Playing four up front in the second half was as desperate as it was daring, but it paid dividends for Mourinho. Reading missed Duberry after the break and the former Chelsea defender certainly would not have allowed Lampard to bulldoze his way into the box.
Coppell was unhappy with his team's defending for the equaliser. Lampard left them like sitting ducks when he ran through their defence unopposed before sending a sweet left-foot strike beyond Marcus Hahnemann.
And before Reading could even dust themselves down and find a way to restore the advantage, Chelsea were in front. Drogba came on as a substitute during their 3-2 victory over Birmingham last Sunday and narrowly failed to open his account against Steve Bruce's side with a 50-yard strike.
Not a problem. The Chelsea striker scored 33 goals in all competitions last season and that kind of quality does not disappear.
One touch is all it takes and his winning goal was a beauty. He exchanged passes with Wright- Phillips, who has played his way into Chelsea's team with two colossal performances, before sweeping a curled effort beyond the Reading keeper from just outside the box.
That broke Reading's resistance and there was no way back after Kalifa Cisse was harshly sent off for a second yellow card. Cisse and Harper were behind Reading's firsthalf blitzkrieg, but they were down to 10 men when the Frenchman, signed from Boavista in the summer, was sent off in the 74th minute.
He had already been booked in the first half — one of 10 entries in Mike Dean's notebook — when Pizarro upset the Premiership's purists by collapsing in a heap after Cisse nipped his ankle.
It barely merited a free-kick, but Reading were unable to respond. If there is one team in the Premier League well-versed in protecting a lead it is Chelsea and they did just that by running down the clock.
They even repelled the efforts of Hahnemann, who came out of his goal in the final minutes to act as an auxiliary defender, when he launched one final missile into Chelsea's penalty area.
Cech came to claim the ball, missed his chance, and as the ball set up kindly for Hunt, the Reading midfielder miscued horribly.
Within seconds, they were locked in an emotional embrace, but there was more to that than just his miss. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mirror:
GAMBLER JOSE GOES 4WARDS BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUEReading 1 Chelsea 2Mourinho's masterstroke helps to spare blushes of dud Cech Martin Lipton 16/08/2007 The special One conjured a turnaround of champions last night and delivered another spectacular example of what sets Jose Mourinho apart from the ordinary mortals.
On a night when Petr Cech returned to the ground where he cannot remember how close he came to losing his life and experienced a evening he will want to forget, Mourinho pulled a stunning rabbit out of the hat to see Chelsea end the first week of the new season four points clear of Manchester United.
Goals from Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba came within five minutes of the Blues boss going for broke and playing four up front after they trailed when Andre Bikey cashed in on a staggering blunder by Cech.
And while Mourinho praised his "brave" players for responding to adversity, the Chelsea boss pledged he will always be faithful to his instincts.
"Yes, it was a big gamble," said Mourinho. "But I will always sleep well because the worst thing is life is not to try. If you fail, you fail, and if it hadn't worked, like at Newcastle in the FA Cup in my first season, I knew I would be criticised.
"But that's part of being a manager. You have to try all the time. That is what I tell my kids and it's the same in my job."
Chelsea needed a manager who dares to think the unthinkable after a desperate opening display, capped when Cech clattered into Kevin Doyle and punched fresh air rather than the ball to let Bikey score with his first touch after jogging on to the pitch to replace injured Michael Duberry.
While Bikey's goal owed everything to Cech's horrible aberration - it was no more than Coppell's side deserved.
Stephen Hunt is destined to spend his career with pariah status among Chelsea fans after the events of last October but last night he was a fizz-ball of energy.
He caused sheer chaos as Mourinho's decision to give Steve Sidwell a debut start against his former club backfired horribly.
And Hunt's effervescence rubbed off on his team-mates, none more so than John Oster, who gave Ashley Cole a torrid time. Even after Bikey netted, Chelsea were no more organised, especially after limping Ricardo Carvalho was replaced by Glen Johnson.
Surely even Mourinho could not have envisaged the impact his bravery would have.
He pushed Shaun Wright-Phillips to right back and went with four up front as Claudio Pizarro and John Obi Mikel came on. And two minutes after the interval, Pizarro rose to nod on and when Drogba read his intentions and did similarly, Lampard rampaged through, shrugging aside Nicky Shorey and firing past Marcus Hahnemann.
Three minutes later Drogba showed the instincts that earned him last season's 31-goal Golden Boot, keeping hold of the ball under pressure from Ivar Ingimarsson, spreading out wide right to Salomon Kalou and smashing home the return from 20 yards.
"It's easy to be brave when you have £70million worth of players on the bench," sighed a disappointed Coppell, who had debutant Kalifa Cisse sent off for a second yellow card.
"He's got more toys than everybody else, but he's a terrific manager.
Reading: Hahnemann 7, Murty 6, Duberry 6 (Bikey 29, 6), Ingimarsson 7, Shorey 6, Oster 7 (Seol 79), Harper 7, Cisse 6, Hunt 7, Long 7 (Gunnarsson 74, 6), Doyle 7.
Chelsea: Cech 5, Ferreira 6 (Pizarro, 46, 6), Ben Haim 6, Carvalho 6 (Johnson 31, 5), A Cole 6, Wright-Phillips 7, Sidwell 5 (Mikel 46, 6), Lampard 6, Malouda 6, Drogba 8, Kalou 6.
36% POSSESSION 64%
5 SHOTS ON TARGET 5
6 SHOTS OFF TARGET 8
2 OFFSIDES 3
4 CORNERS 5
16 FOULS 22
3 YELLOW CARDS 5
1 RED CARDS 0
ATTENDANCE: 24,031
Man Of The Match: Drogba ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sun:
Reading 1 Chelsea 2 By SHAUN CUSTISAugust 16, 2007 IF you talk the talk by calling yourself the Special One you have to able to walk the walk. Jose Mourinho’s bold gamble to change tactics and use all his three subs by the start of the second half could have blown up in his face.
But it paid off spectacularly — turning disaster into triumph.
Petr Cech had opened the door to Reading with a howler as he missed his punch and gifted Andre Bikey a 30th- minute goal only 10 seconds after coming on. But Grand Master Mourinho produced check-mate at the break and got his normally reliable keeper off the hook.
With Glen Johnson already on for the injured Ricardo Carvalho, Mourinho introduced Claudio Pizarro and Mikel John Obi as well.
He also switched winger Shaun Wright-Phillips to right-back, went with four up front and won the game within five minutes of the re-start thanks to goals by captain Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.
It was a stroke of genius but Mourinho was honest enough to admit such moves do not always come off.
Two-and-a-half years ago in the FA Cup at Newcastle he put on three subs at half-time only for Wayne Bridge to get injured, reducing his team to 10 men and they were KO’d.
But if you don’t by a ticket you cannot win the raffle and Mourinho’s boldness has given Chelsea a four-point lead over champions Manchester United with only two games gone.
It is a crucial early lead in a campaign which is expected to be one of the most fiercely contested for years.
Yet up to half-time, Chelsea looked anything but title contenders. The bitter memories of last season’s clash at The Madejski — which saw Cech suffer a serious head injury in a collision with Stephen Hunt — seemed to have left the Blues with a collective hangover.
They struggled to get going and Reading old boy Steve Sidwell, given his full Chelsea debut, was overwhelmed in midfield.
The impressive Ivar Ingimarsson headed wide from six yards before the Royals took the lead after Bikey replaced the injured Michael Duberry.
Big defender Bikey ambled into the opposition penalty area for Nicky Shorey’s free-kick and could not believe his luck as Ingimarsson headed across, Cech flapped at fresh air and an empty net loomed.
The shellshocked Blues then lost Carvalho and were almost two down by the 33rd minute.
Kevin Doyle’s cross found John Oster and the winger’s volley rebounded back off the post. Chelsea were all over the place.
The Reading fans were enjoying the moment of glory chanting “Sidwell, Sidwell what’s the score.”
Cech, meanwhile, got the predictable “dodgy keeper” taunts every time the ball came near him. Mourinho, sat po-faced on the bench, not amused.
Drastic action was called for and the manager conjured up his tactical magic.
The result saw Pizarro flicking the ball on then Drogba followed suit and Lampard, anonymous in the first half, powered into the box.
He controlled the ball with his head, knocked it on and was too strong for England’s new full-back Shorey as he slid a shot under Marcus Hahnemann to register a 47th- minute equaliser.
The American keeper, hero of Reading’s hard-fought draw at Old Trafford last Sunday, was picking the ball out of the net again three minutes later.
This time Drogba was both creator and finisher.
Playing his first full game of the season having recovered from a knee injury, the Ivory Coast ace held the ball up the way he does best before feeding Salomon Kalou.
The youngster took a touch, played it back into the striker’s path and Drog smacked a curling 20-yard shot beyond the despairing Hahnemann.
Lampard and Drogba are absolute goal-machines. They bagged over 30 League goals between them last season and are off and running once more.
Chelsea fans were not slow to take the mickey. Now it was their turn to chant ‘Sidwell, Sidwell what’s the score.’
Highly amusing but it did not augur well for the Blues new signing that his withdrawal from the action prompted the Chelsea revival.
Kalifa Cisse’s dismissal for a second yellow, when he was late on Pizarro, meant there was no hope of a Reading comeback and Chelsea comfortably held on.
Nice to see Hunt and Cech exchanging a hug at the end — hopefully that is the end of the feud.
Reading boss Steve Coppell reckoned Pizarro milked the foul which saw Cisse dismissed and was disappointed his side did not make their first-half dominance count.
Mourinho showed by the way he punched the air at the end that this was a well won three points.
He said: “I know what I did was a big gamble but if one day it doesn’t work like that time at Newcastle you have to accept the criticism.
“But the worst thing in life is not to try. That’s what I tell my kids. If you fail, you fail, but you have to try.”
It has not been plain sailing by any means but Chelsea have that look about them of a couple of seasons ago when they could pull wins out of the fire when the heat was on.
So have they got United in a stranglehold already? “Give me a couple of months and we will see,” observed Mourinho.
He may be playing a straight-bat publicly — but Chelsea are on the front foot.

morning papers birmingham home

The TimesAugust 13, 2007
Mourinho unleashes his entertainersChelsea 3 Birmingham 2
Russell Kempson at Stamford Bridge
A brave new era dawned at Stamford Bridge yesterday. José Mourinho, tired of the constant sniping from the style police, unveiled his plan for entertainment instead of containment and the result was not only a Chelsea victory but also, more surprisingly, an all-action goalfest.
It was not quite thrill-a-minute — Mourinho could never be accused of throwing caution completely to the wind — and Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, was pictured gloomily resting his chin in his hands near the end. Yet if this is the way forward for Chelsea, with Mourinho’s midfield diamond abandoned in favour of marauding wingers and will-o’-the-wisp forwards, the chase for the Barclays Premier League title could take on a more vibrant tone this season. A less predictable Chelsea could prove an exceptionally dangerous Chelsea.
Praised afterwards for his fresh and attractive approach, the Chelsea manager introduced a note of caution. “It was too much, too much,” Mourinho said, laughing. Maybe his players had taken him too literally and will be advised to ease back on the pedal when they make the short trip to Reading on Wednesday night.
Whatever the instructions, it made for an absorbing spectacle. Birmingham City did their bit, too, showing little fear on their return from the Coca-Cola Championship and contributing significantly to the thrust and counter-thrust.
Colin Doyle, the Birmingham goalkeeper, played a role he would rather forget, conceding Chelsea’s first and third goals when stronger hands might have kept out the efforts of Claudio Pizarro and Michael Essien. Still, it all added to the colourful mix, a welcome change from some of the sterile offerings at the Bridge last season.
“I would have preferred it if we had scored five or six goals and won in a different way,” Mourinho said. “But we played great attacking football and Birmingham were good as well. They came with spirit, they came to play. They scored two and could have had three or four – we scored three and could have had six or seven. And the wingers produced incredible football.”
Those wingers held the key. Shaun Wright-Phillips, reborn after two in-and-out seasons, sped along the right flank and Florent Malouda, the £13.5 million buy from Lyons, did the same on the left. With Pizarro — on his debut, like Malouda — and Salomon Kalou flitting everywhere up front, the effect was mesmerising.
Not that Chelsea were perfect and nor will they be until John Terry, their captain and rock, returns to the heart of their defence. Had Terry been on hand in the fifteenth minute, Liam Ridgewell might not have been allowed to flick on Gary McSheffrey’s free kick or Mikael Forssell, the former Chelsea striker, given space to glance in a header.
Pizarro equalised three minutes later, with help from Doyle, while Malouda started and finished the move that led to Chelsea going ahead. The first half reached an explosive conclusion when Olivier Kapo almost burst the net with his equaliser.
“We gave it a go,” Steve Bruce, the Birmingham manager, said. “We were determined to do that. I was just disappointed at conceding some soft goals. You need your goalkeeper to be your best player when you come here but, unfortunately, Colin had one of those days.” Doyle erred again shortly after half-time, failing to palm away Essien’s drive, and Chelsea had chances to increase their winning margin.
For Mourinho, not only plaudits but also another record. It was Chelsea’s 64th successive league match at home without defeat, beating the sequence set by Bob Paisley’s Liverpool from February 1978 to December 1980. With Chelsea and FC Porto, his previous club, Mourinho has gone 96 home league games without defeat, although the Portuguese was getting a little ahead of himself when wrongly adding three to the figure in his programme notes.
Bring on the century? “I would love to arrive on 100,” Mourinho said. More to the point, bring on fancy football. Welcome to the new Pleasuredome of the Premier League. At this rate, Chelsea could get themselves a good reputation.
How they rated
Chelsea 4-1-3-2
P Cech 5 G Johnson 3 T Ben Haim 4 R Carvalho Y 5 A Cole 5 M Essien Y 7 S Wright-Phillips 8 F Lampard 6 F Malouda 8 C Pizarro 6 S Kalou 6
Substitutes D Drogba 6 (for Pizarro, 64min), J O Mikel 6 (Essien, 69), S Sidwell (Malouda, 82) Not used C Cudicini, J Cole
Birmingham 4-4-1-1
C Doyle 3 S Kelly 5 J Djourou 5 L Ridgewell 5 F Queudrue 3 S Larsson Y 6 F Muamba 5 M Nafti 6 G McSheffrey 6 O Kapo 7 M Forssell 6
Substitutes S Parnaby 4 (for Queudrue, 51min), C Jerome 5 (McSheffrey, 69), D de Ridder (Nafti, 75) Not used Maik Taylor, G O’Connor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Telegraph:
Jose Mourinho's Chelsea make history in styleBy Henry Winter at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea (2) 3 Birmingham (2) 2
Chelsea yesterday re-wrote the record books, and filled more than a few scrap-books with images and reports of scintillating football. How fitting that in a thrilling game that was a throwback to a more expressive era, Chelsea set a new league record of 64 games unbeaten, breaking the mark set between 1978 and 1981 by those fine Liverpool sides containing Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Alan Hansen.
"Everyone knows the record belonged to all those great Liverpool players,'' a delighted Jose Mourinho said afterwards. "Now it belongs to [John] Terry, [Frank] Lampard and [Eidur] Gudjohnsen, and all the guys who contributed. This was a very good way to celebrate.''
Now that's entertainment. Roman Abramovich has apparently been hoping for more style and Chelsea's owner cannot have been disappointed here. With Shaun Wright-Phillips, that high-speed spinning top, topping the bill, Mourinho's players put on a west London show that could have graced the West End.
Chelsea were terrific, switching between 4-4-2 and 4-2-4 with blue shirts swamping Birmingham at times. Claudio Pizarro struck an excellent first for Chelsea; the Peruvian's father was a naval officer, so taking responsibility at the Bridge clearly runs in the family. Florent Malouda and Michael Essien also found the mark and Chelsea could easily have had more.
"There was too much entertainment,'' Mourinho smiled. "We could have scored six or seven. The wingers produced incredible football, and the strikers played with great dynamic.''
Excitement levels were also heightened by the positive input of Steve Bruce's visitors. Mikael Forssell and the skilful Olivier Kapo both scored and troubled Chelsea throughout. "We looked a threat,'' Bruce said. "I have been here before and played 1-9-1 and it didn't work. If you sit back, Chelsea will eventually roll over you. We had a go.''
They certainly did, seizing the lead after 15 minutes. The Bridge afforded Forssell a good reception, and their old boy soon reminded them of his talent. When Liam Ridgewell helped on Gary McSheffrey's free-kick, Forssell flicked the ball past Petr Cech.
"Forssell is like signing a new player,'' said Bruce of a striker bedevilled by injuries. "To have a natural goalscorer will be invaluable for us.'' Commendably, the Finn refused to celebrate his goal out of respect to Chelsea fans.
Birmingham's own cheers soon died in their throats, as Chelsea came storming back with a magnificent move. Essien drilled the ball at the lively Wright-Phillips, who exchanged passes with Malouda. The England winger sped on and cut the ball back perfectly for Pizarro, who scored from 12 yards. Colin Doyle was rooted to his line, and failed to keep the ball out.
The entertainment was really only just beginning. Just after the half-hour, Chelsea took the lead with another quickfire attack. Malouda found Lampard, who dragged the ball towards Salomon Kalou. He teased the ball into the box for Malouda, who had continued his run to score with a firm strike past the exposed Doyle.
The switchback fortunes continued, now highlighting exactly why Chelsea are pursuing Sevilla's right-back, Daniel Alves. Glen Johnson was caught out on several occasions, most damagingly after 36 minutes by Kapo, who manoeuvred the ball around the Chelsea defender before firing an unstoppable left-footed shot past Cech.
"Kapo gave a terrific performance,'' enthused Bruce of the recruit from Juventus who was on loan at Levante last season. "I saw him play four years ago for Auxerre against Arsenal and he was brilliant. He got his big-money move to Juventus, but it didn't work out. He's only 26. He's a natural footballer and will enhance the Premier League.''
This match certainly did, Chelsea regaining the lead after 50 minutes. Malouda, Lampard and Wright-Phillips were involved before Essien bent in a 20-yarder that Doyle should really have stopped. "When you come to Chelsea you need your goalkeeper to be your best player but he's had one of those days,'' Bruce said. "But he was instrumental in us being in the Premier League so he deserved to be in the team.''
Victory still came at a cost to Chelsea as Essien limped away with what Mourinho described as "knee ligament pain''. At least Mourinho promised that Claude Makelele and Paulo Ferreira would return to training today. After one record yesterday, Chelsea's coach now sets his sight on a personal landmark, reaching 100 games unbeaten at home by avoiding a reverse against Portsmouth on Aug 25. "I'm on 99 and I hope Harry Redknapp doesn't kill my record because I would love to reach 100,'' said Mourinho, who last experienced defeat at home in 2002 when his Porto side lost to Beira Mar.
www.telegraph.co.uk/winter
Match details
Chelsea: Cech, Johnson, Carvalho, Ben Haim, Ashley Cole, Wright-Phillips, Essien (Mikel 69), Lampard, Malouda (Sidwell 83), Kalou, Pizarro (Drogba 64). Subs: Cudicini, Joe Cole. Booked: Essien, Carvalho. Goals: Pizarro 17, Malouda 31, Essien 50. Birmingham: Doyle, Kelly, Djourou, Ridgewell, Queudrue (Parnaby 51), Larsson, Muamba, Nafti (De Ridder 75), McSheffrey (Jerome 69), Kapo, Forssell. Subs: Maik Taylor, O'Connor.Booked: Larsson. Goals: Forssell 15, Kapo 36. Ref: Steve Bennett (Kent).
Man of the Match: Michael Essien (Chelsea) 9 (Scored a superb winner , 81 per cent of his passes accurate, 25 per cent of Chelsea's shots on target) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Indy:
Chelsea 3, Birmingham City 2: Chelsea charm offensive is up and running By Sam Wallace The new Chelsea marketing campaign around Stamford Bridge declares that loyalty to the club is "in the blood" and pictures the players with their veins glowing electric blue. Jose Mourinho's team may well have something unique in their DNA but, when it came to football that quickened the pulse last season, there was greater entertainment to be found elsewhere.
That could be changing. Mourinho spent the summer promising daring raids from the wing and football on the break; against Birmingham City, he traded five goals and a few defensive errors with newcomers from the Championship. This was not Mourinho football as we know it but, for an unusually noisy Stamford Bridge, it was a welcome change from the occasionally charmless progress of the big blue machine.
There were impressive debuts from Claudio Pizarro and Florent Malouda, who both scored, as well as the eye-catching Olivier Kapo for Birmingham. But it was Shaun Wright-Phillips and Salomon Kalou, two free spirits hitherto restrained by Mourinho's tactical rigour, who at last stood out in a team committed to attack.
It is early days yet for Wright-Phillips, who has waited two years for a game like this, but he was crucial to two goals, including Michael Essien's winner on 50 minutes. "Shaun started very well this pre-season," Mourinho said, "and the players know I am honest: I choose the players who deserve to play. The first season coming from a club without ambition is always hard; last season he improved."
Those two years have cost Wright-Phillips a place in England's World Cup squad and just about all the credibility he accumulated at Manchester City – a price most would find hard to bear. But in Kalou and Malouda he found kindred spirits yesterday; the Frenchman looks an immediate crowd favourite: brave, direct and fast.
So too Kapo, 26, a £3m signing from Juventus who has spent two years on loan at Monaco and cracked a thunderous shot past Petr Cech for Birmingham's second goal. It is a measure of the wealth of the Premier League that newly promoted teams are signing Juventus' cast-offs, and this one, Steve Bruce said, was "arguably the best player on the pitch".
Only four sides scored two goals at Stamford Bridge last season, across all domestic competitions, and Birmingham achieved that in the first half. Atrocious marking from Tal Ben Haim allowed Mikael Forssell the chance to nod in Liam Ridgewell's flick from Gary McSheffrey's free-kick – a goal that the former Chelsea striker graciously refused to celebrate.
At stake was Chelsea's run of home league games unbeaten which, with yesterday's result, is now 64 and surpasses Liverpool's record. Mourinho said that he was going to go home "to think about" all the players, past and present, who had helped achieve it. Presumably, he will not be thinking too much about Claudio Ranieri, the predecessor with whom he had an uneasy relationship, who contributed six of those games at the end of his reign.
Mourinho has his own record to think about – he now stands on 99 home league games undefeated as a manager with Porto and Chelsea, although this is a statistic that is yet to be verified independently. It would be a brave man who would challenge him on it and a very unlucky player who found himself responsible for defeat at home to Portsmouth on 25 August.
Within two minutes of Birmingham's goal, Wright-Phillips exchanged passes with Malouda to square the ball for Pizarro to score. The ball dribbled into Colin Doyle's goal rather too easily and the Irish goalkeeper also found himself at fault for Essien's winner. There was not much he could do about Chelsea's second, in which Malouda started a move that involved Frank Lampard and Kalou before he was returned the ball to flick past Doyle.
This was a glimpse of how Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, must have imagined his team playing before Mourinho introduced him to the mundane realities of winning titles. The Russian is back in love with Chelsea, it seems, and he left the stadium with Avram Grant – another indication of how close the new director of football is to the club's power base.
Just when Chelsea looked set to destroy Birmingham, Kapo dragged the visitors back into it, shuffling past Glen Johnson and smashing the ball past Cech for 2-2. It was a glorious finish and it did nothing to further Johnson's case that this second chance at Chelsea will be permanent. Daniel Alves' attacking ability would add another devastating aspect to this team, provided he can defend as well.
The winner from Essien was not struck as savagely as his goal against Arsenal last December, and Doyle allowed it go through his hands. As for the entertainment value, it was, in Mourinho's words, "too much". Those who have sat through some of the more forgettable games of the last three years would disagree.
Goals: Forssell (15) 0-1; Pizarro (17) 1-1; Malouda (30) 2-1; Kapo (36) 2-2; Essien (50) 3-2.
Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech; Johnson, Carvalho, Ben Haim, A Cole; Wright-Phillips, Essien (Mikel, 69), Lampard, Malouda (Sidwell, 82); Kalou, Pizarro (Drogba, 51). Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), J Cole.
Birmingham City (4-4-1-1): Doyle; Kelly, Ridgewell, Djourou, Queudrue (Parnaby, 51); Larsson, Nafti (De Ridder, 75), Muamba, McSheffrey (Jerome, 69); Kapo; Forssell. Substitutes not used: Taylor (gk), O'Connor.
Referee: S Bennett (Kent).
Booked: Chelsea Carvalho; Birmingham Larsson.
Man of the match: Wright-Phillips
Attendance: 41,590.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Guardian:
New, carefree Chelsea enjoy living on the edge
Kevin McCarra at Stamford BridgeMonday August 13, 2007
It was a little harder than expected to tell the Blues from the Blues. Inside the last 10 minutes Tal Ben Haim was hoofing the ball over his own crossbar to avert a Birmingham City equaliser and such harum-scarum moments did not go down well with every Stamford Bridge regular. The television producers were soon cutting to the pensive countenance of the owner Roman Abramovich, who had his hands pressed to his face.
He was getting a first meaningful look at the consequences of his new manifesto of exuberance for Chelsea. With two wingers and a pair of strikers the side made space for itself at the price of allowing scope for the visitors. While the victory was deserved, Birmingham must have left London wondering what might have been had their goalkeeper Colin Doyle not been culpable when Claudio Pizarro and then Michael Essien scored.The free and easy approach does have benefits for Chelsea none the less. It might have had something to do with the transformation of Shaun Wright-Phillips. Never before has he been so eager and, simultaneously, poised in this jersey. As with any winger the level of his confidence can be seen in the quality of the crossing. After Birmingham had hit the opener, it was his exact cut-back that set up Pizarro's equaliser.
Franck Queudrue was helpless before him and had to be replaced as Steve Bruce switched Stephen Kelly to left-back. The distress in such matters was not, however, confined to Birmingham. Glen Johnson had as miserable a time for Chelsea. Nothing appears to have altered since he was an exciting youngster at West Ham who had still to learn how to defend.
The need to have Paulo Ferreira fit again can only have been topped in Jose Mourinho's wish list by the yearning to see John Terry return soon from his knee injury. The back four is not so organised without him, even if the signing of Ben Haim and Alex means that the squad has strength in depth at centre-half.
Birmingham took the lead after a quarter of an hour by winning two headers from a Gary McSheffrey free-kick, the debutant and captain for the day Liam Ridgewell helping the ball on before Mikael Forssell nodded beyond Petr Cech. The scorer has been besieged by injury since he left Chelsea but he played with freedom here despite being a lone striker.
The pickings came more easily for the person currently turning out at centre- forward in the Stamford Bridge line-up. With 18 minutes gone, Essien swept an imperious pass to the right and Wright-Phillips exchanged passes with Florent Malouda before locating Pizarro. The Peruvian's low finish was not kept out by the palms of Doyle.
There was sustenance in this for the fans' hope that Chelsea now have an appropriately ample squad. With Andriy Shevchenko absent and Didier Drogba not introduced until the 64th minute, the team was still suitably staffed in the middle of the attack, where Salomon Kalou is continuing to improve.
The latter was the key to the goal that put Chelsea ahead after 31 minutes. Once a Malouda through-ball had been helped on by Frank Lampard it was Kalou who slipped the pass that let Malouda re-enter the move by scoring. He had already found the net in the Community Shield against Manchester United and the Frenchman's transition to Chelsea has been instantaneous.
It could be called effortless, but that is scarcely the correct adjective for a winger who pours so much endeavour and ability into his displays. At £13.5m, the purchase is looking inspired. Even so, there was meagre opportunity for anyone at Chelsea to bask in self-satisfaction.
Olivier Kapo could keep a lot of opponents on their toes this campaign. Birmingham's acquisition from Juventus had been on loan to Levante, suggesting a career deflected from its proper course, but he was not diverted here. Coming in from the left, he got the break of the ball as he ran at Johnson and unleashed a savage shot beyond Cech in the 36th minute.
The openings were more numerous for Chelsea, but Bruce will have misgivings about the winner. Wright-Phillips pulled the ball back after 50 minutes, but although Essien's drive was powerful it also had a trajectory beneficial to a goalkeeper. Doyle, celebrating his 22nd birthday and widely appreciated as possessing great potential, should have done better than to help it home.
If it is any consolation to the Irishman, Chelsea oozed creativity, merited the win and might have enjoyed a greater margin. There was festiveness about them as they set a new league record of 64 unbeaten home matches in the top flight. While Mourinho took no coaxing to comment on that achievement, such records are not the sort to satisfy him.
Wednesday's trip to Reading intrigues since it will show just how much risk-taking Mourinho deems appropriate in a tricky away fixture as he plots to reclaim the Premier League title for Chelsea.
Man of the match Shaun Wright-Phillips
The Chelsea winger can always be counted on for vitality but there was a judiciousness here that has seldom been associated with him
Best Moment The low cross with which he set up Pizarro's goal in the 18th minute--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mail:
A false start - Mourinho's blue crew eclipse the Red legends
Chelsea 3 Birmingham 2
By NEIL ASHTON
The Premier League remains the long-term objective but Jose Mourinho was in the mood for reminiscing after Chelsea eclipsed Liverpool's run of 63 League matches unbeaten at home.
That landmark, which had stood since Bob Paisley's legendary side swept all before them in the late Seventies, was passed when Claudio Pizarro, Florent Malouda and Michael Essien etched their names into the history books with the goals that secured Chelsea's opening victory of the season.
The last time Chelsea's supporters traipsed home from the Bridge and kicked the cat was in February 2004, when Arsenal celebrated a 2-1 victory over their London rivals. They have led a charmed life ever since.
Class acts such as Gianfranco Zola, Marcel Desailly and Eidur Gudjohnsen were still at the club when this exceptional run began under Claudio Ranieri but Mourinho must take the credit for protecting it over the past three seasons.
Birmingham arrived with their tails up after winning promotion but Chelsea seem impregnable at Stamford Bridge.
"The record is more for Chelsea than for me," claimed Mourinho. Everyone knows that it was held by Liverpool and some top, top players — Hansen, Neal and Dalglish.
"Now this moment belongs to John Terry and Frank Lampard and some of the others who have played their part in it such as Gudjohnsen, Geremi and Duff.
"I am pleased because this also brings me to 99 games unbeaten at home in the league [including Porto] and if my friend Harry Redknapp does not wreck it I will achieve 100 against Portsmouth."
Despite Birmingham's refreshing approach, Chelsea were always capable of creating chances. With Shaun Wright-Phillips on one flank and Florent Malouda on the other, this is a team that can attack at will.
That pairing were relentless whenever they were in possession and they showed their teeth after Mikael Forssell's deflected effort in the 15th minute had beaten the unsighted Petr Cech to give Birmingham the lead.
Within two minutes Chelsea were level. Wright-Phillips' wall pass with Malouda was adroitly steered back into his path and Pizarro, who was signed on a free transfer from Bayern Munich, swept the ball beyond Colin Doyle.
The young Birmingham goalkeeper, capped by the Republic of Ireland in the summer, took Maik Taylor's place in the promotion run-in but Steve Bruce already has a decision to make when they face Sunderland in midweek.
Doyle allowed Pizarro's shot to bounce under his body and he was again at fault when he failed to turn Essien's long-range shot over the bar in the second half.
Bruce said: "Of course, he is disappointed because you need your goalkeeper to be your best player when you come to places like Chelsea. But he is the reason we are in the Premiership. He saved a penalty against Wolves last season that helped us get promoted but we gave away two soft goals. It's a shame because we came to attack and that's what we did.
"It's great to be back in the Premiership — even the smell of the hot dogs is great — and I was up at 6.30am with all the usual nerves that you get on the first day of the season.
"Chelsea's record underlines what a good side they are but I saw enough from my team to suggest we can give this a real go."
There was little Birmingham could do about Malouda's strike in the 31st minute. The France winger began and ended the move that involved a clever backheel by Lampard and a neat flick on the edge of the area by the rapidly improving Salomon Kalou.
Malouda dispatched it with a crisp half-volley but Birmingham refused to throw in the towel. Bruce has laced his side with brutes — Johan Djourou, Fabrice Muamba and Olivier Kapo are all man mountains — but they can also play a bit and it was Kapo's brilliance that brought them back into the game.
Glen Johnson, who spent last season on loan at Portsmouth, was given another chance at right back but if this performance was a measure of his progress then Dani Alves' phone will be in meltdown this morning.
Johnson was left floundering by Kapo's trickery inside the area and there was nothing Petr Cech could do to prevent the former Juventus midfielder's left-footed strike heading for the top corner.
That goal gave Birmingham's vocal supporters hope that they could escape with a point but Essien's 50th-minute strike restored order.
The Ghanaian eventually made way for Mikel John Obi, with a knee injury that could rule him out of Wednesday's trip to Reading, but there is no doubting his class.
Mourinho added: "I like the way Birmingham played because they wanted to attack. It is normal for teams who come up from the Championship to attack and they could have scored three or four. I would have been able to breathe a bit better if we had won 4-2 but I told the players at half-time that we could not be playing much better. The day does not belong to me."
After three years as the centre of attention, that certainly makes a change. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mirror:
NO PLACE LIKE HOME Chelsea 3 Birmingham 2 ..and Blues go 64 games unbeaten at Bridge Chelsea wide boys finally beat Liverpool's 27-year record Oliver Holt
The sign on the giant scoreboard at Stamford Bridge suggested a cricket score.
It read 64 Not Out after the final whistle blew on yet another home league match negotiated without defeat.
It would have been good enough to make Chelsea top scorer in England's first innings down the road at The Oval.
tAnd it took Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, Michael Essien and the absent colossus John Terry beyond the great Liverpool side of the late 1970s and into the history books.
Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Mark Lawrenson, Alan Hansen and Co went 63 league games at Anfield without a loss. Now Chelsea have gone one better.
It was as good a way as any for Jose Mourinho's side to mark the opening day of their new season and their attempt to regain the title.
And even though their 3-2 win over newly-promoted Birmingham was not as authoritative as they might have wished, it held out the prospect of a dashing duel with Manchester United for the Premier League crown.
Last season, Chelsea were often damned as the dull boys plodding in the wake of Sir Alex Ferguson's dynamic, swashbuckling band of entertainers.
But yesterday Shaun Wright-Phillips and Florent Malouda ripped Birmingham to shreds down the flanks and recalled the days when Arjen Robben and Damien Duff twisted opponents out of shape.
Chelsea also looked immeasurably more comfortable without the jarring presence of Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack. They missed them, sure, but only in the way a healthy complexion misses a couple of yellow-headed zits.
Without them, they looked almost back to their fluent best going forward, happy to feed the pace of Wright-Phillips and the cunning of Malouda and let Salomon Kalou and Claudio Pizarro take advantage of the havoc they caused.
In central midfield, too, it was a joy to see Lampard and Essien paired together without the need to contort the formation to accommodate Ballack.
In the first half in particular, Lampard produced the kind of sweet touches, clever passes and surging runs that have made him such a cornerstone of Chelsea's invincibility at the Bridge.
And the sight of Essien alongside him was a reminder of what Chelsea were lacking there last season when they were forced to use him as emergency cover in defence.
The surprise was that Wright-Phillips was the pick of the bunch. A surprise because he has so often been a disappointment since his move from Manchester City two summers ago.
Yesterday, once more, he looked like the flying winger who destroyed opponents with his pace but could also pick them apart with a clever final ball. He nearly scored after a quarter of an hour when he won the ball midway inside the Birmingham half, took a return from Pizarro and scorched a shot across goal and just wide. Two minutes after Chelsea old boy Mikael Forssell put Birmingham ahead, Wright-Phillips helped Chelsea draw level, racing to the byline and pulling back a cross that Pizarro slotted under Colin Doyle.
And after Malouda had started and finished the move for Chelsea's second and Olivier Kapo had scored the goal of the game to bring Birmingham an equaliser, Wright-Phillips popped up again five minutes after the interval to provide Chelsea's winner.
It was only a simple pass, a short lay back to Essien who curled in another shot that Doyle should have saved but didn't. But in the last two years, it's been the simple things that seemed to be beyond Wright-Phillips, a man who was trying too hard but now appears to be feeling right at home.
"To be quick is one thing," former Chelsea boss Ruud Gullit said on TV after the match, "but to be in control of the ball as well is much more difficult. I watched Wright-Phillips today and I thought 'hey, you've improved'."
The same thought applied to Chelsea as a whole. They still sorely missed Terry at the heart of defence but at least Tal Ban Haim is there as cover and Alex will soon provide further reinforcement. Glen Johnson looked like a weak link at right-back but, still, being exposed by Kapo has got to beat eyeing up toilet seats in Ikea or wherever it was that Johnson chose to get creative in his Portsmouth days.
After the game, Mourinho paid tribute to the players, past and present, who had helped Chelsea to their record-breaking total.
He talked about Eidur Gudjohnsen, Geremi and Duff as well as survivors like Lampard and Terry. He sounded almost wistful. That was why the performance of Wright-Phillips was particularly timely.
On a day that bracketed them with a great Liverpool side, the little winger transported them back to a time when they were kings.
A few minutes from the end, Mourinho even climbed off the bench, bottle in hand, and ran to the touchline to give Wright-Phillips a drink of water.
It was as clear sign of approval and appreciation.
His team might have just turned 64, but it's looking young again.
CHELSEA BIRMINGHAM CITY
58% POSSESSION 42%
8 SHOTS ON TARGET 4
12 SHOTS OFF TARGET 3
4 OFFSIDES 0
5 CORNERS 3
9 FOULS 13
2 YELLOW CARDS 1
0 RED CARDS 0
ATTENDANCE: 41,590
Man Of The Match: W-Phillips
TEAMS AND RATINGS
Chelsea: Cech 7, Johnson 5, Carvalho 6, Ben Haim 7, Ashley Cole 7, Wright-Phillips 9, Essien 7 (Mikel 69, 6), Lampard 8, Malouda 8 (Sidwell 83, 6), Kalou 7, Pizarro 6 (Drogba 64, 6).
Birmingham: Doyle 4, Kelly 6, Djourou 6, Ridgewell 7, Queudrue 6 (Parnaby 51, 6), Larsson 7, Muamba 5, Nafti 6 (De Ridder 75, 5), McSheffrey 7 (Jerome 69, 6), Kapo 8, Forssell 7. Ref: S Bennett