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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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------