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The Sunday TimesDecember 9, 2007
Andriy Shevchenko strikes formChelsea 2 Sunderland 0
Brian Glanville at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea, deprived of Didier Drogba, beat a passive Sunderland team without panache or excessive difficulty.
This was a game that posed three cogent questions. First, how would Chelsea fare without Drogba? Second, would Sunderland be inhibited rather than inspired by their demanding manager, Roy Keane? Third, how would Andriy Shevchenko perform, now that he has been dragged from outer darkness to take Drogba’s place up front, all alone, when it was widely expected the role would go to the Peru international, Claudio Pizarro?
So far as Drogba was concerned, there was a surprise shortly before kick-off when it was announced that the powerful and arguably irreplaceable Ivory Coast centre-forward had undergone a knee operation.
One way or another, Chelsea knew they were doomed to lose a player hugely important to their success with the Africa Cup of Nations looming in the new year. Drogba’s fitness for that tournament is now in doubt.
Chelsea were also without Michael Essien yesterday, but he seems sure to go to the African tournament to play for Ghana. At Villa Park, Harry Redknapp faces a similar problem. Players such as Sulley Muntari, so prominent in yesterday’s game and a goalscorer to boot, will also be playing for Ghana.
As for Roy Keane, you wondered when he was appointed manager of Sunderland whether his fierce perfectionism, the demands he makes not only on himself but on the rest of his team, could have a negative effect on players, few of whom could ever hope to reach his heights of ability. Last season things worked out well enough for Sunderland who were promoted to the Premier League. Lately, however, not least when they crashed 7-1 at Everton, there have been voices that the Sunderland players have indeed been somewhat overwhelmed by Keane’s forceful personality.
Shevchenko was bought by Chelsea for £30m from Milan but the mountain of cash has produced a mere molehill of performance. He has not been playing regulalry and there have been indications that he may even end next season in Major League Soccer in America.
Yesterday it seemed to demand a great deal from Shevchenko to leave him as the sole spearhead, but from the beginning he looked active and effective. The game had scarcely begun when he sent a neat pass to Salomon Kalou to spark a movement that forced Sunderland’s reserve keeper, Darren Ward, to somewhat nervously punch the ball out. Ward is displacing the Scotland international keeper, Craig Gordon, who cost a cool £9m, but seems to be suffering from a crisis of confidence.
After six minutes, Kalou headed solidly against the bar from Joe Cole’s corner. But on 23 minutes, it was Kalou who would send over the left-wing cross that Shevchenko converted with a powerful header.
Sunderland eventually had a shot on goal in the 33rd minute, coming from their towering lone striker Kenwyne Jones with a low, left-footed shot onto which Carlo Cudicini threw himself.
But Chelsea were comfortably in command. Their manager, Avram Grant, deployed the England international right-winger Shaun Wright-Phillips as an inside-right. Quite what Steve Sidwell, starting on the bench, thought of that, one can only guess. A key figure last season in the Reading central midfield, he chose to move to Chelsea in the summer on a free transfer. Reading plainly miss him, Chelsea seldom use him. No doubt the move has been lucrative for him, but there are other satisfactions even now in football.
Early in the second half, when the ball seemed to be running out of play on the Chelsea left, Shevchenko, with a dynamic burst, retrieved it, went past his man and sent in a cross that could well have brought a goal.
It was a long time before we would see any more drama at either end. On 75 minutes however, Chelsea would score a soft second. Frank Lampard’s free kick from the left provoked what referee Peter Walton deemed a foul in the box by Danny Higginbotham pulling Alex’s shirt. A penalty was given and Lampard, who by and large on this wet afternoon played what you might call a senatorial role, deep in midfield, when he might have been expected to advance more often, put away the spot-kick with no difficulty.
Sunderland’s cup was well and truly full when Liam Miller, after a challenge by Pizarro, stupidly pushed him in the face and was consequently sent off.
It was a comfortable but inglorious victory for Chelsea, yet Drogba will surely be seriously missed.
Player ratings
Chelsea: Cudicini 6, Belletti 6, Alex 6, Terry 7, A Cole 7, J Cole 7 (Sidwell 85min), Wright-Phillips 6, Lampard 6, Mikel 6, Kalou 6 (Pizarro 66min), Shevchenko 7 Star man: J Cole (Chelsea)
Sunderland: Ward 6, Halford 6, McShane 6, Higginbotham 6, Collins 6, Miller 6, Etuhu 6, Leadbitter 6 (Stokes 70min), Whitehead 6, Wallace 6, Jones 6 (Murphy 67min)
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Andrei Shevchenko's nous enough for ChelseaBy Duncan White at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 0
Rattled by the news of Didier Drogba's knee operation, Chelsea's support can hardly have been emboldened by the sight of the faded talents of Andrei Shevchenko taking to the field. Yet the Ukrainian, the one-time scourge of the meanest defenders in Serie A, showed that while the legs may not work like they used to, the goal instinct has not quite been extinguished.
With 23 minutes gone, and Sunderland barely showing the ambition to get out of their own half, Shevchenko gave outlet to Chelsea's building pressure. Salomon Kalou befuddled the hapless Greg Halford before crossing left-footed to the far post. Shevchenko had found space and dived to head expertly past Darren Ward. "This has been his job since he was a little child," Avram Grant said. "He knows how to do it. Shevchenko is a good striker - a great striker. He knows how to score goals and is intelligent. I think Sheva has scored five or six this year. Last year he scored 14 and everyone was disappointed."
Well, he has scored four, but near enough. Still, replacing Drogba will take more than one neat finish, and while Grant believes it is "important" for Shevchenko to step up in Drogba's absence, it will prove far more difficult against more trying opposition.
Scoring goals might not come easily if Drogba does not return until late February; conceding them should not be a problem, however. John Terry and Alex were masterful yesterday, and with Petr Cech on the cusp of return it will take serious adventure to get in behind a team who are now 15 games unbeaten.
While the scoreline remained respectable, this was never really a competitive fixture. Chelsea swamped their opponents, dominating possession and restricting Roy Keane's side to the tamest of efforts at goal.
Chelsea buried Sunderland under lashings of early corners, with Kalou heading a Joe Cole outswinger onto the crossbar with just five minutes gone. Dean Whitehead bundled into the back of Shaun Wright-Phillips in the area minutes later and was lucky to get away with it.
Still, after Shevchenko had opened the scoring, Chelsea relented and did not score again until Frank Lampard converted a penalty 15 minutes from time. Alex had his shirt tugged by Danny Higginbotham as he tried to reach Lampard's free-kick and referee Peter Walton was decisive.
Keane said he had not seen the infringement but he certainly was unhappy about the circumstances surrounding Liam Miller's late red card. Miller challenged Terry and was confronted by Claudio Pizarro in the aftermath, only for the Irish midfielder to foolishly push the Chelsea substitute in the face.
"I'm not happy about the way Terry and Pizarro made a big issue out of it," Keane said. "It was a foul, yes, but there was no nastiness in it. It is in the last minute of the game. Of course, if you raise your hands there is no option but I felt the ref could have stepped in five seconds earlier. The reaction from Terry and Pizarro disappoints me."
While Sunderland fought hard, only Lampard's late shot against the post threatened to take the score beyond the bounds of the respectable. They will also be recruiting in January, to try to haul themselves out of the relegation mire. "This is the toughest league in the world," Keane said, "perhaps not technically, but physically and mentally it is so demanding. We certainly need to strengthen the squad. I've said that about nine million times this season."
Match summaryMoment of the match: He might not have had many moments to savour at Stamford Bridge but when Shevchenko leapt acrobatically to dive and head in Salomon Kalou¹s fine left-footed cross, he must have thought things were finally going his way. In the absence of Didier Drogba, Chelsea will need many more moments like that over the coming weeks. Rating: 6/10
This was routine stuff for Chelsea as a limited Sunderland side struggled to mount the merest threat to the hosts. Chelsea have gone 71 games unbeaten at Stamford Bridge and when Andriy Shevchenko headed in after 23 minutes that never looked like changing. Frank Lampard¹s penalty with 15 minutes to go finished things off.
Man of the matchFrank Lampard (Chelsea)
• One goal• Three shots• 71 passes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Shevchenko rewarded for Chelsea's hard shift
Stuart BarnesSunday December 9, 2007The Observer
Andriy Shevchenko would be the first to admit that his time at Chelsea has been a big disappointment, falling far short of what he hoped for and what the club expected in return for a £30million transfer fee. Appearances have been sporadic, match-winning performances even less so. But for once he has delivered, and now has the chance to play a significant role in his team's season.Didier Drogba, the player who has overshadowed him, has undergone an operation on his knee. Manager Avram Grant says the extent of Drogba's lay-off will become clear 'in the next two or three days'. But the likelihood is that he will miss several games. That leaves Shevchenko the opportunity to lead the attack, and if he can reproduce the performance that went a long way to winning this match, then Chelsea's bid for domestic honours could survive the absence of their leading scorer.
The Ukrainian delivered the breakthrough with a diving header and throughout showed some of the technique and touches so conspicuous by their absence at Chelsea so far. 'I wouldn't mind him in my team,' said Roy Keane after overworked Sunderland stayed in touch until Frank Lampard's second from the penalty spot.'It is not easy to play without so many key players,' said Grant, who had to contend with injuries all season, before the loss of Drogba, who wanted the trouble cleared up in time for the African Cup of Nations.
'Shevchenko came in and did well for us. It was not easy against a side defending so well, but we dominated the game, moved the ball well and showed patience.'
Keane took a philosophical view of the penalty, conceded for shirt-pulling, and the late sending-off of Liam Miller for pushing Claudio Pizarro in the face after the substitute and John Terry had reacted to a Miller tackle.
'When the ball comes into the box like that there is every chance of the decision going for the home team,' he said. 'The penalty killed the game for us. At 1-0 you are always in with a chance.
'Raising your hands doesn't give the referee much choice. I just felt it could have been avoided if he had acted five or six seconds earlier before Terry and Pizarro got involved.
'We were a lot more solid than in the last away game, although that was probably not hard. I'm not sure Chelsea got out of second gear, but we know that anything we achieve against the top sides is a bonus. It's how we do against the others that matters.'
Keane, who dropped his £9m record goalkeeper Craig Gordon after the 7-1 drubbing at Everton, persisted here with Darren Ward and was grateful for the fact that Ward stood up well to the barrage of pressure that Chelsea mounted from the start.
Ward made two authoritative punched clearances as Shevchenko instigated early attacks that brought three corners in quick succession. From the third, delivered by Joe Cole, Salomon Kalou rose above defenders to send a header crashing against the face of the crossbar.
The pressure, however, had to tell and with 23 minutes gone the ball was worked out wide to the left for Kalou to cross and Shevchenko to connect with a diving header for his second goal of the season. Soon after, a 25-yard angled volley from Juliano Belletti thudded into the chest of Ward, who did well to hold on to it.
At last there was work for Chelsea's Carlo Cudicini, who smothered a low shot from Kenwyne Jones, who had engineered himself a position on the edge of the penalty box. It was an isolated Sunderland threat.
Shevchenko got on the end of another Kalou cross. This time the position was difficult and the pressure from defenders considerable, and he had to be satisfied with a corner after his header was deflected behind. When Ward failed to clear Belletti's cross, Shevchenko was in the thick of it again, hooking a volley wide.
Increasingly heavy rain meant that the ball was beginning to hold up on the sodden surface. This, together with Sunderland coming forward with more ambition, threatened to frustrate their opponents further.
Instead, Peter Walton ruled that Alex had his shirt pulled by Danny Higginbotham as Lampard played the ball in, and Lampard struck the spot-kick with his customary confidence.
The goal took the wind out of Sunderland's sails and they were reduced to 10 men near the end when the red mist descended on Miller.
There was still some action to come, and Lampard almost added a third for Chelsea in stoppage time, but his shot hit the post.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mail:
'New' Chelsea sneak back into title race without their star Drogba
By IAN RIDLEY
And so comes the hard part for Chelsea. Without fuss,and without even much attention on them — for a change — they are hauling themselves back into the title race.
Now they have to sustain it without Didier Drogba. Drogba, so often their focal point, had an operation yesterday morning on a persistent knee injury and is likely to be sidelined for up to five weeks as Chelsea enter the crucial Christmas period that can make or break seasons. After that, the Ivory Coast striker is due to be away at the African Cup of Nations, possibly until almost mid-February.
In his absence, Andriy Shevchenko seized a rare chance to start and grabbed the goal that set them on their way to another efficient but hardly exciting victory over a toothless Sunderland, who had Liam Miller sent off late on. Frank Lampard's penalty confirmed the win that take Chelsea to within three points of the summit ahead of Arsenal's game at Middlesbrough.
It also stretched Chelsea's unbeaten run since Avram Grant's quiet management replaced Jose Mourinho's chattering talents to 15 games and their home League record — dating back to Claudio Ranieri — to 71 games without defeat. Retaining such a lofty position through more demanding challenges without Drogba will be an interesting test of Grant and Chelsea, however.
"In the last three months we have played without Petr Cech, John Terry and Frank Lampard, Ricardo Carvalho for certain periods but we have played well and look like a team," said the Israeli manager.
"It won't be easy to play without Drogba but I didn't come to this club for an easy life. Shevchenko is a great striker and I am happy that he played well and scored a goal. Claudio Pizarro is also doing well in training and we have Salomon Kalou, so that's three strikers."
In what may well be a difference of opinion within the club, Grant had clearly hoped to have Drogba available for next Sunday's game Arsenal but instead the fiercelyproud Ivory Coast captain chose to bring forward his surgery to be available for the African tournament, which starts on January 20.
Not that Chelsea needed him yesterday. Quite apart from Drogba, they were still without a host of first-choice players whom they hope will be closer to fitness for next Sunday — Cech, Carvalho and Florent Malouda — but still had more than enough to see off Sunderland, who looked overawed and even grateful to have avoided the seven-goal thrashing they suffered at Everton recently.
"The penalty killed the game for us," said Sunderland manager Roy Keane. "At 1-0 you are always in with a chance but when you come to Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool and there is a coming together in the box, it usually goes to the home side."
The boot is certainly on the other foot these days for the former Manchester United captain.
It always looked likely to be one of those routine days at Stamford Bridge. Intent was sounded when Kalou thumped a header from Joe Cole's corner against the crossbar and the inevitable goal arrived with the game nearly a quarter old. The impressive Juliano Belletti delivered a raking crossfield ball from the right-back position that found Kalou and from his chipped cross, Shevchenko stretched to head home only his second League goal of the season.
It was damage-limitation for Sunderland after that. Dickson Etuhu — a big miss for them, too, when he goes to the African Nations with Nigeria — worked manfully in midfield and there was defiance, if little by way of creativity.
In the first half, Kenwyne Jones did force Carlo Cudicini into a low save with a long shot, while Greg Halford also shot straight into the keeper's arms in the second. But they were isolated attempts. Otherwise, it developed into a predictable probing by Chelsea.
The game-sealing goal arrived in the 75th minute when Lampard swung in a free-kick and Danny Higginbotham was judged to have pulled back Alex. Lampard converted the penalty and almost claimed another with a shot that hit the post soon after.
As the game drifted, unnecessary enlivenment came when, after Miller's tackle on Terry had prompted an angry reaction, Miller responded to a sly nudge by Pizarro with a push right under referee Peter Walton's nose."Once you raise your hands, you don't give a choice to referees," said Keane. "It seems you're not allowed to tackle the England captain and I thought they made too much of a fuss of it." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------