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Chelsea boss Avram's on a roll as Pizarro nips in
Birmingham 0 Chelsea 1
By DANIEL KING
Claudio Pizarro cost £15million less than Nicolas Anelka but it was the Peruvian, a substitute and free transfer, who snatched an undeserved win for unconvincing Chelsea.
Just moments before his late winner, Pizarro had shown his team's growing desperation by trying to fool referee Rob Styles with a dive in the penalty area. But the striker redeemed himself, at least in his team's eyes, with the headed goal which made an off-key display by Anelka on his full debut irrelevant.
If winning games when you are not playing well is the mark of champions, then Chelsea are still looking good to give Manchester United and Arsenal a run for their money.
Birmingham will rightly feel hard done by. A week after claiming a deserved point at the Emirates Stadium, Alex McLeish's team once more matched their supposed betters. More than matched, in many ways, not least because they played as a team against a disjointed Chelsea who still show little sign of becoming the exciting, attacking force Avram Grant promised to deliver.
Although Grant differs from his predecessor in almost every other way, he shares with Jose Mourinho the uncanny knack of seeing a different game from almost everyone else.
Grant said: "I thought we deserved to win. We had control of the ball for most of the game. It was one of Pizarro's best performances for us and he deserved to score the goal.
"We have momentum now because we have won so many games, when no one expected us to. We cannot wait to get players back from injury and the Africa Cup of Nations."
It was an injury which gave Pizarro a chance to shine, Shaun Wright-Phillips hurting his ankle in a challenge which eventually forced him off before the half-hour mark.
Despite enjoying spells of possession in the first half, Chelsea created only one half-chance from open play. Birmingham gave the ball away too frequently to be fluent, but when they did put their game together they looked much the more dangerous side.
Cameron Jerome went closest, first heading against the post when nervous-looking Petr Cech drove a poor clearance straight at the Birmingham striker and then using his pace and power to create two quickfire shooting opportunities, which were blocked by Juliano Belletti and Alex.
The home side began the second half in the same vein and should have been ahead when Olivier Kapo jinked along the byline and Cech could only get a weak hand on his cross. Unfortunately for Birmingham, Sebastian Larsson did not react quickly enough to send the rebound into the net.
Just when you were wondering what on earth had happened to Anelka, he had the chance to score the sort of goal for which he has been signed. Florent Malouda touched the ball through to his fellow Frenchman, well inside the box, but Anelka's shot was weak and Maik Taylor kept it out easily with his legs.
It was soon time for the Birmingham fans to see their own new multi-million pound striker and, with what may have been his first touch, James McFadden turned on to a quick free-kick from Franck Queudrue but the angle of his low shot favoured Cech, who saved.
Although Chelsea at last began to apply some sustained pressure, desperation crept in when Pizarro threw himself to the ground in the area and was deservedly shown the yellow card.
"Continentals see it as being clever," said a stony-faced McLeish. "If he had got his team a penalty, none of the Chelsea players, even the English ones, would have complained."
The Birmingham manager was more upset about the poor marking which allowed Pizarro to head in Belletti's corner just moments later.
"It was a great performance,'" said McLeish. "We rattled Chelsea, but unfortunately we've nothing to show for our efforts."
There was time after the goal for Anelka to sting Taylor's hands, but for once in the Premier League, cheap and cheerful had, in a way, won the day.
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The Sunday TimesJanuary 20, 2008
Claudio Pizarro in head start as Chelsea beat BirminghamBirmingham 0 Chelsea 1
Brian Doogan at St Andrews
NICOLAS ANELKA’S frustrated efforts to secure his first Chelsea goal epitomised an unconvincing, vulnerable performance by Avram Grant’s team. But, with only 11 minutes remaining, substitute Claudio Pizarro’s header from a corner kick – the Peru international’s first goal since he scored in a 3-2 win against Birmingham on the opening day at Stamford Bridge – secured victory for the visitors and Grant was able to walk away smiling about a result that proved beyond Arsenal a week ago at the Emirates.
If Chelsea can maintain their present momentum – this was a fifth victory in six Premier League games – they can surely be a viable threat in the title race when they reintroduce the likes of Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Frank Lampard and John Terry from African Cup of Nations duty and from injury. Petr Cech was more active than his counterpart, Maik Taylor, in goal, and Ricardo Carvalho was susceptible to Cameron Jerome’s pace in an unbalanced defensive partnership with Alex.
But Chelsea managed to hang on as a fortuitous header by Jerome struck the post in the first half, Sebastian Larsson missed a sitter in the second and “a world-class delivery” – Birmingham manager Alex McLeish’s justified description of Juliano Belletti’s corner kick – presented Pizarro with the perfect opportunity.
“Birmingham are a hard team to play, they know how to defend, they make good counter-attacks and we had to be patient. It was very important to win here,” Grant said. “We have momentum now. We have won so many games in the past three months when nobody thought these players could do it.”
Despite Grant’s insistence that his side dominated the majority of the game, there was no real conviction about this Chelsea display. Claude Makelele was superb in his customary role in front of the back four, breaking up Birmingham attacks and setting up Joe Cole and Florent Malouda at the other end, but his level of assurance was lacking elsewhere. Joe Cole’s delivery lacked the precise effectiveness of Belletti’s decisive corner. Taylor was well protected by the central defensive duo of Liam Ridgewell and Rafael Schmitz, and Anelka was reduced to a few speculative shots on goal and one opportunity with which he ought to have done better. He won a corner off Schmitz in the opening minute, did the same again in a challenge with Franck Queudrue and secured another with a shot from the left side of the penalty area which struck Larsson.
An injury to Shaun Wright-Phillips forced Grant to replace him with Pizarro. Malouda’s tame shot from a Makelele cross from the left and an Alex header wide from a Malouda cross from the right typified Chelsea’s impotence.
Ashley Cole had to block a shot by Garry O’Connor on the edge of the penalty area before a corner by Larsson was headed wide by O’Connor. Cech saved another header by Jerome from Larsson’s cross.
Chelsea almost came undone when Cech took a return ball from Alex and half-scuffed a clearance which was met by Jerome’s head on the edge of the penalty area. Fortunately for Cech and Chelsea, the ball hit the right post and bounced wide. Birmingham kept up the pressure and O’Connor’s cross was knocked away by Carvalho but Jerome’s shot required a block by Alex. The corner fell for Fabrice Muamba, whose shot cleared the crossbar.
Anelka had chances in the second half, the first when he beat Damien Johnson but he dragged his shot between Ridgewell’s legs and wide.
Twice his touch let him down when he failed to control the ball from a header down and Olivier Kapo cleared before a clever one-two between Anelka and Malouda on the edge of the area yielded a shot, as Schmitz challenged him, which Taylor saved. Birmingham continued to look dangerous and a header down on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area presented Larsson with an opportunity from 25 yards but he sliced his shot wide. Then the Swede missed a glorious chance when Kapo beat Carvalho and drove in a low ball which eluded Cech and, somehow, Larsson missed from point-blank range.
Cech denied Birmingham debutant James McFadden with a save at his near post before, out of the blue, Chelsea struck gold.
Belletti swung in his corner kick with pace to the near post and Pizarro met it with a solid header past Taylor. “We didn’t do our job of man-marking in the box and we got punished,” reflected McLeish.
Match stats
Star man: Claude Makelele (Chelsea) Player ratings: Birmingham: Taylor 7, Kelly 6, Schmitz 7, Ridgewell 7, Queudrue 7, Larsson 6, Muamba 6, Johnson 7, Kapo 6, O’Connor 6 (Forssell 72min), Jerome 7 (McFadden 72min)Chelsea: Cech 7, Belletti 6, Alex 6, Carvalho 6, A Cole 7, Wright-Phillips 5 (Pizarro 29min, 6), Makelele 8, Ballack 6, J Cole 7 (Sidwell 85min), Anelka 5, Malouda 7 (Bridge 90min) Yellow cards: Birmingham: Muamba Chelsea: Pizarro Referee: R StylesAttendance: 26,567 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Telegraph:
Claudio Pizarro picks up pieces at BirminghamBy Duncan White at St Andrew's
Birmingham City (0) 0 Chelsea (0) 1
All the attention may have been focused on Avram Grant's first multi-million pound signing but it was a Jose Mourinho bargain that eventually broke a spirited Birmingham. Nicolas Anelka, the £15 million arrival from Bolton, made his full debut amid much expectation but it was Claudio Pizarro, a summer free transfer from Bayern Munich, who came off the bench to head the winner, thumping in Juliano Belletti's fine corner.
The Peruvian marksman had been dropped to accommodate Anelka but when Shaun Wright-Phillips was forced off with a worrying ankle injury, Pizarro came on to play as a deep-lying striker. He hadn't scored in the Premier League since the first day of the season when he found the net against the same opposition, but he came up with the goods and Chelsea have now won six on the spin. Grant was not optimistic about the injury to Wright-Phillips, though. "It's not looking so good," said Grant. "We keep losing our in-form players and I want to get him back as soon as possible." It is also bad news for Fabio Capello, who may lose the winger for his first game as England manager, against Switzerland on Feb 6. The only beneficiary is fellow right-winger David Beckham, who is desperate to earn his 100th cap in that game.
With Didier Drogba away with the Ivory Coast - and seemingly determined to make that absence permanent in the summer - Anelka has been charged with becoming Chelsea's chief source of goals. But Pizarro, it seems, may still have a big part to play in the future of this club. "It was one of his best games," said a predictably laconic Grant. "He deserved it." Chelsea didn't. Birmingham, who gave a debut to their own big-money signing in substitute James McFadden, were dreadfully unfortunate not to score and, for much of the game, they dominated a strangely lacklustre Chelsea. With the game scoreless, McFadden even came close to crowning his first appearance since his £5 m move from Everton with a goal, running onto a quickly-taken Franck Queudrue free-kick only for his shot to be blocked by Petr Cech.
By then Birmingham had spurned a series of chances to take the lead, especially in the periods either side of half-time when they put tremendous pressure on Ricardo Carvalho and co. Cameron Jerome twice came desperately close. When Cech, under pressure, hooked a clearance straight at Jerome, the Birmingham striker could not quite steer his header into the open goal - it hit the post and squirmed wide. Just before the break and with the Chelsea defence in disarray his shot beat the prone Cech only to be blocked by the covering Alex.
If that was frustrating for the roaring home support, then Sebastian Larsson had them hanging their heads after the break. With Birmingham still on top, Fabrice Muamba breezed past Carvalho before squaring to the Swedish winger. Larsson somehow managed to send the ball on a vertical trajectory from point-blank range.
Chelsea got desperate - no-one more than Pizarro who disgraced himself with an appallingly obvious dive in the box. He was justly booked but moments later scored the winner, which made swallowing this defeat all the harder for Alex McLeish's valiant players.
Match summary
Birmingham ratings: Taylor 7/10, Kelly 5, Schmitz 6, Ridgewell 7, Queudrue 7, Larsson 6, Muamba 5, Johnson 6, Kapo 6, O’Connor 5 (Forssell 4), Jerome 8 (McFadden 5). Possession 30%, offsides 1, shots on target 2, shots off target 6, corners 6, fouls conceded 10, yellow cards 1, red cards 0.Chelsea ratings: Cech 7/10, Belletti 9, Alex 7, Carvalho 8, A Cole 7, Wright-Phillips 5 (Pizarro 8), Makelele 8, Ballack 7, J Cole 6 (Sidwell 4), Anelka 7, Malouda 7 (Bridge 4).Possession 70%, offsides 4, shots on target 6, shots off target 3, corners 10, fouls conceded 7, yellow cards 1, red cards 0.Best moment: Midway through the second half Joe Cole deluded two Birmingham defenders with a double drag back before pushing the ball around a bemused third to earn space on the wing. Thrilling stuff. Worst moment: Sebastian Larsson was given the ball by Fabrice Muamba right in front of goal and with space aplenty he coived to slice the ball so finely that it shot straight up into the air. A horror miss. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pizarro steals in to pick Birmingham's pocket
Duncan Mackay at St AndrewsSunday January 20, 2008The Observer
It would not have surprised fans leaving this match if they had met a cavalcade of police cars, blue lights flashing, rushing to the ground, such was the daylight robbery Chelsea pulled off. Totally outplayed for two-thirds of this match by a Birmingham side rejuvenated under Alex McLeish, they managed to nick all three points thanks to one of two chances they created.It came from an unlikely source, too, in the shape of substitute Claudio Pizarro, the Peruvian who has been such a disappointment this season and probably only owed his place on the bench to the absence of so many regulars.
But Chelsea will be grateful he took his opportunity. By the time he struck in the 79th minute they were probably thinking they would be glad to leave here with a draw, such was the superiority Birmingham were exerting.It was a point illustrated by the fact that the corner Juliano Belletti floated over for Pizarro to meet with an acrobatic diving header that sailed past Maik Taylor was their first of the half. It was his second Premier League goal of the season. The other one? For Chelsea against Birmingham on the opening day.
The ground was again not full, which is sure to spark another debate in the local press, especially coming so soon after McLeish was allowed to spend £7m on buying James McFadden from Everton and Dave Murphy from Hibernian.
It is a favourite topic of Birmingham chairman David Sullivan, and he renewed his attack on the club's poor attendances. In the programme he wrote: 'It does hurt us a bit, as a board, seeing Derby getting 32,000 gates, week in week out, and Sunderland over 40,000.'
Avram Grant may come across as Leonard Cohen's less cheerful brother, but he has now fashioned a run of 12 victories in 17 Premier League matches. It has largely been achieved while missing captain John Terry and Frank Lampard, whose absence again for this match cast further doubt over whether he will be available for Fabio Capello's first England match against Switzerland next month.
With Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou on service in the African Nations Cup, there were further problems for Grant - and Capello - when Shaun Wright-Phillips limped off in the 29th minute.
It also robbed Nicolas Anelka of a vital avenue of service in his first start for the club. He worked hard up front, alongside the ineffectual Florent Malouda, but Birmingham's tactics of stifling the opposition, which had worked so well the previous week in a draw against Arsenal, again reaped dividends.
It nearly led to a bigger bonus in the 38th minute with an incident that nearly so produced a moment that could have been a staple on a bloopers DVD for years to come. Chelsea keeper Petr Cech, with no Birmingham player within 10 metres of him, went to kick the ball out but succeeded only in hitting it straight at Cameron Jerome, whose header bounced back off a post.
It had the effect of whipping up the crowd and got Jerome's adrenaline going because three minutes later he saw a double effort blocked, the second by Alex off the line as the Birmingham player followed up his first effort.
Birmingham's high-octane finish to the half was maintained into the second period from crowd and players, with Chelsea being pegged back in their own half for long periods.
But it is a truism that you have to take your chances when they come, something that marks out the leading clubs from the rest. It is a lesson Sebastian Larsson is probably pondering after being guilty of one of the misses of the season in the 56th minute. He was four yards from goal when Olivier Kapo's low cross found him unmarked only for the Swede to fall over his own feet and embarrassingly loop the ball wide.
Mind you, Larsson would probably point to what happened down the other end 10 minutes later when, following good interchange work with Malouda, Anelka found himself in acres of space and presented with Chelsea's best opportunity of the match.
But even £15m, does not guarantee a 100 per cent success rate and the Frenchman hit a pretty poor effort straight at Maik Taylor, who was able to smother it with his legs.
The introduction of McFadden, Birmingham's record signing, in the 72nd minute was greeted with great enthusiasm by the crowd and he so nearly marked his debut with a goal within three minutes, firing a low shot that Cech kept out with his legs. It turned out to be a valuable save.
THE FANS' VERDICT
Paul Rivers, VBBFootball.com If I could give Rob Styles a mark, it would be a two. He was awful. We call him 'cyclops', because he has only one eye and that's for the big clubs - he seemed to give Chelsea every decision. We certainly didn't deserve to lose. You could tell Chelsea are a class side with their passing and movement, but they had no cutting edge and really didn't look like scoring. We, on the other hand, had chances we just couldn't put away. I was beginning to think what an entertaining 0-0 draw it was when they scored. It was undeserved, because we were the better team for most of the game. We've played the top three in successive games and got one point. This time last year we were winning games for fun, which was probably why the date on the match programme said 19 January 2007. Wishful thinking.
Player ratings Taylor 7; Kelly 7, Schmitz 7, Ridgewell 6, Queudrue 8; Larsson 8, Muamba 7, Johnson 7, Kapo 9; O'Connor 7 (Forssell 7), Jerome 8 (McFadden 8)
Trizia Fiorellino, Chair, Chelsea Supporters' Group We were lucky to get all three points. We looked like 11 strangers and I felt quite sorry for Anelka as he was getting no service whatsoever. Some of our defending was comical - Cech and Carvalho weren't on the same wavelength, which is very unusual, and it was worse with Alex. They weren't talking and at one point the ball almost just rolled into the net. Grant seems tactically naive and only changed things when he had no choice, when Wright-Phillips had to go off. Pizarro did quite well, while Anelka did what he could. Malouda made a goalline clearance, but otherwise was poor, though no one covered themselves in glory.
Player ratings Cech 5; Belletti 6, Alex 5, Carvalho 7, A Cole 6; Wright-Phillips 7 (Pizarro 7), Makelele 7, Ballack 6, J Cole 5 (Sidwell 6); Anelka 7, Malouda 5 (Bridge n/a)
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Birmingham Mail:
Birmingham City 0 Chelsea 1Jan 19 2008
By John Curtis SUBSTITUTE Claudio Pizarro gave Chelsea a 1-0 win against battling Birmingham City at St Andrew's.
The Peru international's only other goal for Blues since his summer move from Bayern Munich had been on the opening day of the season against the same opposition.
He struck 11 minutes from time to earn Avram Grant's side a fourth successive win despite again being decimated by injuries and African Nations Cup call-ups.
Chelsea seldom fired on all cylinders despite having more of the possession but would have been pleased with the contribution made on his full debut by £15million capture Nicolas Anelka.
Alex McLeish's side gave a performance as committed as the one which had seen them share the spoils with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium last weekend with skipper Damien Johnson impressive in the middle of the park.
But the former Scotland boss must be concerned by the number of goals his side concede from set pieces as Pizarro was first to react for the winner to a corner from Juliano Belletti.
Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips needed early treatment after landing awkwardly on an ankle following an aerial challenge with Johnson and he eventually was replaced by Pizarro.
Chelsea enjoyed the bulk of the possession for the majority of the opening 45 minutes with Michael Ballack and Florent Malouda impressive.
Birmingham midfielder Fabrice Muamba became the first player to be yellow carded after 11 minutes for a mis-timed challenge on Ricardo Carvalho.
Ballack was over-ambitious in going for goal from fully 40 yards out after Sebastian Larsson fouled Ashley Cole and the ball dribbled through to home goalkeeper Maik Taylor.
City were on the back foot for the majority of the time and full-back Stephen Kelly got an important touch on a fiercely driven free-kick by Ballack across the face of goal.
Birmingham were finding space on occasions in behind the two Chelsea full-backs on the counter-attack but could not take advantage of the situations with the final ball letting them down.
But Cameron Jerome could have put Birmingham ahead after 38 minutes after a blunder by Cech.
Cech made a mess of his clearance which flew at pace towards Jerome and his instinctive header from 18 yards out hit the outside of the post.
Birmingham started to build up some momentum towards the interval and Jerome was twice more denied by blocks in front of goal from Cole and Alex.
Chelsea seemed rattled and unsettled by the aggressive approach of Alex McLeish's side, who left the pitch at half time to a standing ovation.
Anelka gave a glimpse of his class when dummying Johnson but he dragged his 20-yard shot wide.
Birmingham were now having almost as much of the possession as the visitors and a half volley from Larsson was not too far off target.
The Swedish international then saw a low cross from Kapo bobble off his leg and wide after it had taken a slight deflection off Cech.
Kapo was an increasing influence and one deft pass played in Jerome whose shot was blocked by Cech, although the City striker had strayed marginally offside.
Chelsea created their best opening to date after 68 minutes when Malouda played in Anelka who found himself with only Taylor to beat.
But Rafael Schmitz got across just to make a vital touch on his eventual shot and Taylor was able to make the block.
McLeish made a double substitution after 73 minutes with the injured Jerome and O'Connor replaced by newcomer McFadden and Mikael Forssell.
And McFadden was soon in the thick of the action, forcing Cech to beat away his low drive.
But with 11 minutes left all the home side's hard work was undone as Pizarro headed in Belletti's corner despite the efforts on the line of Larsson to keep the ball out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------