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Lamps shining out: Frank fires four to keep Grant believing in titleChelsea 6 Derby 1
By NEIL ASHTON - More by this author » Last updated at 23:49pm on 12th March 2008
Reeling one minute, Avram Grant would have you believe that Chelsea are reeling in their Barclays Premier League title rivals the next.
For that, he has Frank Lampard to thank. Left out of the side beaten by Championship strugglers Barnsley in the FA Cup quarterfinal last week , the Chelsea midfielder was restored to the team and responded in quite remarkable fashion.
He scored four times, admittedly against the worst team ever to play in the Barclays Premier League (© Paul Jewell), as Chelsea began what Grant optimistically believes is a charge towards the title.
They eventually rattled in six, cuffing Jewell's pathetic side aside with astonishing ease, to move within five points of leaders Arsenal with a game in hand.
Lampard pointed to the stands after each of his goals. Perhaps he would have been better off pointing at the manager.
At least the captain called it correctly. 'The result and the performance at Barnsley was not acceptable,' wrote John Terry in last night's programme notes. 'Everyone in the team must take their fair share of responsibility.'
Everyone, it appears, except the manager. Grant ignored the worst Chelsea performance in recent memory in his typically uninspiring address to the supporters and chose, instead, to thank them for travelling to South Yorkshire.
The official line is that Lampard was injured last weekend. The jungle drums suggest he would have been the first name on the team sheet if it had been a match Chelsea believed was in the balance.
This one never was. From the moment Lampard scored from the spot after 28 minutes, the game was beyond this desperate Derby side.
Why wait another nine games before they are booted back to the Championship? They should be sent back now. The industrious Kenny Miller aside, Derby were nothing short of a disgrace.
Chelsea scored again three minutes before the break when Carroll's dreadful clearance fell invitingly for Salomon Kalou to send a sweetly-taken half-volley into an empty net from 25 yards. They had a taste for it now.
Lampard converted Joe Cole's cross on 57 minutes, and the match ball was his when Carroll palmed Nicolas Anelka's effort into his path nine minutes later.
By then, Cole had scored the goal his incisive performance deserved in the 64th minute, but Lampard left an indelible mark on the game when his left-foot strike streaked past Carroll.
Is he sitting out Sunderland on Saturday then, Avram? 'He has scored over 100 goals for Chelsea and now his target is 150,' said Grant. 'I am sure he can do it.'
Much depends on whether Lampard's long-running contract dispute can be resolved. He scored the third hat-trick of his Chelsea career last night, but this was his first in the Premier League. A class act, he remains an important cog.
'Negotiations are not my area, but the club want Frank to stay and Frank wants to stay,' added Grant.
'He is a very important member of the team and he can always make a difference.'
Last night, Lampard was the difference and Chelsea finished this game playing something resembling 4-2-4 — all-out attack against a team who are out of time.
'I might not bother turning up on Saturday for Manchester United,' admitted Jewell. 'We were outclassed, but at least that means there is one less game to play. 'Once again, the supporters were our best player. I was squirming in my seat because this was heavyweights against ABA lightweights.
'The personnel will change next season, that is for sure. I didn't think a team could give in as easily as that. Not enough of this team has desire.'
Miller aside, none of them had it. David Jones, on as a late substitute, pulled a goal back for Derby, but the club are doomed.
They were blitzed at Stamford Bridge, brushed aside by a team that has been brooding ever since that embarrassing loss at Barnsley.
'We are still in with a chance of winning the major trophies,' claimed Grant. In that case, he had better win one of them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Telegraph:
Frank Lampard leads Chelsea rout of Derby By John Ley
Chelsea (2) 6 Derby County (0) 1
Frank Lampard ensured normal service was resumed at Stamford Bridge last night, when Chelsea forgot their FA Cup pain to lead the Rams to their latest slaughter. Lampard's four goals took Chelsea to within five points of Premier League leaders Arsenal with a game in hand, and three points behind second-placed Manchester United.
Both teams must visit Stamford Bridge, so those who believe Chelsea could finish the season without a trophy count them out of the title race only at their peril. As for Derby, they are in danger of becoming the worst ever team in the Premier League; with just nine games to go they have 10 points and a goal difference of minus 49.
Avram Grant, the Chelsea manager, made five changes from the team humiliated at Barnsley with Paulo Ferreira, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Salomon Kalou and Claude Makelele all returning. But, surprisingly, there was no place for Didier Drogba.
The Ivory Coast striker, rested on Saturday with a slight knock, was on the bench, but again Grant decided he could not start with both Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, fuelling more speculation that the former's days at Stamford Bridge are coming to an end.
Drogba has started only three games since early December, so his fitness may be a contributing factor to his place as a substitute, alongside the returning Andrei Shevchenko, back on the bench for only the second time since Boxing Day.
John Terry, the Chelsea captain, warned before the game that the club had to respond to the defeat at Oakwell. He wrote in the programme: "The result and the performance weren't acceptable and everyone in the team must take responsibility. Everyone needs to perform when selected. We can't have any more days like Saturday. Losing [in] the FA Cup was horrible."
Derby arrived with Robbie Savage back in midfield, as captain, after being left out of the goalless draw against Sunderland. With 10 defeats and four draws under Paul Jewell, they started at odds of 20-1 to become the first team to win at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League for more than four years.
Chelsea offered early signs that they would dispatch Derby in merciless fashion. They forced their first corner within 48 seconds, while only the right post prevented an opening goal in the third minute. Anelka and Kalou combined for Lampard, who was allowed to waltz through white shirts before sending his effort against woodwork.
When Derby were offered a chance, Kenny Miller avoiding the offside trap, he shot like a striker whose side do not know how to score, the ball arriving closer to the corner flag than the target.
Working on the theory that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, Derby had to make a defensive change after just 16 minutes when the experienced Alan Stubbs, following a tangle with Anelka, had to be replaced by Dean Leacock.
Despite their possession - the ball rarely left Derby's half in the opening 45 minutes - Chelsea were struggling to atone for their poor performance at Barnsley. Michael Ballack had the ball in the net after 20 minutes but was ruled offside while Joe Cole had one effort saved and hit another wide.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 28th minute but it took a penalty to split the two very different sides. Joe Cole's clever pass was chased into the area by Lampard, but he had his ankles tapped by Leacock and dispatched the kick to the right of Roy Carroll for his 14th goal of the season.
The second goal, in the 42nd minute, was a comedy of errors; Carroll slid on his backside outside his area, in an attempt to clear from the feet of Anelka and the ball fell to Kalou, who had the simple task of turning the ball into an unguarded net.
Derby's second-half resistance, while commendable, was limited and in the 57th minute Joe Cole exchanged passes with Anelka, resisted a challenge from Stephen Pearson and rolled the ball across goal for Lampard to tap in his second of the night.
In the 64th minute Chelsea added their fourth with Anelka's shot parried by Roy Carroll and Joe Cole converting the rebound.
Lampard's hat-trick was completed in the 66th minute. His fourth, and best, came seven minutes later when he met Ferreira's pass before forcing his way into the area and finishing well.
Derby responded a minute later, when David Jones capitalised on Chelsea's celebrations to claim only their sixth away goal of the campaign.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Indy:
Chelsea 6 Derby County 1: Lampard hits four as Derby reel under Chelsea backlashBy Glenn MooreThursday, 13 March 2008
There can be few better sights for a beleaguered Premier League manager than Derby County's coach pulling up outside the ground. So it proved last night as Chelsea put their Oakwell nightmare behind them with a brutal dissection of the Premier League's bottom club.
While the quality of the opposition has to be taken into account, there was no disguising Chelsea's desire to make a statement, nor their capacity to do so. The victory brought them within five points of leaders Arsenal, with a game in hand and the Gunners due at the Bridge in 10 days' time. A season mired in controversy may yet end in triumph. "What happened on Saturday happened," said Grant in reference to the FA Cup exit at Barnsley. "We were not happy but we know we need to continue. So far in the league we have done well and we will fight to the end."
Grant, who was booed by a few Chelsea fans as he took his seat, would be entitled to have left with a broad smile on his face. Of course he did not. Perhaps he was wise. The board will have noted the sub-par attendance; 3,000 below capacity, the lowest league gate of the season.
Those who stayed away missed a commanding performance from Frank Lampard. Badly missed at Oakwell, he helped himself to four goals here. Lampard's contract negotiations remain unresolved but Grant said: "I think he will be here next season. I am almost sure about it."
Joe Cole who, like Salomon Kalou, scored once, was equally responsible for the rout. David Jones' late goal was no consolation.
"It was a world heavyweight champion against a lightweight," said Derby's manager, Paul Jewell. "I spent the night squirming in my seat. They are a great team, and we are not."
Jewell admits he has written this season off. Derby have won once, in September, have collected 10 points from 29 games and are 16 points adrift of safety, well on course to set new Premier League records for least points won and most goals conceded. Chelsea, however, are the "crisis club", with Grant said to be under pressure from a mutinous dressing room and a discontented owner. They are third in the Premier League and in the last eight of the Champions League. How Derby would love a crisis like that.
Chelsea, though, do have to be judged differently because of their spending, even if the brightness of the spotlight owes much to their being based, with the national press, in the capital. The financial aspect colours everything, even their progress to the FA Youth Cup semi-finals, which is mentioned here because it was hailed pre-match last night, perhaps to take minds off the FA Cup. It is a shame many of Chelsea's youth players have been bought in.
The man with the mike could hardly be blamed for trying to lift a flat atmosphere. Chelsea, showing five changes from Saturday as Grant reverted, goalkeeper apart, to the team which had won 4-0 at Upton Park, soon lifted the mood. Lampard, released by Kalou's clever reverse pass in the second minute, rolled a shot past Roy Carroll only to see it strike the post and bounce out.
A massacre loomed yet, two minutes later, Kenny Miller outwitted John Terry to run on to a through-ball. He shot wildly but it was a warning to take nothing for granted. Not that complacency was a problem, Saturday's defeat was too fresh in the mind for that. The issue was nerves, brought on by expectation and fear of a repeat of the Barnsley fiasco.
Derby, though, did not set about Chelsea the way Barnsley had. Instead they retreated into deep defence – perhaps because they were pitting a central defence whose combined age was 69 against the pace of Nicolas Anelka. That tactic was undermined when Alan Stubbs limped off to be replaced by Dean Leacock. There is a reason Leacock has been displaced by the thirtysomethings and his naïvety was revealed 11 minutes later when he dived into a challenge on Lampard as the midfielder ran on to Joe Cole's pass. Lampard slid home the penalty.
Miller then stretched Carlo Cudicini from an Eddie Lewis free-kick but the siege quickly resumed. Under constant pressure a defence which has been changed as often as Derby's is liable to break; so it did. Two minutes before the interval Darren Moore dithered as Anelka chased a Lampard pass and Carroll cleared hastily but only as far as Kalou, who chipped into the empty goal.
Derby moved to 4-4-2 soon after the break but any hope of salvaging a point soon disappeared. Anelka, who troubled Derby all night, linked with Joe Cole whose low cross was tapped in by Lampard. That was the first of four goals in 16 minutes. Joe Cole tapped in after Carroll had denied Anelka. Lampard took a short pass from Kalou, strolled forward and drove in from 25 yards to complete his hat-trick. He then weaved around two defenders before sliding a shot inside the near post. It was Lampard's first four-goal haul and took his tally to 17, not bad for a "quiet" season.
Derby's long-suffering supporters were given some relief when Jones scored their first goal for five hours and 44 minutes. Grant then allowed Shevchenko a rare outing and Chelsea (coincidentally) lost their menace. But Derby needed the respite. On Saturday they play Manchester United.
"Did Chelsea look like a club in crisis?" Jewell was asked. "I was too busy looking at our crisis," he replied.
Goals: Lampard (28) 1-0; Kalou (42) 2-0; Lampard (57) 3-0; J Cole (64) 4-0; Lampard (66) 5-0; Lampard (72) 6-0; Jones (73) 6-1.
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cudicini; Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole; Makelele (Essien, 73), Ballack (Drogba, 67), Lampard; J Cole (Shevchenko, 74), Anelka, Kalou. Substitutes not used: Hilario (gk), Alex.
Derby County (4-5-1): Carroll; Edworthy, Moore, Stubbs (Leacock, 16), McEveley; Ghaly (Earnshaw, 52), Savage, Pearson, Lewis (Jones, 58), Sterjovski; Miller. Substitutes not used: Price (gk), Villa, Earnshaw.
Booked: Derby McEveley.
Referee: C Foy (Lancashire)
Man of the match: Lampard.
Attendance: 39,447.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The TimesMarch 13, 2008
Chelsea’s gluttony at expense of Derby is sign of unhealthy trendChelsea 6 Derby 1
Martin Samuel, Chief Football Correspondent
Every silver lining has a cloud and the good-news bulletins that followed the arrival of four English teams in the Champions League quarter-finals were swiftly followed by this terrifying reminder that the gap between top and bottom in the Barclays Premier League is seismic, fissure-like and growing.
Chelsea scored six, Frank Lampard alone got four and the truth is that either tally could have doubled, such was the superiority of Avram Grant’s side.
The difference was embarrassing. As Lampard carved out a second-half hat-trick in 15 minutes that also included a goal from Joe Cole, anyone who cares for football would have felt uncomfortable with this preposterous walkover. Lampard is an exceptional player, but, even so, this is not right. This is not how it is meant to be.
So much of the game had the look of a training-ground exercise — and some of the goals, too. Previously, looking at Derby County’s forlorn league record, one could be forgiven for asking if they really are as bad as that. Sadly, the answer is yes. Paul Jewell inherited a team well on their way to being confirmed as the worst in Premier League history and has not been able to improve them.
Deep down, Chelsea will know the ultimate meaninglessness of this scoreline, too. It is not even Derby’s worst defeat of the season, having lost by six without reply to Liverpool.
Certainly, Chelsea’s fans understood. The win kept their title hopes alive, but they still left early to avoid the traffic. There was no hint of the jubilation that would traditionally greet such a result. What did you expect? It was only Derby.
Lampard looked happy, though, and well he should. Even the frailty of the opposition should not detract from his feat in scoring three goals from midfield, plus a smartly taken penalty, which he also won. Indeed, the strangest thing about Chelsea’s win was that only one of the six goals was scored by a striker, Salomon Kalou, and even then he was playing in a wide attacking role. Nicolas Anelka failed to get on the scoresheet; so, too, Didier Drogba and Andriy Shevchenko, the substitutes.
The rout began in earnest after 26 minutes when Dean Leacock, an early replacement for the injured Alan Stubbs, whose experience was sorely missed, tripped Lampard in the area. The England midfield player stepped up and struck his shot to Roy Carroll’s left. Derby heads went down and did not lift, much to Jewell’s fury.
efore half-time, Chelsea got a second goal and the cushion that enabled them to play with such ease after the interval. Lampard was the architect, slipping a pass through to Anelka, who was thwarted by a clearance from Carroll. The ball travelled only as far as Kalou, who hit it, first time, from 25 yards into an unguarded net.
“The fourth official has indicated one minute of added time,” a stadium announcer said as the half-time whistle loomed. To be fair, he could have indicated decent Thai restaurants in the Fulham area or recommended a good book; the contest all had paid to see was long over.
The second half belonged to Lampard. In the 57th minute, he converted a tap-in from a cross by Joe Cole as Derby ball-watched and nine minutes later he struck a shot from the edge of the area that Carroll could not stop. His fourth, in the 72nd minute, was another medium-range effort, perhaps the best of the night, cutting inside and riding two challenges after a pass from Joe Cole. They will miss him more than they know if his contract talks again break down. Between Lampard’s second and third, Joe Cole also scored, first to the loose ball after Claude Makelele had set Anelka clear and Carroll had saved.
“Frank Lampard is an important player for the team. What more can I say, he always scores,” Grant, the Chelsea first-team coach, said. “I am sure he will be here next season. If Frank says he wants to stay at Chelsea and Chelsea say they want Frank to stay, what is the problem?”
What indeed? David Jones, a substitute, did at least put Derby on the scoresheet, but the event was treated more with amusement even by the home supporters, another of many worrying signs on a night that was good for Chelsea but disquieting for the rest of us.
“They looked like championship heavyweights, we looked like ABA lightweights,” Jewell, the Derby manager, said. “Everything they needed to do they did better than us. I was squirming again for 90 minutes. It comes to something when you are happy to settle for six. I’ll make allowances for ability, but I find it difficult to accept that we cannot match their desire.”
It gets no easier. Derby’s next match is against Manchester United on Saturday. “I’ll see you there,” a journalist told Jewell, cheerily. “I might not turn up,” the manager replied, no doubt wishing he had that option.
Chelsea (4-3-3): C Cudicini – P Ferreira, R Carvalho, J Terry, A Cole – F Lampard, C Makelele, M Ballack (sub: D Drogba, 67min) – J Cole (sub: A Shevchenko, 74), N Anelka, S Kalou. Substitutes not used: Hilário, M Essien, Alex.
Derby County (4-5-1): R Carroll – M Edworthy, D Moore, A Stubbs (sub: D Leacock, 15), J McEveley – M Sterjovski, H Ghaly (sub: R Earnshaw, 52), S Pearson, R Savage, E Lewis (sub: D Jones, 58) – K Miller. Substitutes not used: L Price, E Villa. Booked: McEveley.
Referee: C Foy. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lampard hits four as Chelsea backlash punishes Derby
Dominic Fifield at Stamford BridgeThursday March 13, 2008The Guardian
Chelsea found respite in a rout last night. The traumas endured in their FA Cup humiliation at Barnsley were exorcised in part against a hapless Derby County, with Frank Lampard, so conspicuous by his absence at Oakwell, gorging himself on four goals. The irony was that, unlike in South Yorkshire, Chelsea would still have won without him.Derby may have been wretched, their manager, Paul Jewell, wincing agonisingly throughout this latest embarrassment, but this was the fillip Chelsea and Avram Grant so desperately needed. Victory was to be expected, yet its manner was encouraging. Arsenal are only five points away at the top. It is mathematically possible, if distinctly unlikely given that Derby host Manchester United on Saturday, that Chelsea could be top this time next week.
Grant may have enjoyed himself on the sidelines but this was Lampard's night. The England midfielder was the last player to leave the turf at the end, saluting all sides of the ground having swollen his season's tally to 17 goals in all competitions.He hit the post after three minutes, scored the first from the penalty spot and the last smartly from the edge of the area, holding off James McEveley before spinning and planting his shot inside Roy Carroll's near post. Every touch left Derby smarting, with Lampard the 16th player to score four times in a game in the Premier League.
In between there was a tap-in from the outstanding Joe Cole's cross and a shot from distance which fizzed through Carroll's increasingly beleaguered resistance. "He scored his 100th goal for Chelsea earlier this season and I think he'll get 150 goals for this club," said Grant, despite the reality that negotiations over a new contract with the player have been suspended until the summer.
"I think he'll be here next season, but the situation hasn't changed. Negotiations are not my area but I'm sure that Frank will stay at Chelsea. He says he wants to stay, and Chelsea want him to stay also."
This was his third hat-trick at the club and his easiest, despite the others coming against Macclesfield Town in the FA Cup and Leicester City in the Carling Cup. This game was such a mismatch that Chelsea did not need to summon a particularly rampant rhythm to unsettle their visitors. Derby have long since given up on this campaign. Their goal difference has plummeted to -49, with this the 23rd successive league match, and 15th under Jewell, without a win.
The manager cuts a helpless figure these days. The thought of confronting Manchester United at Pride Park on Saturday is already sending a chill down his spine. "I might not turn up," he offered, his season now an exercise in counting down the days to a return to the relative relief of the Championship.
David Jones's consolation, tucked away neatly after Lampard had completed his personal haul, was only their sixth goal away from home all season.
"It's heavyweight boxing against an ABA lightweight, but at least there are less games left," admitted Jewell. "We've just been outclassed, outfought. Everything they can do they can do better than us. I'd have settled to be six down with 20 minutes to go, such was the difference between the sides.
"I sat for 90 minutes squirming in my seat. I knew it was going to be tough this season but I didn't think that we'd be as easy to beat as we are."
This was shambolic. Dean Leacock, on for the injured Alan Stubbs, had tripped Lampard to concede the penalty which opened the floodgates. Salomon Kalou's second, lobbed from midway inside the Derby half after Carroll had half-cleared amid confusion with Darren Moore, was suitably farcical to deflate the visitors yet further. Joe Cole's deserved reward came courtesy of the goalkeeper's parry from Nicolas Anelka's drive.
So it was Rams to the slaughter, and for them this season cannot end soon enough.