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The Times

September 1, 2008
Chelsea run out of gas

Chelsea 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1
Martin Samuel

One chance, one goal, one point: slim pickings for Tottenham Hotspur, but in the circumstances, enough is as good as a feast. Juande Ramos got the draw he came for and avoided replicating the worst start at the club in 29 years. A previous Chelsea manager might have sneered that the opposition merely parked a bus in front of the goal, but Luiz Felipe Scolari is more generous.
“Sometimes a team plays very well and it is impossible to win,” he said. “They had five, sometimes nine, players back in front of goal in the last 30 minutes, but this is the game. We had chances, but when you make mistakes with the final shot, a draw is the normal result.”
Normality is not what is expected of Chelsea, however, and, having started the season against Portsmouth as if powered by rocket fuel, the past two matches have been a bungled splash landing. Chelsea got away with it against Wigan Athletic eight days ago, when a moment of brilliance from Deco turned the game, but Scolari’s little magician had his first quiet afternoon yesterday and the performance dipped accordingly. If it were not for Frank Lampard, there would have been barely a scoring threat, although that applied at both ends, unfortunately.
It was a well-intentioned but misdirected clearing up job by Lampard that set up Tottenham’s equalising goal. Stealing the ball off Luka Modric midway in the Chelsea half, Lampard’s interception bisected Ricar-do Carvalho and José Bosingwa in the back four, but not Darren Bent, the striker bereft of goals since preseason ended, who was suddenly left with only Petr Cech to beat. Bent’s first touch was poor, but by knocking the ball some way in front of him he drew the goalkeeper from his lair and stuck the ball smartly under his body.
It sent Tottenham in at half-time with a parity that was scarcely deserved but confidence-boosting. The first 45 minutes would have shown them that Chelsea are a weakened force without Didier Drogba and in the second half, the odd speculative effort from Lampard aside, Scolari’s team barely created a chance. Jonathan Woodgate, in particular, and Ledley King were outstanding for Tottenham, watched by Fabio Capello, the England manager, who is in a predicament recognisable to many predecessors, with an embarrassment of riches in one position – in this case centre half – and a shortage elsewhere.
Woodgate and King were aided by Chelsea’s self-limiting decision to attempt to win by lobbing high balls into the area for the final 20 minutes; potentially effective when Drogba is leading the line, but a tactic that rendered Nicolas Anelka even more redundant than he has rendered himself in recent matches.
Once, in the 78th minute, a long clearance from Carvalho found Anelka, who passed the ball on to Florent Malouda, on as substitute for the ineffectual Joe Cole, but he panicked and shot pitifully wide. The rest of the time Tottenham’s back-line treated Chelsea’s route-one approach like a training-ground exercise before a visit to Stoke City and the tactics brought out the Brazilian in Scolari, who was gesticulating ever more furiously on the touchline but clearly did not know the sign language for “keep it on the damn floor”. “We made a mistake with too much long ball,” he said. “The problem with hitting it high is that you win that way one time, but lose eight times. I understand, though, because when the players feel the pressure it becomes difficult to think.”
And the pressure is on Chelsea, certainly to take advantage of Manchester United’s traditional slow start to the season, the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and the brief period before the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov or a run of form for Wayne Rooney. Dropping points at home against opponents who have lost matches to Middlesbrough and Sunderland is not part of the plan, even if Tottenham are in a false position.
The most worrying aspect for Scolari will be that his players found it hard to break through the defensive screen of Didier Zokora and Jermaine Jenas and their best chances came from range, usually from Lampard, who went close with two fantastic dinked chips at the start of each half. The first caught Heurelho Gomes, the Tottenham goalkeeper, off his line, but he recovered to tip over; the second beat him but dropped just the wrong side of the bar.
Between that Michael Essien had a shot from 25 yards that struck the bar, although Chelsea did get a reward from the resulting corner. Lampard curled it in, Bent missed his kick with an attempted clearance and Juliano Belletti glanced the ball past Gomes at the near post.
The match was a tiny triumph for Belletti, a reserve full back, who was given the job of holding midfield with John Obi Mikel injured. In addition to scoring from a set-piece, he shut Modric out of the game. It is amazing that English football finds it so hard to fill this position in the national team when foreign players respond instantly to its code of discipline and self-sacrifice. These are worrying times for English football all round, with injuries mounting in key roles, a void where a world-class striker should be and a series of failed auditions for David Beckham’s role. Nothing David Bentley did here would have impressed Capello going into his first competitive international; mainly, because he did nothing.
“We deserved a point for what we did in the second half,” Ramos, the Tottenham head coach, said.
About right. Both teams looked as if they could do with an injection of sorts. The arrival of Roman Pavlyuchenko at Tottenham and, perhaps, Robinho at Chelsea cannot come soon enough.
Chelsea ratings
4-1-3-1-1
P Cech 6 J Bosingwa 6 R Carvalho 6 J Terry 7 A Cole 7 J Belletti 7 F Lampard 7 M Essien 6 Deco 6 J Cole 5 N Anelka 5 Substitutes: F Malouda 5 (for J Cole, 65min), S Kalou (for Belletti, 75), F Di Santo (for Anelka, 88) Not used: C Cudicini, W Bridge, P Ferreira, Alex Next: Man City (a)
Tottenham ratings
4-5-1
H Gomes 7 C Gunter 7 J Woodgate 9 L King 8 G Bale 8 D Bentley 5 J Jenas 7 D Zokora 7 L Modric 6 G Dos Santos 5 D Bent 7 Substitutes: T Huddlestone 7 (for Gunter, 62min), A Lennon 5 (for Dos Santos, 59), J O’Hara (for Bentley, 72) Not used: C Sánchez, Gilberto, M Dawson, B Assou-Ekotto Next: Aston Villa (h)
Referee: H Webb Attendance: 41,790

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Chelsea long for Drogba as Spurs seize the initiative

Chelsea 1 Belletti 28 Tottenham Hotspur 1 Bent 45
Kevin McCarra at Stamford Bridge

The Guardian, Monday September 1 2008

The transfer window is an invitation to peer into an enticing and elusive future, but Tottenham Hotspur's supporters could not peel their gaze from the joys of the present. There was no inclination to start wondering what Roman Pavlyuchenko or signings yet to come might achieve when the existing line-up was conducting itself with such care and competitiveness. While the equaliser from Darren Bent had its element of luck, there was an organised resilience to the visitors that merited yesterday's draw.
When Juliano Belletti gave Chelsea the lead Tottenham looked bound for a third consecutive loss. It was proof of the recovery by Juande Ramos's team that much of what ensued raised questions about Chelsea. Sharing the points is no fiasco, but the hosts' dullness was unexpected.
Nicolas Anelka must have been dismayed. There are sound reasons for using a single outright striker. Chelsea themselves were devastating in the rout of Portsmouth with precisely that system. Here, by contrast, the weaknesses of the approach were highlighted. Tottenham, for whom Didier Zokora was significant, snipped the connection between the midfield and the forward.
Anelka is not equipped to be a lone battler. In the wake of the match there were immediate inquiries about the return of the injured Didier Drogba. He assuredly has the height, weight, speed and skill to harry an entire defence by himself, but the Ivorian's knee problem had been an issue for a long time before it became acute early this year. The 30-year-old cannot be confident that the aches and pains will ever leave him entirely.
The outcome of Chelsea's bid for Real Madrid's Robinho was still inscrutable in the late afternoon yesterday, but the Brazilian bears no resemblance to the sort of centre-forward whom Anelka needed badly as a partner in this game.
Of course, there were also some mundane reasons for Chelsea's mechanical football. With Michael Ballack injured, Michael Essien took a more advanced midfield position to which he is not really suited and Belletti, who is considered a full-back, was placed in the holding role. The outcome was that Luiz Felipe Scolari's team did not move fluently and Deco, in particular, seemed frustrated.
For all that there were omens of a standard win for Chelsea. Belletti, for instance, split the defence with a devastating pass in the 26th minute and Anelka tamed it with his first touch, only to bash the finish over the bar. Two minutes later Scolari's team took the lead. Tottenham were aggrieved that Joe Cole was not ruled offside before a corner was awarded, but they should have coped with the set-piece. Deco took it and Bent failed to clear before Belletti diverted the ball into the net.
The leveller came peculiarly in first-half stoppage time. Bent headed down and Frank Lampard, tackling Luka Modric, inadvertently fed the ball back to the Tottenham striker. He finished with a shot through the legs of Petr Cech. Were it not for the transfer market machinations that kept Dimitar Berbatov away from Stamford Bridge, there might have been minor involvement for the scorer yesterday.
The part Bent will play in the longer term is still in doubt, but that goal could be seen as a telling episode in Tottenham's season. Ramos's team did not put Chelsea in all that many difficulties and Modric, specifically, was unable to show the zest expected of him. A share of the points, nonetheless, will make Tottenham feel they can return to normal business with fewer accusations of instability at White Hart Lane.
The team, after all, was far from brittle. After the unfortunate decline and sale of Paul Robinson it would have been a comfort for Ramos that Heurelho Gomes was commanding in goal. His handling of crosses was adhesive and while a couple of Lampard attempts to chip him were entertaining the tall Brazilian dealt with them.
Tottenham, of course, may not have taken as much credit if they had been under any obligation to attack. Berbatov's subtlety would have been missed in a different type of match, where this side was supposed to hold the initiative. Equally, it was apparent why Tottenham have been so keen to buy Andrei Arshavin, considering how he links midfield to attack.
For Chelsea there was a reminder that Scolari is not the guarantor of verve. The efforts here were highly reminiscent of lacklustre afternoons under Avram Grant and, indeed, Jose Mourinho. Both clubs will have left with a sense of the long haul ahead. For once, Tottenham must have been feeling cheerful about it.
Man of the match Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham)

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Indy:
Chelsea 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1: Scolari lets slip Kalou bid as a diversion
By Sam WallaceMonday, 1 September 2008

Now we know that Luiz Felipe Scolari is not just a shrewd coach. He has also read that chapter in the manager's handbook that tells you what to do in the event of your team tossing away two points at home to Tottenham. The answer? Tell everyone who Arsenal's transfer target was earlier in the summer and hope they forget about the result.
It turns out Arsène Wenger made an offer for Salomon Kalou. It was casually mentioned by Scolari yesterday as he discussed his striking options in the absence of Didier Drogba. Arsenal made the enquiry when they thought that Emmanuel Adebayor might leave them – possibly even to Chelsea – and you suspect Wenger asked Chelsea to keep it to themselves.
Asked why he considered Kalou as a central striker, Scolari cited Wenger's opinion. "If you ask Arsène Wenger, he wants him [Kalou] as a No 9 so why shouldn't I play him there?" Scolari said. "Arsène's an intelligent man, so maybe he knows something."
No doubt his friend will be delighted to have his transfer business made public but it served a purpose for Scolari. The Chelsea manager is evidently not averse to being political when it suits him – he is learning fast in the Premier League.
Nevertheless, it was difficult to dispel the notion that Juande Ramos had the measure of another Chelsea manager yesterday, especially in the way he changed his team after a fortuitous equaliser for Darren Bent just before half-time. Before then Chelsea had run the game, taken the lead through Juliano Belletti and generally looked like they were about to extend Spurs' run of two defeats.
There are undoubtedly problems in Ramos's team. There is no Dimitar Berbatov and too little Premier League experience in Luka Modric and Giovani Dos Santos, who looked like autumn leaves in the slipstream of the Chelsea juggernaut in the first half. But Ramos withdrew Dos Santos and kept faith with Modric and Tottenham withstood the onslaught.
With Tom Huddlestone on as the holding midfielder and Jermaine Jenas as right-back, Ramos gave Spurs a touch of stability. He is adept at thinking on his feet and is not afraid to make bold decisions – rather like Jose Mourinho. Chelsea have not forgotten that he showed Avram Grant how it was done in the Carling Cup final in February.
There were no Mourinho-style accusations of Spurs coming to Stamford Bridge to "park the bus" in front of their own goal. Instead Scolari was lyrical about the quality of Spurs' players and how difficult his side found it to break them down. He must have been disappointed by Deco, who was overly cautious after an early booking. Nicolas Anelka did not suggest Drogba will have any trouble getting back in this team after the international break.
Whether even Robinho would have made a difference was debatable because without Drogba Chelsea do not have a target man in case of emergency. In midfield, Didier Zokora had one of his best games for Spurs, snapping around the heels of Frank Lampard and Michael Essien. Gareth Bale excelled at left-back.
Chelsea's goal came on 27 minutes, when Bent moved to clear a corner from Lampard at the near post and missed the ball. Belletti nipped ahead of Zokora and toed the ball in from close range. Earlier Lampard's chip had been touched over the bar by Heurelho Gomes but Chelsea had precious few good chances.
They were punished just before half-time when Lampard and Modric challenged and the ball rebounded into the path of Bent. His first touch was dire and caught out everyone, including Petr Cech, making the angle right for the striker to slip the ball into the net. Tottenham were due a bit of luck but you would not bet on Bent keeping his place ahead of Roman Pavlyuchenko for the match against Aston Villa on 15 September.
Goals: Belletti (27) 1-0; Bent (45) 1-1.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Bosingwa, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole; Belletti (Kalou, 76); J Cole (Malouda, 66), Lampard, Essien, Deco; Anelka (Di Santo, 89). Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Bridge, Ferreira, Alex.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-1-4-1): Gomes; Gunter (Huddlestone, 62), Woodgate, King, Bale; Zokora; Bentley (O'Hara, 72), Jenas, Modric, Dos Santos (Lennon, 59); Bent. Substitutes not used: Cesar (gk), Gilberto, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto.
Referee: H Webb (South Yorkshire).
Booked: Chelsea Deco, J Cole, Bosingwa.
Man of the match: Zokora.
Attendance: 41,790.

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Telegraph:
Luka Modric tireless for Tottenham Hotspur as Chelsea stars fade

Chelsea (1) 1 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 1 By Henry Winter at Stamford Bridge

Luka Modric, his flaxen locks darkened by sweat, ran himself into the ground so fully at the Bridge that his socks soon flopped around his ankles. Ledley King, the man of the match, stretched out a leg to nick the ball away from Michael Essien. Jonathan Woodgate, similarly impressive, threw himself in the way of a Frank Lampard shot. Collected together, such snapshots formed the big picture of Tottenham Hotspur’s ceaseless endeavour.
Spurs did not park their bus in front of their goal, as Jose Mourinho once complained, nor even their Bentley; defending with organisation and determination, Spurs were also committed to attack, particularly in the second period. With the cloud called Dimitar Berbatov disappearing north, the sun appears to be warming Tottenham, and there was a real togetherness about them here.
If Spurs players are beginning to find their stride, certainly after two false starts, further detail of the promising bigger picture was provided by Juande Ramos’ impact. His pursuit of Roman Pavlyuchenko is inspired. Darren Bent scored for Spurs, equalising Juliano Belletti’s effort, but Ramos’ 4-2-3-1 formation will carry even greater threat when the lively Russian starts.
There is real substance to Ramos. When Giovani dos Santos looked frustrated at being substituted, Spurs’ manager gave him a blood-chilling glare that brooked no arguments. Ramos’ second-half tactical switches also worked.
Tom Huddlestone brought some control to central midfield, Aaron Lennon injected energy down the right and Jamie O’Hara arrived on the left and combined well with Gareth Bale. Chelsea could not pour forward completely because of the danger of a Spurs counter-attack.
Two dropped points should not alarm Chelsea unduly, particularly with Manchester United slow out of the traps, and particularly if their own reinforcements arrive soon. For all the talk of Robinho’s little bit of magic being needed to unlock the door, Chelsea could really have done with Didier Drogba. Still recovering from injury, the Ivory Coast battering-ram allows Chelsea an extra option, the direct ball. When Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men played it high towards Nicolas Anelka, he was too often outmuscled by King and Woodgate.
What should worry Scolari was the way some of his players faded. Deco, kept in reserve by Barcelona last season, needs to work on his core fitness. Florent Malouda had no excuse, tiring after coming off the bench. One of Chelsea’s strengths, their ability to overpower teams, will be enhanced when Michael Ballack and John Obi Mikel are fit.
Belletti may have scored Chelsea’s goal but he is not an anchor man. The right-back’s presence in central midfield was partly to keep an eye on Modric in what was loosely a 4-1-4-1 formation with Deco and Joe Cole out wide, although often interchanging. This constant movement afforded some early space for Lampard, whose wonderful chip drew an equally superb tip-over save from Heurelho Gomes.
Spurs were far from daunted. With Didier Zokora and Jermaine Jenas holding, and Zokora earning rich applause from the visiting contingent with one lovely turn away from Deco, there was plenty of movement in Tottenham’s midfield.
Modric sought to support the initially isolated Bent through the middle while Dos Santos and the right-sided David Bentley worked the flanks. Giovani soon glided inside Belletti and cut the ball back to Bent, whose shot deflected wide.
Chelsea fans were quick to find their voice, serenading the noisy visitors with chants of “Berbatov’’ and “going down’’. Anelka should have scored, controlling Belletti’s neat pass expertly, but shooting wide.
Sometimes it takes a tackle to stir a team to real life, and when the excellent Essien thundered through 50-50s against Jenas and Zokora, crashing a shot against the bar, Chelsea hopes were lifted. Woodgate conceded the corner, which Deco swirled into the box, and Bent missed badly. The ball continued to Belletti, who had lost Zokora, and a touch took it past Gomes.
Spurs never gave up, levelling just before the break. When Bent’s nod-down found Modric, the Croatian’s pass hit Lampard and deflected back into Bent’s path. His first touch was poor, carrying it slightly to the left, but it served to entice Petr Cech from his line, allowing Bent to slide the ball under the onrushing keeper and in.
Chelsea raised themselves briefly in the second half, Ashley Cole shooting wide, Lampard firing just over and Ricardo Carvalho heading into the Shed. Enlivened by Ramos’ changes, Spurs responded. One sinewy Bale run took him past Deco, and required the combined strengths of Jose Bosingwa and Carvalho to bring him down. The Welshman stood up, dusted himself down but swept his free-kick into the wall.
Now it was Chelsea with sweat beads glistening. John Terry was desperately fortunate to escape sanction for blocking off Modric, an offence that may not be forgotten when the pair run into each other in Zagreb next week. Scolari sought to influence the game, sending on Salomon Kalou, who wasted a decent flick-on from Anelka, and the promising Franco Di Santo, a prolific force in the reserves. Spurs stood firm and held on to a deserved point.
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Mail;
Spurs hold out for a point despite Chelsea's Brazil trick

Chelsea 1 Tottenham 1
By Matt Lawton

Until Darren Bent followed a terrible first touch with a terrific finish, Luiz Felipe Scolari once again looked like something of a genius at Stamford Bridge.
The deployment of a Brazilian full back with no apparent ability to defend in the midfield holding role would have baffled a watching Claude Makelele as much as anybody.
But Juliano Belletti not only performed admirably in the position but scored the goal that even Juande Ramos probably suspected would secure a third successive League win for Chelsea and condemn Tottenham to a third successive defeat.
Then, however, came three more surprises: Frank Lampard gave the ball away, Bent seized on the opportunity with the same predatory instincts he showed regularly prior to moving to White Hart Lane, and Tottenham's defending excelled for the remaining 45 minutes.
A draw leaves Tottenham second from bottom of the Barclays Premier League, but the importance of the point will not be lost on Ramos when his side have lacked confidence as much as Bent has lacked support in attack.
Ramos owed much to Didier Zokora at the base of a midfield five as well as Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King at the heart of his defence.
All three were outstanding. Zokora was a destructive force in the middle, Woodgate and King inspirational at the back. They were brilliant and Scolari recognised as much, rejecting an invitation to echo former boss Jose Mourinho in accusing them of 'parking the bus' in front of their goal.
They parked three buses on this occasion, all at once.
As well as adding Roman Pavlyuchenko to a forward line who have struggled in the absence of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, Ramos needs to do everything he can he keep Woodgate and King on the field.
This match was as memorable for the fact that it represented King's second appearance on the bounce, and relying on two centre halves who have suffered so badly from injuries remains a problem for a club with ambitions to break into the Champions League.
Judging by this, the Champions League is still a long way off. But Spurs will return from the international break lifted by their success in at least stopping Chelsea build on an impressive start to their campaign.
If Scolari was frustrated, he did a fine job of disguising his true feelings. Just as he did, it has to be said, when mention of the controversy surrounding Robinho was made.
So Real Madrid are branding the conduct of Chelsea's directors as deplorable? Sir Alex Ferguson will see the funny side of that one.
It's a bit like Woodgate accusing Dimitar Berbatov of giving professional footballers a bad name.
Clearly, Scolari could use Robinho if only to increase the competition for places in the Chelsea attack.
The Stamford Bridge team are not the same when Didier Drogba is missing but the arrival of Robinho would lessen the chance of Deco and Joe Cole performing as they did yesterday.
They were both poor, as was Nicolas Anelka. The France striker really should have scored in the 26th minute.
It was a super ball forward from Belletti, dropping between Woodgate and King and at the feet of Anelka. But a fine first touch was followed by an awful finish and Anelka and Belletti both cursed the sight of the half-volley flying over the crossbar.
Michael Essien struck the crossbar seconds later with a beautifully struck shot and it was from the corner which followed that Belletti scored his goal.
Deco's delivery may have been decent, but it was Bent's failure to clear that enabled Belletti to turn the ball past Heurelho Gomes with what looked like his left thigh.
Belletti ran immediately to Scolari to celebrate and the manager responded by urging his countryman-to push further forward.
Turns out Scolari's knowledge of Brazilian football benefited Chelsea yesterday, because he knew Belletti had played in the position during his time at Sao Paulo.
The demeanour of Ramos suggested he was almost resigned to a third defeat on the bounce.
But when Lampard tracked back to regain possession from Luka Modric, he succeeded only in knocking the ball into the path of Bent.
One rather fortuitous touch then took Bent away from Ricardo Carvalho before his finish was driven through the legs of an advancing Petr Cech.
Chelsea did create opportunities after the break. Ashley Cole dragged an effort across the face of Tottenham's goal and Lampard threatened with a clever chip, having forced a fine save from Gomes with a similar effort in the first half.
For all their dominance, though, Chelsea could not break through that determined Tottenham triumvirate and in the end they were a little lucky not to lose their captain for what looked like a cynical elbow in the face of Modric.
Ramos was not amused.
Fabio Capello will be equally unamused if he now discovers that the sight of Lampard limping away from Stamford Bridge last night amounts to bad news for England.
But withdraw him Scolari no doubt will if there is any danger of losing him when the Premier League resumes for Chelsea at Manchester City on September 13.
Not even a manager with the international experience of Scolari is going to worry about England after dropping two points here.