The Sunday TimesNovember 23, 2008
Newcastle frustrate Chelsea forwardsChelsea 0 Newcastle 0
Joe Lovejoy at Stamford Bridge
MUCH has been made of the positive difference in Chelsea under Luiz Felipe Scolari, but one unwanted change is their home form. For four years, Stamford Bridge was the impregnable fortress around which so much success was constructed. Under Scolari they have dropped nine points at home already, which contrasts sharply with their 100% record away.
Liverpool drew yesterday at home to Fulham, so failed to take advantage of the slip, and Manchester United were held goallesss at Villa in the evening kick-off, so United remain eight points behind the leaders with a game in hand.
Scolari’s team made all the running here, which might have been expected, but ran into opponents in an obdurate mood and intent on protecting their goal at all costs.
Newcastle failed to create a single goal opportunity but, like all good managers, Joe Kinnear, who has agreed to a one-month contract extension, is building from the back, and his charges defended with spirit, organisation and resolution. In eight matches since he replaced Kevin Keegan at St James’s Park, at the end of September, the pride of Tyneside have won two, drawn four and lost two, which is mid-table form.
Had Chelsea summoned anything like their usual economy, in terms of passing and chances, they would have won this match comfortably, but their final ball was not good enough, their attacking play lacked subtlety and, for all their possession, they failed to extend Shay Given as they should have done, although the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper did make a couple of notable saves.
Newcastle were preoccupied with defence, and their centre-halves, Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong, were outstanding, with the contribution of Habib Beye, the right-back, similarly impressive. Michael Owen operated as an auxiliary midfielder but with a relegation-threatened team, Kinnear can hardly have been expected to take on the league leaders at their own expansive game.
From his point of view, the end amply justified the means. “I lost two important players to injury on Friday, and I’m not apologising, not at all,” he said. “We planned to force Chelsea to play in front of us, and we did that very well. That was probably our best performance away from home, and it felt like a victory in the dressing room afterwards.”
The interim manager revealed that Newcastle’s absentee owner, Mike Ashley, was in negotiation with an American consortium, but that they had failed to match his valuation of the club, and that consequently Ashley had asked him on Friday to continue in temporary control for another month, starting next weekend.
“The deal was to be in charge until the club was sold and nothing has changed since then. I’ve been informed I’m here for another month. That should take me up to the transfer window, at the start of January, and I’ll be looking to do some business then.” He is planning to unload surplus squad members, who were not involved yesterday, to raise funds for two defensive reinforcements.
“If I can twist his arm and get a few quid out of him, I can buy a couple of players,” added Kinnear.
Scolari bemoaned “two points lost” but, magnanimously, had nothing but praise for the opposition. “I told the coach ‘congratulations’. Newcastle played very well,” he said. “They played for a draw with ten men behind the ball, and got it, so their approach was 100% right. In that respect they are better than us today, because they got what they wanted.
“We had 24 shots at goal, they had none, and we had 70 per cent of the possession, but couldn’t score.”
The story of the match can be quickly told. Chelsea made all the chances, the most promising of which, early in the second half, saw Given parry Florent Malouda’s shot into the path of Joe Cole, who prodded the ball home from an offside position. Otherwise, their best opening was the product of a Malouda cross that Frank Lampard met with a firm header, seven yards out, only for Given to make a flying, one-handed save. It was his best stop of the day.
Scolari accepted that his team needed to improve in their Champions League match away to Bordeaux on Wednesday, and especially at home to Arsenal next Sunday. He said: “We will be working on it all week in training, and I may change the positions of one or two players.”
Newcastle will be looking to maintain their progress in a northeast scrap at Middlesbrough next Saturday, when Taylor and Barton will again be absent.
CHELSEA: Cech 6, A Cole 6, J Terry 6, Ivanovic 6, Lampard 6, J Cole 6 (Ballack 82min), Mikel 6, Malouda 6 (Kalou 71min), Bosingwa 6, Deco 6, Anelka 6.
NEWCASTLE: Given 7, Coloccini 7, Enrique 6, Guthrie 6, Martins 5 (Ameobi 60mins), Owen 6, Duff 5, Bassong 7, Gutierrez 6 (N’Zogbia 76min), Beye 7, Butt 6.
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Telegraph:
Newcastle United cause Chelsea to lose two points with spoiling tacticsChelsea (0) Newcastle United (0) 0 By Patrick Barclay
By Joe Kinnear’s own reckoning when he returned to football in late September, he should be just another name on the list of former Newcastle managers by now. He got that forecast wrong - it was based on Mike Ashley’s vain hope that the club would be sold within a matter of weeks - but Kinnear is clearly better at management than prophecy, for this was Newcastle’s 10th point in eight matches and the threat of relegation, though still present, has receded.
To avoid defeat in a Premier League match at Chelsea is no longer a startling achievement - Liverpool have won at Stamford Bridge this season and Tottenham, as well as Manchester United, drawn - but for Newcastle to head back north with only their third away point of the campaign may have a positive psychological effect, for all the negativity of their tactics here. We shall see; next weekend they are at Middlesbrough and maybe there they will try a shot at goal.
An utterly unapologetic Kinnear explained: ‘’After losing two key players [the defender Steven Taylor and midfielder Joey Barton], we came with a plan to force Chelsea to play in front of us.’’ And that was how it worked out. Although Shay Given made a couple of excellent saves, Chelsea had few clear openings, as Luiz Felipe Scolari more or less admitted. ‘’We didn’t win a point today,’’ he said. ‘’We lost two. They were better than us because they were thinking only of a draw and they drew - we were looking for a win and didn’t get it.’’
A pattern is emerging: Chelsea have taken maximum points on their travels and dropped nine at home. ‘’Sometimes it’s easier away,’’ remarked Scolari, ‘’because the opposition are under pressure to attack. Here they don’t need to.’’ He might be heartened by the reflection that, upon his team’s return from Champions League duty in Bordeaux, their next visitors are Arsenal: hardly likely to be the mirror image, for all Arsene Wenger’s troubles, of Saturday’s Newcastle.
Kinnear will be in charge for the foreseeable future. On Thursday, Ashley assured him his month-by-month contract would be renewed after Middlesbrough. ‘’And that,’’ Kinnear said, ‘’will take us into the transfer window, so I hope he’ll give me a few bob for new players.’’ A new owner could, of course, come in and upset things for Kinnear, but the latest offer from the United States did not, we gather, meet Ashley’s expectations.
If that was no surprise, the same might have been said when Chelsea trotted out featuring Frank Lampard and the Coles, all of whom had been declared unfit for England duty three days earlier. To be fair to Ashley Cole, he still looked unfit - certainly short of the condition required to halt the speedy Jonas Gutierrez and dynamic Habib Beye when they ganged up on him towards the end of the first half as Newcastle, having taken a pounding, at last felt emboldened to chance half an arm in attack.
For the rest it was a simple case of holding out for the visitor. Not that Given was overworked; after a magnificent early stop from a Lampard header, he watched Ashley Cole miscue an attempt to head home Jose Bosingwa’s gorgeous cross, whipped in after a deft switch to his left foot. What a player Bosingwa is; with Beye on the other side, it was arguable that we were watching the top two right-backs in the country. Beye’s display was described as ‘’magnificent’’ by Kinnear, who also lauded the centre-backs Sebastien Bassong (Taylor’s replacement) and Fabricio Coloccini.
A goal would have been nice, though. Both Coles did their best to help out in this respect, though Joe had strayed offside before he bundled it past Given, who had done well to parry from Florent Malouda, and Ashley, following the instinct that made him a schoolboy striker, arrived at the far post to meet another cross from Bosingwa; his header was deflected wide. The weight of sheer numbers, it seemed, was Chelsea’s main hope of buckling their opponents. Not only did both full-backs stay forward; the centre-backs took it in turn to join the attack, with Mikel always ready to drop back should it become necessary, which it never did.
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Independent:
Chelsea toil but Kinnear senses fresh start after stalemate
Chelsea 0 Newcastle United 0
By Chris McGrath at Stamford Bridge
So Joe Kinnear would welcome Alan Shearer at the Newcastle United training ground, for a couple of mornings a week – to "see for himself what football is all about". Perhaps, while he is about it, he can tell Luiz Felipe Scolari as well.
The Chelsea manager watched the Premier League leaders run rings round their guests for much of the afternoon, only to leave the pitch themselves dazed by the futility of their endeavours. Immaculate all season away from home, they have now dropped nine points at Stamford Bridge. But this startling scoreline can only be partly explained by their own ineptitude in front of goal. Credit is also becoming due – overdue, perhaps – to the growing resilience of a team now beaten only twice in eight starts under Kinnear.
Though he remains on a month-to-month contract, he is performing something akin to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. With Mike Ashley yet to find someone discerning enough to take the club off his hands, Shearer's interest in the job, or otherwise, remains academic. In the immediate term, certainly, the interim manager is going nowhere – and that may no longer be quite so true of his team.
"The deal was to be in charge until the club was sold, and nothing has changed, to be honest," Kinnear said. "But I have been informed that I am here for another month, and that will bring us up to the transfer window. So if I can twist [Ashley's] arm and get a few quid out of him, I can buy a couple of players.
"The club has not got a buyer yet, but people are talking to them. So far, nobody has come up with the cash. Mike said they were Americans, but the offer they made was well below his estimation of what the club was worth."
Kinnear declined to apologise for the extreme pragmatism of his strategy here, and in fairness nor did Scolari condemn him. Exasperated as he was by Newcastle's lack of ambition, he said afterwards: "They played for a draw, and we are thinking only of a win. So they were better than us."
At first, it promised to be a stroll for Chelsea. The lissom Jose Bosingwa repeatedly cantered past Damien Duff at his leisure, while his interplay with Deco left Jose Enrique as Canute before a tide of crosses from the right.
But Newcastle survived to half-time, exorbitant advantages in territory and possession having properly stretched Shay Given only the once – when he somehow got a glove to Frank Lampard's early header. The margins would get tighter in the second half. Given only just landed on the right side of the line after claiming a lofted free kick, while the referee detected an infringement when Joe Cole bundled Malouda's parried shot over the line.
Chelsea increasingly resorted to impatient punts outside the box. Anxiety gnawed the crowd, as they adjusted to the surreal possibility that Newcastle might hold out. Michael Owen, finally granted a start by Kinnear, was contained by Ashley Cole. And Duff's torments at the hands of Bosingwa made it seem a very long time since he arrived here as a record signing in 2003, an early token of Roman Abramovich's intentions.
Instead this had been a job for the bricklayers, for Fabrizio Coloccini in particular, and Sebastien Bassong alongside, with Nicky Butt setting an aggressive tone in midfield. "It's probably the best team performance we have had," Kinnear said. "It feels like a win in the dressing room. We drew a week ago and it felt like a loss, when they equalised in the 89th minute. But this feels like a victory."
Having lost their air of impregnability here last month, when beaten by Liverpool, Chelsea must now add this indignity to their Carling Cup exit against Burnley. Their fans managed to find some cheer as the results came in from Anfield and Eastlands, but these were only the coldest of home comforts.
Attendance: 41,660
Referee: Phil Dowd
Man of the match: Coloccini
Match rating: 5/10
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The Observer
Scolari's plan A frustrated by determined Given takeChelsea 0 Newcastle United 0
Jamie Jackson at Stamford Bridge
On an afternoon when fellow leaders Liverpool also drew, here was a large and unwanted dollop of frustration for Chelsea, whose display had Big Phil muttering right to the end, and their fans walking away with complaints that it had all been too casual.
That was about the right verdict, though on another day one of the chances their team created against Newcastle might have been finished. Yet what seems evident is that once it becomes clear the one-touch, caressed and clever stuff is not going to work, Luiz Felipe Scolari is reluctant to change his approach or, even worse, possesses no plan B.
Here, as against Sunderland in Chelsea's previous home league game, the Brazilian's response to his team's lack of success was continually to turn away in disbelief. The difference three weeks ago, though, was that Chelsea did get the breakthrough and ended their afternoon easy 5-0 winners against a particularly poor side.
'If we score the first goal, maybe we get three or four,' was Scolari's view of this outing. 'But Newcastle are very good, fantastic. They play for the draw and arrive at a draw. We play to win and don't, so they are better than us - one million per cent.'
Despite his genuine, if back-handed, praise, on this showing Newcastle are hardly better than their north-east neighbours. It was difficult to recall Joe Kinnear's team fashioning a clear chance, but in Shay Given they had a keeper who kept Chelsea out long enough for the crowd - always impatient in these parts - to start echoing Scolari's frustration.
There had been a clue in Chelsea's start. For eight minutes they struggled to gain any kind of fluency. Then, from the right, Florent Malouda created an opening for Frank Lampard by scooping up a pass that hung in the cold Stamford Bridge air. As the crowd hushed in anticipation, they saw a header from the midfielder venomous enough to draw a sharp save from Given which he palmed away to his right.
Phil Dowd, a referee who had shown one red and 25 yellow cards in eight previous Premier League outings, had indicated early on that he would not be doing the home side any favours, by a refusal to award any of the 50-50 decisions their way. This, in turn, drew enough ire from Scolari to attract the referee's attention and, after 11 minutes, caused him to halt the match and give the Brazilian a lecture which, not unpredictably, ended with a contemptuous shrug from Chelsea's manager.
And while it did have the desired effect - Scolari was a little more quiet for the rest of the game - it was his opposite number who needed to dish out the hard words after 17 minutes.
Then, Malouda was allowed to collect from Deco near halfway and walk through Newcastle - central defender Fabricio Coloccini was particularly culpable - before Habib Beye finally put in a crunching tackle that killed the threat.
Numerous Chelsea chances followed. Nicolas Anelka stood one up for Branislav Ivanovic, but the central defender headed wide. The game's best move - a patient interplay involving Anelka, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole, John Obi Mikel and Malouda - ended with a chipped Deco pass being volleyed ineffectively by Lampard.
Scolari, no doubt, had far more to say at half-time. Yet his frustration only deepened, because once Dowd re-started, Chelsea gradually faded. The closest they came to a goal arrived after 55 minutes when Lampard played in Malouda. His shot was saved sharply by the excellent Given and pushed on to the frame of the goal and when the rebound was bundled home by Joe Cole, it was correctly ruled offside.
'Best team performance since I've been here,' was the verdict of Kinnear, who took over at the end of September and is still unsure of the future. 'Mike Ashley told me on Friday I'm here for another month that'll take me up to the [transfer] window, so I'll hope to twist his arm for a couple of players.' And has the owner found a buyer yet? 'He said some Americans had made an offer well below his estimation.'
While that particular saga continues, Chelsea now visit Bordeaux in the Champions League before hosting Arsenal here on Sunday.
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Mail:
Chelsea 0 Newcastle 0: Scolari faces home truth By DAN KING
David Bowie's 'Heroes' was a curiously inappropriate song to play after the end of this match. Chelsea had only Fulham's draw at Liverpool to thank for retaining their place at the top of the Premier League after a lacklustre performance that means they have already dropped nine points at Stamford Bridge this season.Although Newcastle were obstinate opponents, their defending rarely had to be heroic and their lack of ambition was painfully obvious.
A certain former Chelsea manager would probably accuse Joe Kinnear's team of 'parking the bus', but even after such a frustrating afternoon, Luiz Felipe Scolari showed the class off the pitch that his players could not produce on it.'Newcastle were very good, fantastic,' he said. 'They played for a draw and they drew. They are better than us because they thought about a draw and they got a draw, and I thought only about winning and we did not win.'
Chelsea's home results this season are not the form of champions, even if they maintain their record-breaking away run of 10 consecutive wins, seven of them in this campaign. Scolari proceeded to reel off the statistics that demonstrated his team's superiority in possession and efforts on goal, but he insisted he was finding fault not with Newcastle's tactics or disruption caused by the international break, but with himself and his team.'It's not an international effect,' he said. 'It's my mistake and a mistake for my team, not a mistake by other coaches.'But most of Scolari's outfield players were apparently suffering the effects of either the injuries which had kept them out of midweek action or of journeys of varying lengths to represent their countries.
Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole were all back in the team after missing England's midweek win over Germany, but their country's loss was not their club's gain, barring a few flashes of inspiration from Joe Cole. Perversely, the home team's most impressive player was Jose Bosingwa, who had endured a long journey home from Portugal's defeat in Brazil which had meant he, Deco and Paulo Ferreira arrived back in England too late to train with Chelsea on Friday.But for all their dominance of possession and territory, Chelsea rarely looked like scoring against a visiting team whose fitness, organisation and defending had to be admired.Kinnear was informed on Friday by owner Mike Ashley that his rolling onemonth contract would be renewed again after a bid by an American consortium fell well short of Ashley's valuation. As the search for buyers continues, the former Wimbledon boss, buoyed by another good result, is now eyeing the possibility of buying players in the January transfer window.
Kinnear said: 'It's probably the best team performance we've had away from home. It feels like a victory. For the last three days we planned to force Chelsea to play in front of us and we did that really well.'They didn't create a clear-cut chance, really. Almost everything was long shots and Shay Given has pulled off two worldclass saves.'The first of those came as early as the eighth minute when Lampard failed to convert his team's best chance of the game. A match-sharp Lampard would probably have buried Florent Malouda's clipped cross when left unmarked in the box, but his header was still firm and keeper Given had to react quickly to save with his right arm.Early on, the Chelsea fans taunted the visitors with chants in support of former.captain 'Dennis Wise', but if the Newcastle faithful feel they have little to thank their executive director (football) for, they might at least acknowledge the excellence of two players signed in the summer on his watch. As Kinnear said, Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong were 'magnificent' at the heart of the away defence, with Bassong, in particular, making well-timed interventions on the rare occasions that Chelsea threatened to turn control into goals.Lampard's chance apart, Given was otherwise untroubled in the first half and Newcastle might have snatched a totally undeserved lead seven minutes before the break if John Terry had not run back at full pelt to put off Obafemi Martins after good work from Jonas had teed up the Nigeria international. If anything, Chelsea enjoyed even more of the play in the second half but were denied one goal by Given's untidy save from Nicolas Anelka, and another two by the officials.The men in black were probably correct on both occasions. Joe Cole was indeed offside when Malouda forced a fine reaction save from Given and so was not entitled to celebrate after jabbing the ball into the net from close range in the 54th minute. A few minutes later, some camera angles suggested Given had carried Lampard's deep free-kick over the line but, since several replays were inconclusive, you could hardly expect the assistant referee to flag for a goal.'It's not all doom and gloom, because it finished at Anfield: Liverpool 0 Fulham 0,' said Chelsea's stadium announcer. But, like his team, he was not convincing.
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NOTW:
Wise is shamed by Kinnear's brave battlers By ANDY DUNN
DENNIS WISE has got more front than Morecambe.
A Petr Cech punt away from his London office, Stamford Bridge tempted him out of hiding.
And how proud he must have been. After all, the fans eulogised him in chant for the first time this season and his team did everything but score.
But even Wise must have felt a twinge of admiration for Newcastle as well. Of course, demonised Dennis was at hospitality’s length from the Tyneside deputation.
Bodies
And if they spotted the executive director, they certainly did not acknowledge his presence.
Because this was a game for men who put their bodies on the line — not for men who keep their heads below the parapets.
This was about sweat not suits. It might be held up as evidence, albeit flimsy, of Chelsea’s creeping uncertainty at home.
It might be used as proof that Phil Scolari needs owner Roman Abramovich to blow a raspberry at the recession and recruit extra personnel.
If Wise continues to have the nerve to draw a salary from St James’ Park, he might even be useful in the transfer window. But what this team does not appear to need is heart.
Congratulations
Yes, there appeared to be a trace of scorn in Scolari’s declaration that Newcastle had arrived with only a draw in mind.
And the sincerity in his congratulations to Joe Kinnear might have been strained.
But the bruiser in Big Phil must have looked a touch fondly at the commitment of every one of the Newcastle players.
Centre-halves Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong defended beyond their limits, Habib Beye proved himself a bona fide rival to Jose Bosingwa as the Premier League’s best right-back and the midfield two of Nicky Butt and Danny Guthrie must have blistered up from their relentless spadework.
And as Kinnear morphed a 4-4-2 into a 4-6-0, Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen left their instincts in their kitbags and joined the resistance movements.
World-class
And the final repellent was one of the finest in the business.
No wonder Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has been tipping the wink to Serie A clubs about Shay Given.
“Shay made two world-class saves,” said Newcastle boss Kinnear, referring to a Gordon Banks-from-Pele imitation when Frank Lampard connected with Florent Malouda’s cross and a point-blank effort from the same French winger’s stretching volley.
“But the entire defence was excellent. They got everything in the way and, apart from those two saves, Chelsea didn’t really create many clear-cut chances.”
And this despite Ashley Cole, Joe Cole and Lampard all refreshed from a midweek break while their England colleagues battled wonderfully in Berlin. At least the two Coles could go home and watch their partners on reality TV.
Performance
For Kinnear, this almost made for surreality TV.
“This was the best team performance we have had away from home,” he announced. “To me, this feels like a victory. And to those lads in the dressing room, it feels like a win.
“We knew it would be a difficult match and we set up deeper — I asked Michael Owen to play a lot deeper than he is used to. And everybody was magnificent.”
Well, not quite.
But there was certainly a togetherness, a bond, a unified determination that reflects well on Kinnear. Alas, there were certainly no Newcastle chances. Not one.
Helmet
Cech did not need his helmet — in fact, his helmet could have kept goal without its owner.
Given needed a tin one.
But for all their bombardment, Chelsea always looked in danger of fattening their point-loss account at Stamford Bridge to nine.
Ashley Cole wasted a gorgeous Bosingwa cross, Joe Cole bundled one in, but after a linesman’s flag, and Given very nearly carried a Lampard free-kick over the whitewash.
But that moment of inspiration never arrived.
“They were better than us in that they came for a draw and got it,” said Scolari. “We came for a win and didn’t get it. So their strategy worked.
Buyers
"We did not win one point, we lost two. Sometimes, it is easier to win away from home because that team’s supporters put pressure on them to attack.
“Newcastle did not try to get a win but congratulations to them and to their manager.”
Kinnear later revealed that he has an extra month in charge and, with buyers still reluctant to dig deep, owner Mike Ashley could yet give him a long-term run at things.
On this evidence — and with Dennis watching — that would be the only wise move he has made for some time.
Newcastle frustrate Chelsea forwardsChelsea 0 Newcastle 0
Joe Lovejoy at Stamford Bridge
MUCH has been made of the positive difference in Chelsea under Luiz Felipe Scolari, but one unwanted change is their home form. For four years, Stamford Bridge was the impregnable fortress around which so much success was constructed. Under Scolari they have dropped nine points at home already, which contrasts sharply with their 100% record away.
Liverpool drew yesterday at home to Fulham, so failed to take advantage of the slip, and Manchester United were held goallesss at Villa in the evening kick-off, so United remain eight points behind the leaders with a game in hand.
Scolari’s team made all the running here, which might have been expected, but ran into opponents in an obdurate mood and intent on protecting their goal at all costs.
Newcastle failed to create a single goal opportunity but, like all good managers, Joe Kinnear, who has agreed to a one-month contract extension, is building from the back, and his charges defended with spirit, organisation and resolution. In eight matches since he replaced Kevin Keegan at St James’s Park, at the end of September, the pride of Tyneside have won two, drawn four and lost two, which is mid-table form.
Had Chelsea summoned anything like their usual economy, in terms of passing and chances, they would have won this match comfortably, but their final ball was not good enough, their attacking play lacked subtlety and, for all their possession, they failed to extend Shay Given as they should have done, although the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper did make a couple of notable saves.
Newcastle were preoccupied with defence, and their centre-halves, Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong, were outstanding, with the contribution of Habib Beye, the right-back, similarly impressive. Michael Owen operated as an auxiliary midfielder but with a relegation-threatened team, Kinnear can hardly have been expected to take on the league leaders at their own expansive game.
From his point of view, the end amply justified the means. “I lost two important players to injury on Friday, and I’m not apologising, not at all,” he said. “We planned to force Chelsea to play in front of us, and we did that very well. That was probably our best performance away from home, and it felt like a victory in the dressing room afterwards.”
The interim manager revealed that Newcastle’s absentee owner, Mike Ashley, was in negotiation with an American consortium, but that they had failed to match his valuation of the club, and that consequently Ashley had asked him on Friday to continue in temporary control for another month, starting next weekend.
“The deal was to be in charge until the club was sold and nothing has changed since then. I’ve been informed I’m here for another month. That should take me up to the transfer window, at the start of January, and I’ll be looking to do some business then.” He is planning to unload surplus squad members, who were not involved yesterday, to raise funds for two defensive reinforcements.
“If I can twist his arm and get a few quid out of him, I can buy a couple of players,” added Kinnear.
Scolari bemoaned “two points lost” but, magnanimously, had nothing but praise for the opposition. “I told the coach ‘congratulations’. Newcastle played very well,” he said. “They played for a draw with ten men behind the ball, and got it, so their approach was 100% right. In that respect they are better than us today, because they got what they wanted.
“We had 24 shots at goal, they had none, and we had 70 per cent of the possession, but couldn’t score.”
The story of the match can be quickly told. Chelsea made all the chances, the most promising of which, early in the second half, saw Given parry Florent Malouda’s shot into the path of Joe Cole, who prodded the ball home from an offside position. Otherwise, their best opening was the product of a Malouda cross that Frank Lampard met with a firm header, seven yards out, only for Given to make a flying, one-handed save. It was his best stop of the day.
Scolari accepted that his team needed to improve in their Champions League match away to Bordeaux on Wednesday, and especially at home to Arsenal next Sunday. He said: “We will be working on it all week in training, and I may change the positions of one or two players.”
Newcastle will be looking to maintain their progress in a northeast scrap at Middlesbrough next Saturday, when Taylor and Barton will again be absent.
CHELSEA: Cech 6, A Cole 6, J Terry 6, Ivanovic 6, Lampard 6, J Cole 6 (Ballack 82min), Mikel 6, Malouda 6 (Kalou 71min), Bosingwa 6, Deco 6, Anelka 6.
NEWCASTLE: Given 7, Coloccini 7, Enrique 6, Guthrie 6, Martins 5 (Ameobi 60mins), Owen 6, Duff 5, Bassong 7, Gutierrez 6 (N’Zogbia 76min), Beye 7, Butt 6.
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Telegraph:
Newcastle United cause Chelsea to lose two points with spoiling tacticsChelsea (0) Newcastle United (0) 0 By Patrick Barclay
By Joe Kinnear’s own reckoning when he returned to football in late September, he should be just another name on the list of former Newcastle managers by now. He got that forecast wrong - it was based on Mike Ashley’s vain hope that the club would be sold within a matter of weeks - but Kinnear is clearly better at management than prophecy, for this was Newcastle’s 10th point in eight matches and the threat of relegation, though still present, has receded.
To avoid defeat in a Premier League match at Chelsea is no longer a startling achievement - Liverpool have won at Stamford Bridge this season and Tottenham, as well as Manchester United, drawn - but for Newcastle to head back north with only their third away point of the campaign may have a positive psychological effect, for all the negativity of their tactics here. We shall see; next weekend they are at Middlesbrough and maybe there they will try a shot at goal.
An utterly unapologetic Kinnear explained: ‘’After losing two key players [the defender Steven Taylor and midfielder Joey Barton], we came with a plan to force Chelsea to play in front of us.’’ And that was how it worked out. Although Shay Given made a couple of excellent saves, Chelsea had few clear openings, as Luiz Felipe Scolari more or less admitted. ‘’We didn’t win a point today,’’ he said. ‘’We lost two. They were better than us because they were thinking only of a draw and they drew - we were looking for a win and didn’t get it.’’
A pattern is emerging: Chelsea have taken maximum points on their travels and dropped nine at home. ‘’Sometimes it’s easier away,’’ remarked Scolari, ‘’because the opposition are under pressure to attack. Here they don’t need to.’’ He might be heartened by the reflection that, upon his team’s return from Champions League duty in Bordeaux, their next visitors are Arsenal: hardly likely to be the mirror image, for all Arsene Wenger’s troubles, of Saturday’s Newcastle.
Kinnear will be in charge for the foreseeable future. On Thursday, Ashley assured him his month-by-month contract would be renewed after Middlesbrough. ‘’And that,’’ Kinnear said, ‘’will take us into the transfer window, so I hope he’ll give me a few bob for new players.’’ A new owner could, of course, come in and upset things for Kinnear, but the latest offer from the United States did not, we gather, meet Ashley’s expectations.
If that was no surprise, the same might have been said when Chelsea trotted out featuring Frank Lampard and the Coles, all of whom had been declared unfit for England duty three days earlier. To be fair to Ashley Cole, he still looked unfit - certainly short of the condition required to halt the speedy Jonas Gutierrez and dynamic Habib Beye when they ganged up on him towards the end of the first half as Newcastle, having taken a pounding, at last felt emboldened to chance half an arm in attack.
For the rest it was a simple case of holding out for the visitor. Not that Given was overworked; after a magnificent early stop from a Lampard header, he watched Ashley Cole miscue an attempt to head home Jose Bosingwa’s gorgeous cross, whipped in after a deft switch to his left foot. What a player Bosingwa is; with Beye on the other side, it was arguable that we were watching the top two right-backs in the country. Beye’s display was described as ‘’magnificent’’ by Kinnear, who also lauded the centre-backs Sebastien Bassong (Taylor’s replacement) and Fabricio Coloccini.
A goal would have been nice, though. Both Coles did their best to help out in this respect, though Joe had strayed offside before he bundled it past Given, who had done well to parry from Florent Malouda, and Ashley, following the instinct that made him a schoolboy striker, arrived at the far post to meet another cross from Bosingwa; his header was deflected wide. The weight of sheer numbers, it seemed, was Chelsea’s main hope of buckling their opponents. Not only did both full-backs stay forward; the centre-backs took it in turn to join the attack, with Mikel always ready to drop back should it become necessary, which it never did.
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Independent:
Chelsea toil but Kinnear senses fresh start after stalemate
Chelsea 0 Newcastle United 0
By Chris McGrath at Stamford Bridge
So Joe Kinnear would welcome Alan Shearer at the Newcastle United training ground, for a couple of mornings a week – to "see for himself what football is all about". Perhaps, while he is about it, he can tell Luiz Felipe Scolari as well.
The Chelsea manager watched the Premier League leaders run rings round their guests for much of the afternoon, only to leave the pitch themselves dazed by the futility of their endeavours. Immaculate all season away from home, they have now dropped nine points at Stamford Bridge. But this startling scoreline can only be partly explained by their own ineptitude in front of goal. Credit is also becoming due – overdue, perhaps – to the growing resilience of a team now beaten only twice in eight starts under Kinnear.
Though he remains on a month-to-month contract, he is performing something akin to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. With Mike Ashley yet to find someone discerning enough to take the club off his hands, Shearer's interest in the job, or otherwise, remains academic. In the immediate term, certainly, the interim manager is going nowhere – and that may no longer be quite so true of his team.
"The deal was to be in charge until the club was sold, and nothing has changed, to be honest," Kinnear said. "But I have been informed that I am here for another month, and that will bring us up to the transfer window. So if I can twist [Ashley's] arm and get a few quid out of him, I can buy a couple of players.
"The club has not got a buyer yet, but people are talking to them. So far, nobody has come up with the cash. Mike said they were Americans, but the offer they made was well below his estimation of what the club was worth."
Kinnear declined to apologise for the extreme pragmatism of his strategy here, and in fairness nor did Scolari condemn him. Exasperated as he was by Newcastle's lack of ambition, he said afterwards: "They played for a draw, and we are thinking only of a win. So they were better than us."
At first, it promised to be a stroll for Chelsea. The lissom Jose Bosingwa repeatedly cantered past Damien Duff at his leisure, while his interplay with Deco left Jose Enrique as Canute before a tide of crosses from the right.
But Newcastle survived to half-time, exorbitant advantages in territory and possession having properly stretched Shay Given only the once – when he somehow got a glove to Frank Lampard's early header. The margins would get tighter in the second half. Given only just landed on the right side of the line after claiming a lofted free kick, while the referee detected an infringement when Joe Cole bundled Malouda's parried shot over the line.
Chelsea increasingly resorted to impatient punts outside the box. Anxiety gnawed the crowd, as they adjusted to the surreal possibility that Newcastle might hold out. Michael Owen, finally granted a start by Kinnear, was contained by Ashley Cole. And Duff's torments at the hands of Bosingwa made it seem a very long time since he arrived here as a record signing in 2003, an early token of Roman Abramovich's intentions.
Instead this had been a job for the bricklayers, for Fabrizio Coloccini in particular, and Sebastien Bassong alongside, with Nicky Butt setting an aggressive tone in midfield. "It's probably the best team performance we have had," Kinnear said. "It feels like a win in the dressing room. We drew a week ago and it felt like a loss, when they equalised in the 89th minute. But this feels like a victory."
Having lost their air of impregnability here last month, when beaten by Liverpool, Chelsea must now add this indignity to their Carling Cup exit against Burnley. Their fans managed to find some cheer as the results came in from Anfield and Eastlands, but these were only the coldest of home comforts.
Attendance: 41,660
Referee: Phil Dowd
Man of the match: Coloccini
Match rating: 5/10
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The Observer
Scolari's plan A frustrated by determined Given takeChelsea 0 Newcastle United 0
Jamie Jackson at Stamford Bridge
On an afternoon when fellow leaders Liverpool also drew, here was a large and unwanted dollop of frustration for Chelsea, whose display had Big Phil muttering right to the end, and their fans walking away with complaints that it had all been too casual.
That was about the right verdict, though on another day one of the chances their team created against Newcastle might have been finished. Yet what seems evident is that once it becomes clear the one-touch, caressed and clever stuff is not going to work, Luiz Felipe Scolari is reluctant to change his approach or, even worse, possesses no plan B.
Here, as against Sunderland in Chelsea's previous home league game, the Brazilian's response to his team's lack of success was continually to turn away in disbelief. The difference three weeks ago, though, was that Chelsea did get the breakthrough and ended their afternoon easy 5-0 winners against a particularly poor side.
'If we score the first goal, maybe we get three or four,' was Scolari's view of this outing. 'But Newcastle are very good, fantastic. They play for the draw and arrive at a draw. We play to win and don't, so they are better than us - one million per cent.'
Despite his genuine, if back-handed, praise, on this showing Newcastle are hardly better than their north-east neighbours. It was difficult to recall Joe Kinnear's team fashioning a clear chance, but in Shay Given they had a keeper who kept Chelsea out long enough for the crowd - always impatient in these parts - to start echoing Scolari's frustration.
There had been a clue in Chelsea's start. For eight minutes they struggled to gain any kind of fluency. Then, from the right, Florent Malouda created an opening for Frank Lampard by scooping up a pass that hung in the cold Stamford Bridge air. As the crowd hushed in anticipation, they saw a header from the midfielder venomous enough to draw a sharp save from Given which he palmed away to his right.
Phil Dowd, a referee who had shown one red and 25 yellow cards in eight previous Premier League outings, had indicated early on that he would not be doing the home side any favours, by a refusal to award any of the 50-50 decisions their way. This, in turn, drew enough ire from Scolari to attract the referee's attention and, after 11 minutes, caused him to halt the match and give the Brazilian a lecture which, not unpredictably, ended with a contemptuous shrug from Chelsea's manager.
And while it did have the desired effect - Scolari was a little more quiet for the rest of the game - it was his opposite number who needed to dish out the hard words after 17 minutes.
Then, Malouda was allowed to collect from Deco near halfway and walk through Newcastle - central defender Fabricio Coloccini was particularly culpable - before Habib Beye finally put in a crunching tackle that killed the threat.
Numerous Chelsea chances followed. Nicolas Anelka stood one up for Branislav Ivanovic, but the central defender headed wide. The game's best move - a patient interplay involving Anelka, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole, John Obi Mikel and Malouda - ended with a chipped Deco pass being volleyed ineffectively by Lampard.
Scolari, no doubt, had far more to say at half-time. Yet his frustration only deepened, because once Dowd re-started, Chelsea gradually faded. The closest they came to a goal arrived after 55 minutes when Lampard played in Malouda. His shot was saved sharply by the excellent Given and pushed on to the frame of the goal and when the rebound was bundled home by Joe Cole, it was correctly ruled offside.
'Best team performance since I've been here,' was the verdict of Kinnear, who took over at the end of September and is still unsure of the future. 'Mike Ashley told me on Friday I'm here for another month that'll take me up to the [transfer] window, so I'll hope to twist his arm for a couple of players.' And has the owner found a buyer yet? 'He said some Americans had made an offer well below his estimation.'
While that particular saga continues, Chelsea now visit Bordeaux in the Champions League before hosting Arsenal here on Sunday.
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Mail:
Chelsea 0 Newcastle 0: Scolari faces home truth By DAN KING
David Bowie's 'Heroes' was a curiously inappropriate song to play after the end of this match. Chelsea had only Fulham's draw at Liverpool to thank for retaining their place at the top of the Premier League after a lacklustre performance that means they have already dropped nine points at Stamford Bridge this season.Although Newcastle were obstinate opponents, their defending rarely had to be heroic and their lack of ambition was painfully obvious.
A certain former Chelsea manager would probably accuse Joe Kinnear's team of 'parking the bus', but even after such a frustrating afternoon, Luiz Felipe Scolari showed the class off the pitch that his players could not produce on it.'Newcastle were very good, fantastic,' he said. 'They played for a draw and they drew. They are better than us because they thought about a draw and they got a draw, and I thought only about winning and we did not win.'
Chelsea's home results this season are not the form of champions, even if they maintain their record-breaking away run of 10 consecutive wins, seven of them in this campaign. Scolari proceeded to reel off the statistics that demonstrated his team's superiority in possession and efforts on goal, but he insisted he was finding fault not with Newcastle's tactics or disruption caused by the international break, but with himself and his team.'It's not an international effect,' he said. 'It's my mistake and a mistake for my team, not a mistake by other coaches.'But most of Scolari's outfield players were apparently suffering the effects of either the injuries which had kept them out of midweek action or of journeys of varying lengths to represent their countries.
Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole were all back in the team after missing England's midweek win over Germany, but their country's loss was not their club's gain, barring a few flashes of inspiration from Joe Cole. Perversely, the home team's most impressive player was Jose Bosingwa, who had endured a long journey home from Portugal's defeat in Brazil which had meant he, Deco and Paulo Ferreira arrived back in England too late to train with Chelsea on Friday.But for all their dominance of possession and territory, Chelsea rarely looked like scoring against a visiting team whose fitness, organisation and defending had to be admired.Kinnear was informed on Friday by owner Mike Ashley that his rolling onemonth contract would be renewed again after a bid by an American consortium fell well short of Ashley's valuation. As the search for buyers continues, the former Wimbledon boss, buoyed by another good result, is now eyeing the possibility of buying players in the January transfer window.
Kinnear said: 'It's probably the best team performance we've had away from home. It feels like a victory. For the last three days we planned to force Chelsea to play in front of us and we did that really well.'They didn't create a clear-cut chance, really. Almost everything was long shots and Shay Given has pulled off two worldclass saves.'The first of those came as early as the eighth minute when Lampard failed to convert his team's best chance of the game. A match-sharp Lampard would probably have buried Florent Malouda's clipped cross when left unmarked in the box, but his header was still firm and keeper Given had to react quickly to save with his right arm.Early on, the Chelsea fans taunted the visitors with chants in support of former.captain 'Dennis Wise', but if the Newcastle faithful feel they have little to thank their executive director (football) for, they might at least acknowledge the excellence of two players signed in the summer on his watch. As Kinnear said, Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong were 'magnificent' at the heart of the away defence, with Bassong, in particular, making well-timed interventions on the rare occasions that Chelsea threatened to turn control into goals.Lampard's chance apart, Given was otherwise untroubled in the first half and Newcastle might have snatched a totally undeserved lead seven minutes before the break if John Terry had not run back at full pelt to put off Obafemi Martins after good work from Jonas had teed up the Nigeria international. If anything, Chelsea enjoyed even more of the play in the second half but were denied one goal by Given's untidy save from Nicolas Anelka, and another two by the officials.The men in black were probably correct on both occasions. Joe Cole was indeed offside when Malouda forced a fine reaction save from Given and so was not entitled to celebrate after jabbing the ball into the net from close range in the 54th minute. A few minutes later, some camera angles suggested Given had carried Lampard's deep free-kick over the line but, since several replays were inconclusive, you could hardly expect the assistant referee to flag for a goal.'It's not all doom and gloom, because it finished at Anfield: Liverpool 0 Fulham 0,' said Chelsea's stadium announcer. But, like his team, he was not convincing.
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NOTW:
Wise is shamed by Kinnear's brave battlers By ANDY DUNN
DENNIS WISE has got more front than Morecambe.
A Petr Cech punt away from his London office, Stamford Bridge tempted him out of hiding.
And how proud he must have been. After all, the fans eulogised him in chant for the first time this season and his team did everything but score.
But even Wise must have felt a twinge of admiration for Newcastle as well. Of course, demonised Dennis was at hospitality’s length from the Tyneside deputation.
Bodies
And if they spotted the executive director, they certainly did not acknowledge his presence.
Because this was a game for men who put their bodies on the line — not for men who keep their heads below the parapets.
This was about sweat not suits. It might be held up as evidence, albeit flimsy, of Chelsea’s creeping uncertainty at home.
It might be used as proof that Phil Scolari needs owner Roman Abramovich to blow a raspberry at the recession and recruit extra personnel.
If Wise continues to have the nerve to draw a salary from St James’ Park, he might even be useful in the transfer window. But what this team does not appear to need is heart.
Congratulations
Yes, there appeared to be a trace of scorn in Scolari’s declaration that Newcastle had arrived with only a draw in mind.
And the sincerity in his congratulations to Joe Kinnear might have been strained.
But the bruiser in Big Phil must have looked a touch fondly at the commitment of every one of the Newcastle players.
Centre-halves Fabricio Coloccini and Sebastien Bassong defended beyond their limits, Habib Beye proved himself a bona fide rival to Jose Bosingwa as the Premier League’s best right-back and the midfield two of Nicky Butt and Danny Guthrie must have blistered up from their relentless spadework.
And as Kinnear morphed a 4-4-2 into a 4-6-0, Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen left their instincts in their kitbags and joined the resistance movements.
World-class
And the final repellent was one of the finest in the business.
No wonder Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has been tipping the wink to Serie A clubs about Shay Given.
“Shay made two world-class saves,” said Newcastle boss Kinnear, referring to a Gordon Banks-from-Pele imitation when Frank Lampard connected with Florent Malouda’s cross and a point-blank effort from the same French winger’s stretching volley.
“But the entire defence was excellent. They got everything in the way and, apart from those two saves, Chelsea didn’t really create many clear-cut chances.”
And this despite Ashley Cole, Joe Cole and Lampard all refreshed from a midweek break while their England colleagues battled wonderfully in Berlin. At least the two Coles could go home and watch their partners on reality TV.
Performance
For Kinnear, this almost made for surreality TV.
“This was the best team performance we have had away from home,” he announced. “To me, this feels like a victory. And to those lads in the dressing room, it feels like a win.
“We knew it would be a difficult match and we set up deeper — I asked Michael Owen to play a lot deeper than he is used to. And everybody was magnificent.”
Well, not quite.
But there was certainly a togetherness, a bond, a unified determination that reflects well on Kinnear. Alas, there were certainly no Newcastle chances. Not one.
Helmet
Cech did not need his helmet — in fact, his helmet could have kept goal without its owner.
Given needed a tin one.
But for all their bombardment, Chelsea always looked in danger of fattening their point-loss account at Stamford Bridge to nine.
Ashley Cole wasted a gorgeous Bosingwa cross, Joe Cole bundled one in, but after a linesman’s flag, and Given very nearly carried a Lampard free-kick over the whitewash.
But that moment of inspiration never arrived.
“They were better than us in that they came for a draw and got it,” said Scolari. “We came for a win and didn’t get it. So their strategy worked.
Buyers
"We did not win one point, we lost two. Sometimes, it is easier to win away from home because that team’s supporters put pressure on them to attack.
“Newcastle did not try to get a win but congratulations to them and to their manager.”
Kinnear later revealed that he has an extra month in charge and, with buyers still reluctant to dig deep, owner Mike Ashley could yet give him a long-term run at things.
On this evidence — and with Dennis watching — that would be the only wise move he has made for some time.
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