The Guardian
United come out fighting to resurrect their title challenge
Kevin McCarra at Old TraffordMonday November 7, 2005
Old Trafford has become the most august cemetery in English football.Arsenal's unbeaten run of 49 Premiership matches was laid to rest herelast season and now Chelsea's sequence, which lasted nine fixturesfewer, has also gone the way of all flesh. There was of course no hushand the mourners from London in the crowd were roundly jeered.It is still much too soon to say that Manchester United's reputationhas been raised from the dead but their combativeness was resurrectedyesterday. In a game of fitful quality and gripping intensity theirfingers were not to be prised from the 1-0 lead that came improbablythrough Darren Fletcher's first goal since the closing afternoon oflast season.
The midfielder had been among the more vilified performers in United'sabject loss to Lille last week, so much so that a bitter fan valuedhim at 1p in a mock auction on the internet. Supporters will not viewany member of their squad as priceless for a little longer but theirefforts here and the score will be cherished for a long time to come.In addition to the win bonus United's players can enjoy the relief ofknowing that their interrogation is, at least, suspended. Thequestions will be asked of Chelsea, who in the last fortnight hadalready been eliminated from the League Cup by Charlton and downed byReal Betis in a Champions League fixture. Jose Mourinho has never hadto face a spell of this nature since he came to England.
The end of his personal record against Sir Alex Ferguson of sixunbeaten matches with Porto and Chelsea will deepen hisreflectiveness. There can, of course, be no genuine crisis when he hasfootballers such as these at his command. For long periods of thesecond half, when the introduction of Eidur Gudjohnsen broughtpertinence and flow to the passing, they were far superior to United,but they could not exploit the advantage in their normal ruthlessfashion.
After the interval Asier del Horno volleyed a Damien Duff cross overthe bar but the other chances tended to be more muddled. Duff andGudjohnsen linked slickly after 57 minutes but Didier Drogba was pronewhen he poked the ball narrowly wide. The most promising chance arosefrom another Duff break when Frank Lampard burst through in hiscustomary fashion, to be foiled by Edwin van der Sar's close-rangesave on 68 minutes.
If games were to be measured purely by the distribution of chancesUnited could claim to have had the better of it. In the 54th minute,for instance, Wayne Rooney had flighted a delectable pass over DelHorno and when Fletcher then rolled the perfect cut-back it wasextraordinary to witness the arch-predator Ruud van Nistelrooysloppily fire over.
The match had been decided instead with a 31st-minute goal pluckedfrom a situation that had seemed bland. Ronaldo's cross had, afterall, been hit from deep on the left and, even then, Chelsea fans wouldhave been surprised rather than fearful to notice Fletcher moving forit beyond the far post. Mourinho even questioned whether the Scot hadmeant to score from a such an area.
None the less the midfielder's header looped over Petr Cech and JohnTerry before it dropped inside the far post. It is possible Fletcherwas playing the percentages and seeking to send the ball intodangerous territory. Players deserve to be rewarded now and again forthat instinct.
The Chelsea manager should really doubt his own men rather thanquerying Fletcher's intention. The only person even to make a vagueeffort to mark the scorer was Michael Essien. The Stamford Bridge clubhave conceded at least one goal in each of their last five games. Thismight prove to be an intermittent fault that is soon repaired but thestringency has vanished for the time being.
United's back four, against all expectation, fared better. Early inthe encounter when both sides were obsessed with hitting the long ballit was Chelsea who found the tactic productive. A beautifully flightedpass took out a static Rio Ferdinand but Drogba could not beat Van derSar from an angle. The United centre-back, though, did rally to ensurethis would not be yet another afternoon when his concentration andcharacter were doubted.
The same could be said of the entire United line-up. They must havetaken encouragement early on from the ease with which Chelsea wereknocked off balance. Too often the visitors failed to release men intotelling areas and when, for instance, Joe Cole sent Drogba gallopingaway from Mikaël Silvestre he was only in position to fire into theside-netting.
There was even nervousness on the verge of the interval when theirmanoeuvre at a free-kick was so ponderous that the members of theUnited wall had burst out to rush Lampard into a mis-kick when theball came to him at last. It was the sort of day when the home crowdwere ecstatic when any player harried Chelsea. United, of course,traditionally demand more than that from themselves but this will havedone very nicely for the time being.
Man of the match: Alan Smith (Manchester United)
Chelsea will still be the champions, says Mourinho
Kevin McCarraMonday November 7, 2005The Guardian
It has been a long wait but now we know how Jose Mourinho reacts to aperiod of real adversity. For the first time since he came to England,Chelsea have lost two significant matches in succession, following theChampions League defeat at Real Betis with yesterday's failure at OldTrafford. He was intent on reassuring everyone in his camp, even ifone observation had the touch of a trademark jibe about it."They are under pressure," he said of the victors. Mourinho was notingthat Manchester United have to win a game in hand, against Wigan nextmonth, to be sure of getting within seven points of Chelsea. "Theyhave a good team and a good manager," said Mourinho of United, "andthe future can only be better- but not, I believe, better enough forthem to be champions of England again."This will be taken as a jibe in Greater Manchester and beyond, yet theviews were probably intended for consumption at Cobham, the Chelseatraining ground. While Mourinho had agreed that the loss in Sevillewas merited, he treated this result just like the failure on penaltiesto Charlton in the League Cup. "This was a game we did not deserve tolose, but they fought a lot," he claimed.
That last phrase brought a fleeting graciousness to a speech otherwisedirected towards his own players. "You lose these games and you wantto look at them and be with them and show that they deserve to beappreciated," said Mourinho, drawing a contrast with the disgust hefelt for his side's attitude in the first half of the game with Betis.
"In the second half no one believed this was Old Trafford the wayChelsea pressed. We did everything to win the game. The same way Igive [United] credit I hope they can realise why Chelsea arechampions, top of the league and I believe will be champions again."
He tried to force himself to enjoy participation in a game as hardfought as yesterday's had been. "You feel proud of the team and ofparticipating," Mourinho claimed. He had a brisk reaction when askedif Chelsea would go into decline as Arsenal had done when, also aftera long unbeaten run in the Premiership, they were stopped in theirtracks at Old Trafford last season.
"No, I don't think so," said Mourinho. "Especially because of the waythe team performed." He added: "When Arsenal lost here the differencewas small and they were very close to the other opponents but at themoment we still have a comfortable distance between us and theothers."
He is intent on telling his men to stay "calm and confident". TheChelsea manager, whose team are six points ahead of Wigan with a gamemore played, argued that United would love to swap places, but hecannot deny a dip in form.
The winners had no need to enter a debate when there was a victory tobe savoured after the 4-1 rout at the Riverside and the loss to Lille."Everyone knows where the basis for this performance came from," saidthe United midfielder Alan Smith, savouring the reaction to thecriticism from, amongst others, the captain Roy Keane. "Sometimes youneed to be reminded of what it means to play for United. Roy Keane isa proud person and he told us exactly what he said."
Ferguson in rude health after Keano therapy
Richard Williams at Old TraffordMonday November 7, 2005The Guardian
There could have been no better occasion for Sir Alex Ferguson to geta very significant monkey off his back. On the day of his 19thanniversary as manager of Manchester United, after a week in whichmany voices questioned his right to celebrate a 20th, he confrontedJose Mourinho and came out a winner for the first time in sevenmeetings. Though it would be an exaggeration to say that United werereborn in yesterday's victory, few witnesses would doubt that theycreated a platform from which to mount a resurgence.
Ferguson himself had a short answer to a question about the rumours ofhis enforced departure before the end of the season. "It's a load ofbollocks," he told Sky TV as he reflected on a match in which United'scompetitive spirit appeared to erase doubts about his continuingability to motivate his players.When Mourinho said last week that he considered United to be Chelsea'sclosest rivals, it seemed likely that he was both killing Fergusonwith flattery and dealing Arsène Wenger yet another insult into thebargain. The Chelsea manager appears to believe that the best way todeal with Ferguson is to pal up with him, call him "boss" and share abottle of red wine. In that way, perhaps, he hopes to avoid the sortof fangs-bared commitment with which United traditionally respond toFerguson's highly personal dislike of Wenger.
Yesterday's performance, lacking the ferocity conferred by thepresence of Roy Keane, was not quite of the 18-certificate varietywith which United knocked Wenger's team out of the FA Cup in April oflast year and then, eight months later, put an end to Arsenal's49-match unbeaten record. Their results over the past few weeks haveexposed the comparative meagreness of Ferguson's resources,particularly in the enforced absence of his two dynamic full-backs,Gary Neville and Gabriel Heinze, and the team have stuttered badly. IfUnited were to prevail yesterday, they needed to overcome their ownrecent failings and to find a constructive response to the clubcaptain's midweek criticisms.
Luckily for them, Chelsea are experiencing a dip of their own. Theirrocket-propelled start to the season is receding into history, andyesterday's outcome demonstrated that if they are to maintain theirdominance they will need to knuckle down and fight. Yesterday Unitedset them the perfect example, overcoming their own initial hesitancythrough precisely the kind of collective effort of will that theircritics claim has become an endangered commodity at Old Trafford.
"We wanted to make sure that we played quick, passing football,getting it into their box as soon as we could," Ferguson saidafterwards. "We tried to instil that into them in the last few days.
"The loss to Lille on Wednesday night was not a good one. No matterwhat we said about the terrible pitch, we didn't play well enough towin it. How you handle yourselves after something like that isimportant. Everyone here has got on with the job."
Chelsea's own lack of fluency made United's job easier. Enjoying thevast majority of possession in the early stages, the home side lookedstilted in their movements. The man with the ball would stop, give apass to a stationary team-mate, and then start moving again. Thegeometry was static and relatively easy for Chelsea to counter.
But when the west London team proved to have few attacking ideas oftheir own, beyond hitting long balls for Didier Drogba to chase,United were given the scope to play themselves back into some sort ofrecognisable shape. What was not lacking, the watching Keane wouldhave noticed, was effort. Alan Smith lacks too many of the necessaryattributes to make him the captain's ideal understudy, but very littlecould be said against his performance in yesterday's demandingenvironment. Two tackles midway through the first half, on Drogba andJoe Cole, were of the crunchingly uncompromising sort that can liftthe whole team.
United were drifting at the time, and the chant of "There's only oneKeano" had been heard from both ends of the ground. Five minutes afterSmith had made his point, United were ahead when Darren Fletcher,another to have felt the lash of Keane's tongue, chased a lost causeat the far post and jumped to head the winning goal. Smith acceptedthe man-of-the-match award, but Fletcher probably deserved an extraswig from the presentation bottle of champagne for the fight he showedthroughout the match and for the header with which, after 54 minutes,he created a chance that Ruud van Nistelrooy should not havesquandered.
And so Roman Abramovich sat in the stands watching the end ofChelsea's unbeaten run in the league, while Malcolm Glazer and hissons, somewhere in the United States, could breathe a sigh of reliefin the knowledge that United's recent poor results might not, afterall, have imperilled their highly geared debt repayments.
"It was a fantastic spectacle," Ferguson said. "The keenness anddesperation to play of our young players was marvellous, but in thelast five minutes we were under the cosh because Chelsea went foreverything. That's what champions do. We've done it many times in thepast ourselves. And today was a turning point because the supportersshowed how much they care for the club. When they're like that, itraises the ante and puts the players under pressure to do well. Todaythey were unbelievable."
United's width was the key to unlocking Chelsea
David Pleat's chalkboard
Monday November 7, 2005The Guardian
Manchester United went back to playing with their traditional widthand that was the key to them starting so positively - and scoring whatturned out to be the decisive goal. Although Chelsea found a responsein the second half and gained the ascendancy, they could not equalise.Sir Alex Ferguson decided to stretch Chelsea by asking CristianoRonaldo to hug the left touchline. With United passing to him at everyopportunity, it worked brilliantly before the interval. They got theball across the pitch with such quick passes that Ronaldo was able torun at Paulo Ferreira before the full-back could intercept or hadcover.
When the ball was with Wes Brown on the other side, Ferreira wastucked in to cover his centre-backs. But with three rapid passesUnited pulled him out wide and got Ronaldo one against one with him,running at speed. Ferreira had no protection because John Terry wasmarking Ruud van Nistelrooy and William Gallas was covering on theleft. With Chelsea stretched it opened room in the middle for WayneRooney.Ronaldo's value was shown when he provided the cross from which DarrenFletcher scored. With Fletcher giving width on the right when his teamhad possession and tucking in when they lost it, United had a niceshape from which to dictate play. Chelsea found it hard to buildattacks when they had the ball at the back because Rooney stuck nearClaude Makelele and disrupted his promptings.
Makelele is usually so good at protecting Chelsea but he was renderedalmost redundant as an intercepter in front of his back four - Unitedbypassed him rather than going through the middle and prevented himfrom cutting out passes in front of his central defenders.
Chelsea did not get close enough to their opponents to prevent theball being worked to Ronaldo, but in the second half they closed thatspace and stopped the flow of passes to the wing. Makelele movedcloser to Rooney rather than sitting and hoping to intercept thingsand his midfield colleagues got tighter to Alan Smith and PaulScholes, allowing Chelsea to dominate.
That forced Ronaldo to tuck in to defend, so Ferreira was closer andRonaldo was less of an attacking threat. Jose Mourinho took chances,with Eidur Gudjohnsen coming on for Michael Essien and playing furtherforward, Shaun Wright-Phillips using his pace against tiring legs andCarlton Cole replacing Asier Del Horno. But United blocked bravely andheld on to win a vibrant game which was a credit to the Premiership.
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Independent :Ferguson told to mind his language as United end Chelsea's 40-game runBy Andy HunterPublished: 07 November 2005Manchester United were unified in their retort to accusations ofdecline at Old Trafford yesterday, their players inflicting a firstPremiership defeat on Chelsea after 40 unbeaten games and theirmanager, Sir Alex Ferguson, describing claims his job is underpressure as "absolute bollocks" live on national television.
The United manager was reprimanded on air by Sky reporter GeoffShreeves for his expletive but Ferguson was in irrepressible mood ashe savoured a tumultuous victory over Jose Mourinho's side, which senthis side third in the table and reignited their pursuit of thechampions.
After a week in which successive defeats at Middlesbrough and Lilleand the notorious Roy Keane interview had aggravated a sense of crisisat Old Trafford, there was a momentous sense of relief when DarrenFletcher, one of the players who had been the target of the Unitedcaptain's criticism, sent a looping header over Petr Cech in the 31stminute and ultimately condemned Chelsea to their first League reversesince 16 October 2004.
However, when asked if he had ever been under more pressure during his19 years at the United helm than he was before yesterday's victory,Ferguson bristled: "That's absolute bollocks; people forget we went 13games without winning once" before being asked to curb his languagefor the benefit of watching children.
United remain an ominous 10 points behind the reigning champions, butFerguson insisted: "This is a big result and a big performance. Wewere terrific for an hour and, though I thought we sat back too muchin the last five minutes, we got there. It is an enormous result. Youdon't get as much consistency when you have to play young lads all thetime but they have carried us because of our injuries and they wereoutstanding. They needed more belief in their own ability and we havetried to instil that in them."
Fletcher was not the only Keane target to respond as the injured clubcaptain would have wished, with Alan Smith producing his finestperformance as a midfielder to claim the man-of-the-match award."Everyone knows where the criticism has come from and it is not justRoy," Smith said. " We need to carry on the belief we showed today."
Chelsea's loss was their third in four games but Mourinho was adamantthe end of their unbeaten Premiership record would not spiral into thekind of slump that undermined Arsenal's attempts to retain the titleafter losing at Old Trafford last season.
"I know what happened to Arsenal but no, it won't happen to us," hesaid. " I don't think we will need to bounce back from this because wehave shown that we have bounced back from Betis. We had chances; wewere the better team, but once they scored they defended with greatspirit. United have been through a difficult period and though this isa fantastic result for them it will not be enough to stop us becomingchampions of England again. I believe we showed here why we arechampions."
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Telegraph:
Smith leads the Red resistance movementBy Henry Winter Manchester United (0) 1 Chelsea (0) 0
Manchester United banished the blues yesterday, stopping Chelsea intheir smooth stride and breathing new life into their own season.Showing the determination of their manager, re-paying a debt ofloyalty to their supporters and reminding Roy Keane of theirresilience, Sir Alex Ferguson's players stood up for themselves andstood firm in the teeth of the champions' pressure. Here was onebroadcast United's players would like to make Keane sit through.
Alan Smith, one of those criticised by the United captain, respondedmost vigorously. Spiky of hair and commitment, Smith took the sight ofa visitor settling in possession as a personal affront, and flew in torectify the situation, tracking and tackling as if he had Keane on hisshoulder, whispering the words from recent unflattering headlines.
Smith deservedly collected the man-of-the-match bubbly, a prize thisdown-to-earth teetotal soul will probably use as a door-stop. Not thetype to paint the town red, Smith certainly painted the midfield redyesterday. Chelsea's midfielders could hardly catch breath, such wasSmith's relentlessly dogged attentions. Frank Lampard increasinglyresembled a jogger being chased down the road by a particularlyannoying Yorkshire terrier.
Commitment and collectivity suffused United from start to finish, fromEdwin van der Sar at the back through Smith in midfield to WayneRooney in attack. One second-half moment encapsulated United's passionplay, Rooney dropping into the right-back role to repel a long PauloFerreira pass and then dispossessing Asier del Horno, who had thetemerity to seize on the loose ball.
Rooney, like Smith, was covering every blade of grass, clearlyrelishing Ferguson's decision to go with him floating off Ruud vanNistelrooy in a 4-4-2 formation. Inspired by the England pair,United's performance exuded defiance. Ferguson's men may have fadedafter the hour, wilting as Eidur Gudjohnsen arrived to orchestrateChelsea attacks, but they never broke under the pressure. United clungon, like a heavyweight on the ropes, withstanding the battering,refusing to yield their advantage.
In terminating Chelsea's 40-game unbeaten record in the league, Unitedwere far removed from the ghosts who had been vanquished atMiddlesbrough and Lille over the past tumultuous week. Now they mustmaintain yesterday's conviction for the remainder of the season,starting at Charlton Athletic on Nov 19.
This will have done their confidence the world of good. Even in theopening minutes, when Rio Ferdinand was caught out by Lampard's longball and Didier Drogba's pace, Van der Sar was there, saving hisdefender's blushes. That was the United way yesterday, covering foreach other, showing a unity not witnessed in recent days.
Ferdinand himself refused to hide after his early embarrassment,putting in some vital tackles to thwart Chelsea. Paul Scholes wasalmost back to his old creative self, pinging passes around with thecrispness and frequency many feared lost. The little midfielder almostscored, rolling back the years by racing forward and meeting Rooney'spass with a wonderful shot which snaked just wide.
Defending high up the pitch, Van Nistelrooy even dropped deep to houndClaude Makelele. Tackles were thundering in all around, not themalicious kind that halted Arsenal's Invincibles in theirrecord-breaking tracks last year, but whole-hearted, ball-seekingefforts. Smith led the resistance movement, sliding in to dispossessDrogba and then bowling into Joe Cole.
Chelsea were forced on the back foot, unable to organise their fabledraiding parties. In the 31st minute, the champions were caught outspectacularly. Here was the United of yore, breaking with conviction,speed and a dash of wing-play. Rooney played the catalyst, working theball from a central station 40 yards out to Scholes and then CristianoRonaldo out on the left.
The Portuguese flier turned Ferreira, and crossed high to the far-postwhere Darren Fletcher lurked. Although growing in danger, thesituation still seemed a fire Chelsea could extinguish. Meeting theball before Michael Essien could properly pressurise him, the youngScot headed back across goal, the ball clearing Petr Cech and thenJohn Terry on the line. United's celebrations were long and loud.
But they were wary, knowing the champions would hit back. Gudjohnsen'sreplacing of Essien, precision replacing power, brought greatercontrol and cleverness to Chelsea's surges. And so the siege of Vander Sar's goal began. Drogba saw a shot deflected wide by the divingJohn O'Shea, another denigrated of late yet resolute here.
And so the great rearguard action intensified. Ferdinand hustled JoeCole into conceding the ball. Smith stopped Gudjohnsen with anothertackle. Van der Sar, all good positioning and sharp reflexes, made awonderful save from close range to deny Lampard.
United were sitting deep, too deep, and the Stretford End urged themforward. "Attack, attack, attack," they pleaded. But that wasChelsea's approach, and only a magnificent clearance from Smith robbedDrogba of a promising scoring opportunity. Mourinho kept introducinghigh-speed locksmiths, like Carlton Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips, toopen up United's back door, but it was bolted firmly shut.
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Times:
United discover perfect remedyBy Matt DickinsonManchester United 1 Chelsea 0
THE GLAZER HEART BEATS WITH SUCH passion for Manchester United that,on the day that the empire was in greatest peril, not one member ofthe family bothered to cross the Atlantic. No doubt they watched thematch on television, but that was no substitute at all for witnessingthe stirring of a mighty beast within Old Trafford.Not Roy Keane (absent with injury) or even his hugely impressiveunderstudy, Alan Smith, but the United crowd, of course. They havebeen mocked down the years, even by Keane, but their raucous revivalyesterday was every bit as stunning, perhaps more so, than the superbperformances of Smith and Paul Scholes, among others.
Accustomed to jeering Rio Ferdinand, booing their "heroes" or watchingin silence, yesterday they reminded the world that Old Trafford canstill be one of sport's great cathedrals. "The crowd was the turningpoint," Sir Alex Ferguson said, shortly before turning the airwavesblue by describing talk of the worst crisis of his 19-year reign as"absolute b*****ks".
Whether or not this turns out to be a victory of lasting significance— and only a brave man will rush to predict Chelsea's decline — thiswas a magnificent, memorable occasion witnessed by an estimated 750million viewers worldwide. One that the Glazers should have attendedif only to realise how much this great institution can stir the soul."Caring for the club is done in different ways," Ferguson said.
Staying at home to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers said everythingabout the devotion of the new owners.
All that can be said for the Americans is that, as detachedbusinessmen, they should at least know better than to read too muchinto the result. José Mourinho reaffirmed his belief that Chelsea willgo on to retain their Barclays Premiership title and, despite theending of a 40-match unbeaten league run, it may be wishful thinkingto believe that they will collapse like Arsène Wenger's Invincibles.
For United, last season's victory over Arsenal (the infamous Battle ofthe Buffet) was also supposed to be a critical juncture but Ferguson'smen went on to lose at Portsmouth and then draw at home to ManchesterCity in subsequent league matches. Will Scholes revert to his mediocreform, will Smith lose his snap and will Ferdinand slip back intocomplacent ways against Charlton Athletic?
Ten points behind Chelsea, albeit with a game in hand, it will be awhile before we can say that this was anything other than a roar ofdefiance in the long death throes of Ferguson's reign. His players canstill rouse themselves for a one-off battle against the best but thosewho doubted their ability to win the title or the European Cup shouldnot be revising their opinion simply because of one victory, howevertumultuous.
United rode their luck to survive Chelsea's second-half onslaught butat least they could point out that this victory did not require thebullying tactics so often employed to overcome Arsenal's superiortechnique. Mourinho could argue, as he did, that his team were unluckyto lose but he could not dispute that United's half-time lead was wellmerited.
The looping header from Darren Fletcher which was, in the end, theonly measurable difference between the two teams, may not have beendeliberately placed just inside the post but it was the culmination ofa slick move involving Wes Brown, Wayne Rooney, Scholes and theeffervescent Cristiano Ronaldo.
It was only when Mourinho replaced Michael Essien with EidurGudjohnsen in the 55th minute — belatedly by the standards of thedecisive Portuguese — that Chelsea began to put United under sustainedpressure. At right-back, Wes Brown looked ready to crack under thestrain but, with a bit of luck and a lot of hacking the ball away,Ferdinand and his defenders survived.
If one moment summed up United's resilience, it came in the 74thminute when Smith flung himself into a crucial challenge inside hisown area. Leaping to his feet, he angrily berated John O'Shea forfailing to cut out the danger earlier. Hair cut to the scalp and facescrewed up in rage, Keane would have been proud. Or perhaps not. Maybethe skipper will march into the training ground this morning and say:"It's very well to do that in a big match against Chelsea but wherewere you lot when Middlesbrough were sticking four away last week?"
Chelsea's defeat will be cheered up and down the land and Wigan nowlie only six points behind with a game in hand. It is unlikely thatMourinho will feel Paul Jewell's breath down his neck but, for acouple of weeks at least, it is a lovely thought.
PRAWN TO BE WILD
IT WAS NOT just the Manchester United players who seemed desperate toprove Roy Keane wrong yesterday. The home support, once described byKeane as prawn sandwich-eating mutes, gave great vocal support fortheir team. Some of the anthems were ironic, not least "My old mansaid 'Be a City fan' " and "Who the f*** are Man United?", and othersoffensive, particularly towards Peter Kenyon, who resigned as Unitedchief executive to take on that role at Chelsea. Compared with thematchday atmosphere at Stamford Bridge, the din was almost unbearable.OLIVER KAY
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Sun:
Man Utd 1 Chelsea 0
DARREN FLETCHER rammed Roy Keane's words down his throat with the goalthat ended Chelsea's 40-game unbeaten run.
United's Scotland midfielder was one of the players most harshlycriticised by Keane in that now infamous programme axed by MUTV.
But he responded in just the manner his injured captain would havewanted, rising to meet Cristiano Ronaldo's cross with a 31st-minutelooping header that dropped in at the far post.
United had to weather a second-half siege from Chelsea to steal the points.
They may have ridden their luck at times, but there was no doubt theirperformance had all the passion and intent that had been lacking indismal defeats to Middlesbrough and Lille.
Alan Smith typified the United spirit, his commitment in midfield wastotal, his tackle count was off the scale and he turned in a displayof which Keane in his prime would have been proud.
Wayne Rooney was not far behind him. He hardly got a sniff in attack,but he never gave Chelsea's backline a moment of peace and producedsome sublime touches which showed just why he is United's andEngland's best player.
This result was important for so many reasons. It ended Chelsea'sPremiership unbeaten run, it broke Jose Mourninho's hoodoo over SirAlex Ferguson and, who knows, it could have saved Fergie's job.
A little bit melodramatic perhaps, but a thumping win for the Blues inUnited's back yard and who knows what might have happened.
Chelsea started the brighter and could have taken the lead when RioFerdinand was caught snoozing on eight minutes.
He may be the most expensive defender in the world, but the formerLeeds man has looked a shadow of the player who dazzled at the WorldCup four years ago.
Ferdinand was not expecting Didier Drobga to get anywhere near a FrankLampard ball over the top.
The Ivory Coast international brought the pass down with a sensationalfirst touch and while Rio stood open-mouthed he fired in a shot whichEdwin van der Sar beat down at his near post.
United had another escape seven minutes later. Asier Del Horno losthis marker, Fletcher, at a free-kick from the right and blasted overthe bar.
At the other end Paul Scholes was only a foot away from giving United the lead.
Silvestre fed Rooney down the inside-left channel and the youngstercontrolled the ball superbly before setting up the ginger marauderarriving from the edge of the box. The former England man cut acrossthe ball with his right foot and it swerved just past the right-handupright.
That effort lifted United and they got a foothold in the game beforetaking the lead on 31 minutes.
Ronaldo's cross from the left found Fletcher unmarked andbackpedalling at the far post. The Scotland star tried to head theball back into the danger zone, but his effort looped across goal andjust dropped in under the bar.
Drobga fired into the sidenetting just before the break and withinfour minutes of the restart Smith cleared Frank Lampard's shot infront of van der Sar.
But United were still a threat at this stage. Fletcher's knockback wasa fraction behind Ruud van Nistelrooy, but the prolific Dutchmanshould still have done better than blast over from 12 yards.
Jose Mourinho threw on Eidur Gudjohnsen for Michael Essien just beforethe hour and suddenly it was all Chelsea. The Icelander carved out thechance of the game within two minutes of coming on.
He crossed from the left but the unmarked Damien Duff completelymiskicked eight yards out and Drogba slipped as he was about to pullthe trigger.
Drobga then scuffed a close-range shot from Gudjohnsen's pass but theball ran kindly to Lampard who was denied by a brilliant save low downfrom van der Sar.
Joe Cole's shot from the resulting corner was blocked by the omnipresent Smith.
Gudjohnsen was involved again with 20 minutes left. He fed Duff whosent an inviting cross into the danger zone. Del Horno was arriving atpace and sent an acrobatic volley over the bar.
Rooney had a chance to settle the game near the end. Substitute Parkchased a long ball with two defenders and all three collided. The ballbroke to Rooney 25 yards out but his instant shot was blocked for acorner.
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Mirror:
JOSE HITS THE BUFFERSManchester Utd 1 Chelsea 0 It's Theatre of Screams for Mourinho asChelsea's run is stopped by rampant RedsMartin Lipton Chief Football WriterNOW it really is pressure, Jose. And we will find out what your team is made of.
Just like Arsenal's "Invincibles" 13 months ago, Chelsea'sirresistible force was stopped in its tracks by the immovable objectof Manchester United's sheer desire.
As Old Trafford rocked to the rafters, as tension reverberated aroundthe Theatre of Dreams throughout Chelsea's second- half siege, it wasas if the gods of football wanted to teach Jose Mourinho and his mennothing is ever achieved without moments of doubt.
Doubt there must be, even in Mourinho's mind, after a second loss infive days by a team that did not have the word "defeat" in itscollective vocabulary.
And even if most of football has gloried in United and Sir AlexFerguson's discomfort over the past week, it will not just be ArseneWenger who offered up a prayer of thanks to the Laird of Old Traffordlast night.
The bulldozer that had crashed through all obstacles for the firstthree months of the campaign has slipped its gears, while the FortKnox defence has developed cracks that are starting to tell.
This was the team that recorded seven straight clean sheets, thatrarely even looked like being breached.
Now Mourinho's side have conceded in seven of the last eight games,and while the Portuguese boss has railed and warned against the recent"individual mistakes"- his players were not listening.
Perhaps we've got a title race after all.
This was a game won and lost by the old-fashioned virtues, by guts anddetermination, and refusal to be consumed by what at times looked likea superior force, as United dug deep into their reserves of courage.
Yet for all the possession Chelsea had in the second period as theysought to peg back the advantage eked out by Darren Fletcher'sfortuitous header, for all the blue shirts that flooded the Unitedbox, they did not test Edwin Van der Sar enough to win or even draw.
Fletcher did well to get on to the end of Cristiano Ronaldo's crossand his looping header drifted beyond the slow-reacting Petr Cech anddropped just inside the back post over the despairing John Terry.
But if Michael Essien or Asier Del Horno had been in the rightposition, it would not have been possible.
It was a shock to the system, but the type of shock that Mourinho'smen had recovered from all season - until Tuesday in Seville.
Before that Didier Drogba threatened to make Rio Ferdinand's seasonmore depressing, and with Joe Cole influential and Frank Lampard andDamien Duff keen to make inroads, Chelsea had looked calm andcontrolled although Alan Smith ran himself into the ground.
Paul Scholes had gone close after foraging from Wayne Rooney butDrogba, after a beautiful piece of control as Ferdinand lost his runon to Lampard's ball, knew he should have tested Van der Sar.
Yet the longer the half went on, the more United's midfield were ableto get a grip, with Fletcher's goal proof he has more to offer thanRoy Keane suggested.
It should have been over 12 minutes after the restart. Rooney teased aball out to Fletcher on the right, he pulled back but skipper Ruud vanNistelrooy slashed wildly into the Stretford End.
Duff's air-shot only fell for Drogba, who ended up on his backside butstill managed to see his shot screw wildly but fractionally outsidethe post with Van der Sar scrambling.
Cole fired over as the assault intensified. Del Horno prodded over,and when Drogba's shot fell to Lampard, Van der Sar turned the ballbehind.
Cole and Lampard dithered with the shooting opportunities and thedesperation left the Blues open at the other end, with only Terry'sprone body denying Rooney late on.
Not that United fans or the the country cared about that.
Unbeatable? Not any more. Unstoppable? Evidently not. Still, probably,champions.
But the questions are being asked. We have to wait two weeks to see ifChelsea can find the answers. Mourinho wants to know them too.
MAN UTD: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Fletcher,Smith, Scholes, Rooney, van Nistelrooy (Park 82), Ronaldo.
CHELSEA: Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Gallas, Terry, Del Horno (C Cole 78),Essien (Gudjohnsen 55), Makelele, Lampard, J Cole (Wright-Phillips74), Drogba, Duff.
ATTENDANCE: 67,864
MAN OF THE MATCH: Smith
Monday, November 07, 2005
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
morning papers betis away
The Guardian :
Mourinho blames players as Chelsea stumble in Seville
Jon Brodkin at Manuel Ruiz de Lopera
Jose Mourinho denied his team were beaten by Charlton a week ago, because they went out of the Carling Cup only on penalties, but the Chelsea manager made no attempt to claim they did not lose last night. He described a poor display as unacceptable, the worst since he arrived at Stamford Bridge and criticised his players' attitude in a rare public castigation.He will trust it has the desired affect for Sunday's Premiership game at Old Trafford because Chelsea go there on the back of two defeats in less than a week, an almost unthinkable sequence. Knocked out of their rhythm by a physical, sometimes cynical Real Betis, they grew inceasingly frustrated and lost their calm and incisiveness. Whether Arsène Wenger was watching on the television or through a telescope he will have been encouraged.
Michael Essien was unlucky to see a shot hit both posts and end up in the goalkeeper's arms in the 71st minute but that was Chelsea's only chance of the second half as they often thoughtlessly tried to turn forward momentum into openings. Despite three good chances to equalise before the interval Mourinho accepted defeat was deserved.Mourinho admitted: "I've been here for 15 months and we have played perhaps 80 games at Chelsea and this was the worst performance. The first half was too bad to be true. I know everything was bad. I cannot find a positive out of the game."
Chelsea had known that a victory would take them into the last 16 but their recent results away in Europe had hardly suggested that would be easily achieved. Mourinho's previous five Champions League ties outside Stamford Bridge had produced four defeats and a goalless draw at Anfield. The manager had castigated his players on the eve of this match for too many defensive errors last month and must have been dismayed when a disappointing run of one clean sheet in six games extended to one in seven before half an hour had been played, leaving Chelsea trailing.
Chelsea had looked solid to begin with in the face of pressure from a Betis team who needed to win to stand a realistic chance of progressing. Betis had not made a chance of note before they went ahead and Chelsea may have felt that home morale would have dropped when the Spanish team lost two players to injury in five minutes, including their Brazilian forward Ricardo Oliveira, adding to a wretched run of recent casualties. Yet Oliveira's replacement, Dani, quickly scored. Betis worked the ball across the pitch and to their left and Jesus Capi's cross was not dealt with. Chelsea were flummoxed by an Edu dummy and William Gallas could not prevent the lively Dani from slamming a shot past Petr Cech from close range.
If that was disappointing for Chelsea, so had been their lack of threat going forward. They had not carved out a chance before going behind, with Joe Cole and Arjen Robben having little impact on the flanks and the team perhaps struggling to adjust to being without the aerial outlet of Drogba.
The Ivorian had been unexpectedly left on the bench, with the smaller Eidur Gudjohnsen given a rare opportunity to lead the line. Chelsea's early use of possession was looser than usual and though they began to find better range, with Frank Lampard showing good vision at times, their fluency in the first half was not at the level of which they are capable.
Dani's goal at least stung them into a response and with better finishing they could have found the net four times in the space of quarter of an hour before half-time. Cole, Robben and Gudjohnsen became more of an influence and, from a Cole cross, Essien put a free header over the bar.
Cole ought to have equalised when spotted on the right of the area by Gudjohnsen but seemed to think he was offside, delayed a fraction and had his shot saved by Pedro Contreras. The goalkeeper then saved from Robben before Gudjohnsen wasted Chelsea's best opening. Racing on to a long Terry pass, he had just Contreras to beat but shot woefully over.
There remained a threat from Betis, though. Mourinho had warned his player to take nothing for granted despite a 4-0 home win over this team and Cech was twice stretched before the interval. When he fisted out a swerving Edu shot, it was fortunate for Chelsea that Dani put the rebound wide.
The start of the second half showed how unhappy Mourinho had been with his team's performance. Shaun Wright-Phillips and Drogba came on and there was a greater intensity about the team's play. Yet Betis were making life hard, closing down fast and Chelsea could find little rhythm or make chances.
They were doing almost all the attacking but Betis posed danger on the break and it was hard to believe they had lost their past four domestic and European games. In search of a breakthrough Mourinho sent on Damien Duff for Robben but to no avail and Chelsea may need victories over Anderlecht and Liverpool to go through.
Real Betis (4-2-3-1) Contreras; Varela ·, Juanito; Nano (Castellini, 20), Melli ·; Rivera, Arzu; Joaquin, Capi · (Fernando, 84), Edu; Oliveira (Dani, 25 ·).
Subs not used Doblas, Xisco, Juanlu, Bascon.
Chelsea (4-3-3) Cech; Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; Essien, Makelele, Lampard; J Cole (Wright-Phillips, h-t ·). Gudjohnsen (Drogba, h-t ·) Robben (Duff, 65 ·).
Subs not used Cudicini, Geremi, Huth, Bridge,
Referee A Hamer (Luxembourg)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Independent:
Real Betis 1 Chelsea 0 Bad day for Mourinho as Chelsea flop and Wenger feud escalates By Sam Wallace at Ruiz de Lopera stadium
The verdict from Jose Mourinho was simple enough: "The worst performance since I arrived at Chelsea," and there would be few among his players who would dare to disagree. Didier Drogba dragged away from the referee at full-time, Arjen Robben storming down the tunnel in disgust at his substitution: the great Chelsea match-winning regime was not supposed to come to an end like this.
Beaten for the first time in 90 minutes this season, Mourinho's team are still the Premiership's invincibles and, at nine points clear in that league, are hardly at crisis point. But two defeats in six days is the kind of form that would have been considered unthinkable.
"The first-half performance was too bad to be true," Mourinho said. "Everything was bad, I can't find anything that was positive about that performance."
If the post-match analysis was not shattering enough, Mourinho also responded to Arsène Wenger on the Arsenal manager's comments yesterday that his opposite number had been "stupid" in the spat between the two that had ignited on Monday.
Then Mourinho had accused Wenger of being a "voyeur" who was obsessed with Chelsea; yesterday the Arsenal manager threatened legal action. By 10pm last night it was round three.
Mourinho said that he had a "file of 120 pages" of comments from Wenger about Chelsea and that his attitude was "enough is enough", or there would be fight - there are few signs now of either man backing down.
Back to the occasion of Chelsea's defeat to the team placed 17th in Spain's La Liga and Mourinho was disbelieving about his side's performance. "The drama is not the result, the drama is the way we played," he said. "It was too bad in every aspect of the game."
Although the Chelsea manager pointed out that his side could still top Champions' League Group G if they won their remaining games, they now trail Liverpool by three points and Betis are just one point behind. The match against the European champions at Stamford Bridge now has a significance that few expected after the two sides' impressive start to the Champions' League.
With only one draw to blemish their Premiership record, and a Carling Cup exit on penalties, the great Chelsea machine is not stalling yet. However, in the first half, in which Betis lost their striker Ricardo Oliveira and the centre-half Nano to injury but still dominated, it was hard not to sympathise with Mourinho's point of view that his team were malfunctioning. "Maybe the players thought this was the second leg match and we were already 4-0 up," he said, "because the attitude was too relaxed when we were playing for points."
He started with Eidur Gudjohnsen in attack and the striker clouted his only clear-cut chance of the first half over the bar when he was set free by John Terry's pass. Robben was even worse. He was lucky not to be substituted at half-time and when he was hauled off for Damien Duff on 64 minutes stalked down the tunnel with a member of the Chelsea staff in pursuit.
When the home team did finally break through on 27 minutes, however, it was a goal created and executed by their two substitutes. Paolo Castellini passed the ball through Chelsea to the replacement striker Dani, who lingered at the back post. William Gallas' ponderous efforts to make a tackle allowed Dani to prod the ball home.
Duff created the best Chelsea chance of the match on 74 minutes - a moment in which Mourinho's side could scarcely believe they had not scored. The cross from the left was just a toe's width from being turned in by Didier Drogba but, before it rolled out of play, was turned back into the area by Shaun Wright-Phillips. Michael Essien scooped his shot against the goalkeeper Pablo Contreras' right post and from there it rolled across the line, struck the opposite upright and came out.
The frustration at his team's progress took Mourinho to the edge of his technical area and, at one point, toe-to-toe with the match referee Alain Hamer, who sent him back to his bench when he queried a decision. The Chelsea coach was withering in his assessment of the official from Luxembourg, adding that an official from a country with "no record in international football" might not be fit to take control of the game.
The game only threatened to spiral out of control in the second half when Drogba challenged Contreras for a loose ball and stood chest-to-chest with the goalkeeper before shoves were exchanged. The dives and time-wasting of the Betis players were part "of the Latin culture", Mourinho said, although he had little sympathy for his players in falling for the familiar old tricks.
Drogba and Wright-Phillips were on as half-time substitutes and the England winger's booking means he misses the game against Anderlecht. Drogba was booked and there was the hint of racist chants from the crowd.
There is hope at last for Manchester United on Sunday - how Chelsea respond could define the season.
Real Betis (4-4-2): Contreras; Varela, Juanito, Nano (Castellini, 20), Melli; Joaquin, Arzu, Rivera, Edu; Capi (Fernando, 83), Oliveira (Dani, 24). Substitutes not used: Doblas (gk), Xisco, Juanlu, Bascon.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; Makelele; Cole (Wright-Phillips, h-t), Lampard, Essien, Robben (Duff, 65); Gudjohnsen (Drogba, h-t). Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Geremi, Bridge, Huth.
Referee: A Hamer (Luxembourg).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mirror :
GAMBLER JOSE A REAL LOSER Group G: Real Betis 1 Chelsea 0 from Seville Mour Euro trouble after Blues shock Darren Lewis
JOSE MOURINHO'S Champions League gamble last night blew up spectacularly in his face as Chelsea were humiliated by struggling Real Betis.
The Blues boss rested striker Didier Drogba and first-choice left-back Asier Del Horno with one eye on Sunday's crunch Premiership clash with Manchester United.
But he watched in fury as his Chelsea team were outplayed and outmanoeuvred before an error from stand-in left-back William Gallas gifted Betis striker Dani a shock 28th-minute winner.
The Spanish side had gone into last night's tie on the back of THREE straight defeats since being crushed 4-0 by the Premiership Champions a fortnight ago.
They were without FIVE first-team last night and they lost another TWO, including their top scorer Ricardo Oliveira, within half an hour.
Yet Chelsea failed to get a shot on target until seven minutes before half time and angry Mourinho read the riot act to his troops before declaring during the interval that the performance was the worst he had seen during his time in charge of the Blues.
Win the Group G face-off and Chelsea would march into the knockout stages and after nine minutes John Terry floated a 50-yard pass into the path of Dutch winger Arjen Robben.
With just one defender between himself and Eidur Gudjohnsen, Chelsea looked set to go ahead. But Robben allowed an outstretched boot from Betis defender Juanito to rob him. In reply, Spanish international winger Joaquin lashed a 12th-minute free-kick into the path of Edu, whose effort was intercepted by Michael Essien.
After that luckless Betis, without five first-team players going into the match, lost defender Nano to injury just 19 minutes in.
Barely five minutes had passed before they were robbed off leading scorer Oliveira too, the Brazilian striker failing to recover from a Ricardo Carvalho tackle.
It was a blow for the side fourth-from-bottom of La Liga and a boost for Chelsea. Until, that was, Dani entered the fray to strike the goal which once again laid bare the sudden fragility of the Chelsea defence.
After 28 minutes attacking midfielder Capi sent in a ball from the left which left the Blues defence uncharacteristically rooted to the spot.
Edu was allowed to dummy and Terry and Gallas ball-watched, giving Dani time and space to pick his spot.
Worse still they did not trouble Betis keeper Pedro Contreras until six minutes before half time. Gudjohnsen's pass found Joe Cole on the right and he homed in on goal with only Contreras to beat. But the Betis keeper stood up well before plunging to his right to stop the shot.
Chelsea were denied again as Robben played a one-two with Essien before unleashing a powerful left-foot drive into the body of Contreras.
But it was Gudjohnsen with the most glaring miss with barely two minute to go before the interval. He raced onto Terry's pass which left him one-on-one with Contreras, but lofted his ball high into the stands.
It could have been even worse for Chelsea on half-time, when Dani was presented with an open goal.
Blues keeper Petr Cech could only parry Edu's long-range drive and Dani sent his effort just wide. Despite the half-time hair-dryer treatment, Chelsea amazingly failed to find their usual second-half improvement.
As tensions boiled over, Mourinho clashed was involved in a shouting match with referee Alain Hamer and Didier Drogba was booked amid a hail of missiles from the home fans for an altercation with Contreras.
There was also racist chanting at Wright Phillips and Drogba which FIFA are certain to look into.
Chelsea's best chance came in the 72nd minute when Shaun Wright-Phillips sent a Damien Duff cross back into the six-yard box for Essien but the midfielder's effort hit one post, rolled across the goal-line and hit the other before rolling into the arms of Contreras.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sun:
Real Betis 1 Chelsea 0 By SUN ONLINE REPORTER
MAYBE Arsene Wenger was right after all.
Perhaps Chelsea ARE starting to crack up.
Jose Mourinho's men yet again proved they are not immortal by failing to break down Real Betis.
They now have just one victory to show from their last four games.
And boy, did they not like losing their first match for six months.
Five players were booked, three of them second half substitutes as their frustrations grew in this Champions League clash.
Chelsea were undone by Martin Dani's 28th-minute strike.
Michael Essien saw a late effort hit both posts before rebounding into the goalkeeper's arms.
But the Londoners may now need to win their final two games to ensure qualification to the knockout stages from Group G.
Arsenal boss Wenger riled Mourinho last week when he suggested that the Blues were losing it after the draw with Everton and the Carling Cup penalty shootout defeat to Charlton.
The Premiership champions quickly dispelled that theory with a 4-2 demolition of Blackburn.
But the way they let Rovers back into the game suggested Chelsea were rocking - and this defeat confirms it.
Mourinho surprisingly opted for Eidur Gudjohnsen in attack instead of Didier Drogba.
But the Icelandic striker failed to spark and he was replaced by the Ivory Coast hitman at the break.
Chelsea needed shaking up at that stage as well after Dani had given the home side a deserved lead.
Dani was introduced after top scorer Ricardo Oliveira was taken off on a stretcher following a tackle by Ricardo Carvalho.
But he quickly made his mark as he latched on to Capi's centre after Edu's dummy brought him time in the box.
Dani left William Gallas flat-footed and he picked his spot beyond Petr Cech to send the home fans delirious.
Joe Cole thought he had equalised six minutes before the break when his scrambled shot brought a fine one-handed save from Pedro Contreras.
Arjen Robben and Gudjohnsen had also gone close but Mourinho rang the changes at half-time with Shaun Wright-Phillips joining the fray with Drogba.
But Betis were more than a match for their opponents and Damien Duff was next to appear for the Blues.
Duff, Drogba and Wright-Phillips were all booked as they failed to make the desired impact and Essien summed up their night with by hitting the woodwork twice before Contreras gratefully grabbed the rebound.
Mourinho pushed John Terry up front for the final 15 minutes but this time the Blues boss had no get out of jail card.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times:
Chelsea left feeling the pain in Spain after Dani buoys BetisFrom Matt Hughes in SevilleReal Betis 1 Chelsea 0 ARSÈNE WENGER usually channel-hops on Champions League nights, but the Arsenal manager will have watched this match in its entirety with a smile stretched across his face. After winning their first eight matches of the season and going 12 games unbeaten, Chelsea have suddenly lost twice in seven days. Not even José Mourinho, Wenger’s nemesis, could quibble with this defeat. Chelsea were soundly beaten in a bad-tempered game in which there were ten bookings. They were not helped by a weak performance from Alain Hamer, Luxembourg’s leading referee, but Mourinho was man enough to accept that his team deserved to lose. The champions were dreadful in attitude and application, particularly in the first half, with only John Terry showing the necessary character.
The Portuguese had warned his players of the potential danger posed by the Spaniards after recent mistakes, but their defensive lapses had paled into insignificance compared with those of Real Betis. After an indifferent start to the season, they have imploded since last month’s 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge, conceding ten goals in three league games and slipping to seventeenth in La Liga.
In the first half last night it was Mourinho who was despairing in the dugout, though, as Chelsea produced their worst 45 minutes of the season. Usually so controlled in possession, the visiting team gave the ball away as if bestowing acts of charity, with Arjen Robben, who had been given a surprising recall, particularly culpable.
The Holland winger had an evening to forget, pulling out of challenges and appearing reluctant to receive the ball. No wonder Mourinho has privately questioned his mental strength.
With Alberto Rivera and Arzu controlling midfield, Betis pressed forward and were rewarded with a deserved goal in the 28th minute, a breakthrough even more impressive as they had just lost their centre back and centre forward, Nano and Ricardo Oliveira, to injury. Both substitutes were involved, with Paolo Castellini’s cross from the left being dummied by Edu, allowing Dani to get in front of William Gallas to score.
Chelsea’s misery was soon compounded when, after creating rare chances on the counter-attack, they wasted two clear opportunities. After being played through by Eidur Gudjohnsen, Joe Cole was the first culprit, shooting tamely at Pedro Contreras, the Betis goalkeeper, but the Iceland striker’s miss was even worse. He spooned the ball over the bar when through on goal after a long pass from Terry.
Unlike Mourinho’s mood at half-time, though, the scoreline could have been worse. On the stroke of the interval, Petr Cech, who has looked increasingly fallible of late, failed to hold a long-range effort from Edu, with Dani shooting narrowly wide on the rebound.
Gudjohnsen and Cole paid for their sins, being replaced by Didier Drogba and Shaun Wright-Phillips at half-time, and they will be expected to demonstrate more penitence in training this week. Robben was given a shot at redemption but failed to take it, lingering long enough only to pick up a booking for a petulant foul before being replaced by Damien Duff in the 65th minute. The 21-year-old’s exit was more memorable than his performance. He stormed down the tunnel before Mourinho sent his coaching staff to retrieve him.
As Betis continued to dominate, the pace of Duff on the counter-attack seemed to be Chelsea’s best hope of salvaging a point and, sure enough, the Irishman fashioned their only real opportunity. After rampaging down the left in the 72nd minute, Duff’s cross eluded Drogba but found Wright-Phillips on the far byline and he squared the ball to Michael Essien.
The Ghana midfield player beat Melli, the defender, to the ball, but his shot rebounded off the inside of the near post, ran along the goalline and hit the inside of the other post before bouncing into the arms of Contreras, summing up Chelsea’s evening. After a tortuous night in Seville, their players will await Mourinho’s Spanish Inquisition with trepidation.
REAL BETIS (4-2-3-1): P Contreras —F Varela, Juanito, Nano (sub: P Castellini, 19min), Melli — A Rivera, Arzu — Joaquín, Capi (sub: Fernando, 84), Edu — R Oliviera (sub: Dani, 25). Substitutes not used:A Doblas, Fernando, Xisco, Juanlu,I Bascón. Booked: Capi, Varela, Melli, Contreras, Dani.
CHELSEA (4-3-3): P Cech — P Ferreira, R Carvalho, J Terry, W Gallas — M Essien, C Makelele, F Lampard — J Cole (sub:S Wright-Phillips, 46), E Gudjohnsen (sub:D Drogba, 46), A Robben (sub: D Duff, 65). Substitutes not used: C Cudicini, R Huth, Gérémi, W Bridge. Booked: Cole, Robben, Drogba, Wright-Phillips, Duff.
Referee: A Hamer (Luxembourg).
BLUE MURDER FOR MOURINHO
JOSÉ MOURINHO is not normally a gracious loser, but he took last night’s defeat on the chin. “It was the worst performance since I arrived,” he said. “I’ve been here for 15 months, perhaps 80 matches at Chelsea, and this was the worst performance. The first half was too bad to be true.
“Maybe the players thought it was a knockout game and we were 4-0 up. The attitude was too relaxed for a game when we’re playing for points.”
Chelsea’s defeat leaves them three points behind Liverpool, but Mourinho is confident that his team can recover to win group G. “If we win our next two matches, we will be first in the group. We have our destiny in our hands,” he said. “The drama is not in the result, the drama is in the first-half performance.”
Mourinho also added more fuel to the fire of his dispute with Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager. “If my comments (about Wenger being a “voyeur” and “obsessed” with Chelsea) were very strong, I have to accept that the next comments will be very strong,” he said. “I accept that, but I have a file of quotes from Mr Wenger about Chelsea in the last 12 months. It’s a file of 120 pages. I accept the next answer being strong and it’s time to stop. If he doesn’t stop, we’re there for a fight.” MATT HUGHES -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telegraph:
Complacent Chelsea beaten by BetisBy Christopher Davies in Seville (Real Betis (1) 1 Chelsea (0) 0
Dominant in the Premiership, Chelsea once again showed their frailty away from home in the Champions League as they slumped to a fifth defeat in six ties on their travels, with Real Betis giving the visitors a lesson in attacking football.
Chelsea finished with John Terry as a makeshift striker, alongside Didier Drogba, but Betis deservedly held on for a famous victory that means Chelsea must wait to secure their place in the knockout stages.
It is difficult to believe they will not join Liverpool in progressing from Group G but it is a year since they won an away match in the Champions League and it is a flaw Jose Mourinho must correct.
Rarely have Chelsea had to defend in depth and for such long periods, against a Real Betis team who came into this match in the wake of four consecutive defeats.
Perhaps Chelsea were guilty of complacency but they were second best in most aspects of a rousing tie in the Andalucian capital that will give Betis real hope they can split the English teams.
Chelsea even collected four cautions, which means an automatic Uefa fine, and while Mourinho had said it did not matter if they qualified for the next stage last night or in the last group game, the manager would no doubt have preferred to secure their progress sooner rather than later.
Perhaps, with this weekend's Premiership game against Manchester United in mind, Mourinho rested Drogba and gave Eidur Gudjohnsen his first Champions League start of the season in attack, the Iceland international supported by Joe Cole and Arjen Robben.
It was the Chelsea defence that was called into action for much of the first half as some powerful runs by Joaquin tested the most miserly back line in the Premiership.
In the opening 15 minutes Chelsea were rarely out of their own half as Real Betis, struggling in 17th place in La Liga, poured forward from both wings and through the middle.
With Claude Makelele the shield in front of the back four, Chelsea were just about managing to keep Betis at bay but the home team were undoubtedly making life difficult for the visitors.
Injuries forced Betis to make two first-half changes - in the 21st minute Nano was replaced by Paolo Castellini and then leading goalscorer Ricardo Oliveira was stretchered off after a challenge from Ricardo Carvalho, with Dani coming on.
Yet Betis continued to dominate and it was no surprise when they broke the deadlock in the 29th minute through Dani, who had been on the field only four minutes.
Capi's cross from the left eluded Terry, and when William Gallas was the wrong side of Dani, the Betis player was able to beat Petr Cech from six yards.
There could be no doubt Betis deserved to be in the lead, their football belying their poor domestic form.
Cole was needlessly cautioned for telling Alain Hamer too forcefully that the referee should have awarded a corner rather than a throw-in, a cheap yellow card to collect which could prove costly later in the tournament.
Chelsea belatedly tested Pedro Contreras, the goalkeeper saving superbly when Cole was clear, and then he held a well-struck 25-yard shot by Robben.
Two minutes before the interval Gudjohnsen seemed certain to score as he bore down on the Betis goal but his shot from eight yards went high into the crowd.
There was still time for Dani to come within inches of making it 2-0 and Mourinho clearly had his work cut out as the Chelsea manager conducted his half-time team talk.
Mourinho made two changes for the start of the second-half, bringing on Shaun Wright-Phillips and Drogba for Gudjohnsen and Cole, but it was Betis who continued to set the pace with some breathtaking attacking.
The Chelsea manager was warned by Hamer to stay in his technical area, Mourinho on his feet trying to rally his troops who were in the unfamiliar position of being on the back foot.
The noise inside the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera stadium was incredible as the home fans sensed a significant scalp.
Tempers, too, were rising and Melli became the third Betis player to be shown the yellow card for an over-zealous challenge.
Drogba had looked a caution waiting to happen and, sure enough, he was booked by Hamer for roughing up Contreras.
Duff, fit again three weeks after undergoing knee surgery, was introduced in the 65th minute and there was a suspicion that Betis had put in so much effort into assuming control that they could not sustain the pressure.
Michael Essien came close to equalising in the 72nd minute when his shot struck both posts before rebounding into the grateful arms of Contreras.
Match details
Real Betis (4-4-1-1): Contreras; Varela, Juanito, Nano (Castellini 21), Melli; Joaquin, Rivera, Arzu, Edu; Capi; Oliveira (Dani 25). Subs: Doblas (g), Dani, Fernando, Xisco, Juanlu, Israel. Booked: Capi, Varela, Melli. Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; Essien, Makelele, Lampard; Cole (Wright-Phillips h-t), Gudjohnsen Drogba h-t), Robben (Duff 65). Subs: Cudicini (g), Geremi, Bridge, Huth. Booked: Cole, Robben, Drogba. Referee: A Hamer (Luxembourg).
Mourinho blames players as Chelsea stumble in Seville
Jon Brodkin at Manuel Ruiz de Lopera
Jose Mourinho denied his team were beaten by Charlton a week ago, because they went out of the Carling Cup only on penalties, but the Chelsea manager made no attempt to claim they did not lose last night. He described a poor display as unacceptable, the worst since he arrived at Stamford Bridge and criticised his players' attitude in a rare public castigation.He will trust it has the desired affect for Sunday's Premiership game at Old Trafford because Chelsea go there on the back of two defeats in less than a week, an almost unthinkable sequence. Knocked out of their rhythm by a physical, sometimes cynical Real Betis, they grew inceasingly frustrated and lost their calm and incisiveness. Whether Arsène Wenger was watching on the television or through a telescope he will have been encouraged.
Michael Essien was unlucky to see a shot hit both posts and end up in the goalkeeper's arms in the 71st minute but that was Chelsea's only chance of the second half as they often thoughtlessly tried to turn forward momentum into openings. Despite three good chances to equalise before the interval Mourinho accepted defeat was deserved.Mourinho admitted: "I've been here for 15 months and we have played perhaps 80 games at Chelsea and this was the worst performance. The first half was too bad to be true. I know everything was bad. I cannot find a positive out of the game."
Chelsea had known that a victory would take them into the last 16 but their recent results away in Europe had hardly suggested that would be easily achieved. Mourinho's previous five Champions League ties outside Stamford Bridge had produced four defeats and a goalless draw at Anfield. The manager had castigated his players on the eve of this match for too many defensive errors last month and must have been dismayed when a disappointing run of one clean sheet in six games extended to one in seven before half an hour had been played, leaving Chelsea trailing.
Chelsea had looked solid to begin with in the face of pressure from a Betis team who needed to win to stand a realistic chance of progressing. Betis had not made a chance of note before they went ahead and Chelsea may have felt that home morale would have dropped when the Spanish team lost two players to injury in five minutes, including their Brazilian forward Ricardo Oliveira, adding to a wretched run of recent casualties. Yet Oliveira's replacement, Dani, quickly scored. Betis worked the ball across the pitch and to their left and Jesus Capi's cross was not dealt with. Chelsea were flummoxed by an Edu dummy and William Gallas could not prevent the lively Dani from slamming a shot past Petr Cech from close range.
If that was disappointing for Chelsea, so had been their lack of threat going forward. They had not carved out a chance before going behind, with Joe Cole and Arjen Robben having little impact on the flanks and the team perhaps struggling to adjust to being without the aerial outlet of Drogba.
The Ivorian had been unexpectedly left on the bench, with the smaller Eidur Gudjohnsen given a rare opportunity to lead the line. Chelsea's early use of possession was looser than usual and though they began to find better range, with Frank Lampard showing good vision at times, their fluency in the first half was not at the level of which they are capable.
Dani's goal at least stung them into a response and with better finishing they could have found the net four times in the space of quarter of an hour before half-time. Cole, Robben and Gudjohnsen became more of an influence and, from a Cole cross, Essien put a free header over the bar.
Cole ought to have equalised when spotted on the right of the area by Gudjohnsen but seemed to think he was offside, delayed a fraction and had his shot saved by Pedro Contreras. The goalkeeper then saved from Robben before Gudjohnsen wasted Chelsea's best opening. Racing on to a long Terry pass, he had just Contreras to beat but shot woefully over.
There remained a threat from Betis, though. Mourinho had warned his player to take nothing for granted despite a 4-0 home win over this team and Cech was twice stretched before the interval. When he fisted out a swerving Edu shot, it was fortunate for Chelsea that Dani put the rebound wide.
The start of the second half showed how unhappy Mourinho had been with his team's performance. Shaun Wright-Phillips and Drogba came on and there was a greater intensity about the team's play. Yet Betis were making life hard, closing down fast and Chelsea could find little rhythm or make chances.
They were doing almost all the attacking but Betis posed danger on the break and it was hard to believe they had lost their past four domestic and European games. In search of a breakthrough Mourinho sent on Damien Duff for Robben but to no avail and Chelsea may need victories over Anderlecht and Liverpool to go through.
Real Betis (4-2-3-1) Contreras; Varela ·, Juanito; Nano (Castellini, 20), Melli ·; Rivera, Arzu; Joaquin, Capi · (Fernando, 84), Edu; Oliveira (Dani, 25 ·).
Subs not used Doblas, Xisco, Juanlu, Bascon.
Chelsea (4-3-3) Cech; Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; Essien, Makelele, Lampard; J Cole (Wright-Phillips, h-t ·). Gudjohnsen (Drogba, h-t ·) Robben (Duff, 65 ·).
Subs not used Cudicini, Geremi, Huth, Bridge,
Referee A Hamer (Luxembourg)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Independent:
Real Betis 1 Chelsea 0 Bad day for Mourinho as Chelsea flop and Wenger feud escalates By Sam Wallace at Ruiz de Lopera stadium
The verdict from Jose Mourinho was simple enough: "The worst performance since I arrived at Chelsea," and there would be few among his players who would dare to disagree. Didier Drogba dragged away from the referee at full-time, Arjen Robben storming down the tunnel in disgust at his substitution: the great Chelsea match-winning regime was not supposed to come to an end like this.
Beaten for the first time in 90 minutes this season, Mourinho's team are still the Premiership's invincibles and, at nine points clear in that league, are hardly at crisis point. But two defeats in six days is the kind of form that would have been considered unthinkable.
"The first-half performance was too bad to be true," Mourinho said. "Everything was bad, I can't find anything that was positive about that performance."
If the post-match analysis was not shattering enough, Mourinho also responded to Arsène Wenger on the Arsenal manager's comments yesterday that his opposite number had been "stupid" in the spat between the two that had ignited on Monday.
Then Mourinho had accused Wenger of being a "voyeur" who was obsessed with Chelsea; yesterday the Arsenal manager threatened legal action. By 10pm last night it was round three.
Mourinho said that he had a "file of 120 pages" of comments from Wenger about Chelsea and that his attitude was "enough is enough", or there would be fight - there are few signs now of either man backing down.
Back to the occasion of Chelsea's defeat to the team placed 17th in Spain's La Liga and Mourinho was disbelieving about his side's performance. "The drama is not the result, the drama is the way we played," he said. "It was too bad in every aspect of the game."
Although the Chelsea manager pointed out that his side could still top Champions' League Group G if they won their remaining games, they now trail Liverpool by three points and Betis are just one point behind. The match against the European champions at Stamford Bridge now has a significance that few expected after the two sides' impressive start to the Champions' League.
With only one draw to blemish their Premiership record, and a Carling Cup exit on penalties, the great Chelsea machine is not stalling yet. However, in the first half, in which Betis lost their striker Ricardo Oliveira and the centre-half Nano to injury but still dominated, it was hard not to sympathise with Mourinho's point of view that his team were malfunctioning. "Maybe the players thought this was the second leg match and we were already 4-0 up," he said, "because the attitude was too relaxed when we were playing for points."
He started with Eidur Gudjohnsen in attack and the striker clouted his only clear-cut chance of the first half over the bar when he was set free by John Terry's pass. Robben was even worse. He was lucky not to be substituted at half-time and when he was hauled off for Damien Duff on 64 minutes stalked down the tunnel with a member of the Chelsea staff in pursuit.
When the home team did finally break through on 27 minutes, however, it was a goal created and executed by their two substitutes. Paolo Castellini passed the ball through Chelsea to the replacement striker Dani, who lingered at the back post. William Gallas' ponderous efforts to make a tackle allowed Dani to prod the ball home.
Duff created the best Chelsea chance of the match on 74 minutes - a moment in which Mourinho's side could scarcely believe they had not scored. The cross from the left was just a toe's width from being turned in by Didier Drogba but, before it rolled out of play, was turned back into the area by Shaun Wright-Phillips. Michael Essien scooped his shot against the goalkeeper Pablo Contreras' right post and from there it rolled across the line, struck the opposite upright and came out.
The frustration at his team's progress took Mourinho to the edge of his technical area and, at one point, toe-to-toe with the match referee Alain Hamer, who sent him back to his bench when he queried a decision. The Chelsea coach was withering in his assessment of the official from Luxembourg, adding that an official from a country with "no record in international football" might not be fit to take control of the game.
The game only threatened to spiral out of control in the second half when Drogba challenged Contreras for a loose ball and stood chest-to-chest with the goalkeeper before shoves were exchanged. The dives and time-wasting of the Betis players were part "of the Latin culture", Mourinho said, although he had little sympathy for his players in falling for the familiar old tricks.
Drogba and Wright-Phillips were on as half-time substitutes and the England winger's booking means he misses the game against Anderlecht. Drogba was booked and there was the hint of racist chants from the crowd.
There is hope at last for Manchester United on Sunday - how Chelsea respond could define the season.
Real Betis (4-4-2): Contreras; Varela, Juanito, Nano (Castellini, 20), Melli; Joaquin, Arzu, Rivera, Edu; Capi (Fernando, 83), Oliveira (Dani, 24). Substitutes not used: Doblas (gk), Xisco, Juanlu, Bascon.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; Makelele; Cole (Wright-Phillips, h-t), Lampard, Essien, Robben (Duff, 65); Gudjohnsen (Drogba, h-t). Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Geremi, Bridge, Huth.
Referee: A Hamer (Luxembourg).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mirror :
GAMBLER JOSE A REAL LOSER Group G: Real Betis 1 Chelsea 0 from Seville Mour Euro trouble after Blues shock Darren Lewis
JOSE MOURINHO'S Champions League gamble last night blew up spectacularly in his face as Chelsea were humiliated by struggling Real Betis.
The Blues boss rested striker Didier Drogba and first-choice left-back Asier Del Horno with one eye on Sunday's crunch Premiership clash with Manchester United.
But he watched in fury as his Chelsea team were outplayed and outmanoeuvred before an error from stand-in left-back William Gallas gifted Betis striker Dani a shock 28th-minute winner.
The Spanish side had gone into last night's tie on the back of THREE straight defeats since being crushed 4-0 by the Premiership Champions a fortnight ago.
They were without FIVE first-team last night and they lost another TWO, including their top scorer Ricardo Oliveira, within half an hour.
Yet Chelsea failed to get a shot on target until seven minutes before half time and angry Mourinho read the riot act to his troops before declaring during the interval that the performance was the worst he had seen during his time in charge of the Blues.
Win the Group G face-off and Chelsea would march into the knockout stages and after nine minutes John Terry floated a 50-yard pass into the path of Dutch winger Arjen Robben.
With just one defender between himself and Eidur Gudjohnsen, Chelsea looked set to go ahead. But Robben allowed an outstretched boot from Betis defender Juanito to rob him. In reply, Spanish international winger Joaquin lashed a 12th-minute free-kick into the path of Edu, whose effort was intercepted by Michael Essien.
After that luckless Betis, without five first-team players going into the match, lost defender Nano to injury just 19 minutes in.
Barely five minutes had passed before they were robbed off leading scorer Oliveira too, the Brazilian striker failing to recover from a Ricardo Carvalho tackle.
It was a blow for the side fourth-from-bottom of La Liga and a boost for Chelsea. Until, that was, Dani entered the fray to strike the goal which once again laid bare the sudden fragility of the Chelsea defence.
After 28 minutes attacking midfielder Capi sent in a ball from the left which left the Blues defence uncharacteristically rooted to the spot.
Edu was allowed to dummy and Terry and Gallas ball-watched, giving Dani time and space to pick his spot.
Worse still they did not trouble Betis keeper Pedro Contreras until six minutes before half time. Gudjohnsen's pass found Joe Cole on the right and he homed in on goal with only Contreras to beat. But the Betis keeper stood up well before plunging to his right to stop the shot.
Chelsea were denied again as Robben played a one-two with Essien before unleashing a powerful left-foot drive into the body of Contreras.
But it was Gudjohnsen with the most glaring miss with barely two minute to go before the interval. He raced onto Terry's pass which left him one-on-one with Contreras, but lofted his ball high into the stands.
It could have been even worse for Chelsea on half-time, when Dani was presented with an open goal.
Blues keeper Petr Cech could only parry Edu's long-range drive and Dani sent his effort just wide. Despite the half-time hair-dryer treatment, Chelsea amazingly failed to find their usual second-half improvement.
As tensions boiled over, Mourinho clashed was involved in a shouting match with referee Alain Hamer and Didier Drogba was booked amid a hail of missiles from the home fans for an altercation with Contreras.
There was also racist chanting at Wright Phillips and Drogba which FIFA are certain to look into.
Chelsea's best chance came in the 72nd minute when Shaun Wright-Phillips sent a Damien Duff cross back into the six-yard box for Essien but the midfielder's effort hit one post, rolled across the goal-line and hit the other before rolling into the arms of Contreras.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sun:
Real Betis 1 Chelsea 0 By SUN ONLINE REPORTER
MAYBE Arsene Wenger was right after all.
Perhaps Chelsea ARE starting to crack up.
Jose Mourinho's men yet again proved they are not immortal by failing to break down Real Betis.
They now have just one victory to show from their last four games.
And boy, did they not like losing their first match for six months.
Five players were booked, three of them second half substitutes as their frustrations grew in this Champions League clash.
Chelsea were undone by Martin Dani's 28th-minute strike.
Michael Essien saw a late effort hit both posts before rebounding into the goalkeeper's arms.
But the Londoners may now need to win their final two games to ensure qualification to the knockout stages from Group G.
Arsenal boss Wenger riled Mourinho last week when he suggested that the Blues were losing it after the draw with Everton and the Carling Cup penalty shootout defeat to Charlton.
The Premiership champions quickly dispelled that theory with a 4-2 demolition of Blackburn.
But the way they let Rovers back into the game suggested Chelsea were rocking - and this defeat confirms it.
Mourinho surprisingly opted for Eidur Gudjohnsen in attack instead of Didier Drogba.
But the Icelandic striker failed to spark and he was replaced by the Ivory Coast hitman at the break.
Chelsea needed shaking up at that stage as well after Dani had given the home side a deserved lead.
Dani was introduced after top scorer Ricardo Oliveira was taken off on a stretcher following a tackle by Ricardo Carvalho.
But he quickly made his mark as he latched on to Capi's centre after Edu's dummy brought him time in the box.
Dani left William Gallas flat-footed and he picked his spot beyond Petr Cech to send the home fans delirious.
Joe Cole thought he had equalised six minutes before the break when his scrambled shot brought a fine one-handed save from Pedro Contreras.
Arjen Robben and Gudjohnsen had also gone close but Mourinho rang the changes at half-time with Shaun Wright-Phillips joining the fray with Drogba.
But Betis were more than a match for their opponents and Damien Duff was next to appear for the Blues.
Duff, Drogba and Wright-Phillips were all booked as they failed to make the desired impact and Essien summed up their night with by hitting the woodwork twice before Contreras gratefully grabbed the rebound.
Mourinho pushed John Terry up front for the final 15 minutes but this time the Blues boss had no get out of jail card.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times:
Chelsea left feeling the pain in Spain after Dani buoys BetisFrom Matt Hughes in SevilleReal Betis 1 Chelsea 0 ARSÈNE WENGER usually channel-hops on Champions League nights, but the Arsenal manager will have watched this match in its entirety with a smile stretched across his face. After winning their first eight matches of the season and going 12 games unbeaten, Chelsea have suddenly lost twice in seven days. Not even José Mourinho, Wenger’s nemesis, could quibble with this defeat. Chelsea were soundly beaten in a bad-tempered game in which there were ten bookings. They were not helped by a weak performance from Alain Hamer, Luxembourg’s leading referee, but Mourinho was man enough to accept that his team deserved to lose. The champions were dreadful in attitude and application, particularly in the first half, with only John Terry showing the necessary character.
The Portuguese had warned his players of the potential danger posed by the Spaniards after recent mistakes, but their defensive lapses had paled into insignificance compared with those of Real Betis. After an indifferent start to the season, they have imploded since last month’s 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge, conceding ten goals in three league games and slipping to seventeenth in La Liga.
In the first half last night it was Mourinho who was despairing in the dugout, though, as Chelsea produced their worst 45 minutes of the season. Usually so controlled in possession, the visiting team gave the ball away as if bestowing acts of charity, with Arjen Robben, who had been given a surprising recall, particularly culpable.
The Holland winger had an evening to forget, pulling out of challenges and appearing reluctant to receive the ball. No wonder Mourinho has privately questioned his mental strength.
With Alberto Rivera and Arzu controlling midfield, Betis pressed forward and were rewarded with a deserved goal in the 28th minute, a breakthrough even more impressive as they had just lost their centre back and centre forward, Nano and Ricardo Oliveira, to injury. Both substitutes were involved, with Paolo Castellini’s cross from the left being dummied by Edu, allowing Dani to get in front of William Gallas to score.
Chelsea’s misery was soon compounded when, after creating rare chances on the counter-attack, they wasted two clear opportunities. After being played through by Eidur Gudjohnsen, Joe Cole was the first culprit, shooting tamely at Pedro Contreras, the Betis goalkeeper, but the Iceland striker’s miss was even worse. He spooned the ball over the bar when through on goal after a long pass from Terry.
Unlike Mourinho’s mood at half-time, though, the scoreline could have been worse. On the stroke of the interval, Petr Cech, who has looked increasingly fallible of late, failed to hold a long-range effort from Edu, with Dani shooting narrowly wide on the rebound.
Gudjohnsen and Cole paid for their sins, being replaced by Didier Drogba and Shaun Wright-Phillips at half-time, and they will be expected to demonstrate more penitence in training this week. Robben was given a shot at redemption but failed to take it, lingering long enough only to pick up a booking for a petulant foul before being replaced by Damien Duff in the 65th minute. The 21-year-old’s exit was more memorable than his performance. He stormed down the tunnel before Mourinho sent his coaching staff to retrieve him.
As Betis continued to dominate, the pace of Duff on the counter-attack seemed to be Chelsea’s best hope of salvaging a point and, sure enough, the Irishman fashioned their only real opportunity. After rampaging down the left in the 72nd minute, Duff’s cross eluded Drogba but found Wright-Phillips on the far byline and he squared the ball to Michael Essien.
The Ghana midfield player beat Melli, the defender, to the ball, but his shot rebounded off the inside of the near post, ran along the goalline and hit the inside of the other post before bouncing into the arms of Contreras, summing up Chelsea’s evening. After a tortuous night in Seville, their players will await Mourinho’s Spanish Inquisition with trepidation.
REAL BETIS (4-2-3-1): P Contreras —F Varela, Juanito, Nano (sub: P Castellini, 19min), Melli — A Rivera, Arzu — Joaquín, Capi (sub: Fernando, 84), Edu — R Oliviera (sub: Dani, 25). Substitutes not used:A Doblas, Fernando, Xisco, Juanlu,I Bascón. Booked: Capi, Varela, Melli, Contreras, Dani.
CHELSEA (4-3-3): P Cech — P Ferreira, R Carvalho, J Terry, W Gallas — M Essien, C Makelele, F Lampard — J Cole (sub:S Wright-Phillips, 46), E Gudjohnsen (sub:D Drogba, 46), A Robben (sub: D Duff, 65). Substitutes not used: C Cudicini, R Huth, Gérémi, W Bridge. Booked: Cole, Robben, Drogba, Wright-Phillips, Duff.
Referee: A Hamer (Luxembourg).
BLUE MURDER FOR MOURINHO
JOSÉ MOURINHO is not normally a gracious loser, but he took last night’s defeat on the chin. “It was the worst performance since I arrived,” he said. “I’ve been here for 15 months, perhaps 80 matches at Chelsea, and this was the worst performance. The first half was too bad to be true.
“Maybe the players thought it was a knockout game and we were 4-0 up. The attitude was too relaxed for a game when we’re playing for points.”
Chelsea’s defeat leaves them three points behind Liverpool, but Mourinho is confident that his team can recover to win group G. “If we win our next two matches, we will be first in the group. We have our destiny in our hands,” he said. “The drama is not in the result, the drama is in the first-half performance.”
Mourinho also added more fuel to the fire of his dispute with Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager. “If my comments (about Wenger being a “voyeur” and “obsessed” with Chelsea) were very strong, I have to accept that the next comments will be very strong,” he said. “I accept that, but I have a file of quotes from Mr Wenger about Chelsea in the last 12 months. It’s a file of 120 pages. I accept the next answer being strong and it’s time to stop. If he doesn’t stop, we’re there for a fight.” MATT HUGHES -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telegraph:
Complacent Chelsea beaten by BetisBy Christopher Davies in Seville (Real Betis (1) 1 Chelsea (0) 0
Dominant in the Premiership, Chelsea once again showed their frailty away from home in the Champions League as they slumped to a fifth defeat in six ties on their travels, with Real Betis giving the visitors a lesson in attacking football.
Chelsea finished with John Terry as a makeshift striker, alongside Didier Drogba, but Betis deservedly held on for a famous victory that means Chelsea must wait to secure their place in the knockout stages.
It is difficult to believe they will not join Liverpool in progressing from Group G but it is a year since they won an away match in the Champions League and it is a flaw Jose Mourinho must correct.
Rarely have Chelsea had to defend in depth and for such long periods, against a Real Betis team who came into this match in the wake of four consecutive defeats.
Perhaps Chelsea were guilty of complacency but they were second best in most aspects of a rousing tie in the Andalucian capital that will give Betis real hope they can split the English teams.
Chelsea even collected four cautions, which means an automatic Uefa fine, and while Mourinho had said it did not matter if they qualified for the next stage last night or in the last group game, the manager would no doubt have preferred to secure their progress sooner rather than later.
Perhaps, with this weekend's Premiership game against Manchester United in mind, Mourinho rested Drogba and gave Eidur Gudjohnsen his first Champions League start of the season in attack, the Iceland international supported by Joe Cole and Arjen Robben.
It was the Chelsea defence that was called into action for much of the first half as some powerful runs by Joaquin tested the most miserly back line in the Premiership.
In the opening 15 minutes Chelsea were rarely out of their own half as Real Betis, struggling in 17th place in La Liga, poured forward from both wings and through the middle.
With Claude Makelele the shield in front of the back four, Chelsea were just about managing to keep Betis at bay but the home team were undoubtedly making life difficult for the visitors.
Injuries forced Betis to make two first-half changes - in the 21st minute Nano was replaced by Paolo Castellini and then leading goalscorer Ricardo Oliveira was stretchered off after a challenge from Ricardo Carvalho, with Dani coming on.
Yet Betis continued to dominate and it was no surprise when they broke the deadlock in the 29th minute through Dani, who had been on the field only four minutes.
Capi's cross from the left eluded Terry, and when William Gallas was the wrong side of Dani, the Betis player was able to beat Petr Cech from six yards.
There could be no doubt Betis deserved to be in the lead, their football belying their poor domestic form.
Cole was needlessly cautioned for telling Alain Hamer too forcefully that the referee should have awarded a corner rather than a throw-in, a cheap yellow card to collect which could prove costly later in the tournament.
Chelsea belatedly tested Pedro Contreras, the goalkeeper saving superbly when Cole was clear, and then he held a well-struck 25-yard shot by Robben.
Two minutes before the interval Gudjohnsen seemed certain to score as he bore down on the Betis goal but his shot from eight yards went high into the crowd.
There was still time for Dani to come within inches of making it 2-0 and Mourinho clearly had his work cut out as the Chelsea manager conducted his half-time team talk.
Mourinho made two changes for the start of the second-half, bringing on Shaun Wright-Phillips and Drogba for Gudjohnsen and Cole, but it was Betis who continued to set the pace with some breathtaking attacking.
The Chelsea manager was warned by Hamer to stay in his technical area, Mourinho on his feet trying to rally his troops who were in the unfamiliar position of being on the back foot.
The noise inside the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera stadium was incredible as the home fans sensed a significant scalp.
Tempers, too, were rising and Melli became the third Betis player to be shown the yellow card for an over-zealous challenge.
Drogba had looked a caution waiting to happen and, sure enough, he was booked by Hamer for roughing up Contreras.
Duff, fit again three weeks after undergoing knee surgery, was introduced in the 65th minute and there was a suspicion that Betis had put in so much effort into assuming control that they could not sustain the pressure.
Michael Essien came close to equalising in the 72nd minute when his shot struck both posts before rebounding into the grateful arms of Contreras.
Match details
Real Betis (4-4-1-1): Contreras; Varela, Juanito, Nano (Castellini 21), Melli; Joaquin, Rivera, Arzu, Edu; Capi; Oliveira (Dani 25). Subs: Doblas (g), Dani, Fernando, Xisco, Juanlu, Israel. Booked: Capi, Varela, Melli. Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Terry, Gallas; Essien, Makelele, Lampard; Cole (Wright-Phillips h-t), Gudjohnsen Drogba h-t), Robben (Duff 65). Subs: Cudicini (g), Geremi, Bridge, Huth. Booked: Cole, Robben, Drogba. Referee: A Hamer (Luxembourg).
Sunday, October 30, 2005
sunday papers blackburn home
The Sunday Times October 30, 2005
Chelsea 4 Blackburn 2: Lampard is world's best brags JoseDavid Walsh at Stamford Bridge JOSE MOURINHO walks into a press conference as John Wayne once ambled into a saloon. Within seconds, something happens. All it took yesterday was a straightforward question about Frank Lampard and his value to the Premiership leaders. It was an opportunity for the Chelsea gunslinger to lay down the law: “The player,” he said of Lampard, “is the best player in the world.”
Forget Ronaldinho, Robinho, Ronaldo, Shevchenko, Zidane and all the others. Mourinho knows better. Being Jose, he couldn’t offer the opinion without a touch of insolence. “You have to ask these top people of world football,” he said of those who dish out prestigious awards to the game’s finest, “what they’re doing on weekends?” Mourinho made sense. He wasn’t saying Lampard was more skilful than Ronaldinho or more powerful than Ronaldo but that he did more for Chelsea than the annual winners of world awards do for their clubs. Who can argue? Think of an afternoon, September 16, 2001 at White Hart Lane and the occasion of Lampard’s fourth game in Chelsea’s blue.
He went down in the penalty box, appeals for a penalty were turned down and after getting up, he accidentally collided with Spurs goalkeeper Neil Sullivan. Wrongly, he was given a yellow card, his second, and the dismissal brought the one-match ban that caused him to miss a game away to Fulham two weeks later. Now in his fifth season at Chelsea, that was the only Premiership game he didn’t start in almost four-and-a-half seasons with the Stamford Bridge club.
Yesterday was Lampard’s 157th consecutive game for the Blues. “There are some great players in the world,” added Mourinho, “no doubt about it, but they play one game every month or one day they are man of the match, the next day they don’t get a touch. This player is top in every game.”
If Lampard was a horse he would be sent to stud and made to reproduce but, for Mourinho, the Chelsea midfielder reproduces every week. Yesterday’s performance was typical; he provided the cross for the first and scored the second and third, and from midfield, he is the Premiership’s leading scorer.
Somebody asked Mourinho afterwards if he agreed this victory put Chelsea back on track. Nobody exaggerates the sense of being insulted better than “The Special One”. He shrugged his shoulders, raised his eyebrows and the body language screamed indignation. “Back on track? Back on track? Mama mia! Back on track. This was game No 40 without a defeat. This season, 10 wins and a draw: what do you say to Arsène Wenger after his team draws 1-1 with Tottenham? Back on track. Mama mia.”
Yet this was an important victory and when Joe Cole’s shot took a vicious deflection off Zurab Khizanishvili to wrong-foot Brad Friedel and put Chelsea 4-2 in front, Mourinho’s vibrant acclamation told us how the manager actually felt. Blackburn offered serious and organised opposition. On another day they might have got something but Chelsea were too good.
The leaders’ cause was helped by the dismissal from the dugout of Mark Hughes. Nine minutes into the second half, the Blackburn manager’s irritation with a few decisions by referee Mike Riley reached boiling point. After Tugay was harshly penalised for a foul on Michael Essien, Hughes tried but failed to get Riley’s attention.
Irritation turning to downright anger, he belted a kitbag with his right foot. It was not a day to reach boiling point because the fourth official was called Kettle, Steve Kettle, and he reported Hughes.
“I am a little bit confused why he sent me to the stands,” Hughes said. “I shouted three times to get the referee’s attention, couldn’t do it and then kicked the bag.”
So Hughes went backstage as Chelsea moved centre stage but it was his team’s refusal to lie down that gave us such a good match. Chelsea, too, produced a fine performance, epitomised by their fiercely positive start. The first goal came on 10 minutes. John Terry surged to reach Lampard’s corner and when the ball was cleared back to the England midfielder Blackburn’s defence was at sixes and sevens.
So much so that they left Didier Drogba alone in the six yards from goal and he comfortably scored with his head. The advantage was doubled four minutes later and, again, the goal was created from a corner. Terry again caused panic by going for the ball with such conviction that Andy Todd wrestled him illegally. Lampard belted the penalty into the corner of the net.
That kind of start would have killed off most teams at Stamford Bridge, not Blackburn. They inched their way back into the game and when Petr Cech failed to properly clear Morten Pedersen’s corner, Ricardo Carvalho was judged to have fouled Khizanishvili. Craig Bellamy scored easily from the spot.
Blackburn continued to improve and two minutes before the break, they equalised. An innocuous cross came Asier Del Horno’s way but instead of clearing, the Spaniard lazily turned a ball back to his goalkeeper.
Cech screwed his clearance five yards forward and into the air. Blackburn’s Shefki Kuqi then showed commendable composure in rising above Terry and intelligently directing his header to Bellamy, who stooped and scored decisively. Two-two and Chelsea were rattled.
They recovered, though. Lampard put his team back in front with an outstanding free kick. The ball swung dramatically from right to left, missed Terry’s head by inches and still flew into the corner of the net. Cole’s late goal gave Chelsea a margin of victory that might have been marginally flattering.
STAR MAN: Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Player ratings: Chelsea: Cech 5, Gallas 6, Carvalho 6, Terry 7, Del Horno 5, Makelele 6, Wright-Phillips 5 (Robben 68min, 6), Lampard 8, Essien 7, Cole 7 (Gudjohnsen 78min, 6), Drogba 7 (Crespo 80min, 6)
Blackburn Rovers: Friedel 6, Neill 6, Khizanishvili 6, Todd 6, Gray 6, Emerton 5, Savage 6 (Mokoena 77min, 6), Tugay 7 (Reid 72min, 6), Pedersen 5, Bellamy 6, Kuqi 6 (Dickov 75min, 5)
Scorers: Chelsea: Drogba 10, Lampard 14 pen, 62, Cole 74
Blackburn Rovers: Bellamy 18 pen, 44
Referee: M Riley
Attendance: 41,553 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------People:
LAMPS' TON OF DE-LIGHT! CENTURY BOY FRANK SHOWS HE'S GOT A HEART OF GOALS CHELSEA 4 BLACKBURN 2Neil Silver
FRANK LAMPARD was told by a doctor at the beginning of the season that his heart was larger than normal. Chelsea fans already knew that.
The 27-year-old midfielder showed why he has been short-listed for the European Footballer of the Year award with another inspirational performance at Stamford Bridge which steadied the Chelsea ship and nipped any talk of a "crisis" firmly in the bud.
Lampard can now also add the name "centurion" to his many accolades, as he scored the two goals he needed to clock up a ton in club football.
Spirited Blackburn gave Chelsea a run for their money until they fell apart early in the second half after manager Mark Hughes was sent from the bench as a result of petty officialdom.
Lampard steered his team to three more points towards what is looking like a comfortable defence of their Premiership crown.
Chelsea looked to be home and dry as they raced into a two-goal lead inside the first 13 minutes courtesy of a Didier Drogba header and Lampard's penalty, but Craig Bellamy cut short the celebrations when he converted a penalty of his own after 18 minutes, then used his head to equalise two minutes before half-time.
That was the first time a Premiership team had put two goals past Chelsea this season and Jose Mourinho's men were temporarily rocking.
It all went pear-shaped for Hughes when the former Chelsea favourite was banished from the bench for kicking a kit bag.
Lampard stepped up to the plate yet again with a 30-yard free kick after 62 minutes which sailed over everyone and into the net, before Joe Cole wrapped up the win with a deflected shot after 75 minutes. Chelsea stated their intention after only 10 minutes when Lampard's left-wing corner was headed straight back to him by the Blackburn defence. When he whipped in another cross Drogba guided a header inside the far post.
It was just the start Chelsea needed at the end of a week under the microscope which saw them drop their first points of the season by drawing at Everton, then lose on penalties to Charlton in the Carling Cup.
Life got even rosier for the Blues when they were awarded a penalty three minutes later after Rovers skipper Andy Todd bundled over his opposite number John Terry. Lampard, who started the day as the Premiership's joint leading scorer with Ruud van Nistelrooy of Manchester United on eight goals, stroked the spot kick.
The landmarks continue to come for Lampard as this was his 157th consecutive League appearance - a Premiership record for an outfield player.
Having put five goals past Bolton in their previous league game at Stamford Bridge, it looked as if we might be about to witness another mauling, but Blackburn are pretty resilient these days and pulled a goal back after 18 minutes.
Referee Mike Riley pointed to the spot for the second time when Ricardo Carvalho caught Zuran Khizanishvili with a clumsy lunge.
Bellamy checked on his run-up to wrong-foot Petr Cech before slotting the ball in the bottom left corner. It wasn't as cheeky as a Robert Pires-Thierry Henry plot, but it clearly upset Chelsea's Czech goalkeeper.
That meant there was no repeat for Cech of a penalty save, which he did in the bitter Ewood Park clash last season.
Hughes was unhappy that Mourinho had accused his team of resorting to a "nasty" brand of football, so it would have been a sweet sensation watching Bellamy equalise two minutes before the break.
Asier Del Horno's header back toward Cech bounced at an awkward height which resulted in him slicing his attempted clearance into the air.
Shefki Kuqi reacted quicker than Terry to head the ball sideways and Bellamy kept his cool as he planted a downward header past the flailing Cech.
By letting in a second goal Cech and Chelsea had doubled the number they had conceded all season in just one half.
But normal service was resumed after the break. In the 54th minute, when Hughes was so angered by a decision which went against Rovers that he kicked the kit bag. Unfortunately, the fourth official ran to teacher by calling over Riley to tell him, and the referee banished Hughes.
Tugay caught Cole to concede a free kick 30 yards from goal on the Chelsea left, and when Lampard curled it towards the far post it missed everyone and crept into the net.
Cole tried his luck from 20 yards and the ball was deflected beyond Brad Freidel to seal another Chelsea win.
That is 40 matches unbeaten, and Arsenal's record of 49 is firmly in their sights.
CHELSEA: Cech 6 - Gallas 6, Terry 6, Carvalho 5, Del Horno 5 - Wright-Phillips 4 (Robben, 68mins, 6), Makelele 6, *LAMPARD 8, Essien 5, J Cole 7 (Gudjohnsen, 78mins, 6) - Drogba 7 (Crespo, 80mins).
BLACKBURN: Friedel 6 - Neill 6, Khizanishvili 6, Todd 6, Gray 6 - Emerton 6, Tugay 6 (Reid 72mins, 6), Savage 6 (Mokoena 77mins, 6), Pedersen 6 - *BELLAMY 8, Kuqi 6 (Dickov 75mins, 6). Ref: M Riley 6.
SHINER LAMPARD Who else could it be, after he scored twice to notch a ton of goals SHOCKER TREVOR KETTLEThe fourth official squealed on Mark Hughes, getting him sent from the dug-out MAGIC MOMENT Jose Mourinho ridiculed a suggestion after the game that this result meant Chelsea were back on track. They were never off it.
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Mirror:
GENIE OF THE LAMP Magic Frank's a class act CHELSEA...............4 Drogba, 10, Lampard (pen) 14, 62, Joe Cole 74 BLACKBURN.........2 Bellamy (pen) 18, 44 Anthony Clavane
WITH ten minutes to go Frank Lampard appeared to embark on a lap of honour - and the Chelsea faithful stood as one to salute another match-winning display by the England star.
In fact, Lamps had bizarrely assumed he was being subbed and the red-faced midfielder had to run back on to the pitch much to the amusement of both sets of fans.
But Lampard deserved his standing ovation. Jose Mourinho sarcastically claimed a national holiday would be declared when Chelsea finally lost a league game, such is the anti-Blues feeling in the country.
But the Portuguese coach should himself call for a "National Frank Lampard Day" to be celebrated in West London after the player almost single-handedly ensured the Chelsea juggernaut kept on rolling.
No wonder he's in the running for the coveted Ballon D'Or award. He scored twice yesterday, and made a third, to stake his claim for the best player in the world prize. To be Frank, if it wasn't for Lamps there might well have been rejoicing throughout the land as the big blue machine crashed, or at least got a bit of a prang, against Mark Hughes' men.
There was a 15-minute spell just after the interval when the visitors, who had come back from 2-0 down to draw level, looked up for a shock win.
But VC Day (Victory over Chelsea) will have to be postponed after normal business was resumed by the billionaire superstars - inspired by the brilliant Lampard, who chalked up his 100th goal of his Blues career in the process. At least the rest of the top flight know there are chinks in the the armour.
After drawing at Goodison last week and getting knocked out of the Carling Cup by Charlton they again showed signs of weakness yesterday.
But you can't accuse them of not being up for a fight. Prior to this clash, James Beattie claimed the best way to unsettle Chelsea was to rough them up a little.
This might have been true in the past but it's hard to bully the Blues out of their stride these days when they boast such tough nuts as Michael Essien and Didier Drogba.
It was in fact Joe Cole, of all people, who demonstrated this new steely side almost immediately after kick-off, hacking down hardman Lucas Neill - and being booked by referee Mike Riley.
Drogba was clearly relishing his aerial battle with Andy Todd and it came as no surprise when he left his marker to glance Lampard's left-flank cross past Brad Friedel to give the Champions an early lead. When Lamps himself sent Friedel the wrong way from the penalty spot minutes later - after Todd bundled over John Terry - it looked like game over.
But Rovers, who had won five of their previous six games, were not at the Bridge simply to make up the numbers.
They hit back immediately with another spot-kick, coolly converted by Craig Bellamy, after Ricardo Carvalho had brought down Zurab Khizanishvili in the box. Mourinho believes the only way to do well against Chelsea is through luck - and the visitors certainly made the most of theirs just before half-time.
It was a comedy of errors unworthy of Chelsea's reputation as the stingiest rearguard in the Premiership.
A terrible pass-back by Carvalho put Cech in all sorts of trouble but the keeper's attempted clearance was even more inept. Cech's woeful miskick was adroitly headed across goal by Shefki Kuqi for Bellamy to nod the ball over the line.
The Welshman has had a dramatic impact in the last few games. Since coming back from injury he's scored three times in as many games - and made all three Blackburn goals against Leeds in midweek.
The Blues were kicking themselves going in level at half-time because they really should have killed off their opponents at 2-0.
First Essien tried to pass the ball into the net from 15 yards out and Asier Del Horno botched a completely free header in front of goal.
Talking of kicking, Hughes was sent off by the over-fussy Riley after striking out at a bag on the touchline when Tugay was unfairly penalised in a clash with Essien.
But Lampard came to the rescue just after an hour's play with a free-kick which evaded every player and curled into the net. Another lucky goal - a Cole shot which deflected off Todd - made it 4-2 and then Lamps fully-deserved his ovation.
Between August 1992 and August 2003 Chelsea failed to beat Blackburn in 10 Premiership matches at Stamford Bridge. Blackburn won five, while the others were drawn.
MAN OF THE MATCH FRANK LAMPARD Who else? The England midfielder had another superb game, scoring two and crossing for Drogba to score another. RATINGS
CHELSEA: Cech 6, Gallas 6, Carvalho 6, Terry 7, Del Horno 7, Makelele 7, Essien 7, LAMPARD 9, Wright-Phillips 6 (Robben 6), Cole 8 (Gudjohnsen 6), Drogba 6 (Crespo 6).
BLACKBURN: Friedel 7, Gray 7, Todd 6, Khizanishvili 8, Neill 7, Pedersen 6, Kuqi 6 (Dickov 5), Tugay 6 (Reid 6), Savage 6 (Mokoena 6), Emerton 5, Bellamy 8.
MANAGERS: Mourinho 8; Hughes 7 REFEREE: M Riley 5
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Observer:
Mourinho bluster fails to disguise Chelsea's fallibility
Jamie Jackson at Stamford BridgeSunday October 30, 2005The Observer
Frank Lampard is the best player in the world and Blackburn had just one shot on goal. So reckoned Jose Mourinho after a sloppy display ended with a margin that should fool no-one. Yes, Chelsea deserved the win, but as Mark Hughes said, 'they couldn't work us out' in the first half. Blackburn were a threat because having conceded early they continued to sniff and took their opportunities. Two of them resulted in goals and the Chelsea boss, inevitably yet disrespectfully, claimed that by the break 'we had scored four goals'.
Hughes will feel there was a missed opportunity to turn Chelsea over. Having gone two behind early, his side deserved to have the happier half-time break. Yet once the players returned the Welshman took just eight minutes to get himself sent from the bench. It was needless.
'I don't know if that had any input on the game,' he said, before admitting: 'It doesn't make my job easier.' Blackburn conceded minutes later through Lampard's free-kick, which missed John Terry and goalkeeper Brad Friedel but not the goal.
Hughes viewed that from the stands because frustration at a challenge on Shefki Kuqi was followed by a convincing right-foot connection with a physio bag. The fourth official, Trevor Kettle, had already been arguing with the Blackburn manager and proved his jobsworthness by calling Mike Riley over. Hughes grabbed his mobile phone and disappeared.
Last week's results represented the closest Mourinho has come to a wobble, with the two dropped points at Everton last Sunday preceding the champions' exit from the Carling Cup on penalties. As in all things, this was relative of course. But a draw at Everton then defeat - however Mourinho dressed up the Charlton reverse in his programme notes - was the biggest domestic question asked of Chelsea since Claudio Ranieri left. Here, playing the side they faced following their sole Premiership defeat a year ago, the response, initially, was positive with an opening 15 minutes that gained them their advantage.
Joe Cole now seems to have consistent sharpness and end product - 'he had a great game' agreed Mourinho - and it was his intelligent running that posed Chelsea's early threat down the left as a sublime stretch ensued with Didier Drogba's opener.
First Lampard's corner was returned to him and this time he found the striker who finished easily. Then Ricardo Carvalho broke up a Blackburn attack on the edge of his area. Asier Del Horno fed it out and when Lampard played a sliding pass along the turf, it eventually came to Michael Essien. His shot disappointed but Chelsea quickly had a penalty.
Terry was grounded by Andy Todd and Lampard converted. 'He is the best player in the world. But only in this country is that recognised,' insisted his manager. Although that may be debatable, Lampard was the player who ensured Chelsea turned this around.
But before that came casualness not usually associated with Mourinho's side. They were culpable by the break of failing to kill Blackburn off. Correct, Jose? 'No. I had nothing to say at half-time. Just keep playing the same way.' The logic was questionable but away from the dictaphones Mourinho will surely work on defending of set-pieces that was again problematic here: Blackburn's first corner became a penalty when poor defending resulted in Carvalho impeding Zurab Khizanishvili. Craig Bellamy calmly said thank you. And then repeated that two minutes from half-time following a Petr Cech mis-kick.
Hughes' side received five yellow cards and his own ejection. came in a period when Stamford Bridge teemed with boos as a series of Blackburn players, including that reliable pantomime villain Robbie Savage, fell to the ground. Cole followed Lampard's hundredth league strike with a deserved goal but Hughes will feel a point at least was lost. Dickov and Kuqi should have scored.
'Back on track? Back on track?' Mourinho indignantly responded when asked about the week's end. 'There is ten points difference. Ten games with one draw. Back on track?'
The gap is actually nine but with Manchester United a further four back Mourinho may now add more value to his opening-day win over second-placed Wigan.
Man of the match: Frank Lampard - Rescued his side with crucial third goal following Chelsea's wobble and, throughout, provided the requisite calm added to the class of his passing and clever runs. Looked to be coming off for Crespo but his importance was underlined by Mourinho going to the touchline to ensure he stayed on.
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Independent:
Peerless Lampard at the double to thwart Blackburn fightback Chelsea 4 Blackburn Rovers 2 By Nick Townsend at Stamford Bridge Published: 30 October 2005 "When we fail, there will be a national holiday in the country," Jose Mourinho had mischievously declared beforehand, and just for a moment Blackburn Rovers sensed they were on the cusp of inspiring happiness and rejoicing throughout the land.
Chelsea, champions and champions-elect, had first swaggered into a two-goal lead, then staggered, felled by a brace of Craig Bellamy sling-shots in a first half in which Rovers had, according to their manager Mark Hughes, "dominated the game and caused them problems". It required Frank Lampard to unsheath his blade of deadly intent and set about these audacious interlopers.
A goal direct from a free-kick just after the hour - a 10th of the season for the Premiership's leading scorer - was the most tangible evidence of his impact. Yet those goals merely encapsulated a performance of great maturity, vision and tenacity, one for which his manager will have been mightily grateful.
Asked for an estimation of the midfielder who has illuminated most of his 157 consecutive Premiership games (only two short of David James's record), Mourinho retorted sharply: "You should ask the top people in world football, responsible for these beautiful trophies, the Golden Boot and the Gold Ball [Ballon D'Or] what they're doing at weekends, because Frank Lampard wins nothing."
The Chelsea manager added: "There are some great players in the world of football, no doubt. But other players may have one good game a month, are man of the match in one game then don't get a touch in the next. Lampard is the best in every game. He is the best in the world."
By the time he had established a 3-2 advantage, Chelsea's cause had been aided by the dismissal to the stands of Hughes. There is history, of course, between these sides. Mourinho had described Blackburn in his programme notes as being "very aggressive ... they try to control the pace and emotion of the game". Not exactly the most placatory of language.
Hughes, who understandably professed himself "very encouraged" by his team's first-half display, was ordered out of the dug-out by referee Mike Riley after engaging in a contretemps with the fourth official, Trevor Kettle, as his side were pulled up for successive free-kicks. Eventually Hughes vented his anger on a nearby kitbag. Kettle summoned Riley, and after the manager's dismissal his side swiftly capitulated, sustaining a defeat which extends Chelsea's unbeaten Premiership run to 40 games.
"I don't know whether it [the sending-off] had any influence, but it doesn't make it easy when you're sent to the stand," Hughes said. "I'm still confused why. I wasn't happy with a couple of decisions. The ref ignored me, so I kicked the bag. We had five bookings, and it was never that kind of game. Maybe his views were shaped by the comments in the programme."
Chelsea were rampant in the first few minutes. Lampard's cross after a corner was played back to him, found the head of the poorly marked Didier Drogba and he steered the ball across Brad Friedel for the opener.
By the 13th minute, Chelsea had increased their advantage. Andy Todd held John Terry in the area as a cross was delivered and Riley was left with no option but to award the spot kick.
Lampard drove the penalty past Friedel with a ferocity which demonstrated his desire to put the game quickly beyond Blackburn, particularly with Tuesday's away Champions' League game against Real Betis in mind.
He was foiled in that endeavour four minutes later when Ricardo Carvalho caught Zurab Khizanishvili in the area, Craig Bellamy deceiving Petr Cech from the spot. Heartened, Rovers provoked uncertainty within the home back-line, and one inventive move ended with Brett Emerton forcing a diving save.
As half-time beckoned, Rovers equalised. From Chelsea, the team who once prided themselves on their secure defence, it was an horrendous aberration. It appeared innocuous when Asier Del Horno attempted a headed back-pass but Cech sliced his clearance. Shefki Kuqi outjumped Terry to head the ball back across the goal and Bellamy nodded it into the net.
Only for Lampard to flex his muscles. After his free-kick curled past Friedel, Joe Cole's long-range attempt was deflected off Khizanishvili for the fourth.
So, what constitutes a crisis here? Well, clearly not an away draw to the then bottom side followed by a Carling Cup exit on penalties. Both must now be considered minor blemishes on the features of a newly emboldened Chelsea as they march on, Lampard in the vanguard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telegraph:
Lampard double ends talk of Chelsea 'crisis'
By Patrick BarclayChelsea (2) 4 Blackburn (2) 2
Crisis? What crisis? Held at Everton last weekend, knocked out of the Carling Cup at Charlton in midweek, Chelsea reacquainted themselves with the pleasure of victory at the expense of a far-from-disgraced Blackburn, whose recovery from a two-goal deficit made for terrific entertainment. Matches like this, in which the leaders can take nothing for granted, are what the Premiership is supposed to be about.
There might even have been a tense finish but for a chance spurned by Craig Bellamy - it would have given him a hat-trick - a couple of minutes after Joe Cole had somewhat fortunately obtained Chelsea's fourth with the aid of a deflection. As it was, a more significant pair of goals were those from Frank Lampard; with a penalty and a free-kick he advanced his total for the season to 11, all but one of them in the Premiership. And we are not even out of October.
Claudio Ranieri, who signed him, was here to watch another man-of-the-match display by the England midfielder - after confiding to friends that he would not be the next manager of Hearts. Despite the enthusiasm with which Ranieri had been talking about the job on Friday, it is understood that the Scottish Premier League leaders were not impressed enough with the Italian to consider meeting his high financial aspirations. So, on his way home, he paid a second visit in as many weeks to the club who replaced him with Jose Mourinho some 17 months ago.
On the previous occasion when Ranieri dropped in, Chelsea beat Bolton 5-1, and given that yesterday's visitors were also from Lancashire they may have taken his presence as ominous. But it was a different sort of afternoon. While Bolton had the thrill of enjoying a lead before they were thrashed, Chelsea took Rovers by the scruff of the neck and refused to let go until they thought superiority had been established. Prematurely, it transpired. For 13 minutes, during which Chelsea scored twice, Blackburn were penned in their own half. The pressure was ferocious. Even conceding a corner - statistics have proved this is not a very hazardous thing to do, for all the excitement it produces - proved lethal. First the ball was returned to Lampard near the flag and, when he crossed, Didier Drogba did not even have to jump as he glanced a header wide of Brad Friedel, so flimsy was the challenge of Lucas Neill. Andy Todd, by contrast, did too much when John Terry advanced for another corner, holding down the Chelsea captain; Lampard drove home the penalty.
Shortly afterwards, and less satisfyingly for Mourinho, Chelsea themselves failed to deal with a corner and gave away a penalty. Zurab Khizanishvili contested a loose ball and was fouled by Ricardo Carvalho, leaving Bellamy to do the rest. We then saw a reprise of Chelsea's magnificent early spell: high-speed attacks orchestrated by Lampard, Claude Makelele and Michael Essien. But they no longer subjugated Blackburn, for whom Brett Emerton raised morale by thrusting forward, playing an accidental one-two with Makelele and making Petr Cech drop sharply on a low shot.
It all went wrong for Cech, however, when, endeavouring to hoof clear Asier Del Horno's pass back, he sliced the ball horribly into the air. Shefki Kuqi got the better of Terry and laid the ball across goal for Bellamy to nod past the scrambling goalkeeper. Chelsea had been breached twice in a Premiership match for the first time since they visited Arsenal nearly 11 months ago. And the atmosphere engendered was sustained into the second half, which was only a few minutes old when Mark Hughes, who had been protesting furiously at Mike Riley's decisions, was ordered up the tunnel by the referee on the advice of the fourth official, Trevor Kettle.
Chelsea regained their advantage after Tugay had become the second Blackburn player cautioned in a minute (Morten Gamst Pedersen was the other). Lampard whipped in the free-kick and it soared over a thicket of keen heads before nestling in the far corner of Friedel's net.
When Cole, receiving from Makelele, strode on, shot and saw the ball veer off Todd past a flat-footed Friedel, it seemed all over. But that would not have been the case had Bellamy, served the ball by Emerton only with only Cech to beat, made proper contact; instead his effort bobbled over the bar. Still Chelsea could not relax, but they kept working and might even have got another through substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen, who was just off target.
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Chelsea 4 Blackburn 2: Lampard is world's best brags JoseDavid Walsh at Stamford Bridge JOSE MOURINHO walks into a press conference as John Wayne once ambled into a saloon. Within seconds, something happens. All it took yesterday was a straightforward question about Frank Lampard and his value to the Premiership leaders. It was an opportunity for the Chelsea gunslinger to lay down the law: “The player,” he said of Lampard, “is the best player in the world.”
Forget Ronaldinho, Robinho, Ronaldo, Shevchenko, Zidane and all the others. Mourinho knows better. Being Jose, he couldn’t offer the opinion without a touch of insolence. “You have to ask these top people of world football,” he said of those who dish out prestigious awards to the game’s finest, “what they’re doing on weekends?” Mourinho made sense. He wasn’t saying Lampard was more skilful than Ronaldinho or more powerful than Ronaldo but that he did more for Chelsea than the annual winners of world awards do for their clubs. Who can argue? Think of an afternoon, September 16, 2001 at White Hart Lane and the occasion of Lampard’s fourth game in Chelsea’s blue.
He went down in the penalty box, appeals for a penalty were turned down and after getting up, he accidentally collided with Spurs goalkeeper Neil Sullivan. Wrongly, he was given a yellow card, his second, and the dismissal brought the one-match ban that caused him to miss a game away to Fulham two weeks later. Now in his fifth season at Chelsea, that was the only Premiership game he didn’t start in almost four-and-a-half seasons with the Stamford Bridge club.
Yesterday was Lampard’s 157th consecutive game for the Blues. “There are some great players in the world,” added Mourinho, “no doubt about it, but they play one game every month or one day they are man of the match, the next day they don’t get a touch. This player is top in every game.”
If Lampard was a horse he would be sent to stud and made to reproduce but, for Mourinho, the Chelsea midfielder reproduces every week. Yesterday’s performance was typical; he provided the cross for the first and scored the second and third, and from midfield, he is the Premiership’s leading scorer.
Somebody asked Mourinho afterwards if he agreed this victory put Chelsea back on track. Nobody exaggerates the sense of being insulted better than “The Special One”. He shrugged his shoulders, raised his eyebrows and the body language screamed indignation. “Back on track? Back on track? Mama mia! Back on track. This was game No 40 without a defeat. This season, 10 wins and a draw: what do you say to Arsène Wenger after his team draws 1-1 with Tottenham? Back on track. Mama mia.”
Yet this was an important victory and when Joe Cole’s shot took a vicious deflection off Zurab Khizanishvili to wrong-foot Brad Friedel and put Chelsea 4-2 in front, Mourinho’s vibrant acclamation told us how the manager actually felt. Blackburn offered serious and organised opposition. On another day they might have got something but Chelsea were too good.
The leaders’ cause was helped by the dismissal from the dugout of Mark Hughes. Nine minutes into the second half, the Blackburn manager’s irritation with a few decisions by referee Mike Riley reached boiling point. After Tugay was harshly penalised for a foul on Michael Essien, Hughes tried but failed to get Riley’s attention.
Irritation turning to downright anger, he belted a kitbag with his right foot. It was not a day to reach boiling point because the fourth official was called Kettle, Steve Kettle, and he reported Hughes.
“I am a little bit confused why he sent me to the stands,” Hughes said. “I shouted three times to get the referee’s attention, couldn’t do it and then kicked the bag.”
So Hughes went backstage as Chelsea moved centre stage but it was his team’s refusal to lie down that gave us such a good match. Chelsea, too, produced a fine performance, epitomised by their fiercely positive start. The first goal came on 10 minutes. John Terry surged to reach Lampard’s corner and when the ball was cleared back to the England midfielder Blackburn’s defence was at sixes and sevens.
So much so that they left Didier Drogba alone in the six yards from goal and he comfortably scored with his head. The advantage was doubled four minutes later and, again, the goal was created from a corner. Terry again caused panic by going for the ball with such conviction that Andy Todd wrestled him illegally. Lampard belted the penalty into the corner of the net.
That kind of start would have killed off most teams at Stamford Bridge, not Blackburn. They inched their way back into the game and when Petr Cech failed to properly clear Morten Pedersen’s corner, Ricardo Carvalho was judged to have fouled Khizanishvili. Craig Bellamy scored easily from the spot.
Blackburn continued to improve and two minutes before the break, they equalised. An innocuous cross came Asier Del Horno’s way but instead of clearing, the Spaniard lazily turned a ball back to his goalkeeper.
Cech screwed his clearance five yards forward and into the air. Blackburn’s Shefki Kuqi then showed commendable composure in rising above Terry and intelligently directing his header to Bellamy, who stooped and scored decisively. Two-two and Chelsea were rattled.
They recovered, though. Lampard put his team back in front with an outstanding free kick. The ball swung dramatically from right to left, missed Terry’s head by inches and still flew into the corner of the net. Cole’s late goal gave Chelsea a margin of victory that might have been marginally flattering.
STAR MAN: Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Player ratings: Chelsea: Cech 5, Gallas 6, Carvalho 6, Terry 7, Del Horno 5, Makelele 6, Wright-Phillips 5 (Robben 68min, 6), Lampard 8, Essien 7, Cole 7 (Gudjohnsen 78min, 6), Drogba 7 (Crespo 80min, 6)
Blackburn Rovers: Friedel 6, Neill 6, Khizanishvili 6, Todd 6, Gray 6, Emerton 5, Savage 6 (Mokoena 77min, 6), Tugay 7 (Reid 72min, 6), Pedersen 5, Bellamy 6, Kuqi 6 (Dickov 75min, 5)
Scorers: Chelsea: Drogba 10, Lampard 14 pen, 62, Cole 74
Blackburn Rovers: Bellamy 18 pen, 44
Referee: M Riley
Attendance: 41,553 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------People:
LAMPS' TON OF DE-LIGHT! CENTURY BOY FRANK SHOWS HE'S GOT A HEART OF GOALS CHELSEA 4 BLACKBURN 2Neil Silver
FRANK LAMPARD was told by a doctor at the beginning of the season that his heart was larger than normal. Chelsea fans already knew that.
The 27-year-old midfielder showed why he has been short-listed for the European Footballer of the Year award with another inspirational performance at Stamford Bridge which steadied the Chelsea ship and nipped any talk of a "crisis" firmly in the bud.
Lampard can now also add the name "centurion" to his many accolades, as he scored the two goals he needed to clock up a ton in club football.
Spirited Blackburn gave Chelsea a run for their money until they fell apart early in the second half after manager Mark Hughes was sent from the bench as a result of petty officialdom.
Lampard steered his team to three more points towards what is looking like a comfortable defence of their Premiership crown.
Chelsea looked to be home and dry as they raced into a two-goal lead inside the first 13 minutes courtesy of a Didier Drogba header and Lampard's penalty, but Craig Bellamy cut short the celebrations when he converted a penalty of his own after 18 minutes, then used his head to equalise two minutes before half-time.
That was the first time a Premiership team had put two goals past Chelsea this season and Jose Mourinho's men were temporarily rocking.
It all went pear-shaped for Hughes when the former Chelsea favourite was banished from the bench for kicking a kit bag.
Lampard stepped up to the plate yet again with a 30-yard free kick after 62 minutes which sailed over everyone and into the net, before Joe Cole wrapped up the win with a deflected shot after 75 minutes. Chelsea stated their intention after only 10 minutes when Lampard's left-wing corner was headed straight back to him by the Blackburn defence. When he whipped in another cross Drogba guided a header inside the far post.
It was just the start Chelsea needed at the end of a week under the microscope which saw them drop their first points of the season by drawing at Everton, then lose on penalties to Charlton in the Carling Cup.
Life got even rosier for the Blues when they were awarded a penalty three minutes later after Rovers skipper Andy Todd bundled over his opposite number John Terry. Lampard, who started the day as the Premiership's joint leading scorer with Ruud van Nistelrooy of Manchester United on eight goals, stroked the spot kick.
The landmarks continue to come for Lampard as this was his 157th consecutive League appearance - a Premiership record for an outfield player.
Having put five goals past Bolton in their previous league game at Stamford Bridge, it looked as if we might be about to witness another mauling, but Blackburn are pretty resilient these days and pulled a goal back after 18 minutes.
Referee Mike Riley pointed to the spot for the second time when Ricardo Carvalho caught Zuran Khizanishvili with a clumsy lunge.
Bellamy checked on his run-up to wrong-foot Petr Cech before slotting the ball in the bottom left corner. It wasn't as cheeky as a Robert Pires-Thierry Henry plot, but it clearly upset Chelsea's Czech goalkeeper.
That meant there was no repeat for Cech of a penalty save, which he did in the bitter Ewood Park clash last season.
Hughes was unhappy that Mourinho had accused his team of resorting to a "nasty" brand of football, so it would have been a sweet sensation watching Bellamy equalise two minutes before the break.
Asier Del Horno's header back toward Cech bounced at an awkward height which resulted in him slicing his attempted clearance into the air.
Shefki Kuqi reacted quicker than Terry to head the ball sideways and Bellamy kept his cool as he planted a downward header past the flailing Cech.
By letting in a second goal Cech and Chelsea had doubled the number they had conceded all season in just one half.
But normal service was resumed after the break. In the 54th minute, when Hughes was so angered by a decision which went against Rovers that he kicked the kit bag. Unfortunately, the fourth official ran to teacher by calling over Riley to tell him, and the referee banished Hughes.
Tugay caught Cole to concede a free kick 30 yards from goal on the Chelsea left, and when Lampard curled it towards the far post it missed everyone and crept into the net.
Cole tried his luck from 20 yards and the ball was deflected beyond Brad Freidel to seal another Chelsea win.
That is 40 matches unbeaten, and Arsenal's record of 49 is firmly in their sights.
CHELSEA: Cech 6 - Gallas 6, Terry 6, Carvalho 5, Del Horno 5 - Wright-Phillips 4 (Robben, 68mins, 6), Makelele 6, *LAMPARD 8, Essien 5, J Cole 7 (Gudjohnsen, 78mins, 6) - Drogba 7 (Crespo, 80mins).
BLACKBURN: Friedel 6 - Neill 6, Khizanishvili 6, Todd 6, Gray 6 - Emerton 6, Tugay 6 (Reid 72mins, 6), Savage 6 (Mokoena 77mins, 6), Pedersen 6 - *BELLAMY 8, Kuqi 6 (Dickov 75mins, 6). Ref: M Riley 6.
SHINER LAMPARD Who else could it be, after he scored twice to notch a ton of goals SHOCKER TREVOR KETTLEThe fourth official squealed on Mark Hughes, getting him sent from the dug-out MAGIC MOMENT Jose Mourinho ridiculed a suggestion after the game that this result meant Chelsea were back on track. They were never off it.
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Mirror:
GENIE OF THE LAMP Magic Frank's a class act CHELSEA...............4 Drogba, 10, Lampard (pen) 14, 62, Joe Cole 74 BLACKBURN.........2 Bellamy (pen) 18, 44 Anthony Clavane
WITH ten minutes to go Frank Lampard appeared to embark on a lap of honour - and the Chelsea faithful stood as one to salute another match-winning display by the England star.
In fact, Lamps had bizarrely assumed he was being subbed and the red-faced midfielder had to run back on to the pitch much to the amusement of both sets of fans.
But Lampard deserved his standing ovation. Jose Mourinho sarcastically claimed a national holiday would be declared when Chelsea finally lost a league game, such is the anti-Blues feeling in the country.
But the Portuguese coach should himself call for a "National Frank Lampard Day" to be celebrated in West London after the player almost single-handedly ensured the Chelsea juggernaut kept on rolling.
No wonder he's in the running for the coveted Ballon D'Or award. He scored twice yesterday, and made a third, to stake his claim for the best player in the world prize. To be Frank, if it wasn't for Lamps there might well have been rejoicing throughout the land as the big blue machine crashed, or at least got a bit of a prang, against Mark Hughes' men.
There was a 15-minute spell just after the interval when the visitors, who had come back from 2-0 down to draw level, looked up for a shock win.
But VC Day (Victory over Chelsea) will have to be postponed after normal business was resumed by the billionaire superstars - inspired by the brilliant Lampard, who chalked up his 100th goal of his Blues career in the process. At least the rest of the top flight know there are chinks in the the armour.
After drawing at Goodison last week and getting knocked out of the Carling Cup by Charlton they again showed signs of weakness yesterday.
But you can't accuse them of not being up for a fight. Prior to this clash, James Beattie claimed the best way to unsettle Chelsea was to rough them up a little.
This might have been true in the past but it's hard to bully the Blues out of their stride these days when they boast such tough nuts as Michael Essien and Didier Drogba.
It was in fact Joe Cole, of all people, who demonstrated this new steely side almost immediately after kick-off, hacking down hardman Lucas Neill - and being booked by referee Mike Riley.
Drogba was clearly relishing his aerial battle with Andy Todd and it came as no surprise when he left his marker to glance Lampard's left-flank cross past Brad Friedel to give the Champions an early lead. When Lamps himself sent Friedel the wrong way from the penalty spot minutes later - after Todd bundled over John Terry - it looked like game over.
But Rovers, who had won five of their previous six games, were not at the Bridge simply to make up the numbers.
They hit back immediately with another spot-kick, coolly converted by Craig Bellamy, after Ricardo Carvalho had brought down Zurab Khizanishvili in the box. Mourinho believes the only way to do well against Chelsea is through luck - and the visitors certainly made the most of theirs just before half-time.
It was a comedy of errors unworthy of Chelsea's reputation as the stingiest rearguard in the Premiership.
A terrible pass-back by Carvalho put Cech in all sorts of trouble but the keeper's attempted clearance was even more inept. Cech's woeful miskick was adroitly headed across goal by Shefki Kuqi for Bellamy to nod the ball over the line.
The Welshman has had a dramatic impact in the last few games. Since coming back from injury he's scored three times in as many games - and made all three Blackburn goals against Leeds in midweek.
The Blues were kicking themselves going in level at half-time because they really should have killed off their opponents at 2-0.
First Essien tried to pass the ball into the net from 15 yards out and Asier Del Horno botched a completely free header in front of goal.
Talking of kicking, Hughes was sent off by the over-fussy Riley after striking out at a bag on the touchline when Tugay was unfairly penalised in a clash with Essien.
But Lampard came to the rescue just after an hour's play with a free-kick which evaded every player and curled into the net. Another lucky goal - a Cole shot which deflected off Todd - made it 4-2 and then Lamps fully-deserved his ovation.
Between August 1992 and August 2003 Chelsea failed to beat Blackburn in 10 Premiership matches at Stamford Bridge. Blackburn won five, while the others were drawn.
MAN OF THE MATCH FRANK LAMPARD Who else? The England midfielder had another superb game, scoring two and crossing for Drogba to score another. RATINGS
CHELSEA: Cech 6, Gallas 6, Carvalho 6, Terry 7, Del Horno 7, Makelele 7, Essien 7, LAMPARD 9, Wright-Phillips 6 (Robben 6), Cole 8 (Gudjohnsen 6), Drogba 6 (Crespo 6).
BLACKBURN: Friedel 7, Gray 7, Todd 6, Khizanishvili 8, Neill 7, Pedersen 6, Kuqi 6 (Dickov 5), Tugay 6 (Reid 6), Savage 6 (Mokoena 6), Emerton 5, Bellamy 8.
MANAGERS: Mourinho 8; Hughes 7 REFEREE: M Riley 5
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Observer:
Mourinho bluster fails to disguise Chelsea's fallibility
Jamie Jackson at Stamford BridgeSunday October 30, 2005The Observer
Frank Lampard is the best player in the world and Blackburn had just one shot on goal. So reckoned Jose Mourinho after a sloppy display ended with a margin that should fool no-one. Yes, Chelsea deserved the win, but as Mark Hughes said, 'they couldn't work us out' in the first half. Blackburn were a threat because having conceded early they continued to sniff and took their opportunities. Two of them resulted in goals and the Chelsea boss, inevitably yet disrespectfully, claimed that by the break 'we had scored four goals'.
Hughes will feel there was a missed opportunity to turn Chelsea over. Having gone two behind early, his side deserved to have the happier half-time break. Yet once the players returned the Welshman took just eight minutes to get himself sent from the bench. It was needless.
'I don't know if that had any input on the game,' he said, before admitting: 'It doesn't make my job easier.' Blackburn conceded minutes later through Lampard's free-kick, which missed John Terry and goalkeeper Brad Friedel but not the goal.
Hughes viewed that from the stands because frustration at a challenge on Shefki Kuqi was followed by a convincing right-foot connection with a physio bag. The fourth official, Trevor Kettle, had already been arguing with the Blackburn manager and proved his jobsworthness by calling Mike Riley over. Hughes grabbed his mobile phone and disappeared.
Last week's results represented the closest Mourinho has come to a wobble, with the two dropped points at Everton last Sunday preceding the champions' exit from the Carling Cup on penalties. As in all things, this was relative of course. But a draw at Everton then defeat - however Mourinho dressed up the Charlton reverse in his programme notes - was the biggest domestic question asked of Chelsea since Claudio Ranieri left. Here, playing the side they faced following their sole Premiership defeat a year ago, the response, initially, was positive with an opening 15 minutes that gained them their advantage.
Joe Cole now seems to have consistent sharpness and end product - 'he had a great game' agreed Mourinho - and it was his intelligent running that posed Chelsea's early threat down the left as a sublime stretch ensued with Didier Drogba's opener.
First Lampard's corner was returned to him and this time he found the striker who finished easily. Then Ricardo Carvalho broke up a Blackburn attack on the edge of his area. Asier Del Horno fed it out and when Lampard played a sliding pass along the turf, it eventually came to Michael Essien. His shot disappointed but Chelsea quickly had a penalty.
Terry was grounded by Andy Todd and Lampard converted. 'He is the best player in the world. But only in this country is that recognised,' insisted his manager. Although that may be debatable, Lampard was the player who ensured Chelsea turned this around.
But before that came casualness not usually associated with Mourinho's side. They were culpable by the break of failing to kill Blackburn off. Correct, Jose? 'No. I had nothing to say at half-time. Just keep playing the same way.' The logic was questionable but away from the dictaphones Mourinho will surely work on defending of set-pieces that was again problematic here: Blackburn's first corner became a penalty when poor defending resulted in Carvalho impeding Zurab Khizanishvili. Craig Bellamy calmly said thank you. And then repeated that two minutes from half-time following a Petr Cech mis-kick.
Hughes' side received five yellow cards and his own ejection. came in a period when Stamford Bridge teemed with boos as a series of Blackburn players, including that reliable pantomime villain Robbie Savage, fell to the ground. Cole followed Lampard's hundredth league strike with a deserved goal but Hughes will feel a point at least was lost. Dickov and Kuqi should have scored.
'Back on track? Back on track?' Mourinho indignantly responded when asked about the week's end. 'There is ten points difference. Ten games with one draw. Back on track?'
The gap is actually nine but with Manchester United a further four back Mourinho may now add more value to his opening-day win over second-placed Wigan.
Man of the match: Frank Lampard - Rescued his side with crucial third goal following Chelsea's wobble and, throughout, provided the requisite calm added to the class of his passing and clever runs. Looked to be coming off for Crespo but his importance was underlined by Mourinho going to the touchline to ensure he stayed on.
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Independent:
Peerless Lampard at the double to thwart Blackburn fightback Chelsea 4 Blackburn Rovers 2 By Nick Townsend at Stamford Bridge Published: 30 October 2005 "When we fail, there will be a national holiday in the country," Jose Mourinho had mischievously declared beforehand, and just for a moment Blackburn Rovers sensed they were on the cusp of inspiring happiness and rejoicing throughout the land.
Chelsea, champions and champions-elect, had first swaggered into a two-goal lead, then staggered, felled by a brace of Craig Bellamy sling-shots in a first half in which Rovers had, according to their manager Mark Hughes, "dominated the game and caused them problems". It required Frank Lampard to unsheath his blade of deadly intent and set about these audacious interlopers.
A goal direct from a free-kick just after the hour - a 10th of the season for the Premiership's leading scorer - was the most tangible evidence of his impact. Yet those goals merely encapsulated a performance of great maturity, vision and tenacity, one for which his manager will have been mightily grateful.
Asked for an estimation of the midfielder who has illuminated most of his 157 consecutive Premiership games (only two short of David James's record), Mourinho retorted sharply: "You should ask the top people in world football, responsible for these beautiful trophies, the Golden Boot and the Gold Ball [Ballon D'Or] what they're doing at weekends, because Frank Lampard wins nothing."
The Chelsea manager added: "There are some great players in the world of football, no doubt. But other players may have one good game a month, are man of the match in one game then don't get a touch in the next. Lampard is the best in every game. He is the best in the world."
By the time he had established a 3-2 advantage, Chelsea's cause had been aided by the dismissal to the stands of Hughes. There is history, of course, between these sides. Mourinho had described Blackburn in his programme notes as being "very aggressive ... they try to control the pace and emotion of the game". Not exactly the most placatory of language.
Hughes, who understandably professed himself "very encouraged" by his team's first-half display, was ordered out of the dug-out by referee Mike Riley after engaging in a contretemps with the fourth official, Trevor Kettle, as his side were pulled up for successive free-kicks. Eventually Hughes vented his anger on a nearby kitbag. Kettle summoned Riley, and after the manager's dismissal his side swiftly capitulated, sustaining a defeat which extends Chelsea's unbeaten Premiership run to 40 games.
"I don't know whether it [the sending-off] had any influence, but it doesn't make it easy when you're sent to the stand," Hughes said. "I'm still confused why. I wasn't happy with a couple of decisions. The ref ignored me, so I kicked the bag. We had five bookings, and it was never that kind of game. Maybe his views were shaped by the comments in the programme."
Chelsea were rampant in the first few minutes. Lampard's cross after a corner was played back to him, found the head of the poorly marked Didier Drogba and he steered the ball across Brad Friedel for the opener.
By the 13th minute, Chelsea had increased their advantage. Andy Todd held John Terry in the area as a cross was delivered and Riley was left with no option but to award the spot kick.
Lampard drove the penalty past Friedel with a ferocity which demonstrated his desire to put the game quickly beyond Blackburn, particularly with Tuesday's away Champions' League game against Real Betis in mind.
He was foiled in that endeavour four minutes later when Ricardo Carvalho caught Zurab Khizanishvili in the area, Craig Bellamy deceiving Petr Cech from the spot. Heartened, Rovers provoked uncertainty within the home back-line, and one inventive move ended with Brett Emerton forcing a diving save.
As half-time beckoned, Rovers equalised. From Chelsea, the team who once prided themselves on their secure defence, it was an horrendous aberration. It appeared innocuous when Asier Del Horno attempted a headed back-pass but Cech sliced his clearance. Shefki Kuqi outjumped Terry to head the ball back across the goal and Bellamy nodded it into the net.
Only for Lampard to flex his muscles. After his free-kick curled past Friedel, Joe Cole's long-range attempt was deflected off Khizanishvili for the fourth.
So, what constitutes a crisis here? Well, clearly not an away draw to the then bottom side followed by a Carling Cup exit on penalties. Both must now be considered minor blemishes on the features of a newly emboldened Chelsea as they march on, Lampard in the vanguard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telegraph:
Lampard double ends talk of Chelsea 'crisis'
By Patrick BarclayChelsea (2) 4 Blackburn (2) 2
Crisis? What crisis? Held at Everton last weekend, knocked out of the Carling Cup at Charlton in midweek, Chelsea reacquainted themselves with the pleasure of victory at the expense of a far-from-disgraced Blackburn, whose recovery from a two-goal deficit made for terrific entertainment. Matches like this, in which the leaders can take nothing for granted, are what the Premiership is supposed to be about.
There might even have been a tense finish but for a chance spurned by Craig Bellamy - it would have given him a hat-trick - a couple of minutes after Joe Cole had somewhat fortunately obtained Chelsea's fourth with the aid of a deflection. As it was, a more significant pair of goals were those from Frank Lampard; with a penalty and a free-kick he advanced his total for the season to 11, all but one of them in the Premiership. And we are not even out of October.
Claudio Ranieri, who signed him, was here to watch another man-of-the-match display by the England midfielder - after confiding to friends that he would not be the next manager of Hearts. Despite the enthusiasm with which Ranieri had been talking about the job on Friday, it is understood that the Scottish Premier League leaders were not impressed enough with the Italian to consider meeting his high financial aspirations. So, on his way home, he paid a second visit in as many weeks to the club who replaced him with Jose Mourinho some 17 months ago.
On the previous occasion when Ranieri dropped in, Chelsea beat Bolton 5-1, and given that yesterday's visitors were also from Lancashire they may have taken his presence as ominous. But it was a different sort of afternoon. While Bolton had the thrill of enjoying a lead before they were thrashed, Chelsea took Rovers by the scruff of the neck and refused to let go until they thought superiority had been established. Prematurely, it transpired. For 13 minutes, during which Chelsea scored twice, Blackburn were penned in their own half. The pressure was ferocious. Even conceding a corner - statistics have proved this is not a very hazardous thing to do, for all the excitement it produces - proved lethal. First the ball was returned to Lampard near the flag and, when he crossed, Didier Drogba did not even have to jump as he glanced a header wide of Brad Friedel, so flimsy was the challenge of Lucas Neill. Andy Todd, by contrast, did too much when John Terry advanced for another corner, holding down the Chelsea captain; Lampard drove home the penalty.
Shortly afterwards, and less satisfyingly for Mourinho, Chelsea themselves failed to deal with a corner and gave away a penalty. Zurab Khizanishvili contested a loose ball and was fouled by Ricardo Carvalho, leaving Bellamy to do the rest. We then saw a reprise of Chelsea's magnificent early spell: high-speed attacks orchestrated by Lampard, Claude Makelele and Michael Essien. But they no longer subjugated Blackburn, for whom Brett Emerton raised morale by thrusting forward, playing an accidental one-two with Makelele and making Petr Cech drop sharply on a low shot.
It all went wrong for Cech, however, when, endeavouring to hoof clear Asier Del Horno's pass back, he sliced the ball horribly into the air. Shefki Kuqi got the better of Terry and laid the ball across goal for Bellamy to nod past the scrambling goalkeeper. Chelsea had been breached twice in a Premiership match for the first time since they visited Arsenal nearly 11 months ago. And the atmosphere engendered was sustained into the second half, which was only a few minutes old when Mark Hughes, who had been protesting furiously at Mike Riley's decisions, was ordered up the tunnel by the referee on the advice of the fourth official, Trevor Kettle.
Chelsea regained their advantage after Tugay had become the second Blackburn player cautioned in a minute (Morten Gamst Pedersen was the other). Lampard whipped in the free-kick and it soared over a thicket of keen heads before nestling in the far corner of Friedel's net.
When Cole, receiving from Makelele, strode on, shot and saw the ball veer off Todd past a flat-footed Friedel, it seemed all over. But that would not have been the case had Bellamy, served the ball by Emerton only with only Cech to beat, made proper contact; instead his effort bobbled over the bar. Still Chelsea could not relax, but they kept working and might even have got another through substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen, who was just off target.
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Thursday, October 27, 2005
morning papers charlton cc
Guardian:
Charlton crack Chelsea's fortress
Simon Burnton at Stamford BridgeThursday October 27, 2005The Guardian
Charlton added a glorious chapter to their frequently embarrassing history in this competition last night when they beat the champions and league leaders on penalties to secure their progress to the fourth round; one more win would constitute their greatest ever run in the League Cup in all its guises.If victory tasted unfamiliar to Charlton, defeat was no less unexpected for their hosts. Not since Arsenal won 2-1 here in February 2004, towards the end of Claudio Ranieri's spell in charge, has any team wearing anything but blue celebrated on the Stamford Bridge turf. Mourinho might not believe that Charlton won, but there was no denying the feeling of their players and fans as the cup holders tumbled out at the earliest possible opportunity.
Robert Huth was twice the villain, setting up Charlton's equaliser for Darren Bent and then missing Chelsea's second penalty. Unlike their opponents Charlton had not practised their shoot-out techniques but it did not stop them from scoring from each of their five spot-kicks, Bryan Hughes scoring emphatically to decide the game.In the last 10 years, Charlton have lost on nine occasions in this competition to teams below them in the league at the time. While Chelsea are above their Addicks - and everyone else - in the Premiership, it is not by much. Charlton are second and this result continued a stunning start to the season. But even with Chelsea using the occasion to rotate several members of their bulging squad few people - including perhaps the visitors themselves - truly believed an upset was likely.
The match started at great tempo and with equally impressive quality, the sides taking it in turns to rampage forward. An even opening came to an end after 10 minutes when Chelsea fashioned the first clear chance, Paulo Ferreira stinging the palms of Stephan Andersen with a 15-yard drive after Eidur Gudjohnsen found him in space.
Slowly, inevitably, Chelsea started to create some momentum. From Wayne Bridge's excellent deep cross Hernán Crespo headed back across goal but just wide, then the Argentinian was played through by Michael Essien. Perhaps the best chance came in the 37th minute when Arjen Robben's left-wing corner found Huth unmarked, but the German headed well wide of goal. It was a warning, and it was not heeded. Four minutes later another inswinging corner from the Dutchman found Chelsea's other centre-back, and John Terry headed home.
At the other end Bent was finding himself increasingly isolated against the Chelsea defence. Helpfully Huth created the equaliser for them, his hopelessly short back-header in first-half stoppage time presenting Bent with a simple finish that he took expertly.
The second half started much like the first, with a period of intense and equal sparring ending with Chelsea starting to impose their superiority. Five minutes after the break Terry threatened to restore their lead in unlikely style, with a first-time left-foot shot from 20 yards drifting narrowly wide.
Few would have expected the centre-back to score in those circumstances, but the same could not be said of Gudjohnsen when Robben played him in after 57 minutes. The Iceland international ran into the penalty area but shot too close to Andersen and the ball bounced to safety.
At the other end Bent continued to scurry about, more in hope than expectation. But when Huth is on the pitch there is always hope, and the German almost played his team into further trouble in the 69th minute. Another weak back-pass, this time with his right boot, encouraged Bent to hare goalwards but this time Carlo Cudicini got to the ball first.
With 15 minutes of normal time remaining Alan Curbishley brought on Jay Bothroyd, and with Bent finally enjoying some support Charlton became considerably more threatening. Extra time passed in a frenetic if unrefined blur, the home side no longer quite so dominant even if Didier Drogba did manage to miss an outstanding chance in the 100th minute. From Frank Lampard's right-wing free-kick the substitute headed tamely at Andersen from eight yards out.
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Independent:
Chelsea 1 Charlton Athletic 1Charlton win 5-4 on penalties Charlton find magic formula as shoot-out stuns holders Chelsea By Sam Wallace Published: 27 October 2005 It has taken English football 36 matches, 120 minutes and 10 penalty kicks but around 10.30pm last night Charlton Athletic proved what the rest feared might never be possible: that Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea team can be beaten at Stamford Bridge. The margin was nothing more than Bryan Hughes's final penalty, the competition only the Carling Cup, but it was a shot that will echo around a nation beaten into submission by the Premiership champions.
The fall guy of the piece was Robert Huth who gave away the ball for Darren Bent's equaliser and struck his penalty close enough to Stefan Andersen for the Charlton goalkeeper to palm away. When the pile of red shirts that had descended upon Hughes after his match-winning penalty had cleared, when Mourinho had led his team down the tunnel all that Chelsea had lost was their right to defend the trophy they won in February. The rest, however, have gained a measure of hope.
Mourinho altered his team to fit the importance of this competition but it was still a Chelsea side that, by its manager's admission, was good enough to beat Charlton Athletic. Like so few teams who fall a goal behind at Stamford Bridge, however, Alan Curbishley's side refused to give in - and their equaliser to John Terry's 41st-minute header invited an increasingly desperate Chelsea response. They may not have started with all their most celebrated names on the pitch, but Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Joe Cole were there by the end.
As Huth had a double shot blocked among the Charlton penalty area traffic with 22 minutes of extra time played, as Lampard's overhead kick sailed over. Curbishley said that he surveyed his penalty-taking options and realised that most of his best had been substituted. "Bent said he wanted the first and Bryan was confident enough to take the last," he said, "it was filling in the three in between that was difficult."
They were Jay Bothroyd, Matt Holland and Hermann Hreidarsson and none of Charlton's five let their manager down. It was when Huth stepped up to take the second of his side's five penalties that the great blue beast that is devouring the record books quivered for the first time and the German, whom Drogba described in the match programme as the club's best penalty-taker, had his shot saved.
History will record a draw but for a man as addicted to competition as Mourinho this will represent the end of a remarkable run at Stamford Bridge. Beyond that, this was his last domestic defeat since the loss to Newcastle United in the FA Cup in February and the exit from the Carling Cup is the only blemish on this season apart from the Champions' League draw with Liverpool and Sunday's Premiership stalemate at Goodison with Everton.
The Chelsea manager said that he had "no complaints" about the performance of his players and maintained that he had not been plunged into one of those moods where "you want to go into your dressing-room and kill half a dozen".
Mourinho could just about bring himself to congratulate Charlton on a famous victory but as he contemplated the siege his team had laid to their goal in the closing stages added that he thought the conquerors of Stamford Bridge "were lucky". Mourinho said: "They defended everything and fought hard and took the game to penalties. Once you reach penalties it comes down to the goalkeeper, a mistake by Robert and anything could happen. But I have no complaints about my players. We faced the game seriously. I played that team because I felt some of my players deserved to play and other deserved a rest.
"We prepared properly for this match, we took it seriously and we practised penalties this week. Each player took eight penalties and Robert scored all eight against three different goalkeepers."
After an 11th-minute shot from Paulo Ferreira had been beaten away by Dean Kiely in Charlton's goal and Hernan Crespo had looped a header just shy of the post from Arjen Robben's cross - it fell to Terry to open the scoring with four minutes left in the first half.
The rearrangement of the Chelsea captain's nose by Everton's James Beattie on Sunday did not prevent him from out-jumping Hughes and directing a header in for his first goal of the season.
As the fourth official raised the board to indicate a minute's injury time, Mourinho had already disappeared into the tunnel when Luke Young sent a harmless header over the Chelsea back four. Huth stooped to direct it back to Carlo Cudicini and barely grazed his forehead on the ball. Chasing behind him, Bent needed only one touch to direct his ninth goal of the season past the stranded Cudicini.
By the end, Mourinho had unleashed the full might of his substitutes' bench upon Charlton but Curbishley's side refused to buckle. Danny Murphy was outstanding in midfield, behind him Hreidarsson and Talal El Karkouri kept the champions out - after that, holding their nerve in the penalty shoot-out seemed like the easy part.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cudicini; Ferreira, Terry, Huth, Bridge (Lampard, 60); Essien; Wright-Phillips (Cole, 60), Geremi, Gudjohnsen, Robben; Crespo (Drogba, 83).
Substitutes not used: Cech (gk), Diarra.
Charlton (4-5-1): Andersen; Young, Hreidarsson, El Karkouri, Powell; Rommedahl (Thomas, 64), Holland, Murphy (Kishishev, 82), Ambrose (Bothroyd, 73), Hughes; Bent.
Substitutes not used: Kiely (gk), Spector.
Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).
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Sun:
Chelsea 1 Charlton 1 By SUN ONLINE REPORTER
(Charlton win 5-4 on penalties)
ROBERT HUTH'S double blunder sent Chelsea to their first defeat of the season.
The German defender gifted Charlton their equaliser, then made the only penalty shoot-out miss, as the hard-grafting visitors stole into the Carling Cup last 16.
John Terry headed home Arjen Robben's 41st minute corner as the Blues defied seven changes to their side by clicking quite smoothly.
But, when Huth cocked up a back-header to Italian keeper Carlo Cudicini just before the break, the dangerous Darren Bent nipped in for his ninth of the season.
Sunday's 1-1 draw at Everton had ended Chelsea's 100% Premiership start to the season.
And they appeared determined to make amends for the blip as Charlton goalkeeper Stephan Andersen was pressed into action as early as the 10th minute.
Right-back Paulo Ferreira, who has failed to start the last four games, let fly with a ferocious 20-yard shot that Andersen did well to punch away to safety.
England left-back Wayne Bridge, impressive in his first start since breaking an ankle against Newcastle in the FA Cup last February, appeared to show no ill-effects from his long lay-off.
The first quarter, predictably enough, was all Chelsea as Shaun Wright-Phillips and Michael Essien probed the Addicks' defence in search of an opening.
In the 22nd minute a sweeping move down the left-flank almost brought the home side an opening goal.
Robben, having a quiet game by his own standards, cleverly fed the overlapping Bridge.
And the full-back's perfect cross was headed narrowly wide by Hernan Crespo.
Essien, though, was booked for a foul on Bent as the England striker strode purposefully towards the edge of the area.
Three minutes later Charlton's Bryan Hughes found himself in Alan Wiley's notebook for pushing Eidur Gudjohnsen.
The visitors, nine points behind Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premiership, finally tested Cudicini when Dennis Rommedahl hit a speculative effort into the Italian's hands from 25 yards.
But generally the Addicks, second in the Premiership, rarely troubled Terry and Huth in the home defence.
The unmarked Huth should have done better with a header from Robben's corner but the German directed the ball well wide of Andersen's left-hand upright.
Terry showed him how it should be done in the 41st minute when he nodded firmly in from eight yards to give Chelsea the lead in this third round tie.
But Huth made a dreadful error on the stroke of half-time to gift Charlton an equaliser.
The German tried to head the ball back to Cudicini but he did not apply enough power and Bent nipped in to fire past the stranded Italian.
Terry was only a foot away from scoring his second in the 50th minute when his left-foot volley just veered away from Andersen's right-hand post.
Two minutes later, as Chelsea's tempo increased once more, Wright-Phillips sent a low drive wide of the target as Charlton found it difficult to stem the blue tide.
Another delightful three-man move almost brought the success they craved in the 56th minute when Robben and Crespo shared passes before the Dutchman threaded the ball into the path of Gudjohnsen on the edge of the penalty area.
A goal appeared to be the only outcome but Andersen dived low to his left to save the Icelandic striker's shot and keep the scores level.
On the hour Frank Lampard and Joe Cole replaced Bridge and Wright-Phillips.
And it was the former who had the most impact with two typical long-range shots - one flying just over the crossbar in the 74th minute and the other into the arms of Andersen three minutes later.
Charlton introduced both Jay Bothroyd and Radostin Kishishev into the action as they sensed an opportunity to steal a memorable victory.
Indeed, five minutes from time Cudicini had to punch Bothroyd's stinging shot behind.
But the stalemate meant extra-time and then penalties.
Charlton scored all five through Bent, Bothroyd, Matt Holland, Hermann Hreidarsson and Hughes.
But Huth, second to go for the Blues, saw his spot-kick saved by Andersen to send Charlton through.
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Telegraph:
Charlton end Chelsea record By Henry Winter (Chelsea (1) 1 Charlton Athletic (1) 1 Aet: 90 min 1-1; Charlton win 5-4 on pens
Chelsea's grip on the Carling Cup was ended in dramatic fashion by a feisty Charlton Athletic side at Stamford Bridge. Put on the spot by Alan Curbishley's busy men, Chelsea failed to keep their nerve during the penalty shoot-out.
Despair: John Terry after losing in the shoot-out When Robert Huth missed, Bryan Hughes was the hero for Charlton with the decisive penalty.
The holders were held over two hours of interesting, if hardly compelling football, by a Charlton side brimming with pace, organisation and self-belief. Despite falling behind to a John Terry header, Charlton hit back through Darren Bent's ninth goal in 11 games.
Chelsea controlled large swathes of this third-round tie but the Premiership's second-best side refused to fade and matched the Premiership pace-setters all the way to the dead-ball denouement.
Before the familiar sights of a headed goal from Terry and Bent's slick finish, the Bridge had been treated to two rarities: Frank Lampard limbering up along the touchline, within touching distance of Wayne Bridge, who was making a welcome return to competitive action after eight months in the purgatory of physiotherapy.
Until Bent's dramatic interception just before the break, the force was mainly with Chelsea. The holders should really have been two goals clear by the interval, even without the playmaking talents of Lampard, who started on the bench alongside Joe Cole and Didier Drogba.
Arjen Robben was his usual mercurial self, creating chances out of nothing or disappearing down cul de sacs like a learner driver. Yet the Dutchman displayed his deftness in possession after 22 minutes, playing a neat reverse-pass down the inside-left channel for Bridge to chase. The full-back's cross was superb, perfectly weighted to clear Charlton's central defence and drop towards Hernan Crespo.
The Argentinian rose well and headed the ball back, from right to left, but fractionally wide of Andersen's post, the incident carrying echoes of Christian Vieri's hear-miss for Italy against England in Rome in 1997. Charlton's noisy following breathed a sigh of relief.
Alan Curbishley's side failed to learn from this escape. Chelsea had quickly spotted the visitors' vulnerability to balls flighted in from the flanks. Robert Huth eluded his marker at one corner to send a header skimming wide. Again Charlton ignored the warning. Five minutes from the turnaround, Chelsea broke through. Again Robben bent over a corner that caused chaos in the Charlton area.
Shoddy marking will have irritated such a perfectionist as Curbishley. The Charlton manager will have been frustrated that Terry in particular was not picked up. By the time Talal El Karkouri had seen the danger it was too late, the untroubled Terry powering in to head past Andersen from 10 yards.
Chelsea's jubiliations were short-lived. When Huth injected too little power in a back-header towards Carlo Cudicini, Bent was in like a flash, seizing on the ball as it rolled into the box and despatching a firm left-footer past the exposed Cudicini.
Stirred by Mourinho, Chelsea really went for Charlton, Terry sending a left-footed volley wide before Andersen spread himself athletically to save from Eidur Gudjohnsen. Lampard arrived on the hour, replacing Bridge.
As the minutes passed, so the temperature rose and the increasingly excellent Hermann Hreidarsson and Cudicini exchanged all manner of unpleasantries. Cudicini's fingers, rather than his mood, were stung four minutes from the end of normal time when Jay Bothroyd let fly.
Extra time brought the unedifying spectacle of Terry going in late on Andersen, bundling the keeper over the line after Drogba had threatened. Chelsea's captain was deservedly cautioned. His central-defensive accomplice, the hefty Huth, then twice smashed in shots which Charlton's defence did well to block as the game headed towards its climax.
Match details
Chelsea (4-1-2-2-1): Cudicini; Ferreira, Huth, Terry, Bridge (Lampard, 60); Essien; Geremi, Gudjohnsen; Wright-Phillips (J Cole, 60), Robben; Crespo (Drogba, 82). Subs: Cech (g), Diarra. Booked: Essien, Geremi, Terry. Charlton Athletic (4-2-3-1): Andersen; Young, El Karkouri, Hreidarsson, Powell; Holland, Hughes; Rommedahl (Thomas, 64), Murphy (Kishishev, 81), Ambrose (Bothroyd, 73); Bent. Subs: Kiely (g), Spector. Goal: Bent (44). Booked: Hughes. Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).
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Times:
Chelsea suffer shoot-out bluesBy Matt Hughes Chelsea 1 Charlton Athletic 1(aet; 1-1 after 90min; Charlton win 5-4 on pens) AFTER he claimed victory following a draw at Everton there was trepidation in the air as José Mourinho walked out of Stamford Bridge as a loser for the first time last night, but the Chelsea manager took the penalty shoot-out defeat to Charlton Athletic with good grace. It cannot have been easy for Mourinho to lose his 36-match unbeaten home record in a game that Chelsea controlled, but despite claiming they were unlucky to lose there were no sour grapes, not the merest hint of a whine. If he was searching for scapegoats he should look no farther than Robert Huth, who gifted an equaliser to Darren Bent and missed the crucial penalty kick after a desperately poor performance, but Mourinho shunned the blame game. Instead he praised Charlton’s resolve as Alan Curbishley’s side followed on from where Everton had led the way, showing that with organisation, mental strength and a little dose of luck the champions are mortal after all. For the last 10 minutes of extra time in particular, the visiting team’s spirit was summoned from the trenches as, with Talal El Karkouri hamstrung, they held on valiantly with ten men.
“I went to give congratulations to Charlton as they won, but I believe we were the best team,” Mourinho said. “We had chances to win in the 90 minutes and during extra time. They were lucky but defended well and fought all the time.
“Out of the four competitions this is the least important but that’s not why we lost. The first goal was a mistake and the penalty was a mistake, but human beings make mistakes. I’m sad but not disappointed.”
Huth’s penalty miss, which was saved by Stephan Andersen, the goalkeeper, before Charlton went on to score five out of five with Bryan Hughes converting the crucial one, was not his only mistake on a horrendous evening, but Mourinho leapt to his defence. There were anguished looks among Chelsea fans when the towering defender stepped up to take the home side’s second penalty, but such a meticulous manager as Mourinho does not improvise. The 21-year-old had drilled eight out of eight in training on Tuesday but lost his nerve at the crucial moment.
“It was a mistake by Robert but with penalties anything can happen,” Mourinho said. “I have no complaints from my players. It’s not one of those days when you go into the dressing-room and want to kill half a dozen.
“We practised penalties and in the last few days have practised penalties a dozen times. In eight penalties Robert scored eight out of eight against three different goalkeepers. I’m sad to be out of the competition but have no complaints against my players or against myself. Robert is a good player and I trust him.”
Curbishley also had problems recruiting penalty takers after Dennis Rommedahl and Danny Murphy had been substituted, but those pressed into service did their manager proud.
“It was a struggle to get five players to take penalties as some of our takers had come off,” Curbishley said. “Two of them were coerced but we managed to do it. We’ve shown that Chelsea were human but they knew that anyway.”
The rest of the Barclays Premiership will also take heart at Chelsea’s first home reverse since a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in February 2001, although those expecting an imminent collapse in the league are likely to be disappointed. After John Terry had given Chelsea the lead with a 41st-minute header it looked like being service as usual but Charlton showed great courage to strike back immediately, Huth making a hash of a back-header to Carlo Cudicini to present Darren Bent with his ninth goal of the season.
Huth by name, hoof by nature.
Chelsea dominated much of the second half, with the introduction of Frank Lampard, a substitute, after an hour giving them extra impetus, but the visiting team hung on valiantly. Perhaps Charlton deserve to be second in the table after all.
CHELSEA (4-3-3): C Cudicini — P Ferreira, J Terry, R Huth, W Bridge (sub: F Lampard, 60min) — Gérémi, M Essien, E Gudjohnsen — S Wright-Phillips (sub: J Cole, 60), H Crespo (sub: D Drogba, 83), A Robben. Substitutes not used: P Cech, L Diarra. Booked: Essien, Gérémi, Terry, Drogba.
CHARLTON ATHLETIC (4-5-1): S Andersen — L Young, T El Karkouri, H Hreidarsson, C Powell — D Rommedahl (sub: J Thomas, 65), M Holland, D Murphy (sub: R Kishishev, 82), B Hughes, D Ambrose (sub: J Bothroyd, 72) — D Bent. Substitutes not used: D Kiely, J Spector. Booked: Hughes.
Referee: A Wiley.
Charlton crack Chelsea's fortress
Simon Burnton at Stamford BridgeThursday October 27, 2005The Guardian
Charlton added a glorious chapter to their frequently embarrassing history in this competition last night when they beat the champions and league leaders on penalties to secure their progress to the fourth round; one more win would constitute their greatest ever run in the League Cup in all its guises.If victory tasted unfamiliar to Charlton, defeat was no less unexpected for their hosts. Not since Arsenal won 2-1 here in February 2004, towards the end of Claudio Ranieri's spell in charge, has any team wearing anything but blue celebrated on the Stamford Bridge turf. Mourinho might not believe that Charlton won, but there was no denying the feeling of their players and fans as the cup holders tumbled out at the earliest possible opportunity.
Robert Huth was twice the villain, setting up Charlton's equaliser for Darren Bent and then missing Chelsea's second penalty. Unlike their opponents Charlton had not practised their shoot-out techniques but it did not stop them from scoring from each of their five spot-kicks, Bryan Hughes scoring emphatically to decide the game.In the last 10 years, Charlton have lost on nine occasions in this competition to teams below them in the league at the time. While Chelsea are above their Addicks - and everyone else - in the Premiership, it is not by much. Charlton are second and this result continued a stunning start to the season. But even with Chelsea using the occasion to rotate several members of their bulging squad few people - including perhaps the visitors themselves - truly believed an upset was likely.
The match started at great tempo and with equally impressive quality, the sides taking it in turns to rampage forward. An even opening came to an end after 10 minutes when Chelsea fashioned the first clear chance, Paulo Ferreira stinging the palms of Stephan Andersen with a 15-yard drive after Eidur Gudjohnsen found him in space.
Slowly, inevitably, Chelsea started to create some momentum. From Wayne Bridge's excellent deep cross Hernán Crespo headed back across goal but just wide, then the Argentinian was played through by Michael Essien. Perhaps the best chance came in the 37th minute when Arjen Robben's left-wing corner found Huth unmarked, but the German headed well wide of goal. It was a warning, and it was not heeded. Four minutes later another inswinging corner from the Dutchman found Chelsea's other centre-back, and John Terry headed home.
At the other end Bent was finding himself increasingly isolated against the Chelsea defence. Helpfully Huth created the equaliser for them, his hopelessly short back-header in first-half stoppage time presenting Bent with a simple finish that he took expertly.
The second half started much like the first, with a period of intense and equal sparring ending with Chelsea starting to impose their superiority. Five minutes after the break Terry threatened to restore their lead in unlikely style, with a first-time left-foot shot from 20 yards drifting narrowly wide.
Few would have expected the centre-back to score in those circumstances, but the same could not be said of Gudjohnsen when Robben played him in after 57 minutes. The Iceland international ran into the penalty area but shot too close to Andersen and the ball bounced to safety.
At the other end Bent continued to scurry about, more in hope than expectation. But when Huth is on the pitch there is always hope, and the German almost played his team into further trouble in the 69th minute. Another weak back-pass, this time with his right boot, encouraged Bent to hare goalwards but this time Carlo Cudicini got to the ball first.
With 15 minutes of normal time remaining Alan Curbishley brought on Jay Bothroyd, and with Bent finally enjoying some support Charlton became considerably more threatening. Extra time passed in a frenetic if unrefined blur, the home side no longer quite so dominant even if Didier Drogba did manage to miss an outstanding chance in the 100th minute. From Frank Lampard's right-wing free-kick the substitute headed tamely at Andersen from eight yards out.
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Independent:
Chelsea 1 Charlton Athletic 1Charlton win 5-4 on penalties Charlton find magic formula as shoot-out stuns holders Chelsea By Sam Wallace Published: 27 October 2005 It has taken English football 36 matches, 120 minutes and 10 penalty kicks but around 10.30pm last night Charlton Athletic proved what the rest feared might never be possible: that Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea team can be beaten at Stamford Bridge. The margin was nothing more than Bryan Hughes's final penalty, the competition only the Carling Cup, but it was a shot that will echo around a nation beaten into submission by the Premiership champions.
The fall guy of the piece was Robert Huth who gave away the ball for Darren Bent's equaliser and struck his penalty close enough to Stefan Andersen for the Charlton goalkeeper to palm away. When the pile of red shirts that had descended upon Hughes after his match-winning penalty had cleared, when Mourinho had led his team down the tunnel all that Chelsea had lost was their right to defend the trophy they won in February. The rest, however, have gained a measure of hope.
Mourinho altered his team to fit the importance of this competition but it was still a Chelsea side that, by its manager's admission, was good enough to beat Charlton Athletic. Like so few teams who fall a goal behind at Stamford Bridge, however, Alan Curbishley's side refused to give in - and their equaliser to John Terry's 41st-minute header invited an increasingly desperate Chelsea response. They may not have started with all their most celebrated names on the pitch, but Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Joe Cole were there by the end.
As Huth had a double shot blocked among the Charlton penalty area traffic with 22 minutes of extra time played, as Lampard's overhead kick sailed over. Curbishley said that he surveyed his penalty-taking options and realised that most of his best had been substituted. "Bent said he wanted the first and Bryan was confident enough to take the last," he said, "it was filling in the three in between that was difficult."
They were Jay Bothroyd, Matt Holland and Hermann Hreidarsson and none of Charlton's five let their manager down. It was when Huth stepped up to take the second of his side's five penalties that the great blue beast that is devouring the record books quivered for the first time and the German, whom Drogba described in the match programme as the club's best penalty-taker, had his shot saved.
History will record a draw but for a man as addicted to competition as Mourinho this will represent the end of a remarkable run at Stamford Bridge. Beyond that, this was his last domestic defeat since the loss to Newcastle United in the FA Cup in February and the exit from the Carling Cup is the only blemish on this season apart from the Champions' League draw with Liverpool and Sunday's Premiership stalemate at Goodison with Everton.
The Chelsea manager said that he had "no complaints" about the performance of his players and maintained that he had not been plunged into one of those moods where "you want to go into your dressing-room and kill half a dozen".
Mourinho could just about bring himself to congratulate Charlton on a famous victory but as he contemplated the siege his team had laid to their goal in the closing stages added that he thought the conquerors of Stamford Bridge "were lucky". Mourinho said: "They defended everything and fought hard and took the game to penalties. Once you reach penalties it comes down to the goalkeeper, a mistake by Robert and anything could happen. But I have no complaints about my players. We faced the game seriously. I played that team because I felt some of my players deserved to play and other deserved a rest.
"We prepared properly for this match, we took it seriously and we practised penalties this week. Each player took eight penalties and Robert scored all eight against three different goalkeepers."
After an 11th-minute shot from Paulo Ferreira had been beaten away by Dean Kiely in Charlton's goal and Hernan Crespo had looped a header just shy of the post from Arjen Robben's cross - it fell to Terry to open the scoring with four minutes left in the first half.
The rearrangement of the Chelsea captain's nose by Everton's James Beattie on Sunday did not prevent him from out-jumping Hughes and directing a header in for his first goal of the season.
As the fourth official raised the board to indicate a minute's injury time, Mourinho had already disappeared into the tunnel when Luke Young sent a harmless header over the Chelsea back four. Huth stooped to direct it back to Carlo Cudicini and barely grazed his forehead on the ball. Chasing behind him, Bent needed only one touch to direct his ninth goal of the season past the stranded Cudicini.
By the end, Mourinho had unleashed the full might of his substitutes' bench upon Charlton but Curbishley's side refused to buckle. Danny Murphy was outstanding in midfield, behind him Hreidarsson and Talal El Karkouri kept the champions out - after that, holding their nerve in the penalty shoot-out seemed like the easy part.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cudicini; Ferreira, Terry, Huth, Bridge (Lampard, 60); Essien; Wright-Phillips (Cole, 60), Geremi, Gudjohnsen, Robben; Crespo (Drogba, 83).
Substitutes not used: Cech (gk), Diarra.
Charlton (4-5-1): Andersen; Young, Hreidarsson, El Karkouri, Powell; Rommedahl (Thomas, 64), Holland, Murphy (Kishishev, 82), Ambrose (Bothroyd, 73), Hughes; Bent.
Substitutes not used: Kiely (gk), Spector.
Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).
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Sun:
Chelsea 1 Charlton 1 By SUN ONLINE REPORTER
(Charlton win 5-4 on penalties)
ROBERT HUTH'S double blunder sent Chelsea to their first defeat of the season.
The German defender gifted Charlton their equaliser, then made the only penalty shoot-out miss, as the hard-grafting visitors stole into the Carling Cup last 16.
John Terry headed home Arjen Robben's 41st minute corner as the Blues defied seven changes to their side by clicking quite smoothly.
But, when Huth cocked up a back-header to Italian keeper Carlo Cudicini just before the break, the dangerous Darren Bent nipped in for his ninth of the season.
Sunday's 1-1 draw at Everton had ended Chelsea's 100% Premiership start to the season.
And they appeared determined to make amends for the blip as Charlton goalkeeper Stephan Andersen was pressed into action as early as the 10th minute.
Right-back Paulo Ferreira, who has failed to start the last four games, let fly with a ferocious 20-yard shot that Andersen did well to punch away to safety.
England left-back Wayne Bridge, impressive in his first start since breaking an ankle against Newcastle in the FA Cup last February, appeared to show no ill-effects from his long lay-off.
The first quarter, predictably enough, was all Chelsea as Shaun Wright-Phillips and Michael Essien probed the Addicks' defence in search of an opening.
In the 22nd minute a sweeping move down the left-flank almost brought the home side an opening goal.
Robben, having a quiet game by his own standards, cleverly fed the overlapping Bridge.
And the full-back's perfect cross was headed narrowly wide by Hernan Crespo.
Essien, though, was booked for a foul on Bent as the England striker strode purposefully towards the edge of the area.
Three minutes later Charlton's Bryan Hughes found himself in Alan Wiley's notebook for pushing Eidur Gudjohnsen.
The visitors, nine points behind Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premiership, finally tested Cudicini when Dennis Rommedahl hit a speculative effort into the Italian's hands from 25 yards.
But generally the Addicks, second in the Premiership, rarely troubled Terry and Huth in the home defence.
The unmarked Huth should have done better with a header from Robben's corner but the German directed the ball well wide of Andersen's left-hand upright.
Terry showed him how it should be done in the 41st minute when he nodded firmly in from eight yards to give Chelsea the lead in this third round tie.
But Huth made a dreadful error on the stroke of half-time to gift Charlton an equaliser.
The German tried to head the ball back to Cudicini but he did not apply enough power and Bent nipped in to fire past the stranded Italian.
Terry was only a foot away from scoring his second in the 50th minute when his left-foot volley just veered away from Andersen's right-hand post.
Two minutes later, as Chelsea's tempo increased once more, Wright-Phillips sent a low drive wide of the target as Charlton found it difficult to stem the blue tide.
Another delightful three-man move almost brought the success they craved in the 56th minute when Robben and Crespo shared passes before the Dutchman threaded the ball into the path of Gudjohnsen on the edge of the penalty area.
A goal appeared to be the only outcome but Andersen dived low to his left to save the Icelandic striker's shot and keep the scores level.
On the hour Frank Lampard and Joe Cole replaced Bridge and Wright-Phillips.
And it was the former who had the most impact with two typical long-range shots - one flying just over the crossbar in the 74th minute and the other into the arms of Andersen three minutes later.
Charlton introduced both Jay Bothroyd and Radostin Kishishev into the action as they sensed an opportunity to steal a memorable victory.
Indeed, five minutes from time Cudicini had to punch Bothroyd's stinging shot behind.
But the stalemate meant extra-time and then penalties.
Charlton scored all five through Bent, Bothroyd, Matt Holland, Hermann Hreidarsson and Hughes.
But Huth, second to go for the Blues, saw his spot-kick saved by Andersen to send Charlton through.
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Telegraph:
Charlton end Chelsea record By Henry Winter (Chelsea (1) 1 Charlton Athletic (1) 1 Aet: 90 min 1-1; Charlton win 5-4 on pens
Chelsea's grip on the Carling Cup was ended in dramatic fashion by a feisty Charlton Athletic side at Stamford Bridge. Put on the spot by Alan Curbishley's busy men, Chelsea failed to keep their nerve during the penalty shoot-out.
Despair: John Terry after losing in the shoot-out When Robert Huth missed, Bryan Hughes was the hero for Charlton with the decisive penalty.
The holders were held over two hours of interesting, if hardly compelling football, by a Charlton side brimming with pace, organisation and self-belief. Despite falling behind to a John Terry header, Charlton hit back through Darren Bent's ninth goal in 11 games.
Chelsea controlled large swathes of this third-round tie but the Premiership's second-best side refused to fade and matched the Premiership pace-setters all the way to the dead-ball denouement.
Before the familiar sights of a headed goal from Terry and Bent's slick finish, the Bridge had been treated to two rarities: Frank Lampard limbering up along the touchline, within touching distance of Wayne Bridge, who was making a welcome return to competitive action after eight months in the purgatory of physiotherapy.
Until Bent's dramatic interception just before the break, the force was mainly with Chelsea. The holders should really have been two goals clear by the interval, even without the playmaking talents of Lampard, who started on the bench alongside Joe Cole and Didier Drogba.
Arjen Robben was his usual mercurial self, creating chances out of nothing or disappearing down cul de sacs like a learner driver. Yet the Dutchman displayed his deftness in possession after 22 minutes, playing a neat reverse-pass down the inside-left channel for Bridge to chase. The full-back's cross was superb, perfectly weighted to clear Charlton's central defence and drop towards Hernan Crespo.
The Argentinian rose well and headed the ball back, from right to left, but fractionally wide of Andersen's post, the incident carrying echoes of Christian Vieri's hear-miss for Italy against England in Rome in 1997. Charlton's noisy following breathed a sigh of relief.
Alan Curbishley's side failed to learn from this escape. Chelsea had quickly spotted the visitors' vulnerability to balls flighted in from the flanks. Robert Huth eluded his marker at one corner to send a header skimming wide. Again Charlton ignored the warning. Five minutes from the turnaround, Chelsea broke through. Again Robben bent over a corner that caused chaos in the Charlton area.
Shoddy marking will have irritated such a perfectionist as Curbishley. The Charlton manager will have been frustrated that Terry in particular was not picked up. By the time Talal El Karkouri had seen the danger it was too late, the untroubled Terry powering in to head past Andersen from 10 yards.
Chelsea's jubiliations were short-lived. When Huth injected too little power in a back-header towards Carlo Cudicini, Bent was in like a flash, seizing on the ball as it rolled into the box and despatching a firm left-footer past the exposed Cudicini.
Stirred by Mourinho, Chelsea really went for Charlton, Terry sending a left-footed volley wide before Andersen spread himself athletically to save from Eidur Gudjohnsen. Lampard arrived on the hour, replacing Bridge.
As the minutes passed, so the temperature rose and the increasingly excellent Hermann Hreidarsson and Cudicini exchanged all manner of unpleasantries. Cudicini's fingers, rather than his mood, were stung four minutes from the end of normal time when Jay Bothroyd let fly.
Extra time brought the unedifying spectacle of Terry going in late on Andersen, bundling the keeper over the line after Drogba had threatened. Chelsea's captain was deservedly cautioned. His central-defensive accomplice, the hefty Huth, then twice smashed in shots which Charlton's defence did well to block as the game headed towards its climax.
Match details
Chelsea (4-1-2-2-1): Cudicini; Ferreira, Huth, Terry, Bridge (Lampard, 60); Essien; Geremi, Gudjohnsen; Wright-Phillips (J Cole, 60), Robben; Crespo (Drogba, 82). Subs: Cech (g), Diarra. Booked: Essien, Geremi, Terry. Charlton Athletic (4-2-3-1): Andersen; Young, El Karkouri, Hreidarsson, Powell; Holland, Hughes; Rommedahl (Thomas, 64), Murphy (Kishishev, 81), Ambrose (Bothroyd, 73); Bent. Subs: Kiely (g), Spector. Goal: Bent (44). Booked: Hughes. Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).
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Times:
Chelsea suffer shoot-out bluesBy Matt Hughes Chelsea 1 Charlton Athletic 1(aet; 1-1 after 90min; Charlton win 5-4 on pens) AFTER he claimed victory following a draw at Everton there was trepidation in the air as José Mourinho walked out of Stamford Bridge as a loser for the first time last night, but the Chelsea manager took the penalty shoot-out defeat to Charlton Athletic with good grace. It cannot have been easy for Mourinho to lose his 36-match unbeaten home record in a game that Chelsea controlled, but despite claiming they were unlucky to lose there were no sour grapes, not the merest hint of a whine. If he was searching for scapegoats he should look no farther than Robert Huth, who gifted an equaliser to Darren Bent and missed the crucial penalty kick after a desperately poor performance, but Mourinho shunned the blame game. Instead he praised Charlton’s resolve as Alan Curbishley’s side followed on from where Everton had led the way, showing that with organisation, mental strength and a little dose of luck the champions are mortal after all. For the last 10 minutes of extra time in particular, the visiting team’s spirit was summoned from the trenches as, with Talal El Karkouri hamstrung, they held on valiantly with ten men.
“I went to give congratulations to Charlton as they won, but I believe we were the best team,” Mourinho said. “We had chances to win in the 90 minutes and during extra time. They were lucky but defended well and fought all the time.
“Out of the four competitions this is the least important but that’s not why we lost. The first goal was a mistake and the penalty was a mistake, but human beings make mistakes. I’m sad but not disappointed.”
Huth’s penalty miss, which was saved by Stephan Andersen, the goalkeeper, before Charlton went on to score five out of five with Bryan Hughes converting the crucial one, was not his only mistake on a horrendous evening, but Mourinho leapt to his defence. There were anguished looks among Chelsea fans when the towering defender stepped up to take the home side’s second penalty, but such a meticulous manager as Mourinho does not improvise. The 21-year-old had drilled eight out of eight in training on Tuesday but lost his nerve at the crucial moment.
“It was a mistake by Robert but with penalties anything can happen,” Mourinho said. “I have no complaints from my players. It’s not one of those days when you go into the dressing-room and want to kill half a dozen.
“We practised penalties and in the last few days have practised penalties a dozen times. In eight penalties Robert scored eight out of eight against three different goalkeepers. I’m sad to be out of the competition but have no complaints against my players or against myself. Robert is a good player and I trust him.”
Curbishley also had problems recruiting penalty takers after Dennis Rommedahl and Danny Murphy had been substituted, but those pressed into service did their manager proud.
“It was a struggle to get five players to take penalties as some of our takers had come off,” Curbishley said. “Two of them were coerced but we managed to do it. We’ve shown that Chelsea were human but they knew that anyway.”
The rest of the Barclays Premiership will also take heart at Chelsea’s first home reverse since a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in February 2001, although those expecting an imminent collapse in the league are likely to be disappointed. After John Terry had given Chelsea the lead with a 41st-minute header it looked like being service as usual but Charlton showed great courage to strike back immediately, Huth making a hash of a back-header to Carlo Cudicini to present Darren Bent with his ninth goal of the season.
Huth by name, hoof by nature.
Chelsea dominated much of the second half, with the introduction of Frank Lampard, a substitute, after an hour giving them extra impetus, but the visiting team hung on valiantly. Perhaps Charlton deserve to be second in the table after all.
CHELSEA (4-3-3): C Cudicini — P Ferreira, J Terry, R Huth, W Bridge (sub: F Lampard, 60min) — Gérémi, M Essien, E Gudjohnsen — S Wright-Phillips (sub: J Cole, 60), H Crespo (sub: D Drogba, 83), A Robben. Substitutes not used: P Cech, L Diarra. Booked: Essien, Gérémi, Terry, Drogba.
CHARLTON ATHLETIC (4-5-1): S Andersen — L Young, T El Karkouri, H Hreidarsson, C Powell — D Rommedahl (sub: J Thomas, 65), M Holland, D Murphy (sub: R Kishishev, 82), B Hughes, D Ambrose (sub: J Bothroyd, 72) — D Bent. Substitutes not used: D Kiely, J Spector. Booked: Hughes.
Referee: A Wiley.
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