west brom 2-1

Independent:

Malouda sparks Chelsea before finishing the job
Chelsea 2 West Bromwich Albion 1:

Out-of-favour Frenchman reminds Villas-Boas of his worth as Blues recover from early shock

By Trevor Haylett at Stamford Bridge

The Chelsea faithful are not used to having to wait to anoint their new manager with a victory. Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti had all begun their tenures here with a win. Even Luiz Felipe Scolari launched his ill-fated stay on a successful note. For Andre Villas-Boas, the latest to sit on the hottest of hot seats, it looked as if a second game would pass without the satisfaction of that winning feeling. His defence, unnerved by the absence of goalkeeper Peter Cech, had come apart as early as the fourth minute to gift a spirited and dogged West Bromwich Albion the lead. There was good reason for the new man to patrol his technical area with a worried frown as Chelsea laboured to find a response. But it all came right in the end with a winning goal seven minutes from time.

The imminent arrival of Juan Mata from Valencia for £26 million is being tipped to shorten the Chelsea career of Florent Malouda but those in blue were more than happy for the substitute's presence as he appeared at the far post to tuck away a delightful cross from Jose Bosingwa. The Frenchman is said to be a fitful performer but he had proved his value once again.
He also spared the new manager an unwanted inquest into their failure to win either of his opening two fixtures following the stalemate at Stoke six days before. "The players suffered from anxiety and could not express themselves in the way they wanted," said Villas-Boas. "Why were they anxious? Maybe from going behind so early. We said at half-time we had to free ourselves from the anxiety they were feeling and the public were feeling and in the second half it was a great Chelsea performance."

Villas-Boas gave his compatriot Hilario the chance to fill the space vacated by the injured Cech and he was rewarded with a vital save at the death when another substitute, Peter Odemwingie, threatened to steal the headlines from Malouda. He also decided to restore Nicolas Anelka to the firing line while Didier Drogba had again to accept a place among the replacements.
Despite the late afternoon start there was bright sunshine to welcome the dawn of a new era at Stamford Bridge. Keen anticipation swirled around with the sight of these opponents pricking memories of last season's 6-0 rampage here by Ancelotti's army on the campaign's first day.
It didn't take long for deflation to take over from expectation. Hilario got a taste of what he was letting himself in for when he was forced to come to the edge of his area to head the ball away as Shane Long bore down with menace. It wasa desperate measure and a harbinger of a casual start by last season's runners-up that would become even more apparent 60 seconds later.

A square pass from Bosingwa was maybe not the brightest thing he has ever produced on a football field but it still should not have caused Alex problems. The Brazilian got his feet in a tangle and that was enough to encourage a predator of Long's calibre, West Bromwich's new £6m man robbing him with ease before slipping the ball beyond Hilario with the minimum of fuss.
It might have got worse in the 25th minute as Chelsea toiled against opponents who advertise splendidly Roy Hodgson's commitment to hard work and good organisation. Long burned off John Terry in the chase for a flighted ball and rolled a pass across the area to where Somen Tchoyi was waiting to apply a decisive touch. Sadly for the visitors, Long's pass was applied a tad too heavily and the home side escaped.

They departed to boos at the interval but at least signs had emerged that it was starting to come together. Malouda had replaced Salomon Kalou and improvement was almost instant as Ashley Cole drew a flying save from Ben Foster who was grateful to hang on to the firmly-hit drive.
The interval discussion worked wonders. Chelsea dominated proceedings after that although it was not the work of Fernando Torres who departed after an hour to make way for Drogba and they could never count on Albion's compliance with Tchoyi a powerful sidekick for Long. When Frank Lampard went down there were strong appeals for a penalty but Anelka played on, opting to go outside his immediate opponent before angling the ball across Foster and into the far corner.

Albion responded as if affronted by the turn of events. Paul Scharner climbed impressively but nodded into the crowd. Anelka forced a fine save and Malouda was unable to follow up. The game – and Chelsea – had found a better rhythm now but the home team were still indebted to Hilario as Tchoyi took aim for the left-hand corner.

Chelsea pressed and pressed, Drogba first failing to find the target and then seeing a cross run away from him before Lampard demanded a fine stop with his legs from Foster. Then Bosingwa darted between two defenders to deliver an immaculate low cross to the far post where Malouda awaited to apply the decisive finish. For the second weekend in succession Hodgson and his team were left feeling hard done by. "We made two errors down the left to let them in and the better the opposition, the more they will punish you," he said.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Hilario; Bosingwa, Alex (Ivanovic, 66), Terry, Cole; Mikel, Ramires, Lampard; Anelka, Torres (Drogba, 59), Kalou (Malouda, 35).

West Bromwich Albion (4-4-2): Foster; Reid, Tamas, Olsson, Shorey; Brunt, Mulumbu (Dorrans, 87), Scharner, Morrison; Long, Tchoyi (Odemwingie, 75).

Referee Lee Mason.
Man of the match Anelka (Chelsea)
Match rating 7/10

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Guardian:

Florent Malouda has Chelsea smiling with late strike against West Brom
Chelsea 2 Anelka 53, Malouda 83 West Brom 1 Long 4

Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge

André Villas-Boas's emotions overcame him at the end, the Portuguese greeting the final whistle with a punch to the air and what may have been a cry of satisfaction. In reality, this was probably born more of relief. A narrow victory, even as it kickstarted the new manager's tenure, has actually served to underline the familiar issues that still cramp this squad's progress. Their transformation remains a work in progress.
If there were undoubted qualities to admire here – from José Bosingwa's delivery for Florent Malouda's winner, to the home side's late revival and dogged refusal to accept a point at best – then there were other frailties to alarm.
Chelsea laboured for long periods through the first half, prompting the manager into a tactical substitution after barely half an hour, and, with the hosts trailing, a chorus of boos accompanied the players as they retired at the break. Nerves were frayed. This occasion, a welcome for Villas-Boas and this club's latest bright new era, was not supposed to have involved howls of derision.
There was even an admission in the aftermath that the "emotions" emanating from a frustrated support had gripped the home side. "The public were anxious, the players were anxious," said the manager. "We suffered that anxiety in the first half and couldn't express ourselves." Their toils at that stage suggested the customary accusations that this is an ageing side that have lost their pizzazz were justified, even if Villas-Boas retains faith. "Inter Milan were supposed to be a dead team when they became European champions. That was the same team that won three titles in a row under [Roberto] Mancini. When everyone thought they were dead, they won the Champions League. It's all to do with quality and competence, not age," he said.
It is freshening up that this squad requires, a process that has begun quietly this summer – the teenagers Romelu Lukaku, Oriol Romeu and Thibault Courtois have joined, with Kevin De Bruyne to follow – and is likely to accelerate with more eye-catching arrivals over the next 10 days. Juan Mata, a player whose pace on the flank and invention in the delivery might have prised the Baggies apart sooner here, is on the verge of completing a £23.5m move from Valencia. Villas-Boas spies in him a winger who "scores and assists". The width he provides should drag opponents out of their comfort zones.
Creation through the centre may take longer to unearth, with Tottenham Hotspur stubbornly and understandably refusing to countenance Luka Modric's sale across the capital; but realisation has dawned that strengthening is required. This could have been a flashback to Carlo Ancelotti's first game in charge, an unconvincing late 2-1 success over Hull two years ago, given the familiarity of the personnel involved. For Didier Drogba's late winner then, see Malouda's emphatic far-post finish after Bosingwa's burst away from James Morrison. The manager praised a "dominant" second-half display. Chelsea needed this: a second successive draw would have numbed their early-season ambition.
West Brom players sighed to the turf on the final whistle in deflation that their efforts had come to nothing. Theirs has been a pointless start to the new campaign, but they will emerge stronger from their daunting opening.
Collisions with last season's champions and runners-up have only been surrendered late on, with this squad boasting more of an established Premier League feel to it. They were excellent before the interval, tapping into Shane Long's industrious running and offering a fine blend of aggression and creation through the centre.
The striker's early goal, his second in as many appearances since swapping Reading for The Hawthorns, was admirable both in its anticipation of Ramires's sloppy pass and Alex's lazy collection, and in the strength with which he held off the lumbering centre-half as the forward tore towards goal.
His finish was smartly taken beyond the exposed Henrique Hilário. Chelsea feel vulnerable whenever denied their stalwart Petr Cech, who has been ruled out for a month with a knee injury, though the stand-in was not at fault at that concession. Even so, the jitters that occasionally erupted thereafter when the visitors ventured forward exposed the hosts' sense of fragility.
Long might have created a second, only to over-hit a square pass for Somen Tchoyi. Had that been converted, Chelsea might have withered away. As it was, they mustered a flurry of chances as the break approached – Ben Foster denying Ashley Cole and Alex – with their momentum carried into the re-start. Nicolas Anelka's low finish was deflected in off an unfortunate Jonas Olsson and, even if Tchoyi and, late on, Peter Odemwingie had to be denied by Hilário, the Baggies' chance had gone. "Deja vu," bemoaned Roy Hodgson. Chelsea may have agreed.


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Mail:

Chelsea 2 West Brom 1: Malouda spares Blues's blushes with crucial late winner

By Nick Harris

Squeaky late wins isn’t how it was meant to be for Andre Villas-Boas, protege of a fellow Portuguese who was all but at invincible for years at Stamford Bridge.But a stuttering start at least ended with a first win in his first home match — albeit as Chelsea needed to come from behind to do it.Shane Long opened the scoring early for the visitors before Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda saved the day.
‘I think we suffered a little anxiety after the early goal and we weren’t able to relax,’ said Villas-Boas. ‘The half-time team talk addressed that. Once we scored we felt confident as we went in search of the second.‘We had a fantastic second half and were dominant like we should have been in the first half.’
One thing he can’t doubt is the passion of his players, although emotions ran too freely at the end, John Terry getting embroiled in a scuffle with Peter Odemwingie that led to handbags and a brief swarming of the referee.No doubt tensions were high among the home ranks. Chelsea went into the game without a win in their previous four Premier League matches, having drawn at Stoke last weekend and having failed to beat Everton, Manchester United and Newcastle in the final three fixtures of 2010-11.Villas-Boas will be a relieved rather than happy man. Winless runs like that are not the payback that Roman Abramovich expects for his petrodollars.
The opener came in the fourth minute after Ramires made a bad pass to Alex, who compounded the mistake by being ponderous, allowing Long to bustle on to the ball and run on goal.Alex couldn’t catch him, let alone stop him, and the Baggies’ major summer signing from Reading — already looking a snip at £4.5m that could rise to £6.5m — slammed home his second goal in two games. Last week the Republic of Ireland international forward netted on his club debut against Manchester United. Up the other end, Fernando Torres was less impressive than last week but at least had his shooting boots on, if only to hammer over the bar in the 20th minute.Villas-Boas declined to talk about Torres’ limited contribution saying the win had been achieved ‘as a team’. He was similarly reticent to breakthrough was coming, but not until eight minutes of the second half had passed.West Brom could have — should have — extended their lead shortly afterwards when Long and Somen Tchoyi were two against one on Hilario in the home goal. Long declined to shoot and hit his square ball too hard. It was a Chelsea let-off and Villas-Boas made a change, removing Salomon Kalou and bringing on Malouda with 10 minutes of the first half still to play.Chelsea upped the tempo. Ashley Cole hit a 25-yard left-foot screamer to the top left corner, but Ben Foster was up to it in both senses, leaping to his right to push the ball round the post.A minute later, Chelsea had a penalty shout when Anelka went down as Foster dived to gather — but referee Lee Mason gave nothing.
A breakthrough was coming, but not until eight minutes of the second half had passed. Anelka dribbled into the box and squared to Lampard, who fell under a challenge and appealed for a penalty, not given.But the ball fell back to Anelka who shot, and, via a deflection off Jonas Olsson, it was 1-1.The blood was up. Anelka tore forward again, eliciting an important save from Foster — with his feet.
Back at the other end, Hilario was more impressive still, with a brilliant save to thwart Tchoyi’s curling shot from 18 yards.Chelsea stole ahead thanks to a brilliant low cross from Jose Bosingwa in the 83rd minute, met and converted at the far post by Malouda.In this same fixture last year, also the first home game, Chelsea were rampant and filled their boots, 6-0.
The opposition manager that day was Roberto Di Matteo, now No 2 to a certain Andre Villas-Boas.
They prevailed together on Saturday— in the end.Torres, who was unable to repeat his encouraging performance of the previous week, was withdrawn for Didier Drogba just before the hour, with Olsson booked for dissent during the substitution.Tchoyi's left-foot 25-yard curler forced an acrobatic save from Hilario and an under-pressure Drogba steered Cole's cross wide before Villas-Boas made his final change when Branislav Ivanovic came on for Alex.

MATCH FACTS

Chelsea: Hilario,Bosingwa,Alex (Ivanovic 66),Terry,Cole,Ramires, Mikel, Lampard, Anelka,Torres (Drogba 59),Kalou (Malouda 35).
Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Benayoun, Ferreira, McEachran.
Yellow cards: Lampard,Terry.

West Brom: Foster, Reid, Tamas, Olsson, Shorey, Scharner, Mulumbu (Dorrans 87),Brunt,Morrison,Long,Tchoyi (Odemwingie 75).

Subs Not Used: Fulop, Cech, Jara Reyes, McAuley, Cox.
Yellow cards: Tamas, Mulumbu, Olsson, Odemwingie.

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)
Att: 41,091

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Star:


CHELSEA 2 - WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1; MALOUDA TO CHELSEA'S RESCUE

By Tony Stenson

IF this is Chelsea’s new dawn then expect a lot of nightmares.
They sneaked victory thought substitute Florent Malouda’s 84th-minute goal – but it was terribly hard work.
Albion, in fact, should have equalised in the 87th minute but Youssouf Mulumbu shot straight into Henrique Hilario’s arms in the dying minutes.
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas managed just 60 league games in Portugal before being appointed Stamford Bridge boss.
He could last fewer games here on this showing. Chelsea were that poor.
John Terry and company gave their all and dominated the second half but that devilish spark, once a major part of their game, was missing.
At least Nicolas Anelka lived up to his star status.
Chelsea needed wholesale surgery and it was why Villas-Boas was appointed.
Victory yesterday only papered over the cracks.
Villas-Boas must have known that several Chelsea players were past their sell-buy date. AVB had owner Roman Abramovich’s blessing to change direction.
Instead, he has gone for the soft option of not rocking a dressing room full of powerful characters.
Managers manage. You don’t allow others to ensure you fail.
Villas-Boas’ tailored shirt was brilliant white but his face was red after they just held on to a point against a side they hammered 6-0 on the opening day of the season last year.
Chelsea fell behind to an early Shane Long goal.
But they equalised through Anelka in the second half. But overall this was poor fare by a side many thought would be up there again.
They might be, but Villas-Boas has got to stop trusting old legs, go out an buy or encourage his new signings.
Fernado Torres, the most expensive player in the history of British football, who was signed for a reported £50million, looks as if he is a busted flush, his confidence shattered.
And where is the dominance of once Mr Reliable Frank Lampard?
Skipper Terry was forced to plug so many defensive gaps he must not have known whether he was coming or going.
AVB was so desperate he substituted Malouda for Salomon Kalou after just 34 minutes.
Roy Hodgson’s Baggies took the lead after just four minutes.
Ramires, yet to convince Chelsea fans he is a star player, was under no pressure when he pushed the ball sideways to Alex, who was caught
totally wanting. Noel Hunt sped in, brushed off the second challenge and fired home his second goal for the club he joined for £7million from Reading just a few days earlier.
Chelsea are not good enough any more. They don’t have any players who hurt opposition any more.
Kalou? More like without a clue. He’s lost confidence. Jon Obi Mikel? Why did Chelsea pick a player whose father has been kidnapped in his native Nigeria and expect him to perform?
It says a lot about the player. Less about Chelsea picking him. Chelsea can thank stand-in keeper Hilario for keeping about Albion’s robust challenge.
Albion keeper Ben Foster was equally superb, and showed why he must return to the England fold.
Chelsea equalised Anelka, not everyone’s favourite player to dig you out of a hole, shot home in 52nd minute.
Then they won the game when sub Malouda drove home.

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Telegraph:

Chelsea 2 West Bromwich Albion 1:
By Oliver Brown, at Stamford Bridge

André Villas-Boas might be depicted as the quiet man of the Premier League but last night he celebrated Chelsea’s winning goal with a quite unhinged abandon.
He had just watched Florent Malouda, the very player whom he had deployed as an early substitute to help energise a leaden performance, dispatch West Bromwich Albion with an emphatic finish. Such was the sense of vindication, this urbane 33 year-old let out a primal roar.
Crouching on the touchline seven minutes from time, staring down the barrel of a second straight draw, Villas-Boas was aware that two points from six probably signalled a sackable offence under the warped logic
of Roman Abramovich. But persistence was rewarded as strikes by Nicolas Anelka and Malouda helped ease Chelsea out of the blocks.
Still, unanswered questions linger about this Chelsea side. Does Fernando Torres, with a solitary league goal after seven months at the club, represent the worst signing of the Abramovich era since Juan Sebastián Verón? Or even Andrei Shevchenko?
A man who cost roughly the same as the gross national product of a small African country is turning out to be a staggering waste of money.
Villas-Boas was reluctant to criticise his misfiring striker openly, but he seemed perturbed by the scattering of boos that rang out around Stamford Bridge at half-time. Here was a man for whom any kind of 45-minute deficit had been a novelty during his garlanded year at Porto.
“We need good commitment, good empathy from the public,” he said. “This team want to be champions. We are listening to their demands and we want to perform, but we need their support.”
There was always Juan Mata poised to inject some dynamism. A curious ambience pervaded the stadium yesterday, after a spot of dithering by Alex had allowed West Bromwich to gatecrash the party.
The Brazilian looked as if his mind was on the beach rather than the ball as he dallied near the centre circle, inviting Shane Long to surge clear and slot a shot past the onrushing Hilario, neatly into the bottom corner.
Roy Hodgson was content simply to lap up the spectacle while his charges led Chelsea’s strikers up blind alleys, thwarting Anelka and Salomon Kalou at every turn.
West Bromwich hardly wanted chances to punish such lack of penetration. Chris Brunt, fashioning the deftest pass off the outside of his boot, helped fracture the Chelsea back line once more as he put Long clean through.
Somen Tchoyi implored wildly for a cross to the middle but Long miscued, putting too much weight on the pass to surrender the opportunity.
Chelsea appeared reduced to speculative digs from distance, as John Terry met a dropping ball with a lethargic volley that looped closer to the corner flag than the goal. Villas-Boas had clearly seen enough, hooking Kalou to find room for Malouda, although his team had been so toothless that almost any of his players were vulnerable to an early substitution.
“Our half-time talk was aimed at freeing the players from the anxiety that they were suffering,” Villas-Boas explained. “The public were anxious, and then the players were anxious. It played on them a little. This was due to a mental block.”
Torres, perhaps sensing the crowd’s annoyance, began putting himself about more in the second half, attempting a smooth turn in from the left and screaming for a foul when it did not quite work.
It was left to Frank Lampard to seek to inflict some damage, as he tumbled over Martin Olsson’s leg in the six-yard box before seeing his penalty appeal turned down.
Anelka, though, saw the opening and pounced, letting
fly with a low drive that took a deflection off Olsson’s ankle and beyond the sprawling Ben Foster.
It needed some belated brilliance from Jose Bosingwa to cement Chelsea’s advantage. The right-back drew the ball past two inert Albion defenders on the right, laying off a first-time cross straight into the path of the grateful Malouda.
Chelsea’s reprieve was secured, although perhaps the final analysis was best left to that amateur philosopher Hodgson. The visiting manager had faced the league’s two best teams in
his first two first games of the season, so who did he think was better: Chelsea or Manchester United?
“I’m an Oscar Wilde type of man,” he smiled. “I don’t believe in comparisons.”

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Mirror:

Chelsea 2 West Brom 1

Match Report

Albion manager Roy Hodgson must have been cursing his luck when the fixtures were published.
The champions first up was testing enough — but to play the runners-up in the second match would have left him scouring his house for broken mirrors.
But at least his first two matches of the season will have provided Hodgson with an accurate barometer of the potential of his squad.
And his men may have assumed that Chelsea, ­without the towering presence of goalkeeper Petr Cech, may be a touch vulnerable to the kind of ­attacks that unnerved Manchester United for long spells six days earlier.
It took only four minutes for West Bromwich to expose the fragility in the normally rock-solid Blues defence.
Alex would have preferred not to have been given possession 20 yards from his goal but he still had time to clear. He dithered and Shane Long acted.
He pestered the Brazilian into losing the ball, resisted Alex’s attempts to regain it and accelerated clear to poke the ball past Henrique Hilario.
Stamford Bridge was stunned and now Albion had something to hang on to. And Gabriel Tamas made sure Salomon Kalou was unable to mount an immediate response with an ugly challenge that brought him a booking from referee Lee Mason.
But Kalou was a threat again in the 14th minute when his run from the left gave him a sight at goal but his shot was too high.
Boosted by their early strike, the visitors looked more than capable of causing problems on the counter-attack and Paul Scharner’s shot from an angle forced a decent save from Hilario.
By now, Andre Villas-Boas had discarded his jacket as the incessant rain of the afternoon gave way to evening sun and he was certainly in a sweat as ­Chelsea went looking for the equaliser.
The frustration on the bench was matched by that in the stands as Chelsea failed to prise open a stubborn and well-organised defence.
Too many attacks lacked thrust and petered out where it counted. Come the 34th minute and Villas-Boas had seen enough. As Frank Lampard was booked for a wild hack at Long, Salomon Kalou was taken off and replaced by Florent Malouda.
Echoes of Joe Cole at Fulham under Jose Mourinho there. Chelsea’s most effective attacker was Ashley Cole and Ben Foster had to produce an excellent save to dent the England left-back’s 20-yard effort. Foster then saved Alex’s free-kick as the pressure grew.
There was certainly more zip and purpose to Chelsea’s game at the start of the second half and the immediate reward was a corner. Albion — as they had done in the first 45 minutes, cleared without much trouble.
Indeed, they looked more composed and had more ­momentum to their play when they went forward with Somen Tchoyi’s physical presence and Long’s darting runs a constant threat.
Chelsea broke through to equalise in the 53rd minute —and there was a hint of controversy.
Albion’s defence claimed Lampard should have been penalised for a dive. Referee Mason waved play on and Anelka gathered possession and drove home from an acute angle.
Chelsea’s belief grew and so did the pressure on the Albion goal. The dynamic changed and Chelsea twice went close when Foster saved from Anelka and then Reid blocked the follow-up effort from Malouda.
Fernando Torres was replaced by Didier Drogba on the hour and the Ivorian was much more of a physical threat.
But it was Malouda who got the winner with a far-post tap-in on 83 minutes.

VERDICT: The new Chelsea era was launched in victorious fashion at Stamford Bridge yesterday. Chelsea have that special trait - the ability to win when below your best.


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