3/1/03 Matchday XXIX: Newcastle v. Chelsea

[GPK]

Chelsea 13-9-6 48 PTS, 4th Place (-12)
Newcastle 16-4-7 52 PTS, 3rd Place (-8)

12:30PMKickoff
7:30AM EST

Live on Fox Sports World
Replays at 12PM & 8PM EST

Live on Big Blue (http://www.chelseafc.co.uk/StatPage.asp?id=big_blue_radio)

CFC Official Web (http://www.chelseafc.co.uk/Next_Match.asp)

News on Soccernet (http://www.soccernet.com/england/clubs/chelsea/index.html)

TEAMtalk-Chelsea (http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/Team_News/0,1562,14,00.html)

BBC-Chelsea (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/default.stm)

Big, Big Match....I'll be up early for this one :)

[Clan]

Petit, Desailly, Le Saux..all out of the squad for the game...not good.
We need to get something out of this.
The probable pairing in the middle of the field now will be Lampard and Morris....not exactly inspiring is it?

[mst77]

The squad is: Cudicini, Evans, Melchiot, Ferrer, Gallas, Terry, Huth, Babayaro, Gronkjaer, De Lucas, Lampard, Morris, Stanic, Zenden, Gudjohnsen, Zola, Hasselbaink and Cole.

Newcastle are without Robert (suspended) and Jenas (injured), but Viana came on in the midweek win over Bayer Leverkusen, and Solano played for an hour of a reserve game last night, both returning from injury.

So that's 18 in our squad, I am hoping that De Lucas misses out in MF and then either Ferrer or Huth won't be on the bench. We are going to be up against it without Marcel, Petit and Soxy. The following players must play out of their skins for us to win: Terry, Morris and Gronkjaer. No more silly mistakes from the backline and no silly fouls from Stanic. Our forwards must take their shots well because Newcastle will surely be tkaing theirs.

I don't think we can expect to sit back and soak up the pressure and win with this team. We need to be going for it from the start, so I would start Zola, JFH and Guddy with Gronkjaer running all day long.

-----------------------------Cudicini-------------
Melchiot---------Gallas--------Terry---------Baba
--------Gronkjaer--------Lampard-------Morris---
--------------------------------Zola-------------
-----------------------JFH--------Eidur----------

Subs: Evans, Cole, Zenden, Stanic, Huth

[Captain Splarg]

Hasselbaink opens the scoring and then Lampard scores later.

Its halftime now and the score is 1-1. Jimmy forgot which goal he's supposed to score in.

Chelsea are the better side and should be leading now.

[Dr_Intoxicated]

Well we are def the better side, a lot more spirit then last week. A cracking goal from Jimmy, shame it was the wrong end.

Good goal from Frankie too, he is dominating midfield.

[mst77]

Can't really argue with it, a draw would have been more fair but we just couldn't get any good shots, Newcastle defended very well I thought.

We just had no inspiration, there was no killer ball coming from midfield and we played hoof and hope for 50% of our attacks. We could not hold possession until Zola came on and we went all attack. I am happy CR recognized the need to go for it and played with 3 strikers + Zenden, and I was very amazed he took off Baba instead of Jimbo or Eidur when Cole came on. 4 strikers + Zenden and then only 3 defenders made the game wide open and we had a chance but couldn't capitalize.

I don't think we had any terrible performances today aside from Jimbo, his OG was awful and he just doesn't seem able to get into position to score. The JFH/Guddy partnership has been shut down by opponents since late February last year, we need some sort of spark to ignite them. We look much more likely to score when Zola is on the pitch, no matter if he's one of 2 or 3 strikers. Gronks didn't have a great game but he did deliver two very good crosses that people didn't put away. He and Stanic fell over way too much for my liking, we won't win over any neutrals with theatrics like those we saw today.

I didn't think anyone besides Bellamy and Woodgate were especially outstanding for the Toon, Viana had flashes of greatness including the ball he put through for Bernard's winner. But he also goes to ground too easily and looks to complain to the refs almost as much as Jimbo. Bellamy's speed was their main weapon and he easily made Gallas look a fool on a couple of occasions.

I was also impressed with how the Toon pressured the ball, their forwards and midfielders didn't give our players a moment's rest and I think this led to a lot of the hoofing. In contrast our forwards rarely went after the ball when Newcastle had it and they had much more time to create opportunities from buildups.

I don't think we can catch them for 3rd now and we have our work cut out for us to catch Everton who lead 1-0 at the half. We will also have to defend against Liverpool coming from the dead, I still think they will make a strong run at the top 4.

On the bright side, great goal by Frankie even if it was allowed by Given's error in coming out. Similarly Carlo was a bit slow in coming off his line for the winner, I wasn't sure if he should have even come off it at all.

We are seeing how influential our "Oldies" are now and we are going to be in real trouble if our younger players don't make the step up soon. We need Dessa and Petit desperately for next week.

[BridgeMonkee]

Sad result indeed, I thought we deserved the draw at least. Ho-hum.

Poor Jimmy has not really found his form this season and now this. We need Jimmy on form if we want to have a chance of a top 4 place and some FA cup success.

terrible performances today? Jimbo and I thought Jody Morris was weak and out of his depth at this level. We missed Petit and we should have bought Dunn in the transfer window (It would have been a purchase to secure that CL place in my ever so umble opinion). Had we bought Dunn or another decent mid we may well have got 6 points from our last 2 games. I've said all along that we have lacked strength in depth in the middle of the park and that we needed at least one more quality mid for this campaign and today we were truly exposed - The toon missed a couple of mids today, Jenas and the winger, but they had the players to come in and that was the diff.

Good perfomance for us today? Melchiot played well. Lampard played well (he really does need to score more though eh? only 5 in the league this season).

[Clan]

Well just got done watching the tape...this idea that upper management has about working 1 Saturday a month is the dogs bollox if you ask me.

Anyone else get the feeling all along that we just wern't going to get anything out of this game?
We are a truly different team without Petit and Le Saux.No matter how you cut it or try it or shift it ot swop it or any other clever little moves ( all the strikers on etcetcetc) we just aren't top 4 material without those two players.

Ranieri..and especially Birch and Bates..had better realise that we need to get a decent play maker in the middle of the park.We can make do at the back and up the front for a while yet.The middle of the park is killing us.When you have to rely on Jody Morris (and i'm really not having a go at the lad here-just stating how i see it) to come in for cover, well you're pissing into the wind really.

Still, it's only one defeat so lets not have a wailing contest just yet.Long way to go yet and the teams around us will drop more points from now untill the end of the season.And that, i think, is going to be key to who ends up with the last Champions league position.
It's not going to be a case of one of the pack that is going to go on a tear because, quite frankly, none of us is good enough to do it.No, it's going to be a case of who drops less points now rather than who will win more.There is a difference.

But, all credit to the Toon.
Played in midweek again and came out fighting for the ball all over again.
Robson has the makings of something special up there and good luck to him as i always admired him for a top class bloke and decent manager.

THE YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST COMMENT.
Chelsea v Liverpool end of season game.
Winner qualifies for the UEFA Cup...loser gets first shout at the Inter-Toto.
Don't laugh, it could come true.

[GPK]

Not sure why there is so much doom about.

Yes, a horrible run of 2 losses in a row, but we're still only 1 point out of 4th an have Everton at home...Plus IMO an easier schedule than those we're fighting against...

Chelsea schedule:

Mar 15 West Brom v. Chelsea (US TV likely)
Mar 22 Chelsea v Man City 15.00
Apr 5 Sunderland v Chelsea 15.00
Apr 12 Chelsea v Bolton 15.00
Apr 19 Aston Villa v Chelsea 15.00
Apr 21 Chelsea v Everton 15.00 (US TV on a Monday)
Apr 26 Chelsea v Fulham 15.00
May 3 West Ham v Chelsea 15.00
May 11 Chelsea v Liverpool 16.00 (US TV likely)

Everton schedule:

Mar 15 Everton v West Ham 15.00
Mar 22 Arsenal P - P Everton Postponed
Apr 6 Everton v Newcastle 15.00
Apr 12 West Brom v Everton 15.00
Apr 19 Everton v Liverpool 15.00
Apr 21 Chelsea v Everton 15.00
Apr 26 Everton v Aston Villa 15.00
May 3 Fulham v Everton 15.00
May 11 Everton v Man Utd 16.00

Charlton schedule:

Mar 15 Charlton v Newcastle 15.00
Mar 22 Middlesbrough v Charlton 15.00
Apr 5 Charlton v Leeds 15.00
Apr 12 Blackburn v Charlton 15.00
Apr 19 Charlton v Birmingham 15.00
Apr 21 Liverpool v Charlton 15.00
Apr 26 Charlton v Southampton 15.00
May 3 Man Utd v Charlton 15.00
May 11 Charlton v Fulham 16.00

Liverpool schedule:

Mar 1 Liverpool P - P Bolton Postponed
Mar 15 Tottenham P - P Liverpool Postponed
Mar 22 Liverpool P - P Leeds Postponed
Apr 5 Man Utd v Liverpool 15.00
Apr 12 Liverpool v Fulham 15.00
Apr 19 Everton v Liverpool 15.00
Apr 21 Liverpool v Charlton 15.00
Apr 26 West Brom v Liverpool 15.00
May 3 Liverpool v Man City 15.00
May 11 Chelsea v Liverpool 16.00

[The Year Was1955]

Liverpool v Leeds and then Man U

If they get two good results from those two games in a row, will make things look very good for them.

Think Everton play too many big teams to make it, us, pool, Man u, Arse.

And think Charlton are not that good.

I think if we have a fully fit first 11 for the next 9 games then will do it. If we get some injuries, if the likes of Petit, La Saux and Dessa are out for much longer, well.... :(