Wonder if they replaced all those seats yet? http://chelsea2.chelseafc.com/news/news_26702_1359.shtml.
Half-time interview with John Terry. Quotes... "we're good enough to beat anybody, now all we have to do is go out and do it" "the lack of new players coming in might be an advantage really, now we're used to playing with each other" With Desailly.. "With Chelsea i have two more years and i want to finish them" "i want to win the priemier league with Chelsea" "we know the mistakes we made last year and have to improve on them" "geting good runs in the cup is good for Chelsea, but we really must win the title" Excellent interview with him really.Can't type fast enough.he sounds really upbeat and keeps talking about wining the title as opposed to any cups. Maintains he will see out the remainder of his contract with Chelsea no question...hinted heavilly that the Euro '04 will be the end of his international career.
1-1 Caught flat footed at the back...gallas at fault...Crossed in...Gallas' man wide open in the six yard box....easy header...nothing Cudicini could do.
2-1 the Blues Oliveria scores a cracker from the edge of the box. good build up down the right side...the lad just went right in..no messing about and shot. Sounded like a well taken goal.
Cummings having a tough time with Harper. CenterHalfs Gallas and Huth seem to be out of sync with each other. Chappie doing ok on the right. BTW...Lampard scored the first in the 12th min.
Ref stops game for a min to have a "chat" with the team captains.....hard tackles coming in quite often now...a lil to often for a pre season friendly.
Absolutly Fantastic goal..3-1 Right hand side cross...pin point accruacy from Zola....curving away from the keeper and Huth meets it with an absolute bullit header....nobody can catch him to celebrate with him....he's overjoyed to say the least. We seem to be doing ok down the right side...Ferrer and Stanic believe it or not...hard to say though if its superior play or inferior opposition.
Open goal missed For Pompey that is.Down our left side yet again. Should have scored, hit the side netting instead.
Break away game One touch football from the young lads. Typical of last years away games, we're playing counter attack tactics. The speed of the Chelsea players is causing portsmouth all sorts of problems.
Should have been 4 Zola wins the ball in front of Ferrer, passes to Gallas who runs from the centerback position all the way across the right side of midfield picking up another pin-point pass from Zola....crosses in and oliveira heads inches wide with the keeper completly wrong footed and hoplessly beaten. Great move.Covered the entire length of the field in about 10 seconds.
2 mins left We've reverted to the same tactics of last seasons away games. We're wining, pressing them back, keeping the ball.........and then we go typically Italian.....now giving them far to much room, we're actually leting them in the game now. Ferrer beaten and a powerful shot from Fox produces a great save from Cudicini. Need to address those tactics IMHO
Full Time Portsmouth 1-3 Chelsea. Pity i missed the first half, was a good game it seems.Wide open.Mostly youth side from Chelsea in the second half.
Morning Clan Missed the match as I was away playing with my nephew this morning. Sounds like a good one though. Thoughts/questions I had based on your comments as I have missed the match on radio and the report as well: --Cummings has been out of his depth at LB against Oxford and Portsmouth - not a good sign. He may need another year on loan or we should play him exclusively at LB in the reserves if that is where we intend to play him. --Oliviera sounds like he may be ready for the first team. I know it has been against two lower division opponents, but it sounds as if he has a knack for being in the right place at the right time and has a wicked eye for goal. How long do we have him under contract for? Any chance of converting him into a right winger that gets forward quite a bit? --Huth should be a first team squad member as well. Maybe we should try him out at LB instead of Cummings in the next friendly? Less competition for places there and Baba or Le Saux are always away/injured. --Who played in centre mid today? Lampard and who else? If it was Keenan, Wolleaston or De Lucas how did they perform? --Good comments by Terry. I am happy to see some confidence from someone on the team, saying "we can win the title" rather than "we can challenge" or ""we should aim for the CL". Also the part about keeping the squad intact and learning to play with each other was spot on. I always thought he was a bit thick, maybe someone fed him these lines. --Also nice to hear Dessa say we want the title, not the cups. --It seems we may have a deep squad even without buying players this summer. Huth, Cole, Oliviera and Keenan should all see planty of time in the League Cup as long as we are still in Europe when we begin play. None should be loaned out.
Morning MST That oliviera lad sounds like he is a diamond in the rough there.He seemed to be in the right place at the right time ok today..course with just radio commentary i was just relaying it as somebody else saw it...but, i was listening to who he mentioned and how often as well.This lad semed to be just like Hasselbaink.Everytime the ball was passed forward of the halfway line he was mentioned.Had a solid game up front with...and i think...it was De Lucas. Wolleston and Keenan played in middle.Stanic wide to the right. We played with three attackers..according to the commentary.Zola being the other. Cummings was really out of sorts with the pace of Harper especially.Huth seemed to improve as the game went on, only naturali expect, and i certainly would not loan this lad out. No, his place is playing with the reserves for a while.Gallas was hot and cold. The tactics at the end were a bit of a worry really MST. I mean it's only a friendly for gawds sake and he reverted to Italian football tactics.It really didn't work all that well for us last season an by all accounts of this attempt many more nail biting finishes are ahead. Maybe he was trying it out with the younger lads to see how they would do...then again maybe he wasn't. But when you have a team..any team..on the back foot, why ease up? If this were a top 10 priemier side they would have scored at least once in the last 5 to 10 mins.Poor finishing and equally poor passing coupled with good work by Ferrer and Cudicini kept it at 1-3.