3/13/04 EPL Round 28: Bolton v. Chelsea FC [R]

Cudicini broke a bone in his hand in training today. Definately out this weekend, unsure as to when he'd be back...bad news off Sullivan's prior form.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=293860&cc=5901

 

Might as well play the 4-5-1 and work out some bugs for the CL. Of course, in Italian "4-5-1" is spelled different. In Italy they spell it "4-3-3".

 

What is Batesy up to now?

Meanwhile, Chelsea are waiting to see what the next instalment in the Ken Bates saga will be after discovering he has penned a column for the programme at Bolton.

The former chairman's infamous column was axed from the Chelsea programme before he resigned last week. The move will be seen as a snub to Chelsea, while Bolton chairman Phil Gartside admitted the programme notes might be just a one-off.

Can't wait to read about this... Can we stop the glut of 7:30 AM EST kickoffs? It's killing my Friday and Saturday nights.

 

TEam

Chelsea have a goalkeeping crisis after first choice Carlo Cudicini and stand-in Neil Sullivan both suffered injuries.

Cudicini will be out for a month after breaking a finger and Sullivan misses tomorrow's game at Bolton with a thigh strain.

Marco Ambrosio and Yves Makabu-Makalambay will make the trip to the Reebok Stadium.

Defender Glen Johnson is also set to be missing for the next couple of weeks with an ankle injury.

Eidur Gudjohnsen and Adrian Mutu are both suspended this weekend and Emmanuel Petit, Juan Sebastian Veron and Mario Stanic are still injured.

Provisional squad: Ambrosio, Melchiot, Terry, Gallas, Desailly, Huth, Bridge, Babayaro, Lampard, Makelele, Parker, Geremi, Cole, Gronkjaer, Duff, Crespo, Hasselbaink, Makabu-Makalambay.

Might not be a bad time for Makelele, Bridge, and/or one of JT and Billy to take a break.

-----------------------Ambro-OH NO-sio----------
Melchiot--------Gallas----------Desailly-------Baba
-----------------------------Geremi--------------
---------------Parker------------------Lampard---
------------------------------Cole---------------
-----------------Crespo-------------JFH------

subs: YMM, JT, Duff, Bridge, Gronks

anyone?

 

Re: What is Batesy up to now?

You have a life on Friday and Saturday nights?

Not married with fairly young kids then i take it

 

Nowhere near it Clan

typical routine this year has been

1. Go out night before 7:30 AM match
2. Stay up til the early hours drinking myself into oblivion
3. Get home and sleep for 3-4 hours
4. Wake up at 7 reeking of booze
5. Get to the bar, have coffee and water on drip for the first half
6. Walk across the street and get a sausage, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich at halftime
7. Come back and have water and a pint or two in the second half to finally kill off the hangover
8. Go home and sleep til mid-afternoon

Like I said, it's been killing me.

 

i'd like to see:

-------------------???--------------
Melchiot-------JT-------Gallas-----------Baba
-------------------------------------------------
Geremi-------Parker-------Lampard--------Duff

----------Crespo-------------JFH----------

subs: ???, Dessa, Cole, Bridge, Gronks

Havent seen both keepers so I cant say thats why I would keep JT in there. We're already 'weak' in goal so I'd like to see a strong defense. Parker in the Makelele role and Lampard making the forward runs. I think Duff is still a bit rough around the edges and needs more playing time to find his form.

 

How about?

-----------------------Ambro-OH NO-sio----------
Melchiot--------Gallas----------Terry-------Bridge----------
-----------Makaklele--------------
---------------Parker------------------Lampard---
------------------------------Cole---------------
-----------------Crespo-------------Duff------

subs: YMM, Geremi, JFH, Desailly, Gronks

I just feel we need a little more creativity up front. We haven't had a lot of that this season really. Maybe it is a stability thing? We need a goal fest, haven't had one in a while.

 

Re: How about?

Good looking team.
I agree it would be better to have a creative Duff up front than a moaning Hasselbaink.
Bolton aren't a bad team at all - will be a tough game.

 

Well done Ambrosio

He has kept us in it so far, we don't seem interested it is like Tuesday night. We are just not wining the loose balls.

We have had a couple of chances but we need to compete in midfield, Lamps is having a poor game I would get Parker on. This is his sort of game.

 

COME ON YOU BLUES!

The plus side. Ambrosio is growing in confidence between the sticks, which is a good thing. Confidence is everything for a goalkeeper; The best ones are A-rro-gant. Hope he keeps it up.

Duff has been looking good. A natural winger.

Geremi? Isn't he supposed to be keeping Okocha under control?

Gronks as usual.

Crespo needs to be sharper.

 

Re: Well done Ambrosio

Without a doubt Bolton are controlling the middle of the field, and thus, the game.
Nothing to fault up front as the service isn't there.

Dreadful at the back from set pieces and corners again in my opinion.Long ball over the middle as well not being met with a solid head.
Boltons tactics are working and to be honest we're a little lucky to be 0-0 still.

 

I'll take it

3 points - clean sheet - 50 goals scored.

Onward and upward.

How poetic was it that we scored just a few seconds after the Bolton fans started sing "Champions league, you're having a laugh"

 

good result. I don't really know what game the announcer was watching, as the last half hour was all Chelsea. Maybe he's never seen an away side play for the counter?
Admittedly, the first half was dreadful, but at least now we know we've got a keeper. He looks much sharper than Sullivan.
Now let's get rid of that silly talk about lending Joe Cole out. He had a couple of moves that were just outrageous out there.
Just the kind of match that top teams win and we would have lost a year ago.

 

0-2

another very satisfactory scoreline, we were a different team in the 2nd half (well could could not have been worse in the 1st).

Great strike by Terry, and Joe Cole did very well after coming on. Well can Blackburn do something?

 

Re: 0-2

Did you ever get that feeling that if A*se do lose a game, it'll be one of hte "smaller" sides that do them in?

Good shout on J Cole - he was great when he came on.Unfortunately it'll just make him want to play all the time even more, and since we can't give him that, it may just make his "reported" desire to leave for full time action even stronger.

 

2-to-nil

Ah, poor old Bolton (they were unlucky). Chelsea were like a seasoned Heavyweight prizefighter. Soaked up the pressure and then wallop, 2-0. Could have been 3, Joe Cole was unlucky not to get one, after that superb run. Great to see Duff-er score and Terry, who would have thought he'd be all the way up there?

 

good job churning out a result

by the lads. Never thought I would say this after the Notts County match but Ambrosio was my MOTM today. His presence in the first half kept us in it when we should have been down 1 or 2. The Cole substitution was inspired, the whole team played better with him on the pitch. Lamps, Duff, Jimmy, and Cole all showed immediate improvement. Thought Gronks was crud again today.

Not much else to say. They must have played at least 50 balls over the top and down the gut in the first half - must have been their game plan when they saw Marcel in the lineup. He has been less than convincing on these balls for the past year but I thought he was solid all day. Bridge must be getting tired soon, how many straight matches has he started. He was my pick for most starts this season and he must be catching up with Frankie and JT soon.

 

Random Thought

As the announcer said, that was the worst half we've played all year. But, I think we are developing into a dangerous counterattacking team.

- Just as I had written off Lampard as needing a rest, he almost scored the first goal. Even dead tired, which I figure he is, he is still dangerous. I think at the end of the season, he'll admit he could have used a break at some point and be more sensible next term.

- Second half switch: it looked like Lampard and Geremi were getting back to at least get in front of the rebounds and short clearances that in the first half had resulted in most of Bolton's chances.

- Sorry, but for me Jay Jay Okocha looks too satisfied almost scoring. I'd rather have JFH mad all the time.

- Joe Cole played himself into a starting position. His run and shot would have been highlight film stuff if Charlton hadn't hustled back. Gronkjaer should be a sub. That said, Gronkjaer got Thome in trouble so he couldn't hang on Cole.

- Crespo: so shocked by a brilliant ball from Gronks he hit it into the sky! Really, I do think Gronks is the most improved old guard player this season.

- Gallas out wide and Desailly in the middle looked very solid. Right now, we have the best corp of defenders in the league, almost no drop off from Terry through to Huth.

- How can Gronkjaer be offside if there are no defenders between the ball and the goal? Once the ball is past the last defender, I don't know that it can technically be passed into an offside position.

- Two great layoffs from a player everyone says is not a team player. Made better by the fact that he is desparately seeking his 100th league goal.

- MOTM: Ambrosio. I hope he keeps it up. I liked seeing him yelling at the defense. If he was intimidated he didn't show it. He could have spilled one hard shot in the first half and been forgiven, but he held it tight and we won.

- I think its going to take some sneaky offseason manipulating to catch Arsenal. Mainly, we are going to need to steal at least one key Arsenal player. We don't need him, but we have to weaken their team. Ideally, Henry. More realistic: Bergkamp, who might see his days as numbered and be willing to cash out.
Further to that thought, we were hurt by an Arsenal player on loan, name escapes me now, so we might do well to keep players like Zenden, Forssell, and C.Cole starting for teams that can hurt Arsenal.

 

Re: Random Thought

That is why he was offside there were no defenders when the ball was passed FORWARD to him.

I agree Jimmy did a good job today even though he was not on the score sheet.

 

Re: Random Thought

Arsenal aren't THAT good. They've had a phenomenal year, but its highly unlikely they'll be as good next year. They've caught all the breaks this year (see the first game against us!), but the likelyhood of them catching all these breaks again is practically nil. If we have a similar season next year to the one we're having now, its entirely conceivable that we can win the league.
There's far more reason to believe we will be better than Arsenal, a stable side who've been playing together for years.
Pires, Keown, Parlour, Bergkamp will all be older. And who can play better for Arsenal next year than they have this year? I can't think of a single player.
Arsenal are having a magical season, and I'm quite willing to admit that. But I don't think they're the second coming of the 89 Milan team. We need to worry about our own squad; everything else will take care of itself.

 

Oh, good game from Cole, since he got to play...........in the center of the park. Where he can be quite effective (the pass to JFH was wonderful). But, how often are we going to go with a 4-5-1 and play for the counter? Because that's the only way he gets to play in the center - Lampard and Geremi/Makelele/Parker will occupy the other spot. So its back to the wing for him, if he starts, and he'll likely disappoint there again.
Too bad for him and for us, really.

I'm thrilled with Ambrosio, too. Compared to Sullivan, he looked like the second coming of Yashin.