Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur

[funster]

Its not often these days that I find cause for complaint when it comes to value for money when watching Spurs. Unfortunately, having paid £98 for two tickets, not to mention the travel cost, and having had to endure one of the worse footballing performances since Ramos took over, yesterday most definitely is reason for complaint.

On the way to the game I was confident we could sneak a result. Plenty of first team regulars missing for Chelsea and that horrible record at Stamford Bridge must come to an end soon. Walking to Stamford Bridge from Fulham Broadway there were plenty of Spurs fans in good voice, as was the case last Wednesday. I was amazed that the police seemed intent on adopting a very heavy handed approach. One chant of "Yid Army" was met with an officer telling one of the Spurs fans in no uncertain terms to cut it out. Whatever next? Arrest fans for wearing colours?! Yet more indication that football is no longer the game it once used to be. At £49 for a ticket are we really surprised?

We started the game well. For the first fifteen minutes there was enough in our performance to suggest we could get a result. However, as the first half wore on we got worse and worse. It was shaping up to be a frustrating game. Lacking the incisiveness we've shown so much recently. Stifling. Reminded me a lot of the FA Cup replay last year when John Terry got Chelsea well organised. Imagine how dire this game would've been if he'd been playing.

At the back we were continually getting bombarded down the left. The better teams have obviously decided that there is a weakness on that side, and they are pressing us back there. There are potentially a multitude of reasons for this. We are playing a different system at the back. Different personnel too with Ledley back in the side, but down both wings we clearly haven't adjusted. The wingers seem too far advanced and don't get back to help defend, and the full-backs - Lee in particular - is getting caught out, generally too narrow and too central. Over time I'm sure this will change. Perhaps with a further change of personnel. But for the moment, any side with width will cause us problems. The other issue right now defensively seems to be how far apart King and Dawson are playing. A really good attacking side through the middle could've seriously exploited this yesterday, particularly with Jenas, Zokora and Huddlestone missing.

Ultimately, Chelsea did exploit this. It was a really poor goal to give away. Belletti picked it up just inside our half and had time to look up not once, but twice, before cracking in what was a fantastic shot. Some very shoddy reporting in the rags today suggests Cerny was to blame. Utter rubbish. I defy any keeper to have gotten near that. The real problem was not one of the midfielders closing down. The task was really Boateng's, but rather than close Belletti down he dropped back into empty space. I have no idea what he was doing.

Talking of Boateng, I actually have no idea what he did for pretty much the whole game. His performance was garbage. He never got close enough, never shut down quickly enough, his challenges - exemplified by a rugby tackle - were poor. My God how we missed Jenas. His ability to shut down quickly and run aggressively from the centre was totally lacking.

We had our chances. Nothing as clear cut as we've become used to creating, but they were there. The best one fell to Malbranque. A superb cross from Lennon found his opposite winger free, and he volleyed, sadly, straight at Cech. Lennon caused a few problems for Ashley Cole, as he seems to do whenever we play Chelsea, but not nearly as often as we needed to if we were going to get something out of the game.

The second half wasn't much better. If anything, our level of performance continued its downward trend until a period of about ten minutes in the second half when we had sustained pressure that led to several corners. None actually led to anything.

Malbranque was withdrawn having picked up a yellow card and made another rash challenge. Would've been easy for him to have seen red. Taarabt when he came on initially couldn't get up with the pace of the game. He misplaced a pass and lost possession too easily - much like O'Hara had done in the first half. A repeat of Wednesday's performance in some ways. But Taarabt did improve and when he ran with the ball he helped create, winning a free-kick on the edge of the Chelsea box. Unfortunately it was too close to goal for Berbatov to get it up and down, and it went over the bar.

Chelsea had thrown on Anelka and he had two good chances to score. The first, brilliantly, saved by Cerny, the second crashing against the bar after Wright-Phillips had doubled the Chelsea lead. That goal had come late in the game with the Chelsea winger advancing onto a lay off and hitting the ball low into the far corner, evading King's tackle. In reality, again it was a case of nobody from midfield getting near enough Wright-Phillips. Boateng got dragged into the box in an effort to win the ball from Cole when he was well enough marked, leaving space for Wright-Phillips to run into to receive the lay off.

That was it. At two-nil there was to be no comeback. We trudged away. Unhappy. Dissatisfied.

It was a poor Spurs performance. In midfield we were seriously lacking. The central pairing of Boateng and O'Hara didn't work, the former in particular leaving an awful lot to be desired. O'Hara got better in the second half, but there was no way he could've changed the course of the game on his own.

I also noticed that the pattern started in the second half on Wednesday of the wingers, Lennon in particular, being rather static on the wing was repeated. Too often as Chimbonda came forward Lennon was stuck to his spot. I'd have rather seen him darting forward to receive the ball, but he was too close for Chimbonda to pass to, and there was no option inside.

It actually needs very little effort to list the good points. Cerny looked assured. Ignore what some of the papers say about the first. I even noted that the Guardian said the Chelsea fans were singing about Cerny being more dodgy than Robbo. Ha! It would've been one or two supporters at most because the home crowd rarely raised their voices. Their support was awful. Amongst the worst I've encountered on my travels. Amazing given the attendance was over 40000. We hardly heard a word out of them. But their support isn't really a concern of ours, satisfying though it is to see they can't get behind their own team!

Other good points? King looked good enough again. He misplaced one or two passes, but his ability to organise and inspire confidence across the back four will pay dividends for us. O'Hara's effort, especially in the second half, can't be faulted. And that, really, was about it. Not much to offer from anybody else. How we missed Jenas, Zokora and Huddlestone.

Gus Poyet summed it up perfectly after the game I think. He said that even when Chelsea put in a poor performance they find a way to score. We welcomed them on the first, and made the second easier than it should've been, but Gus is right. They found a way of scoring when playing poorly. We didn't.

[yidno1]

Yeah just about agree with all of that, I think in particular about the Chimbonda/ Lennon sitiuation ive often noticed how we get caught out with Chimbonda getiing forward only to look to pass to Lennon and finds him 2 yards away static and marked up.
Yesterdays game was tripe and feel for the Spurs fans who wasted their money on this one.
Big probs in midfiled as far as cover is concerned as its blatantly obviouss Boateng is rubbish and thats being kind.
For me hes gotta be one of the first out along with the un-impressive Lee.

[funster]

I dunno what game you was at there son but we outsung you like ***** yesterday! Couldn't hear you all game, I was dissapointed coz you have got good support and I was expecting a good battle! Ahhh well, what can I say? We've got the best support in London still :11:

:9: :15:


but I agree with you about the old bill...***** yesterday. My mate got arrested for saying **** as we was walking to the game! So he missed it!

we-hate-spurs - thanks for your contribution. Given the choice of language I had little choice but to delete your post. Thanks for your insight, misguided though it was!