Chelsea v Barcelona review

Chelsea take the plaudits, they beat Barcelona at home to take a 1-0 lead to the Nou Camp next week  for the vital second leg.

Barcelona could not beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, in a rivalry that has been built up over the last six years as their paths have crossed in group stages and knockout matches. Barcelona have not yet won in West London.  Lionel Messi has still not scored against an English side in an away match (the final at Wembley does not count as it was a neutral site).

Chelsea won in spite of giving up 79% of possession to the Catalan giants, they had three shots at goal and scored with the only shot on target - Didier Drogba's first half injury time winner as he swept in Ramires' square ball following Frank Lampard's counter-attacking thrust as he dispossessed Messi in midfield.

The reason the Champions League holders always struggle at Stamford Bridge is the small confines of the pitch measurements.  Barcelona play an incisive, neat and patient passing game looking for openings in a defence which may crack under the constant pressure.  Yet in contrast to the vast size of the Nou Camp dimensions, the Chelsea home is tight and so the tactic of Chelsea employing two banks of four as walls in which Barcelona had to get past was impressive.

There were fears of Gary Cahill being overawed by the occasion, yet the ex-Bolton defender had his most impressive outing yet in a blue shirt.  He dived at every ball, was strong and indicative of the resilience of his teammates - John Terry, the recalled Ivanovic and solid Ashley Cole.

They were matched by the solidity in midfield by Frank Lampard, Jon Obi Mikel and Raul Meireles - a trifecta who knew they had to bide their time to make an impact.  Miereles fouled a few times in the first 10 minutes as he was outwitted by the tricky of the Barca midfield.  Yet when they did, Lampard made it count.  A glorious ball released Ramires who laid it on a plate for Drogba, who stayed on his feet for possibly the longest all night to convert the match winning chance.

The second half was a vertiable bombardment from Barca - they hit the woodwork twice in the match, and was thwarted by Petr Cech and the do or die blocking of the Chelsea defence.  The last chance in injury time summed up Chelsea's achievement - a Messi shot blocked by Cahill, it falls into the path of Pedro who strokes it to the far post, a slight deflection from Cahill makes it hit the post as Ashley Cole again goes back to the line to cover, the richochet back to Busquets is blasted over as bodies go flying.  The chance of an away goal has gone, and the opportunity for parity is squandered.

This was a game of respect, usually past encounters have turned into a shouting match overshadowed by refereeing inconsistencies and controversy yet this was a game when the magic of Barcelona went missing. Their body language was lazy, not arrogant just a general ennui with the surroundings and meeting head on the defiant rearguard.

Some players were absent without leave, Cesc Fabregas' return to London was a poor one.  He had a great chance yet his soft lift over Cech allowed the tracking back of Cole to easily clear away the danger, he wafted an air shot at a chance that went begging.  There was always the lovely caressing of the ball, yet the gaps to slide the ball into the net were few and far between.  Messi's best chance was a header from 18 yards out that failed to trouble Cech.

Oddly, it went exactly as Fabregas recalled past Arsenal v Chelsea ties, 'We would dominate the ball, keep possession, create chances and then....a counter-attack, Drogba, goal! They have a super fast counter attack', how odd that it should happen again.

You can expect more of the same next Tuesday night at the Nou Camp.  It promises to be intense, intriguing and immense. 

Pep Guardiola says Chelsea are favourites, this may be an attempt at psychology, nonetheless the chance for Chelsea is there to reach Munich.

Premier League Review - 15th August 2011

And we are off.  The 20th Premier League season has begun, with less fanfare than recent years.  Perhaps it is because it has not come on the back of another dismal international campaign by our ever failing national team.  The constant rumours of transfer dealings occuring between London and Barcelona, and Manchester and Milan or Argentina seems to have taken most of the headlines. 

However, Manchester now holds two title contenders with one still firmly set in the west of London.  With two more in the northern territory of the capital with a sleeping giant of Liverpool attempting to waken from a season of slumber of last year.  Liverpool aim to recapture glory by splashing out, all for the guarantee of the treasured fourth place.  Seemingly, the season looks like a three-horse race for the title with three gunning for one place.

Arsenal gained 4th place and yet with the departure now of club captain, Cesc Fabregas to his beloved Barcelona, the future seems uncertain at the Emirates.  The talisman has gone, leaving two teenagers to protect a midfield.  The opportunity for Liverpool or Tottenham to snatch fourth is there.

I predicted a top 4 of United, Chelsea, City and Liverpool, if Fabregas was sold.  Now I look assured in my selection.

As for the first weekend of action, well following on from the thrilling Community Shield at Wembley last week goals were hard to come by for the most exciting league in the world.

The most goals came at Loftus Road for the returning Queens Park Rangers, who were dealt a harsh lesson, being virtually abused by Bolton who ran out 4-0 victors with goals from Gary Cahill, Ivan Klasnic, Federic Mulumbu and an own goal.  QPR will have to get to grips quickly, and use Bolton as a model of stability and continuity to succeed in the division.

Wolves who survived by three minutes on the last day last season, ran out 2-1 victors away at Blackburn who look like they may encounter problems due to a lack of potency up front.  Whilst Wolves look stable, have talent and in signing Jamie O'Hara from Tottenham have got their own talisman.

Liverpool for all their money and new faces ran out of steam at home to Sunderland in a 1-1 draw.  For the first half they were irresistible, with Adam spreading play and Downing finding woodwork on dazzling run.  Yet Sunderland, who themselves have splashed out this summer, found an equaliser from Seb Larsson a steal from Birmingham. Both sides need time to gel with the new faces, Liverpool need immediate results whilst Sunderland can have a chance at a Europa League place on either league finish or cup run.

Fulham and Villa cancelled each other out at Craven Cottage, expect more from both sides especially the attacking nature of Martin Jol's side.

At Newcastle, in another goalless draw, Arsenal seemed to have the same problems in any season.  All flair and technical prowess with no finishing touch.  The Gunners had enough possession to dominate but chances went begging and the loss of Gervinho for raising his hands to Joey Barton did not do any favours.  Newcastle have Barton who provides passion, but without Kevin Nolan (West Ham) and Jose Enrique (Liverpool), plus the loss of Andy Carroll it could be a long haul on Tyneside.

Andre Vilas-Boas' first game for Chelsea at Stoke was largely forgettable, but for some penalty appeals.  Typically physical at the Britannia, Fernando Torres found some form but no final quality, but AVB will have the familiar problem of attempting to keep Torres, Anelka and Drogba all happy.  The 4-3-3 formation with Torres leading Malouda and Ramires of him.  Stoke again are a sum of all their parts but with a back four that include Upson, Woodgate, Shawcross and Huth it looks formidable.

The champions returned at the Hawthorns, where last season they had their worst performance and prompted Gary Neville's retirement, on this occasion they ran out 2-1 victors thanks to the work of Ashley Young who set up Wayne Rooney for the first and then his dribble and pass led to the own goal of the winner.  Although new goalkeeper, David de Gea again fluffed his lines in conceded WBA's equaliser, though for a young man to come to a new culture he has still a lot of adjusting and this will come in time.  Otherwise, the movement and passing of United led by the growing maturity of Tom Cleverley in midfield means Alex Ferguson finally has the youth coming through and in Young and De Gea the notable signings to match the demands.  But for their awful away form last year, they would have won the title at a canter.  Last year's team would have drawn yesterday, today's team won, albeit somehow, which shows why they are the team to beat.

Tonight, Manchester City host Swansea City at the City of Manchester Stadium.  United have laid down a marker, can City reply and with Sergio Aguero not likely to feature the reliance will be on Balotelli and Dzeko to lead from the front.

Wenger and the blame game

Being a Tottenham Hotspur fan, I suppose I should not give two hoots about the goings-on and latest title surrender from the Emirates nor care that Arsene Wenger is going a sixth season without any silverware.  But I feel a little bit miffed at his continual approach this season to take the blame, football is fast becoming a blame game more and more.

Players blame the referees, referees blame the clubs for lack of respect, managers blame referees, (okay I am a part-time referee aswell, and yes we do get the blame too often) but sometimes the blame should lay with the players who cock-up, the goalkeeper that drops a clanger, the player that gets needlessly sent off, the lazy defending at set pieces and failure to close out teams.

This has happened too often at Arsenal this season, they have squandered too many winning positions and dropped close to double digit points that have cost them a chance at the Premier League title. The one piece of silverware left to aim for, after being in all four major competitions come the end of February.

They lost the Carling Cup final to Birmingham, and the blame game started; but luckily it was the sort of clanger from Sczeceny and Koscielny that blame could easily be affixed, but it took away credit from a spirited Birmingham display and showed Wenger was out-thought by his opposite number Alex McLeish whose tactical nous prevailed, as he loaded the midfield with his triumvate of Bowyer, Ferguson and Gardner.  Their grit was too much for the Arsenal midfield and but for an offside flag, Arsenal might have had to play the whole game with just 10 men.

Then came Barcelona in the Champions League, a great draw at home gave hope but then followed Arsenal chasing shadows at the Nou Camp for the second year in a row, but the sending off of Robin Van Persie was used as blame in spite of the fact that Arsenal could not hang with one of the great teams of recent years.

The FA Cup dream died at Old Trafford, when Wenger's rotation policy and team selection seemed baffling considering they had the second leg in Spain still to come he chose to pick a weaker than usual side, and Man.United duly won 2-0 without much trouble.  This left the leg which three weeks ago was wide open owing to Arsenal maintaining a game in hand, they just needed to stay in arm's length before the May 2nd showdown at the Emirates against the champions elect. 

Alas, goal shy attackers and long injury times, have ended up with a nine-point deficit with four games remaining, not mathematically impossible but quite possibly that is all she wrote for another season, following a 2-1 defeat at Bolton with Tamir Cohen headed in a winner in the last minute of regulation.  No 11 minutes of injury time this week, and four minutes later Arsenal were cursing their luck again.

And yet following the game, Wenger was at liberty to take blame for another poor showing following a week of three league games, they have picked up just two points from two winning positions but the points at home to Liverpool and away at Tottenham were just indicative of Arsenal's season.

I wrote some weeks ago, about a lack of consistency and I used Arsenal as an example, a team that loses at home to West Brom and Newcastle, do not deserve to be considered title contenders - yet they were still there. And yet the players do not take the intiative, the attackers have gone backwards lacking bite and relying on the prolificgacy of young Jack Wilshere to take them to new heights, and the continual troubles in defence continue.  The lack of a marshalling keeper and the loss of Tomas Vermaelen meant that clean sheets and dominating defence were missing from this line-up.

But for Wenger to take the blame is okay in some respects but not on this occasion, now he has players who do not mind losing and do not take responsibility for their actions and poor performance(s).  Instead they realise, their manager will take the buck and the pressure off of their young shoulders. 

But we cannot keep saying this team is young, Emanuel Eboue's foul against Lucas in the Liverpool game was incredibly naive, he is 28.  Wilshere has looked at times older than 19, but he is growing an increasingly petulent streak for such a young man. Wenger likes to put his staple on a team a combination of youth and expert training; an accusation that has led to rumours of a rift between captain Cesc Fabregas and the manager over comments in a Spanish magazine.  Fabregas asked that Arsenal need to make a decision between challenging for Europe's biggest prizes or develop youth in the future. 

This summer with the funds of Kroenke coming into account, Wenger needs to make a new statement of intent, use money to convince Fabregas to stay and avoid another prolonged summer soap opera.  Arsenal need a goalkeeper, but they may have to fight Tottenham for Shay Given; a central defender to co-operate with the returning Vermaelen and a dominant midfielder who is a work-horse, like a Birmingham City midfielder and a goalscorer, unlike the one Chamakh hoped to be.

I should hate Wenger, but now I see a man who is becoming deluded in his appraisal of the playing staff.  And he is failing to remember that managers are more dispensable than players who command bigger wages than a one annual salary man; and managers are judged by their track record, and as we have seen in the last six years, that resume of success is looking particularly bare.  Even Steve McLaren has won more in those six years than the great saviour Arsene Wenger.