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| Jose: Forever Bursting Bubbles |
For all the hype surrounding the 'friendly derby', the fact that Chelsea were away to West Ham seemed to fly under the radar. A completely sensible idea to have these supporters spend most of the day drinking before hitting up Upton Park … In no way was anyone more riled up from half the District Line being shut down causing absolute havoc for just about anyone trying to get to the ground.
Chelsea with 5 points on the road, and West Ham with a whole 4 points at home this season. After all the goals at Goodison Park earlier in the day, this had all the markings of a match that could seriously fail to entertain. Thankfully, markings mean nothing, and at least for Chelsea, it was a brilliant day of football. West Ham reassured their supporters they would do whatever they could to keep that consistency at home.
En route to the game somebody had the audacity to announce on the tube that John Obi Mikel absolutely had to start. That Chelsea keep their shape so much better when he plays. And after his performance against Chile, Gary Cahill could really use a large Nigerian in front of him to clean up any potential mess. Ok, that person might have been me -- and I might just have been right.
With the re-introduction of John Obi Mikel into the starting lineup, Frank Lampard was freed up to do just what Frank Lampard does best, scoring goals and taking names. Or just the scoring goals against West Ham bit. After his longest goal drought in a decade, it was almost inevitable that Lampard would get back to scoring ways against the supporters who show him an enviable level of affection and respect.
It was just a few seasons ago that Chelsea were awarded a penalty at Upton Park and Lampard was forced to re-take it not once, but two more times before it counted. There was some brief concern those hijinks could come into play again. But his penalty was the least of West Ham's concerns on Saturday.
And before the half was even up, Jose Mourinho showed that he still had the power to send Joe Cole for an early shower. Big Sam made some big moves with a double substitution before Chelsea had even finished celebrating Oscar's goal. Allardyce's decision received almost as warm a reception as Frank Lampard did. Although disappointing to see Cole's trip to the tunnel, with his special relationship with physios up and down the country -- the assumption was that it was medical (again) rather than tactical. Tactics and Big Sam haven't ever really been on speaking terms.
Only Jaaskelainen managed to keep this game from being as embarrassing as a certain other London club's match this weekend. *cough Spurs* And I thought I was the only one dealing with a hangover on Sunday -- thank you Tottenham for playing like I felt. Solidarity and that.
Back to Jaaskelainen and his heroics - he made as many saves as he could as Chelsea peppered the goal with 20 shots, but he was never going to stop Frank Lampard making it his day. His final goal was not only a classic Lampard goal, but was filled with all the passion and excitement the travelling support came for. It also incited a mass exodus from the home stands which saved Allardyce and co from the booing becoming too embarrassing -- just not enough people left to make it resounding and ended up as flat as the team's performance.
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| Lampard: Still has a little spring in his step |
The only questionable moment came when Stewart Downing valiantly trotted over to the away end to take a corner and received the best booing of the day -- is he really good enough for anyone notice he's even there taking a corner? His cross accuracy is just about as good as mine, and I reckon I'll get a Premier League goal or assist before he does. If the "England International" were a colour, he'd be taupe.
Special mentions for our midfield duo of Oscar and Hazard who were back to their old selves creating space and movement that were exquisite to watch, even if against a sub par team. They may have been missing their little bearded Spanish partner in crime, but no need to put him in the way of a bullying from Big Sam's side. His creativity will be better utilised next week in trying to break down the very formidable Southampton defence. Unless of course Artur Boruc has another special gift in his bag of tricks for one of our strikers. But loss of sanity hitting him twice in 8 days seems unlikely and innovation will need to be at the forefront.
If things get a little rough this week, just remember, you could have been Hugo Lloris finding God.. er, facing Jésus…
jb x
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