Birmingham 1 - 0 Chelsea ; Chelsea feeling the Blues
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Chelsea trailing by 1-0 highlights avaliable @ http://eplmatchestalk.blogspot.com/2010/11/birmingham-vs-chelsea-highlights.html
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alex was the culprit.....didnt track lee bowyer. When malouda is not really on form and when drogba's gone, i wonder who carries on.
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That was class defending from ridgewell.....he was on the correct side while defending from sturridge, not allowing him space to shoot.
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Alex is still not match fit isnt he. He must have taken an injection to play this match.
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a team that spent so much money on player transfer cant cope with injuries?
chelsea must be damn relief that spurs beat arsenal.
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Birmingham 1 Chelsea 0: Superb Foster keeps league leaders at bay after veteran Bowyer scores for first time in a year
Mixed week: Foster celebrates with Birmingham fans three days after suffering defeat with England
Long time coming: Lee Bowyer slots away his first goal in a year to condemn Chelsea to their second successive league defeat
Goalkeeper Ben Foster returned from England duty an inspired man at St Andrew’s yesterday to darken the gloom unexpectedly settling over Chelsea. As darkness fell, and a swirling mist rolled across Birmingham, Chelsea had suddenly become a club who have lost their way.
A second defeat in six days, and their third loss in four matches, has decimated the dominance Carlo Ancelotti’s team had on the Premier League. Only goal difference keeps them above Manchester United.
But this is a distortion of Chelsea’s state of health. It overlooks how comprehensively they overran Birmingham and ignores the possibilities that on a more fair afternoon, they might have been celebrating a win that would have placed fear into the hearts of rivals.
Michael Essien will be back from suspension to reclaim control of the midfield one match from now; and in a fortnight Ancelotti will again have Frank Lampard. John Terry’s back injury sidelined him after he missed the defeat by Sunderland at Stamford Bridge, but he is expected to be back sooner than first thought.
‘We will watch John day by day, while Frank should be ready in two more weeks,’ said Ancelotti. ‘They are important players but, if you look at the performance, we didn’t miss them today.’ Chelsea’s only misfortune was to meet Foster playing with such conviction, composure and maturity.
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish, proud of not just his keeper but the work-rate of a team orchestrated by Barry Ferguson’s enthusiasm, said: ‘I’ve always stressed the importance of having a good goalkeeper. They can win you a championship but they can also help keep you in this division.’
There was not much wrong with Chelsea’s football or their spirit. But they came up against Foster, who showed no side-effects after being criticised for being beaten at his near post by Karim Benzema in England’s defeat by France in midweek.
Salomon Kalou should have capitalised on Foster’s secondminute indecision when he failed to gather the ball in his six-yard box but, once he had survived that indiscretion, he proved to be a colossus. An early five-pass move involving Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda and Kalou set Didier Drogba clear but, as the striker opened his body to place his shot, Foster smartly dived to his left to brilliantly deny him.
The importance of Foster’s work was enhanced when Birmingham went ahead. There was an unaccountable sloppiness about Chelsea when Sebastian Larsson delivered a cross from the right. Cameron Jerome won his aerial duel with Ivanovic and unmarked Lee Bowyer hooked the ball past Petr Czech. Worse was to follow as Foster continued his master-class.
A Nicolas Anelka cross was met with a powerful header by Drogba, but Foster deflected the ball around his near post. It was a save of exceptional quality. He then denied Drogba by diving to flick the striker’s 30-yard free-kick around the same post. And on the one occasion when Drogba got the better of Foster with another magnificent header, the crossbar denied him.
McLeish’s team withdrew into a compact shape to shield their lead after the interval. Yet Foster’s day was not quite over. Kalou appeared to have wriggled past him but, without the ball under full control, he was dispossessed by the keeper. Usually, strikers win games. Not yesterday. That honour went to Foster.
No way through: Chelsea's Ramires is denied by Roger Johnson - part of a robust Birmingham City defence
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when ramires plays chelsea sure lose
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rameriz sucks.
brazilian players this generation cmi.
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Originally posted by dragg:
a team that spent so much money on player transfer cant cope with injuries?
u confusing chelsea with city is it?
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Football is indeed a strange game... One team had 25 shots on goal and one team had only one... But the one shot one won the match... strange yah...
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Originally posted by zocoss:
Football is indeed a strange game... One team had 25 shots on goal and one team had only one... But the one shot one won the match... strange yah...
like a sniper rifle vs shotgun.. anyway, i bet BC played their best game, and denied Chelsea. did not watch the game so don't know whether "park the bus" was used, cause against bigger clubs, quite common.
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Chelsea's slide coincide with Wilkin's departure. I wonder if that is the causal of their dip in form.