FA Cup ~ Chelsea 1-1 Everton (AET 3 - 4)
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Chelsea heartbreak as Everton go thru 4-3 on penalties. The way everton was playing towards the end of extra time, it really showed that they were tired. I thought that was it.....and then you know FA cup....always full of last min intrigues..and bingo! This baines scored a beautiful free kick.
Then i thought this penalty shoot out, cech was going to nail it cos he's so imposing but then again this is the FA cup ha. And yeh....it had to be ashley cole and anelka missing their spot kicks. And the romance of the world's oldest cup competition continues.......
Don't be surprised if crawley gives united one hell of a shocker later! lol.
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Oh and i've just realised this is chelsea's 7th penalty shootout loss in a row in all competitions. The jinx continues.
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a clown will always be a clown
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Chelsea 1 Everton 1 AET (Everton win on penalties): Cole and Anelka bottle it in shoot-out as Blues crash out
Suffering: Carlo Ancelotti feels the pain as Chelsea crash out of another competition
As the triumphant anthems of the Mersey erupted around The Shed, the blue shirts of Chelsea slunk away to confront their crisis.
A season which started with a stylish swagger is ending in a protracted train crash. The Premier League has disappeared over the hills. The FA Cup is merely a memory. All that remains is the distant prospect of the Champions League. And Stamford Bridge is not holding its breath.
Everton deserved their celebrations, for their collective character as much as their performance. After toiling through 90 tepid minutes of normal time, they fell behind to a Frank Lampard goal in the 14th minute of extra-time, but found equality with Leighton Baines’s beautifully flighted free-kick with 70 seconds remaining.
They were behind once more after the first penalties, but their heads were up, their ambition was fierce and Phil Neville’s thumpingly emphatic final kick saw them through.
But while Everton attacked their task with spirited optimism, Chelsea could not make a similar claim. The manager, Carlo Ancelotti, made all the approved noises yesterday. He thought his team deserved to win, that they had created ‘lots of chances’ and that penalties are ‘a lottery’. He thought this could still be ‘a very good season for us’.
But, significantly, he conceded: ‘Every time the team doesn’t make the result, the manager is under pressure.’
This is the way of things at Chelsea, where the manager’s head is usually the first to roll while the players are encouraged to draw a line under their own incompetence. Certainly students of body language would have detected few signs of loyal support for Ancelotti yesterday, especially when the penalty drama unfolded.
Yet this time, the executioners might search elsewhere for their victims. In truth, they would not have far to look. John Terry looks more vulnerable than at any time in his career, an accident in waiting. We can only imagine how much injury has taken out of him, but the player who remains seems unequal to his task.
Lampard, despite the opening goal, was almost wholly irrelevant; his finishing insipid, his distribution mundane. Didier Drogba was at his self-indulgent worst, posturing and preening in a manner which mocks his talent.
He's done it! Everton players celebrate after Phil Neville scores the winning penalty
You've blown it: Ashley Cole reacts after missing his penalty
Saviour: Leighton Baines (right) celebrates his fabulous free-kick
Bend it like Baines: Everton's defender curls in his brilliant strike
And Nicolas Anelka, arriving as substitute, once again missed a crucial penalty with a flaccid swish. Pity the manager who finds himself at the mercy of their collective whims and fancies. Where Chelsea lacked serious intent, Everton exceeded their own limitations.
‘The way they set about the game was great,’ said Eveton manager David Moyes, and indeed their application was faultless.
Chelsea missed two or three acceptable chances in the first half then, on half-time, they demanded both a penalty and a red card when Tim Howard’s sprawling body was flung across the path of Ramires. Phil Dowd dismissed the protests and booked the Chelsea player for diving. Replays indicated that it was a correct decision, as well as a brave one.
Chelsea lacked both width and inspiration, and for the second half they brought on Michael Essien for the hapless John Obi Mikel. The match did not improve.
Pick that out: Lampard volleys home in a crowded penalty area
Deadlock broken: Frank Lampard celebrates scoring the opening goal during extra-time
The classic which Arsenal and Barcelona played out in the same city the other evening had taught them nothing, such was the lack of respect for possession. Lampard should have won it with eight minutes remaining, but he chipped over from a dozen yards.
Then, in the final minute, Marouane Fellaini’s effort was dubiously disallowed for offside. Anelka instigated the Chelsea goal with a moment of skill out on the right touchline, producing a cross which Drogba touched on for Lampard to score. It seemed sufficient until Everton won a free-kick 20 yards out, and Baines contributed the finest touch of the entire match as he chipped the kick into the top corner.
And so to penalties, taken in front of the visiting fans. Lampard scored the first, Baines missed the second, and it seemed Chelsea might put an uncomfortable afternoon behind them. Then Anelka made a slovenly hash of the third Chelsea penalty, while the Everton takers kept their heads. The last Chelsea kick fell to Ashley Cole, who struck the kick so high and so wide that it might be travelling still.
Penalty? Ramires (right) takes a tumble after going round Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard
Get up: Dowd refuses to award the spot kick and books Ramires for a dive
The denouement fell to Neville, and there could have been no better choice. The old pro drove it high into the Chelsea net, far beyond Petr Cech’s right hand, and the music of the Mersey began.
There were no songs for Chelsea, merely the sound of people preparing evidence for the inquest. The easy option would be a guilty verdict on Carlo Ancelotti. But justice demands that this time the real culprits should face the consequences.
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I think chelsea needs a squad renewal. Lampard seems to be on the wane. He needed many chances before he could score that goal. He could never do that with england because england do not dominate games in major cup competitions.
If united had baines.....wow.....they would be dangerous at set pieces once again.
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Originally posted by similanjiaomycockbig ok:
a clown will always be a clown
Cloney, do a check on your post history and you'll realise all are rubbish. Nothing constructive to the football forum. Stay away before i fuck the shit out of you :)
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its going to get worst for chelsea as their main players aged.
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buy tevez, anderson, lucas, torres, villa, kaka, ronaldo sure win
