The Official Thread of Chelsea FC

[The Real Laoislad]

Don't forget Wimbledon v Liverpool 1988....it can happen..

Play Up Pompey,Pompey Play Up.......

[Norf Tyrone]

Don't forget Wimbledon v Liverpool 1988....it can happen..

Play Up Pompey,Pompey Play Up.......

Very true. Reading and Liverpool this year, Man United and Leeds as well.

[orangeman]

Chelsea have missed some chances so far.

Ports ave missed a sitter as well.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Chelsea have missed some chances so far.

Ports ave missed a sitter as well.

How is it not 5-0 or maybe 5-1   Portsmouth have parked the bus but Kalou needs shooting for that miss.  My mother could have scored.  Boateng close to a red for that "tackle" on Ballack

[Geoff Tipps]

What a sh*t penalty. Just blast it 

[ross4life]

1-0 now! missed penalty was the turning point of this FA Cup Final

[orangeman]

Portsmouth have defended extremely well here.

[ross4life]

Portsmouth have defended extremely well here.

Agreed Something Liverpool, Wigan, Stoke, Sunderland & villa didn't do v Chelsea

[A Quinn Martin Production]

 

A game that reflected Chelsea's season.  Some good stuff in the first half but 2nd was pretty insipid uninspiring stuff, stuttering to a win against a fairly poor side who got the rub of the green in the 1st half .  Two shocking pens as well.  Two nasty tackles by Boateng and Dindane.  The pitch was a disgrace.

Apart from that an instantly forgettable game

[ross4life]

Fair play to Pompey great fight & desire those fans should be well proud of their players today, anyways congrats to Dundee United on winning the Scottish Fa cup

[Minder]

Portsmouth have defended extremely well here.

Agreed Something Liverpool, Wigan, Stoke, Sunderland & villa didn't do v Chelsea

I'm not sure how well they defended, bad luck and poor finishing by Chelsea moreso. How many times did Chelsea hit the woodwork, six?

[A Quinn Martin Production]

BTW...big shout for Jamie O'Hara, probably the best player on the pitch.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Musings on the season.

So Chelsea win the double for the first time in their history.  It's the eleventh double of all time and Chelsea become the seventh club to complete this feat, still behind Man Utd and Arsenal's 3 but now level with Liverpool.  Yet the media response seems quite muted.  There are maybe five reasons for this.  1) England win some tin pot cricket tournament in the Caribbean.  2)  Some slapper sets out to catch somebody called Triesman with his kecks down and ends up with a more interesting story.  3)  While not easier in any sense a double is now more likely and more common due to the dominance of a small number of clubs.  4) Some sections of the print media especially cannot stand Chelsea.

But the main reason may be the quality of the football of the season that has just passed.  While the league at some stages was described as unpredictable and competitive, the only major surprise was the performance of Liverpool who had they played the way the played last season would have walked the league.  Teams like Man City, Aston Vila, and Spurs may look back on 2009-2010 as the season they should have made a breakthrough.

However it did feel like a season in which no team got a rhythm going.  Chelsea's season was split broadly into three.  They actually started quite well and for by hiccups against Wigan and Aston Villa and an apparent inability to defend set pieces, by the time they overwhelmed Arsenal 0-3 on 29 Nov they had already also beaten Man Utd and Liverpool without conceding a goal as well as being unbeaten in the CL and were looking good bets for the league.  However there began the second part of their season and they won only one of their next seven games (that being a penalty assisted win over Pompey).  Chelsea played poorly right up until the end of February despite a win over Arsenal and a few half decent wins in the Cup.  During this period Man City completed the double over Chelsea who managed 1 point over the two games with Everton.

By St Patrick's Day they were out of the Champions League, hammered by Inter over the two games, and there followed a poor performance against Blackburn.  The third part of the season began on Wed 24th March with a 5-0 away drubbing of Portsmouth.  Despite a blip (again a poor display) against Spurs, Chelsea beat Man Utd and Liverpool away and hit seven goals twice and 8 goals once.  Chelsea played their best football since the early weeks of Sept and Oct and won the league on the last day.

Yet despite this Chelsea scored the most goals by a league winning team and had the best goal difference ever (I think...back in the day it was goal average and not goal difference that counted).  They took 18 points off the other members of the so called Big Four conceding one goal over the six games.  Drogba and Lampard scored 51 Prem goals between them (one fewer than the entire Aston Villa side who finished 6th!!).  They had to cope without players like Essien, Bosingwa, both Coles, Carvalho etc for large parts of the season and with Terry underperforming (on the pitch at least)

Chelsea will not get the credit for the double due in part to the media's fawning over Man Utd (they're afraid of Ferguson) and a love-in with Arsenal (well we all wet ourselves watching that tippy-tappy five a side stuff).  Well, I couldn't leave the conspiracy theories out!  Man Utd relied this season on playing averagely and winning, and the goals of Rooney. 

But while the record books will not say "2009-2010 Chelsea did the double (shit season)", I must say that's how it feels at the moment.

[Rossie11]

Ballack out of WC
From the Beeb

Germany captain Michael Ballack has been ruled out of this summer's World Cup because of the right ankle injury he suffered in Saturday's FA Cup final.

The 33-year-old Chelsea midfielder has made 98 appearances for his country and played in the last two World Cups.

A scan revealed a partially torn ligament but it is expected to be eight weeks before he can resume training and Germany's first match is on 13 June.

He was injured after a challenge by Portsmouth's Kevin-Prince Boateng.

Ironically, Boateng could be part of the Ghana squad that will face Germany in Group D at the finals in South Africa.

More to follow

[AZOffaly]

Ballack out of WC
From the Beeb

Germany captain Michael Ballack has been ruled out of this summer's World Cup because of the right ankle injury he suffered in Saturday's FA Cup final.

The 33-year-old Chelsea midfielder has made 98 appearances for his country and played in the last two World Cups.

A scan revealed a partially torn ligament but it is expected to be eight weeks before he can resume training and Germany's first match is on 13 June.

He was injured after a challenge by Portsmouth's Kevin-Prince Boateng.

Ironically, Boateng could be part of the Ghana squad that will face Germany in Group D at the finals in South Africa.

More to follow

That was a brutal tackle, could easily have been red. And maybe I'm cynical, but I didn't think it was 'Ironic' at all.