By Tyne-Talk
November 23 2008

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has praised Joe Kinnear for directing his side to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge yesterday and stealing a point. Chelsea had the better of the ball, with 70% possession but Newcastle stood strong and prevented them from breaking through and scoring. Scolari said after the game;

"Newcastle were very good. They played for a draw and got one. They didn't come here to play for a win - just a draw."

They were better than us because they were only thinking about a draw and got one, while we were thinking about a win and didn't.

Newcastle did not have one shot on goal in 90 minutes. We had 70% of the possession but we didn't score a goal.

If we had scored, maybe we would have scored three or four but we lost two points.

Sometimes it is more easy to win away than at Stamford Bridge. When you are away, the home fans pressure their team to attack us, but you are at home, they don't want to attack us.

I said congratulations to the coach and his team. They had a strategy to draw and it worked. We have now lost nine points at home.

We had two or three chances to score and we didn't - this is football."

And Kinnear has said he makes no apologies for playing for the draw. In his post match interview he said;

"I make no apology for playing for a draw. In the last three days we've been planning to force Chelsea to play in front of us, which I thought we did very well.

Although Chelsea had more possession than ourselves, they didn't create a clear-cut chance really. Everything was long shots and Shay Given pulled off a world-class save.

It is probably the best team performance we've had away from home this year. We got bodies in the way and the two centre-halves were magnificent. They got their just rewards today.

We dug in there and it feels like a win in the dressing room. We drew with Wigan at home and that felt like a loss, but this feels like a victory."

Scolari Praise Kinnear's Tactics

Discussion started by TyneTalk (IP Logged), 23/11/2008 14:30

TyneTalk
23/11/2008 14:30

Scolari Praise Kinnear's Tactics

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lostmekeys
23/11/2008 20:55

i watched that interview, it looked a bit sarcastic to me when he praised joe. he was upset that they couldnt break us down

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Joe
24/11/2008 13:28

There was definitely a bitter undertone to his interview there's no doubt about it.

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tunyc
24/11/2008 18:03

Sarcastic or not, it's a novel experience to have a manager at Chelsea who isn't completely full of s.hite.

And I'll give JK the benefit of the doubt as he did say 'we'-including himself-but the performance at Old Trafford was better.

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Gallowgate Luke
24/11/2008 19:07

The big teams ALWAYS have a moan when they fail to break the deadlock and score

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MissC
24/11/2008 19:55

Luke - your right there

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