Chelsea
A Day For Old Veterans!
By Gary Watton
May 11 2015
On a weekend when the veterans of the Second World War commemorated the Victory in Europe in May 1945, two veterans of the various battles between Chelsea and their lovely rivals Liverpoo ended up stealing the headlines by scoring the goals in the stalemate at the Bridge. First John Terry headed home an early goal from a corner and then Steven Gerrard also headed home the equaliser from a set piece just before half time.
JT's goal established a major milestone as he overtook David Unsworth [a regular penalty-taker] and became the highest-scoring defender in the history of the English Premiership with 39 goals. John's goal was actually his eighth of the season and puts him into third position as the club's leading scorer this season, ahead of the likes of Drogba, Oscar, and Remy. No wonder we regard him as a legend. No wonder opposite fans despise him, the silly grudge-bearers! Terry seems to get better with age and can count himself unfortunate to be overlooked for April's Player Of The Month, in favour of the red-hot Christian Benteke. Let's not rule out the possibility that our captain fantastic can reach fifty goals for his club, although it will probably take him two more years to accomplish that.
Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard played his last competitive fixture in London, fittingly at Stamford Bridge. He marked the occasion with a goal, which is itself something of a rarity because, for all his apparent prowess and danger against Chelsea, he only scored a couple of times against us in something like 39 occasions. I seem to recall him drilling home a goal at Shamfield in 2005 when we whipped his little team four-one. Instead, Stevie G created more goals for Chelsea than he did for Liverpoor. Let's not forget that nice headed own goal in the League Cup final of 2005, not forgetting the recent 'assist' for Demba Ba's goal at Anne's Field. SG even got himself sent off against us in a crucial last match of the season back in May 2003, just before Abramovich took over, I think.
Of course, Stevie has absorbed a lot of abuse [or banter] from Chelsea fans ever since. It was pointed out that only important players get heckled during a match, so it was something of a compliment when he was being insulted - if you can understand the 'Irish' remark. For example Wayne Rooney gets ridiculed during matches, but you got to admit, he is quite a good player. Similarly 'Fat Frank' and John Terry have been the subject of many boo boys. To be heckled is obviously a confirmation of your lofty status. In the end, even the villainous Chelsea supporters couldn't help but applaud Gerrard off the pitch when the Liverpoo maestro was substituted. Maybe we were just glad to see the back of him. It appears that the feeling is mutual. Gerrard found it difficult afterwards to be generous towards the Chelsea fans, in spite of their standing ovation. He did at least admit that Mourinho is the best manager in world football and that he was sorely tempted to join our ranks all those years ago. Anyhow, Chelsea did quite well without Stevie G, while Steven didn't quite do so well without Chelsea.
Furthermore, by denying the Reds a win, Chelsea ruined Liverpoo's last remaining chance of a Champions League place next season, while earlier the poisonous QPR had been slaughtered and relegated back to where they belong, so a double celebration was provided by these outcomes.
Oh well, it was great to see young Loftus-Cheek awarded with a place in the starting line-up. He did little wrong, but Jose did pull him off in the second half when Liverpoo threatened to overhaul us. Big Matic came on and typically steadied the ship. Nevertheless, one gets the impression that Loftus-Cheek will be kept in the squad next season while the long-serving Obi Mikel is possibly shown the exit door. There can only be so many central midfield slots available and there seems little point in paying international players a huge salary to sit on the bench for much of the season, a fate that has befallen the Nigerian.
Well it's time to prepare for the remaining two matches at West Brom [no easy walk in the park] and then at home to relegation strugglers, Sunderland. I sincerely hope that the magical Hazard can score in one of these matches, thereby taking him to the twenty goals for the season mark. Go on Eden. You can do it.
CHELSEA 1 Liverpool 1; half time: 1-1. Sunday 10th May 2015.
CHELSEA team: Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Zouma, Filipe Luis, Mikel, Loftus-Cheek, Fabregas, Remy, Willian, Hazard. Used substitutes: Cahill; Matic; Cuadrado.
CHELSEA goal scorer: Terry.
CHELSEA LEADING SCORERS:
Costa - 20 goals
Hazard - 19 goals
Terry - 8 goals
Drogba, Oscar, and Remy - 7 goals
Ivanovic - 6 goals
Fabregas and Schurrle - 5 goals
Ramires and Willian - 4 goals
Cahill and Matic - 3 goals
Zouma - 2 goals
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11/05/2015 14:10
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