Chelsea
Another Disappointment On Tyneside
Ramires Scores!
By Gary Watton
September 26 2015
Chelsea's two Brazilian substitutes became supersubs as they ensured a share of the spoils at Newcastle, as the champions showed a lot of character in bouncing back, with two goals in the last fifteen minutes and securing a draw. Of course, a draw beforehand looked less than satisfactory against an out-of-form Newcastle, but surprise surprise the Magpies do like to pull out all the stops when Chelsea come to toon - something that is apparently lacking when other clubs pay a visit.
The Geordies' favourite team seem to love nothing more than upsetting Mourinho and his muppets, and it looked awfully like yet another instance of deja vu, as the black and white troops took a scarcely deserved two-nil lead. The first goal was partially a consequence of Zouma hesitating, though it is doubtful whether he would have reached the cross. However, if he had showed some effort, he might have done enough to put Perez off. Instead Perez managed to squeeze a shot inside the post while Ivanovic and Zouma impersonated window shop dummies. Why why and why again do Chelsea start at St James's Park with no urgency? This patient approach never pays off here. We simply fortify the home team's flimsy confidence by failing to record an early goal. With every passing moment, they instead grow in confidence, as we generously refuse to take the lead. Our consistent failure under Jose to take the lead at Newcastle not surprisingly results in bad results! Will our slow learners ever learn? Slowly perhaps.
Then in the second half we laid siege to their goal, but they defended with much gusto, as Hazard (still without a goal this season) danced this way and that, leaving defenders in his wake, but still running into an extra defender. Pedro was less effective and indeed failed to score from a great chance. Unfortunately he and Hazard were delivering crosses into the box, but with no big Drogba waiting to pounce, this exercise was largely futile. Remy, to be fair, has a more than adequate scoring ratio as a Chelsea player, but on a day when you're chasing a match and in desperate need of a goal, then his inaccuracy, especially from a free header, was all the more damaging. It's all very well he and Pedro scoring in a four-goal demolition of Walsall, but when both fail to find the target against Newcastle, then their failure is all the more stark.
Falcao was brought on to perhaps add more height and physicality, but for all his huffing and puffing, there seemed no way back. By now, the hosts had mugged us with an undeserved second. Even though they were absorbing pressure and struggling to get out of their own half, we again shot ourselves in the foot when Fabregas allowed Wijnaldum to elude him at a corner kick and skilfully steer a stooped header beyond a helpless Begovic. It would be an exaggeration to suggest that the home team were good value for their two-goal lead, but they were simply defending in depth and making their rare attacks pay off, which I'm afraid is the essence of football. Chelsea have been good practitioners at such a strategy, and we were receiving a dose of our own medicine.
Then, JM had one last throw of the dice. Ramires, fast becoming Chelsea's forgotten man, launched a blistering drive into the top corner which silenced the cocky Geordies and soon after Willian again bewildered all and sundry with a whipped free kick which deceived goalkeeper, team mate, and opponent alike. Suddenly the embarrassment had been deleted, but the question remains: is a 2-2 at Newcastle a good result or not?
A draw is disappointing when we fail to fully capitalise on the drubbing inflicted earlier upon Manchester Mercenaries, and it is all the more unacceptable when we again allow Arsenic, ManUre, and Liverpoo to move further ahead of us, but when you're trailing two-nil with less than fifteen minutes to go, then 2-2 suddenly feels like a victory. Not that Mourinho was in a celebratory mood afterwards. He complained that he would have liked to have made about six substitutions at the interval. However, the point has been made today that if he insists on choosing the same underperforming players, then he will reap what he sows. Are Chelsea capable of challenging for the Premiership? Well, they need to string together half a dozen wins on the trot or else piece together an unbeaten run of at least a dozen matches. Failure to do either will simply let the terrible twins of Manchester off the hook and also undermines the fine win at home to Arsenil, making it look more like a freak result, rather than the start of a revival by the champions.
Finally, if Chelsea insist on flopping when they travel to the north east, then presumably when we plan to visit hopeless Sunderland, we should just award them the three points beforehand, rather than go there and disgrace ourselves with more patient, unthreatening football, lacking in urgency and ultimately lacking in three points. Bleedin' slow learners: manager and players alike.
Newcastle United 2 CHELSEA 2; half time: 1-0
Chelsea scorers: Ramires; Willian
CHELSEA team: Begovic; Ivanovic; Azpilicueta; Zouma; Cahill; Matic; Fabregas; Pedro; Remy; Hazard; Oscar. Used substitutes: Falcao; Willian; Ramires.
CHELSEA LEADING SCORERS:
Costa two goals
Oscar two goals
Pedro two goals
Ramires two goals
Willian two goals
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26/09/2015 17:36
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