Reading 2-2 CHELSEA: Too Close For Comfort?
We might’ve put out a strong side in the friendly against Reading yesterday, but that didn’t stop us needing a couple of late goals to get a late draw out of the game.
A side that included the likes of Cech, Ashley Cole, Terry, Essien, Drogba and Anelka, conceded twice in a first half with the sort of uninspired performance we were all too familiar with last season. Lethargy, boredom, lack of motivation? Who knows what it came down to but they’d better get their arses in gear if we’re going to avoid utter embarrassment against United next weekend never mind compete for the entire season.
Fair enough we threatened enough but we still don’t have that killer instinct in front of goal, in fact Drogba and Anelka looked about as deadly as a slap off my mother. Fortunately Kalou and Sturridge, albeit in cameo roles, looked a lot more promising. Those two and Lampard aside, there wasn’t a lot else to shout about and it left the majority of us feeling decidedly edgy so close to the start of a new season.
So, the performance left a lot of room for improvement but our saving grace again was our ability to dig deep til the last and thanks to a Kalou goal in the final minute swiftly followed by an own goal from the Reading captain, our blushes were just about spared.
Goals:
Reading
38’ Kebe
45’ Davies
Chelsea
88’ Kalou
90’ Pearce (og)
Filed under: Match report, Pre-season, Rants
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Take the positives from the match, the plats were obviously tired from a step up in intensity on the training ground following a gruelling trip around the states, jet lag can play a big part in top clubs pre seasons and that showed yesterday. Yes sturridge and kalou did look promising, strange to see zhirkov not used though… The main thing however is that we showed some spirit wholly lacking under Scolari
The players were apparently blasted at half time for their slow tempo in the first half. They had a very hard double training session on Friday and they looked ‘leggy’. I don’t think some of the players in the first half (Drogs, Anelka, Essien) had their heads in the right place. Even so and possession wise it must have been 70%/30% to Chelsea! Reading scored from a brakeaway goal and a stupid penalty that Terry gave away just before the break. The second half we upped the tempo but showed overall that we are still ONE real class goalscorer away from being a very good side IMHO.
Well, I think we missed lots of chances part of it due to the great saves by the keeper!! The GK was outstanding and do not estimate the Championship’s!!
i need my boys to do kore work and bring us good results
penalty?!!!!!!!! you had all ten outfield players in front of cech !!!!
Nice to see a good performance from the chelsea left back – no not A.Cole but Ryan Bertrand on loan reading!!!
my chelsea first team. wats urs???pls reply!!!
cech
ivanovic carvalho terry a.cole
j.cole lampard essien zhirkov
drogba sturridge
pls tell me urs!!!!!!nd wat ye tink of mine???
pls tell me ur chelsea first team!!!!!
I think Saturdays match is the perfect case for Ancelotti to think more on his diamond formation. The best position for Lampard is at the tip of the diamond. Deco is completely useless. We need Malouda or Zhirkov at the left otherwise there is no width at all. At right Essien is good, but we need better. At many times, I saw moves starting on left and Essien not being there to capitalize loose balls on the right. Essien almost plays as a second defensive midfielder and doesn’t come forward much. We definitely need J.Cole on the right. Mikel should be worried after his shocking first half performance. Overall this match reminded of the nightmare Scolari era and underlines the fact that we need some creative passing and raw speed to breakdown teams.
I am glad that this happend because lads need to see that they need to put their will and heart on pitch to get what they want.
I wouldn’t read too much into these games.
Chelsea have all the class
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