CHELSEA 3-3 Everton: Set-Pieces Needing Attention
CHELSEA 3-3 EVERTON
Well, where do you start after a game like that? To be honest, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry during the game and probably felt like doing both at different times for very different reasons. We’ve now conceded ten goals in four games without a win and watching us defend set-pieces, you can see why that’s the case.
Scrappy first goal conceded pretty much against the run of play, with a set-piece ending in an own goal against Petr Cech, who had another poor game for us. Leighton Baines’ free-kick met not just Saha’s head but both John Terry and Petr Cech before landing in the back of the net – lucky? Maybe but poor defending all the same.
Didier Drogba, who has been nothing short of phenomenal for us so far this season, leveled it in the 17th minute with Lampard laying it off for the Ivorian to curl it beautifully past Howard. Just five minutes later Nicolas Anelka made it 2-1, firing into the roof of the net from close range. But just in case we had any big ideas about going into the delayed break a goal up, Yakubu had other ideas. Yet another set-piece as Terry failed to clear a throw in and yet another slice of luck saw the ball come off a prostrate Ricardo Carvalho, falling far too kindly for the Everton sub to bang it past Cech from six yards out. 2-2 at the break then.
No changes in personnel from the break but we came out as positive as we’d been in the first half, pressuring Everton and constantly pushing against their determined defence. That pressure paid off in the 58th minute with Didier Drogba banging in a Branislav Ivanovic cross. But yet again a combination of bad luck and them bloody set-pieces saw Didier Drogba’s attempted clearance hit Saha and bounce over Petr Cech just five minutes later.
We threw everything but the kitchen sink at them after that but their defence stood up to it all and a point was all we were getting.
So that’s ten goals conceded in our last four games and whether Everton got lucky or not, this is the sort of game we’d be pointing to at the end of a season when the points aren’t there. And we might have got a break with United losing to Villa yesterday but maybe what we should be concerning ourselves with right now, is the effect a run of four games without a win will have on our players.
TEAMS
CHELSEA: Cech; Ivanovic, Carvalho (Belletti 85), Terry, A Cole; Mikel (Borini 87); Ballack, Lampard; J Cole (Malouda 75); Anelka, Drogba
EVERTON: Howard; Hibbert, Neill, Heitinga, Baines; Pienaar, Rodwell, Fellaini, Bilyaletdinov; Jo (Yakubu 45+2), Saha (Agard 90+3)
GOALS
CHELSEA: Drogba (18, 58), Anelka (23),
EVERTON: Cech (og, 12), Yakubu (45+), Saha (63)
Filed under: Match report
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Cech is the problem!..since his horrible head injury the lad has not been trhe same…not his fault but his game has gone..finished.
With Cech being so uncertain he gives our back four no confidence any more which means extra pressure on them and there you have it…
Football is brutal and it’s no time to feel sorry and sentimental…Carlo get another goal keeper in January and put Hilario in there in the interim..
I think Cech was not to blame for any of the goals. The own goal was unlucky. Nobody has eyes behind their heads and it was really unfortunate that the ball played pinball between the post and his back. The Saha goal was so ridiculously unlucky too. Apparently Saha HAS EYES behind his head! Had Chelsea brought their lucky charm yesterday, the score would have been 3-1. However, it’s true that Cech has been a little shaky since the injury. But I’m thankful that at least we got a better keeper than many other teams.
Wasn’t at the Everton game but having watched on MOTD it seems pretty clear that it was just one of those days. As Mr Ancelotti said, we played some good stuff and scored three goals. We will probably never concede three comedy goals in the same game again. It’s just one of those things that happen now again. That’s the beauty of football and why we love it. I feel that Cech is not the same keeper he was pre-Majedski but he’s still not half bad. However he was at fault for the third goal. Superb clearing headers from Drogs that as a fluke hit Saha BUT if Cech had been on his line, rather than in no-man’s land unable to decide whether to come and go, he would have had a simple catch. He’s still a great shot-stopper and brilliant one on one but he has no idea what to do when the ball is crossed into his box and that’s a probem for the whole defence!
I think it’s always easy to poke at the goalkeeper after games like these, but I think that it’s quite unfair for Cech, given the performance he’s put in before the last three games or so. Footballing skills don’t just degenerate overnight. While high balls have been pointed out as an issue previously, it’s not fair to rag on Cech just because of a couple of rather 50-50 chances.
That said – Cech is getting on. With his head injury, I don’t see him lasting as long as VDS or other aged goalkeepers. At most, another 3 seasons? Turnbull is nowhere near ready for top table action, and Hilario is… well, I have no faith in Hilario. New blood may need to be injected for the GK position, but for the long run. Picking up a wonderkid GK might be needed.