More capital gains? Newcastle 1-1 Chelsea.
Posted on November 28th, 2010 | 50 Comments |
On the balance of play you could probably argue that Chelsea deserved to win the match, but that would take a lot of credit away from what was a fairly solid defensive performance from Newcastle. A bit of luck was needed at times from the home side, but I would say that we were just about good enough for the point.
Newcastle were forced to make a number of changes to their starting line-up, and with the squad already depleted by injuries and the odd suspension, the home side were dealt a further blow when it emerged that Kevin Nolan would miss the match after picking up an ankle knock.
Both teams came into the match looking to end a poor run of form. Chelsea had lost the last two games whilst Newcastle had only managed a point in the previous three games. Given the thumping that the lads got at Bolton last week I would hazard a guess that Chris Hughton and co will be more than happy with a point. Chelsea probably won’t be, but that isn’t my problem.
The home side started off the brighter of the two teams and went close in the first two minutes when a Danny Guthrie corner nicked off Steven Taylor and was deflected towards goal by a Chelsea defender. Petr Cech made a smart save but parried the ball out to Shola Ameobi who was unable to steer his volleyed effort goalwards.
Just four minutes later the home side took the lead. Wayne Routledge recieved the ball abut 40-yards away from goal. He started to go on a bit of run but was tackled by John Obi Mikel who prodded the ball towards his defenders. There looked to be nothing on, but Alex didn’t read the script. Unfortunately for Chelsea, Alex poked the ball past the onrushing Cech allowing Carroll to run around the lot of them and poke home from two yards out for his ninth goal of the season.
Both Carroll and Ameobi looked to have the Chelsea centre-backs worried and they continued to cause trouble. Wayne Routledge was also having a good game and showed some glimpses of what us fans saw last season. Despite that though, Chelsea started to build up a head of steam and they, perhaps unsurprisingly, came back into the game, but Newcastle looked as though they had the match of their opponents defensively.
Their pressure told in first-half injury time though, Danny Simpson diverting a shot from Soloman Kalou past Tim Krul, the Chelsea man having turned Sol Campbell after a flick from Drogba had carved open the Newcastle back four. 1-1 at half-time, and it was arguably a fair reflection of the game.
Chelsea had the better of the second-half and had long periods of possesion, but Newcastle also had their chances. Wayne Routledge set up a chance for Carroll, and the winger was unlucky not to be on the score-sheet himself. Routledge fired the ball towards goal only for Ashley Cole to head clear in the absence of Petr Cech who had flapped at the ball to give Routledge the opportunity in the first place.
Chelsea also had their chances to score however, and old lady luck stepped in ensure that Soloman Kalou somehow missed an open goal from five-yards out. The ball did find the back on the net however from Didier Drogba, but the goal was ruled out after the striker was adjudged, and rightly so, to have controlled the ball with his hand before applying the finish.
The away side continued to press for a winner, which prompted Chris Hughton to withdraw Shola Ameobi and replace him with Nile Ranger. Andy Carroll moved back to play in a more defensive role as Chelsea really began to turn the screws, but it was to no avail and the match ended with a result that stops the rot for both sides.
Next up – West Brom.
Newcastle – Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Sol Campbell, Jose Enrique, Wayne Routledge, Cheick Tiote, Danny Guthrie, Jonas Gutierrez, Andy Carroll, Shola Ameobi.
Subs – Ole Soderberg, James Perch, Tamas Kadar, Alan Smith, Peter Lovenkrands, Leon Best, Nile Ranger.
Chelsea – Petr Cech, Jose Bosingwa, Alex, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Ramires, John Obi Mikel, Soloman Kalou, Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba.
Subs – Ross Turnbull, Paulo Ferreira, Jeffrey Bruma, Patrick van Aanholt, Josh McEachran, Gael Kakuta, Daniel Sturridge.
Attendance – 46,469.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Seeing as we had just as many first team players out as they did I think we did very well to get the point. yes they had more possession and you could argue should have won, we could easily have won if A.hole wasn’t there!
Match ratings of how the lads played if anyone is interested
http://www.newcastlefcnews.com/2010/11/newcastle-fc-vs-chelsea-fc-player.html