Chelsea were unable to break down resolute Stoke and were aggrieved at having a number of penalty appeals rejected
So can Andre Villas-Boas do it on a dry, warm Sunday afternoon in Stoke? There are probably better places than the Britannia Stadium for the manager ? who is 33 years old and used to work for Jose Mourinho ? to get acquainted with English football. In this fixture last season, Stoke gave Chelsea a good going over and were desperately unlucky not to come away with all three points, the match ending in a 1-1 draw. There shouldn't be too many surprises from Stoke: no-nonsense defending, set-pieces, a reliance on Matthew Etherington to provide the creativity, plenty of long balls and no end of endeavour from their two attackers. It sounds simple, but then Adrian Mole thought Animal Farm was a pleasant novel about a group of animals on a farm.
Although Chelsea have a new look in the dug-out, not much has changed on the pitch. In fact, three years after Sir Alex Ferguson suggested that Chelsea were too old to win the title, there squad largely remains the same from then, barring a few tweaks here and there. The days of big spending at Stamford Bridge increasingly appear to be over, the splurge on Fernando Torres and David Luiz in January the exception rather than the rule. From 2003 to 2006, Chelsea bought the likes of Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron, Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, Michael Essien, Petr Cech, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack and, er, Andriy Shevchenko. This summer, they've bought Oriol Romeu and Thibault Courtois, with Romelu Lukaku on the way. Not quite the same, is it?
The problem for Villas-Boas's predecessor, Carlo Ancelotti, during Chelsea's dodgy spell last season was a thin squad and that problem hasn't been rectified. Today Chelsea are likely to have a clutch of youngsters, squad players and Fernando Torres on the bench. Perhaps Luka Modric will be signed. Wesley Sneijder's available as well. Hint, hint. Right now, Chelsea do not have a team capable of keeping up with the Manchester clubs, let alone one that can harbour realistic hopes of winning the Champions League, the holy grail for Roman Abramovich. No pressure, AVB.
Some early team news for you. Fernando Torres starts for Chelsea. He suffered concussion during Spain's defeat to Italy on Wednesday, but is deemed fit to play. Well. That's a big vote of confidence in the Spaniard from Villas-Boas. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka are apparently left on the bench.
Stoke (4-4-2): Begovic; Huth, Shawcross, Woodgate, Wilson; Pennant, Delap, Whelan, Etherington; Jones, Walters. Subs: Sorensen, Collins, Pugh, Diao, Whitehead, Wilkinson, Shotton.
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Mikel, Lampard; Kalou, Torres, Malouda. Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Benayoun, Drogba, Ferreira, McEachran, Anelka.
Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
Everyone's been asking about what to expect from Villas-Boas. I've got no idea to be honest, having not followed the Portuguese league last season. I do know that he's 33 and worked for Jose Mourinho though.
The first email. "Did he?" asks Benjamin List of Adrian Mole. "He quoted from it in his impassioned argument about the Falklands, he must've had some knowledge, even if it was only an inkling, as to it's intended meaning. Anyway, 1-1. Lampard with Chelsea's, Woodgate for Stoke. But he'll injure himself in the process and it'll turn from triumph to tragedy." Chelsea won't have fond memories of Jonathan Woodgate as well.
Ray Wilkins, in the commentary box, makes a very good point about Drogba's absence from the starting line-up meaning Chelsea will be weaker when defending set-pieces. Good old Raymondo.
1 min: At a very loud Britannia Stadium - as if that needed saying - we're off. Chelsea, kicking from right to left, get us going. Fernando Torres doesn't mess up the kick-off, so he's already looking better than he did last season. "Going by the success of debutants so far I reckon Villas-Boas'll get manhandled by Shawcross and get red-carded," offers Oliver Lewis. Or he'll nick Tony Pulis's baseball cap. These youngsters get up to all sorts.
2 min: The first Rory Delap long throw of the season. The first of many. He hurls it in from the right and with some difficulty, Cech, flapping slightly, punches clear. Ramires hooks it out of the box, but Stoke keep the pressure up, Walters winning a corner on the left.
3 min: Pennant curls it into the six-yard box, but the whistle blows for a foul on Cech.
4 min: Whenever Chelsea get the ball, the Stoke fans boo loudly. And whenever they lose it, as Kalou did here as he tried to play Bosingwa in, they jeer loudly.
5 min: This game is being played at breakneck speed.
6 min: For the first time, Chelsea construct an attack worthy of the name. Kalou's quick feet on the right touchline got him clear and he then knocked a pass forward for Ramires. He managed to hold off a strong Stoke challenge, before aiming a cross to Torres, only for Shawcross to importantly head behind. Lampard's corner is cleared.
8 min: At that Lampard corner, Alex was caught in the face by a flailing arm by Huth, who has previous for this sort of thing, as his new team-mate Matthew Upson and Mario Balotelli will testify.
9 min: Chelsea are starting to get into their groove. Bosingwa forces Begovic into the first save of the match, the goalkeeper palming the right-back's mishit cross wide at his near post. He did well not to be caught out there. After a spot of pushing and shoving in the area, the corner is eventually taken, but Torres fouls Begovic as Terry heads over.
10 min: Shawcross, turned far too easily by Torres on the halfway line, brings the striker down and earns his first booking of the season. It won't be last.
11 min: Torres looks sharp. Unruffled by that clattering he took from Shawcross, again he spins away from his marker, this time in a far more advanced position. Having made the space, he looks to test Begovic from distance, but he doesn't catch the shot properly and it rolls a few yards wide of the left post.
12 min: The first glimpse of Villas-Boas on the touchline. He's wearing a club suit. No sign of a Matalan coat.
13 min: Kalou goes down in the area after a coming together with Whelan. He looks pleadingly at Mark Halsey, who waves play on. A harsher referee might have given a penalty, but it was more a case of Kalou losing his balance.
14 min: Delap with his third throw-in already. This time Cech can't get off his line but Huth, with his back to goal, glances a header just over the top.
16 min: Delap. Throw. This is getting repetitive. Stoke fans half-heartedly cry for handball against Terry but it went against his chest.
17 min: Chelsea play themselves into trouble by stroking the ball around between themselves at the back, and eventually Cech, under pressure, shanks his clearance out for a throw. Just get it in the mixer, lads, work the channels, play the percentages. None of this tippy-tappy nonsense.
18 min: "Fernando Torres is looking excellent, his old confident self. Dangerous, fast movement, excellent positioning," says Cecilia Marjakangas. "It's only a question of time when he scores. Hopefully in this game, but if not, then surely in the next. He's bossing defenders like in the olden days at Atletico and Liverpool. Great news for Chelsea fans, bad news for Drogba." He just needs to stay fit. When he is, he's the best striker in the league and arguably the best No9 in the world.
19 min: A throw to Stoke on the left. But instead of launching it into the box, Delap gives it the Ronaldinho eyes and just drops it to the feet of a team-mate standing a few yards away. And immediately the ball's launched high into the area, but Cech claims it.
21 min: Terry bumps into Jones on the right, conceding a free-kick in a similar position from where Stoke opened the scoring against Arsenal last season. Etherington curls the ball dangerously into the six-yard box, but Alex manages to head it up and into the air. At the far post, Shawcross heads it back into the fray, but Cech again dominates his six-yard box. He's having a very good game.
22 min: Ashley Cole somewhat fortunately escapes a booking for a foul off-the-ball on Etherington. The Stoke fans howl in anger, the memory of Shawcross's yellow card still fresh in the mind.
24 min: What a piece of defending from Huth to deny Malouda what surely would have been the opening goal. On the right side of the area, Lampard collected possession. Knowing he didn't have the beating of Shawcross, he bided his time, waiting for support and then dinked a delightful cross into the six-yard box, where three Chelsea players were waiting. Malouda looked certain to score but somehow Huth, facing his own goal, took it away from with a diving header.
25 min: Etherington's lovely flick on the right touchline catches out Cole, who'd gone to sleep, and releases Walters. He romps clear and towards the byline, but his cross towards Jones is palmed away by Cech. This match is very much in the balance.
27 min: "Does Torres just need to stay fit to be back to his best?" says Gary Naylor. "For two years, he didn't just look short of fitness, he looked short of desire - well, of the kind of desire required to play 50+ games per season close to one's best. It'll take more than 18 minutes to convince me that he's back." Yes, but how much of that was a consequence of playing with the likes of Christian Poulsen?
29 min: Chelsea need more creativity in the middle and more pace in the wide areas. That is all.
29 min part two: Malouda has just produced possibly the worst cross of the season. Freed by Torres on the left, he had time and space to pick out a team-mate in the middle, but instead he club-footed it into the stands, exhibiting the sort of technique that suggests he's never even looked at a football before, let alone kicked one. He looks ruefully at the pitch.
32 min: The wiry Ramires storms into the area on the right but from a tight angle, his shot across the face of goal fizzes all the way through the six-yard box. He's been one of Chelsea's more impressive players.
34 min: It's a match played with the best of intentions but both defences are on top. Neither side has managed to fashion a clear-cut chance. Blame it on early-season rust.
37 min: Stoke are increasingly being forced to play on the break, with Chelsea taking a firmer grip on the game.
38 min: Suddenly Stoke wake up again, and there's a huge appeal for handball against Terry in the area. Pennant chipped a clever ball over the top for Walters, who stuck out a foot in a bid to control it. He couldn't, but the ball was diverted on to the top of Terry's arm, but Halsey couldn't see it. In fairness, Terry knew nothing about it, but it could have been given. The ball isn't cleared, and Pennant stands up a cross towards Jones at the far post, Alex importantly heading behind.
39 min: After Terry puts the first corner behind, Stoke scream for a penalty again as the Chelsea captain comes together with Shawcross in middle. They were all over each other. Terry hasn't exactly got away with anything, but can Halsey reject a third appeal?
42 min: The ball certainly did hit Terry on the top of his arm, but I don't think it was deliberate and Halsey's view of it did seem to be obstructed as the players had their backs to him. However Terry was foolish to have his arms outstretched.
44 min: The Stoke fans cheer ironically as Terry is penalised for a push in the air on Walters 40 yards from goal. That was fairly soft, but as I said. Etherington curls the free-kick in, but Mikel gets his head to it and Bosingwa prevents the corner.
45 min: Cole takes a tumble under a challenge from Huth, but Halsey again decides it's not a foul. He's certainly taking a hands-off approach to this one.
45 min+1: Very nearly a marvellous individual goal from Torres. On the left, he twisted and turned this way and that inside the Stoke area, making fools of both Huth and Shawcross. He sold them several dummies but as he prepared to curl the ball with his right foot into the far corner from 10 yards out, Shawcross got a feathery touch on it, knocking it against Torres and out for a goal-kick. So unlucky.
Half time: Stoke 0-0 Chelsea. It's even.
Half time emails:
"The best league in the world," muses Alexander Netherton. Even better than the Lithuanian first division?
"On holiday in Rhodes," says Matthew Britton. "Had to take refuge by the pool as the bar is filled with men with Stoke shirts on grunting at the TV. Too scared to get a drink." Oh dear.
"'Terry foolish to have his arms outstretched'? I doubt it," says Gary Naylor. "They do research their referees you know. It's one of the charming innovations introduced to the
game that improves the spectacle for everyone."
"Stoke would do Barcelona," says Luke Stevenson. "Discuss." Do we have to?
46 min: And off we go again. Hopefully this will be better. Stoke start in positive fashion, Cole deflecting Pennant's cross behind for another Stoke corner. Etherington's corner is headed away at the near post. "Alan Curbishley thinks that AVB should make changes at the 60 minute mark," says Pavan Jeswani. "'Maybe throw Drogba on.' Managerial genius."
47 min: Stoke are very lucky not to have conceded a penalty here. Once again, Torres turned and skipped past Shawcross, who hung out a leg and brought him down. There was clear contact. It's a strange one. The leg that was tripped was in the box, but the rest of Torres's body was outside it. What happens then? Either way, Halsey ignored the appeals for a foul.
48 min: Whelan gives some ammo to those who claim Stoke are a rugby team by launching the ball into orbit from 30 yards out. That was even worse than Malouda's cross in the first half.
51 min: Ramires's pass, intended for Boswinga, is deflected back to him but his snapshot from 20 yards out goes wide of the right post. "Torres looks lively though, problem is delivery to him which will surely be the same with Drogba," says Oliver Lewis. "Surely Benayoun on for someone." They could do with his inventiveness.
52 min: Ashley Cole has just performed a one-footed scorpion kick on the left touchline. Kids, do try that at home, preferably in your living room.
54 min: Mark Halsey will not be giving any penalties today. Lampard sends in a corner from the left, which Terry heads down into the six-yard box. The ball falls to Torres, who tries to swivel and slam the ball into the net, but instead he collapses with Woodgate's arms wrapped around his torso. That looked like a penalty, although Torres did swing and miss at the ball.
55 min: Incredible! Memories of Chelsea's game against Barcelona in 2009 will be flooding back here. Now Lampard has gone down in the box as he tried to reach a loose ball. Then moments later, Mikel hits a volley goalwards from 30 yards out and Begovic punches the ball over the top. Chelsea are turning the screw.
59 min: I can't make my mind up about the Lampard incident. It looked like there was contact as he nicked the ball around Shawcross, but he seemed to be going down before he was touched. Who'd be a ref?
60 min: Torres jinks inside from the left again, but his curler towards the far corner is blocked. While that attack was going on, Stoke's fans were screaming for Chelsea to put the ball out as Etherington was down injured. Now he'll get some treatment.
61 min: From one angle, it looks like Lampard was going down before he was touched. From another, it looks like it was a clear penalty. As for Etherington, he's hurt his shoulder after a collision with Kalou. He's probably dislocated it and walks off wincing.
62 min: Dean Whitehead comes on for the injured Etherington. That's a huge blow for Stoke. "I'm curious about the import of Oliver Lewis's note that 'Torres looks lively though, problem is delivery to him'," says Paul Taylor. "Does this mean that Chelsea, surely one of the top dozen or so clubs in the world, does not have people who can supply decent balls to the strikers? I can't believe there aren't enough of them in the world to fill the ranks of the good teams. Or is the average tenure of a Chelsea player too short (wonder why) for anyone to make a difference?"
64 min: On reflection, I reckon it was a dive by Lampard. Which is a strange decision from him, because if he'd continued, he was clean through on goal. Back to the action, Malouda lines one up from 25 yards out but his drive is straight at Begovic.
65 min: Interesting. Chelsea make their first change, but it's not Didier Drogba coming on. Instead Nicolas Anelka is introduced for Florent Malouda.
66 min: Ashley Cole is booked for a late tackle on Pennant.
67 min: Pennant's volley from the edge of the area is blocked bravely by Cole, the ball spinning out for a throw on the right. Delap launches it into the middle and Cech, challenging Huth, spills it. The ball comes to Walters but with Cech out of his goal, the ball wouldn't come down for the striker and the chance is gone.
69 min: I'm looking forward to hearing what Jamie Redknapp has to say about Lampard's dive.
70 min: Delap is down, clutching his hamstring. Stoke do seem to suffer a lot of injuries.
71 min: Danny Pugh replaces Rory Delap. Stoke have lost their two biggest attacking weapons in the last 10 minutes.
72 min: Begovic saves Stoke twice in quick succession. First, over on the left, Anelka cut inside and then bent a superb shot towards the far corner, only for Begovic to tip it on to the face of the bar. The ball came out too quickly for Torres to head it into the empty net. Then, with Chelsea pinning Stoke back, Torres places a cross perfectly on to the head of Kalou, but from eight yards he puts the his powerful header too close to Begovic, who shouldn't have been given a chance.
74 min: As Kevin Keegan might say, only one team's going to win this now.
75 min: "Actually, almost every big team that plays against packed defenses cries out for an Ozil or the Kaka of 5 years ago," says Brendan Wirth. "There's a shortage of that attacking midfielders to turn second pass out of defense to an attacking move or slip the killer pass around edge of the box." I hear Cesc Fabregas is available.
76 min: Chelsea now have an embarrassment of riches up front: Anelka, Torres and Didier Drogba. Salomon Kalou goes off.
77 min: Glenn Whelan drops the shoulder to evade Alex and then places a curler straight at Cech from 25 yards.
79 min: Torres goes on another direct run up the left flank. He's been excellent and Stoke have had their hands full dealing with him. This time he wins a corner off Pennant, but it comes to nothing.
79 min: Wilson is booked for a cynical bodycheck on Bosingwa.
80 min: "Further to recent Knowledges about bizarre nicknames given by Latin American commentators to footballers, I am watching this game in Argentina where Danny Pugh has been called 'Winnie Pooh' since he came on, sometimes in a squeaky voice 'for the children'," says Ben Hendry. "It's one of the strangest things I've ever heard."
82 min: Pugh trips Ramires around 30 yards out. It's in a central position, but Drogba sends his shot straight at Begovic.
86 min: With Chelsea getting nowhere with some slow passing outside the Stoke area, Alex suddenly marauds forward and belts one high and wide. Shortly afterwards, Stoke make their final change, Ryan Shotton on for Kenwyne Jones.
87 min: Frank Lampard is booked for throwing the ball away after a decision went against him.
88 min: Barcelona have La Masia, where they teach youngsters how to pass and pass and pass. At Stoke, they teach youngsters how to do throw-ins apparently. With Delap off the pitch, long throw duty is passed over to Shotton, 19, but there's a foul on Cech. Benayoun comes on for Torres, who shakes Villas-Boas's hand as he goes off.
89 min: Benayoun's first touch is to deflect a thunderbolt from Bosingwa wide. That one was travelling at quite some speed. Benayoun was offside as well.
90 min: There will be five more minutes of this.
90 min+3: On the ground, Drogba somehow manages to wrap his legs around the ball, whip it away from Woodgate, spin around and get up, only for the defender to bring him down. Danger for Stoke. It's only 25 yards out and in a central position. Drogba's standing over it.
90 min+4: Drogba cracks it straight into the wall. Alex and Drogba then get in each other's way as the ball rebounds back, before Ramires smashes a shot miles wide from 40 yards out.
90 min+5: And now Stoke have a late free-kick, Cole pushing Walters over on the right flank.
Peep! Peep! Peep! Pennant's free-kick is headed away and with that, Mark Halsey blows his final whistle. Chelsea won't be happy with some of his decisions. They'll feel they should have been awarded one or two penalties, but overall a point at Stoke is not a bad result. Torres's display will have encouraged Andre Villas-Boas as well. Stoke are delighted with the point, their fans cheering lustily at the end. They'll certainly be fine this season. None of the top six from last season have won yet. Over to Manchester United.
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