Not the very best possible start but the Blues’ would be very much happy with the three points from last night’s match against Birmingham City. Jose Mourinho’s side went into yesterday’s opener at Stamford Bridge with a lengthy injury list, but the new look Chelsea side was able to pull out a win out of it.
John Terry, Michael Ballack, Wayne Bridge, Claude Makelele, Paulo Farreira and Shevcenko are amongst those who were out for the opener. Losing so many players before a ball has even been kicked would have cripple morale boost at most clubs but I guess it is very much different here at the Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea won the game 3-2 with goals from The English Premier League debutants Claudio Pizarro, Florent Malouda and the never say die versatile midfielder, Michael Essien. Goals for Birmingham were scored by former Chelsea striker Mikael Forssell and new signing Olivier Kapo.
The new season however led to Mourinho being in an unusual position of being dwarfed by Manchester United and Liverpool’s spending in the transfer market. The London club’s 13 million pounds purchase of The French League player of the year, Florent Malouda was in fact their only cash deal this close-season, while their rivals splashed out more than 40 millions pounds each and even Fulham and Portsmouth spent more than Chelsea did.
Chelsea so far had capture quite a number of free signings with Tal Ben-Haim (Bolton), Claudio Pizarro (Bayern Munich), Steven Sidwell (Reading) and the finally completed move of Chelsea’s only second Brazilian player in history, Alex (PSV).
On another note, I was actually quite entertained by yesterday’s game. Chelsea was playing a total different football from the last 3 seasons so to speak. The game is much faster, full of subliminal skills especially from the likes of Malouda, Kalou and Wright-Phillips. Chelsea played a full forced attacking style for 90 minutes. My man of the match goes to Shaun Wright-Phillips. His defence splitting pass and inch perfect crosses had been given city’s back four a major headache.
The only major concerned that I have is the defending. Eventhough beautiful football was being played, the defence somehow need a little bit of adjustments especially on defending free kicks and counter attack. Too much of concentration on attacking could prove very much costly for the game. Ben-Haim had a good game against Manchester United and I must say he did quite well against Birmingham City too. I was particularly happy with Glen Johnson’s participation in the game. He has lived up to his 6 million pounds price tag and the loan spell last season did very much to improve him as a versatile right back.
Next Match : Reading vs Chelsea , 15th August, Madejski Stadium
