Deco Announces His Arrival In Style

CHELSEA 4 – 0 PORTSMOUTH

With Arsenal and Liverpool both chalking up 1-0 wins yesterday and the Champions due to play Newcastle at Old Trafford later in the day, it was important for Chelsea to get off to a good start if we were to avoid giving the boys in the press something to have a go at us about this weekend. So, let’s see what they do with the 4-0 drubbing we dished out to Portsmouth in Scolari’s first game in charge at Stamford Bridge.

The conditions and atmosphere couldn’t have been better: a bright sunny day in West London, Sam Bethell may well have done a bit of community service after all, because the pitch was looking perfect and the injured Drogba could be seen building bridges with our younger supporters, apparently ‘happy to sign anything put in front of him’. Kenyon surely missed an opportunity there?

Chelsea started well, some slick passing, and fluid, crisp movement, opening Pompey up and ensuring they couldn’t get out of their own half. Lampard was the first to test David James, his rocket from distance stinging the keeper’s hands on 8 minutes. Deco, who looks to have slotted in nicely, hit the ground running and was noticeably involved in everything. Then, 12 minutes in, a sublime pass with the outside of the right foot from Ballack picked out the lively Joe Cole, who’s clinical shot beat David James into the bottom corner.

James did better blocking a shot from Anelka, who’d run onto Ballack’s through ball, although 25 minutes in, some poorer keeping allowed Deco to lob the ball up for Anelka who, this time, headed home from a yard out. The rejuvenated Anelka remained a constant threat and was unlucky not to grab a second just minutes later although stabbed his shot wide of the onrushing James.

One minor cause for concern in the first half saw Michael Ballack limp off on 38 minutes, although even that wasn’t the disaster it could’ve been, since this time round it wasn’t Avram Grant in charge of substitutions. No panic from Scolari then, who did the necessaries, bringing on Florent Malouda.

Chelsea were in complete control and certainly didn’t need any favours, although someone should’ve told Sylvain Distin, who’s handling of Joe Cole’s cross saw referee Mike Dean point to the spot. Of course there was the usual debate regarding the ref’s generosity – ball to hand, hand to ball, etc, – but the fact is if your arm’s out that far in the area, it’s a risk you’ll take. Anyway, James is sent the wrong way by Lampard, 3-0. Game over? Nope, just half-time.

Business carried on as usual at the start of the second half, with Anelka pretty much at the centre of our attacking threat, although we did see Joe Cole running at pace towards goal, only to put it wide. Portsmouth appeared unaware of the concept of marking, which saw Campbell and Distin given the run around and a few nervy moments in the area, although to be fair, they got their act together enough to wake our defenders up for a short spell. Ashley Cole though was well up to the task, with his last-ditch tackle denying Lassana Diarra. Likewise Carvalho, who’d spent more time in their area than his own, who was also more than up to it when called upon. And here’s my only grumble about the game – Carvalho shirt pulling – he’s a great defender, our best in fact, and yet he persists in taking this risk in the box. Leave it out Ricky!

Anyway, back to the positives, the formality of the second half continued with Chelsea’s movement continuing to press Pompey, who barely got a sniff of the ball, let alone Cech’s goal and just before the final whistle, a sweet strike from the majestic Deco from around 25 yards out saw our Portuguese playmaker cap an immense debut with a goal which totally summed up his performance for me – class!

Overall then, the 4-0 scoreline  totally reflected the game, with a rampant and very well organised Chelsea side dominating proceedings and clearly enjoying the football every bit as much as the home crowd. The new signings fitted in effortlessly, with the addition of Deco looking like the link Chelsea have been missing. MOTM by a country mile and if we can keep him fit we might just get some football worth watching this season.

Teams:

CHELSEA: Cech, Bosingwa (off 83), Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack (off 38), Lampard, Mikel, Deco, Joe Cole, Anelka.

Substitutes: Hilario, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Malouda (on 38), Di Santo, Alex, Ferreira (on 83).

PORTSMOUTH: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Kaboul, Diarra (off 68), Diop, Kranjcar (off 73), Crouch, Defoe.

Substitutes: Ashdown, Utaka, Traore, Thomas(on 73), Lauren, Cranie, Mvuemba (on 68).