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CHELSEA 7-0 Stoke: Pressure, What Pressure?

CHELSEA 7-0 STOKE


The one thing we can always count on as Chelsea supporters is to expect the unexpected and yesterday’s result definitely counted as that after last week’s poor performance against Spurs. There weren’t many changes in personnel and yet it was a completely different side that stepped out at Stamford Bridge to face the usually resilient Stoke side. Obviously the captain was missing through the ban he picked up last week, Ashley Cole was back in ahead of Zhirkov, Kalou made a rare start and Deco was justifiably dropped. So that’s the team changes but what can I tell you about the performance? Well, there were goals……….and lots of them.

A lively start from Chelsea saw Didier Drogba having a shot blocked inside the first five minutes and that was pretty much the shape of things to come. Drogba might not have got on the score sheet – and it was a pretty big score sheet at that, but he definitely had the bit between his teeth and gave it his all throughout the game.

Abdoulaye Faye, who’d done well to block Drogba’s earlier shot went off for Shawcross in the 8th minute, before Lampard had a shot stopped by Sorensen, with Ashley Cole failing with the second attempt. 20 minutes in and only a great save from Sorensen came between us and the opener, with a beautiful header from Drogba that fully deserved a goal.

Still, we only had to wait a few minutes til that opening goal arrived with a piece of skill from Drogba that I don’t mind admitting initially had me screaming at him to ‘keep it simple’….until it paid off and his unbelievable take and pass for Kalou to head home turned into a sublime goal.

Lampard, who it has to be said led by example as the stand-in captain, hit a screamer at Sorensen just five minutes later and with the Potters keeper hands still stinging, in came Kalou again to push it in. Unfortunately for Sorensen, the goal wasn’t the only thing he conceded, with him carted off on a stretcher having sustained a suspected dislocated elbow. The inevitable questions were raised as to whether or not the goal should have stood and maybe even Kalou’s two-footed effort could’ve seen him sent off for a reckless challenge but we came out of that one unscathed.

Frank Lampard was having one of his better games – to the point where he was chasing his own passes, and managing to get on the end of them – so when Kalou managed to stay on his feet no matter what….until he was just about inside the area that is, the resulting penalty was a dead cert to make it 3-0 at the break.

Second half then and Nicolas Anelka was blatantly tripped in the area by Whelan, nothing doing as far as the ref was concerned although you’d have to think that was recompense for the soft penalty given earlier. Salomon Kalou looked pretty determined to get his hat-trick, running at goal before putting it just wide, then Ashley Cole tried his luck at walking one in although lost his touch after some beautiful footwork round the defenders in the box.

To be honest though, we were having one of those spells where we looked like we’d dropped off a bit and needed to get the momentum back. We shouldn’t have worried though because Salomon Kalou did indeed get the hat-trick he’d been looking for on 68 minutes albeit at the second attempt thanks to another great run from Lampard.

Steve Bennett was clearly making amends for some first half decisions because he seemed to be evening things up with Whelan, already on a yellow card, forgiven a two-footed challenge on Ballack. Kalou got the standing ovation he deserved when he went off for Joe Cole for the last twenty minutes, whilst Malouda went for laugh of the day with a ridiculous miss just a yard out. Anelka looked as stunned as the rest of us, having swept in the perfect ball across the face of the goal and whether it was easier to score than miss, Malouda went for the latter.

Hutchinson, who’d come on for Ferreira, set our fifth up with a cross for Lampard to hit a lovely volley with the outside of his right boot. Superb way to celebrate his 20th Premier League goal of the season. In the 87th minute, it was Drogba assisting substitute Daniel Sturridge for our 6th, with Sturridge rounding Begovic with a cool finish before a less cool celebration. And finally, just two minutes later, Malouda completed the rout to make it a magnificent 7.

Overall then, it was great to see our players pushing forward with everyone wanting in on the act irrespective of our lead. Not something Mr Mourinho would’ve been happy to see from ‘his Chelsea’ side maybe but one of the better changes under Ancelotti. In fact, we were told that despite our healthy lead at half-time, the Chelsea boss demanded more of the same in terms of goals and tempo.

As for the decisions, yes two of them were kind to us in the first half but in all honesty, neither the half-time nor full-time scores flattered us. Stoke couldn’t cope with the movement of our midfield trio and the fact that this side had conceded only 16 goals away from home all season and yet conceded 7 against us over 90 minutes was testament to the effort our players gave it.

Plenty of questions were asked of our players after last week’s poor performance and this week they answered those questions emphatically.

Pressure, what pressure?

TEAMS

CHELSEA: Cech; Ferreira (Hutchinson 72), Ivanovic, Alex, Cole; Lampard, Ballack, Malouda; Anelka (Sturridge 78), Drogba, Kalou (J Cole 70).
Unused subs Hilario, Van Aanholt, Zhirkov, Belletti.
STOKE: Sorensen (Begovic 35) ; Huth, Faye (Shawcross 8), Higginbotham, Collins; Whitehead, Delap, Whelan, Etherington; Fuller, Kitson (Tuncay 58).
Unused subs Lawrence, Beattie, Pugh, Wilkinson.

GOALS

Salomon Kalou 24, 31, 68
Frank Lampard 44 (pen), 81
Daniel Sturridge 87
Florent Malouda 89

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