Allardyce curse his luck after Kalou steals win
By Patrick Barclay
Sport.Telegraph, 30th December 2007
The 4-4 draw with Aston Villa here on Boxing Day was always going to be a
hard act to follow and this match, for half of its course, did not even try.
Then Newcastle played as if determined to cast Sam Allardyce's regime in a
kinder light than has been shed of late and, although they lost, it was only
to a goal of the utmost fraudulence: Salomon Kalou, who scored it, was yards
offside. Even Chelsea TV, whose commentary often contains a refreshing element
of candour, admitted: "We got away with murder."
Thus the losers came out with more credit, or at least sympathy, than the
winners, whose manager, Avram Grant, was informed, 'You don't know what
you're doing' when he replaced Joe Cole with Claudio Pizarro midway through
the second half. Whatever Roman Abramovich may think, Grant has yet to
convince the majority of Chelsea's support that he can build a beautiful
and successful team on the platform left by Jose Mourinho. It was just as
well the announcer could lift the immediate post-match mood with the result
from West Ham, which left Chelsea four points behind Manchester United
despite the ravages of injury and suspension.
How Newcastle must envy this crowd their petty grumbles. That Allardyce is
forever ranting about the unfairness of decisions should not detract from
the validity of his case here. Newcastle were just minutes from a precious
point when John Obi Mikel's shot hit Pizarro and fell to Kalou, who had
the decency to look restrained after putting the ball past Shay Given from
close range.
Afterwards Allardyce said: "A result's been taken away from us by a
linesman [Mike Cairns] who's got a decision horribly wrong." That was about
the size of it and the Newcastle manager felt entitled to heap praise on
his men. "Now my job is to make sure this doesn't knock the players'
confidence."
In which case he had better not show them a recording of the first half;
another look at the second would fortify them for, with Nicky Butt excellent,
they attacked on a broad front and cancelled out Michael Essien's opening goal.
A more modest measure of defiance had marked Newcastle's start during which
Butt, catching Mikel in possession, delivered a fine through-pass on which
Obafemi Martins failed to capitalise. The match soon acquired a more
predictable pattern and Shay Given, after parrying an effort from Kalou,
distinguished himself by clawing away a deflected shot from Mikel.
The judicious dismissal by the FA of an appeal against Ashley Cole's red
card had left Chelsea lacking 10 members of their squad - with four due to
depart shortly for the African Cup of Nations, expect vigorous activity by
Grant when the transfer window opens on Tuesday - but they comfortably
controlled matters, Mikel and Essien helping Michael Ballack, captain for
the day, to pull the strings in midfield.
Then Juliano Belletti's throw was cleared only to Shaun Wright-Phillips,
whose shot from 25 yards veered off Kalou and landed in the goalmouth.
Essien, reacting more sharply than Steven Taylor or Claudio Cacapa, whipped
it into the net. Wright-Phillips might have increased Chelsea's lead seconds
from the interval, when he nodded into the side netting following Cole's
cross.
A different, infinitely more assertive Newcastle emerged and, with Charles
N'Zogbia pushing forward to increase Belletti's workload, made progress. Butt
was first evident at the wrong end of the field - sliding to intercept
Wright-Phillips's ball infield, he succeeded only in forcing Given brilliantly
to avert a contender for own-goal of the season - but the former Manchester
United midfielder was next primarily responsible for the equaliser.
Sending N'Zogbia down the left, Butt kept running and, after N'Zogbia had got
past Mikel and crossed low, was on to Martins' miscued shot, bundling the ball
in off Wayne Bridge. Grant responded by replacing Cole with Pizarro, which
prompted those unkind chants from the Matthew Harding Stand. If he had taken
off Kalou, there would have been few complaints. Yet Kalou it was who, however
luckily, won the match. Allardyce, meanwhile, had sent on Michael Owen for
Martins, but such fortune was not to favour the Newcastle cause.
For Grant, when he was asked about the crucial goal, charity began at home.
"I didn't see the incident again," he said, ''but we made so many chances
today we deserved to win anyway." He deflected a question about the chants
too, saying: "I think the supporters are behind us. They knew it was not
easy for us today with so many key players missing. Those who did play
showed a lot of character." And Cole, he added, "had some problems with
injury." So maybe Grant did know what he was doing. Two defeats in 22
matches is hardly the statistic of an impostor.
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