Chelsea attempt to entertain at Upton Park
By Roy Collins
Sport.Telegraph, 2nd March 2008
The Football Association are considering preventing the undignified sight
of referees being baited by a posse of players during a match by banning
anyone but team captains from even talking to officials.
In Chelsea's case, it would do nothing to clean up their act since captain
John Terry is possibly the worst offender in the Premier League. His berating
of referee Peter Walton, as well as one of his assistants, after Frank
Lampard's dismissal for pushing Luis Boa Morte, was another disgraceful
addition to his crime sheet, with Walton unable to restart the game for
a few minutes.
Having said that, Terry was faultless and outstanding on the field of play,
as were the whole Chelsea team in a performance that finally put some flesh
on manager Avram Grant's promise to turn them into a team of entertainers.
It was also vindication of Grant's managerial credentials after the abuse
and criticism he suffered after the Carling Cup final defeat last week.
The Carling Cup may have gone, but Chelsea are still in a couple of little
cup competitions called the FA Cup and Champions League and, on the basis
of this win and another slip-up by Arsenal, they are right back in the
title mix. They even looked like Arsenal at times.
Grant partly responded to his critics by putting Nicolas Anelka in a more
familiar central role, rather than out on the left wing, where he played
against Spurs at Wembley, and also restored Joe Cole and Michael Ballack to
the starting line-up. Displaying plenty of courage, considering the pressure
he was under to get a victory, he left Didier Drogba on the bench and kept
Shaun Wright-Phillips out of the squad altogether as he shuffled his
resources with Wednesday's Champions League tie against Olympiakos in mind.
Perhaps he knew just how woeful West Ham were, a side who have built a
reputation for defensive competence this season with the best record outside
the top four. Here, though, they did not even think to bolt the stable door
after the horse had bolted, with Chelsea still knocking the ball around and
creating the better chances when down to 10 men.
West Ham manager Alan Curbishley was right when he said: "It probably sounds
mad but I thought the first half was fairly even in terms of possession and
play." Right, that is, to admit it was mad since Chelsea took the Hammers
apart with three goals in six first-half minutes, having already had a
perfectly good effort by Anelka ruled out for offside.
Lampard, who so enjoys the warm-hearted applause he gets from West Ham fans
after his long years of service here, slotted home the first from the penalty
spot after Anton Ferdinand had brought down Salomon Kalou. There was then
much snogging of the club badge, just to let the home fans know that they
were not the only ones capable of a wind-up.
Joe Cole scored a second from outside the box and then Ballack, who had
set that one up, plundered one himself after a cross by Kalou. Just over
20 minutes gone and some West Ham fans were already leaving, one or two
questioning the goalkeeping of Robert Green, the man who has 'England's
number four' on his gloves, which might be a bit optimistic on this showing.
Once Lampard was sent off, one would have expected a cavalry charge from
West Ham, but, on the one occasion they beat Petr Cech with a fine chip
from Carlton Cole, Terry showed his determination to keep a clean sheet by
running back and clearing the ball off the line.
Curbishley thought the Lampard sending off was harsh, saying: "You look at
those situations sometimes and hope common sense will prevail," though
Grant was upset more that the call for the red card, as with the penalty
given against Chelsea at Wembley, came not from the referee but an
assistant. Grant said: "The assistant said that Frank slapped Boa Morte's
face and, if he did, then that is a red card. But I don't know. I haven't
asked Frank yet."
It is doubtful whether West Ham could have scored had Chelsea had another
couple of players sent off. The final insult was delivered by Ashley Cole,
also restored to the side, who opened his account for the Blues after
namesake Joe's shot was pushed out by Green. It was his first goal for
three years, though he celebrated as if he had never scored before.
Chelsea may appeal against Lampard's sending off, though after what happened
to Middlesbrough's Jeremie Aliadiere, who got an extra game tacked on for a
"frivolous" appeal, they may think better of it. A fourth game for Lampard
would see him missing the game against Arsenal at the Bridge at the end of
this month. That is a match that no Chelsea player will want to miss.
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