Chelsea 4 Spartak Moscow 1
Stamford Bridge will host knockout Champions League football in 2011 after the home side breezed past their Russian opponents with a magnificent second half display which guarantees Carl Ancelotti’s side a top place finish in Group F. A brace from centre half Branislav Ivanovic added to Nicolas Anelka’s opener and Didier Drogba’s penalty to send Chelsea through as group winners in some style. Spartak did pull one back through substitute Nikita Bazhenov, but this was a consolation they did not deserve. Valery Karpin’s team in both fixtures gave the defending Premier League champions too much respect and were reluctant to run at their opponents' defence.
Big money summer signing Aiden McGeady was little more than a spectator, so ineffective the former Celtic winger was. Dmitri Kombarov was willing to do what his teammates were not and have a go, shooting from range but Petr Cech was equal to his efforts. Despite an assist for the first goal Salomon Kalou continues to be profligate in front of goal, fluffing a catalogue of chances and Chelsea fans will be screaming for some consistency from the Ivorian. Credit should go to Andrei Ivanov who put in some marvellous last ditch tackles on him, but he should’ve worked the keeper at the very least when through on goal in the sort of positions he found himself in tonight. I always feel there is more to come from Kalou and the longer he takes to live up to his potential the less likely he is to achieve it; nothing wrong with his delicate through ball for Anelka, who timed his run to perfection, less than five minutes after the restart though.
You have to question the Spartak keeper Andriy Dikan’s positioning mind, as you should never be beaten at the near post from that angle. The Frenchman looked effective cutting in from the left and was unlucky with a curling effort in the first half that just dipped wide. The Russian outfit’s centre halves had a torrid time against the talismanic Drogba. Nicolas Pareja seems to be on the fringes of the Argentina setup by default because he barely put a foot right this evening and was lucky not to be booked early on for a ridiculously high boot and a challenge that was arguably worse than some of those the Turkish referee deemed worthy of a card.
He showed no awareness of how to handle the big Ivorian and it came as no surprise when his inability to tackle led to a clumsy challenge on the striker from Yevgeni Makeev inside the box. Drogba dusted himself down and slammed the ball home from twelve yards. Our Argentine friend was to blame for the third goal the Russians conceded. Pareja was supposed to be marking Ivanovic from a Drogba free kick but the Serbian got well clear of him and a player as good in the air as him headed into the net to take Chelsea out of sight. The contest now won Ancelotti withdrew his big guns up front and their replacements, particularly Danny Sturridge looked bright.
Two-goal hero Ivanovic was at fault for Chelsea conceding and ending a run of close to sixteen hours at home without letting a goal in. The Russian Premier League’s top scorer Welliton got the better of him, then played a one-two with young Aleksandr Kozlov before his dragged shot fell into the path of Bazhenov who tapped the ball in from a few yards. This took the shine off the win for me because the visitors offered so little as an attacking force.
The Serbian added his second in stoppage time near the end after Sturridge’s cross broke to him and he placed the ball beyond Dikan. Again the marking was poor, but it was something of a scramble. The continuing theme in the absence of Lampard and Benayoun is a lack of willingness to support the attack from midfield. Ramires, recently returned from a short spell on the sidelines, looks uncertain whether or not the onus falls on him to do this job.
Overall i think you're slightly harsh on Spartak, who held their own first half. Although Chelsea dominated them in the second period i felt that 4 goals flattered them slightly.
ReplyDeleteMcgeady once again proved he's some distance off being a top player and looked well out of his depth. I thought Alex looked bright but needed other players to help him out in attack. I also think the Russians would have benefited from having a target to aim at up top. I don't know enough about their attacking options to say whether injuries prevented them from doing this or whether they were just reluctant to deploy a target man.
You raise an interesting point about Chelsea's midfield. Without Lampard and Benayoun, and to a lesser degree Essien, they do lack an attack minded midfielder. I was disappointed by Zhirkov and Ramires going forward and have yet to see any evidence the latter is worth the money they paid. I'm sure he will prove me wrong as he develops and learns his trade.
N.B Alex of course refers to the Spartak attacking midfielder and not the Chelsea defender. Just in case there was any confusion...
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