In less than three weeks, my wife and I have a new arrival planned for our household: our first baby boy. So while my wife was enjoying her baby shower yesterday, I ended up watching our three other children. Needless to say, I didn’t get a chance to watch as much live football as I would have liked, so I ended up watching the Manchester City against Chelsea match before dawn on Sunday morning. Here are some of my thoughts about the game:
- Robinho’s free kick was delightful (although partial credit should go to Mikel John Obi for the deflected header). But even more exciting was Robinho’s goal celebration and the way it pumped up the sold out crowd inside Eastlands, some of whom were wearing yellow Brazil shirts.
- Even more classic was the ranting and raving between John Terry and Petr Cech after the goal went in.
- This Manchester City team will look totally different after the January transfer window. While they started brightly, Man City’s marking looked very poor at the back, at times.
- Vidic’s foul on Robbie Keane yesterday at Anfield was more of a red card than John Terry’s foul on Jo, but Terry got red carded and Vidic didn’t — at least for that incident. Even if Jo had gotten past Terry, the Brazilian striker wouldn’t have been in a one-on-one situation against Petr Cech. Poor decision by referee Mark Halsey. Unless he wins his appeal, Terry will be suspended for the Chelsea against Man United match at Stamford Bridge on September 21.
- There were definitely some deft touches between Jo and Robinho that created a few good chances, but most of the opportunities yesterday fell to Stephen Ireland who was too indecisive in front of goal.
- Even before Didier Drogba and Juliano Belletti came on as a double superstitution, it was obvious to see the gulf in quality between Manchester City and Chelsea on the pitch. Nice to see the return of Drogba. The Premier League hasn’t been the same without him.
- Chelsea look like true title contenders this season. Big Phil has them playing some wonderful passing football and they do look much more attractive to the eye. As soon as Anelka and Malouda improve their form in front of goal, expect to see more goals from the Blues.
- Joe Cole and Frank Lampard didn’t look they were suffering too much from the mid-week game for England against Croatia. Cole’s inch-perfect pass to Anelka was sublime, and Lampard’s goal was sensational.
- Is it me or does Jose Bosingwa have the biggest unibrow you’ve ever seen?
What are your thoughts from the game? Share your feedback below by clicking the comments link.
When is everybody going to stop making the mistake that it is last man back? It is not, it is taking away a clear goal scoring opportunity that leads to a red card. Look at that replay again, if Terry does not take him down, there are 2 breaking attacking players vs one flat footed defender. You tell me that was not going to be a grade A chance. I really wish refs would do that more in those situations. It would hopefully stop those rugby tackles we see when a defender gets beat on the break and allow some good counter-attack breaks to happen.