(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
In a way, I’m happy that Reading held Chelsea and we had to come back from two goals down to get this result. For a pre-season period, we have been playing way too impressively.
This being the last friendly and in particular the match before the community shield match against Man Town next weekend, a tough encounter is exactly what I wanted. Reading were very useful pre-season opponents as they went ahead not by one but by two goals by half-time. Though that was against the run of play, it did pose a challenge for the Chelsea team and Ancelotti.
We were our typical self as we sneaked in with two goals in the last two minutes which would do a lot of good for the team morale. As I didn’t see the match, I didn’t know how Ancelotti reacted to our being two goals down by half-time. If you’d seen the match, please do comment on the tactical changes or approach on the pitch.
In a match that was dominated by Chelsea, only in the last minute of the match, Alex (own goal?) rose to head the equaliser to bring some justice to the proceedings. A minute earlier, Kalou had had his moment of relief. I had written only in the last blog that Kalou must be warned as Sturridge and Di Santo are getting some good press.
Kalou had to take his chances and should appear to be ready for the fight for his place. Kalou got only 25 minutes this match but he did score a beautiful goal. There are rumours that Arsene Wenger wants to snap Kalou. My response to this rumour is what Fergie said about Madrid: “I wouldn’t sell a virus to this mob”.
The highlight of the day was the pass from Mikel to Kalou for our first goal. We know that Ancelotti said that Mikel would be a playmaker. The pass that he made today for that goal would make Lampard proud. The weight of the pass was just perfect as it allowed Kalou gather the ball at a place where he had the time and placement for a superb finish. It was made more special because it was the 90th minute.
Is this a new beginning for Mikel? Talking about deep-lying playmakers, it is strongly rumoured that Pirlo would be a Chelsea player soon.
Andrea Pirlo is now a big dividing topic among the Chelsea fans. I’ve already said why we should not equate a waning Deco (even in his last season at Barca) and still-good Pirlo. As TSO once said, there is no such thing called old players or young players, there are only good players and bad players.
You can buy a 20-year old star and he might be off for a Madrid or Barca in a couple of years. Just because we buy someone young, it does not guarantee us six to eight years of football from that young fella. Young players might fetch us a good price when we sell, but that’s not the reason why Roman runs the club. We need players who can contribute to the success of the team.
I don’t think Roman cares too much about resale value of players. Which is why I think a Pirlo that offers three more years of football could even be better than a youngster that can offer around the same number of years.
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