Chelsea vs Manchester City Facts

City won a fairly well fought game at the Stamford Bridge. Tevez came back after addressing his domestic problems and Wayne Bridge came to settle the scores with Terry over their own domestic problems. It was also significant in the sense that it was Inter vs Milan (Mancini vs Ancelotti ) all over again.

Unfancied City won in some style despite Chelsea enjoying more possession, territorial advantage and as far as I saw it, more shots as well. They were undone basically because their final shot just wasn't getting them anywhere. Here are some of the takeaways from the game.

Florent Malouda is a Pretty Good Left Back: Florent "Come Towards the End of the Season When Everyone Else is Injured or Rested" Malouda is a fabulous left back. Not only did he absolutely neutralize the otherwise rampaging and impressive Adam Johnson, Malouda was also great going forward and took some pretty good shots at the goal. He missed, but he's making a good impact at left back for the injured Ashley Cole.


Adam Johnson is Not Quite There Yet: Touted to be, just about on the plane to South Africa, I feel, or especially in the light of his performance yesterday, that Adam Johnson still has some way to go before his bags are packed and he's ready to go. Especially if he intends to play on the right wing, which is not really the place to be for him. Maybe on the left wing...well that remains to be seen.


Hilario is Probably Worse than Fabianski : Hilario, aptly named as he is, is a terrible goalkeeper as outlined by the ridiculous slow-motion Carlos Tevez goal. It was perhaps his first touch in the game and was a pretty average finish, and the ball crawled in vaguely beside him. The Bellamy goal, which went under his palm too must brought a tiny smile to Fabianski's face, for the first time since that game against Porto.

Even Drogba and Anelka Can Have an Off Day : This was perhaps one of the least satisfying performances by the Drog , having missed quite a few goals he would have otherwise scored with his brilliant first touch stuff. Joleon Lescott looked remarkable strong and was certainly the best centerback in a game which included John Terry.

Le Sulk Anelka too came into the game prominently only after the Chelsea were reduced to nine men, around the 85 minute mark when they were already 1-4 down and didn't have a way back. Certainly it seems pretty plausible that the best striking combination of the country too can have an off day once in a while.


John Obi Mikel Looks Pretty Good on the Bench : If there was one person who had a game somewhat as bad as Hilario, it was John Obi Mikel. The Chelsea midfielder, whose name can have several permutations like Mikel John Obi etc, was terrible outlining how much Ancelotti must have missed the more assertive playing style of Michael Essien.

Mikel lost possession too often, passed terribly and headed that one ball into the path of Carlos Tevez for their first goal. His distribution and tackling too were bad, which I presume put more and more pressure on Ballack till the latter was sent off for a fairly rash challenge.


Terry and Wayne Bridge can Barely Play Against Each Other: Let alone with each other. Both Terry and Bridge were quite terrible. While Bridge's predicament at the Bridge (wordplay?) was understandable, playing against the man, his old best friend, who slept with his ex-wife and YET, being booed by the otherwise boring fans of his old club, Wayne Bridge's touches looked quite shaky as he tried over and over again to be his usual self.

Terry on the other hand was needlessly over-conscious of himself, too scared I thought, and didn't cut the assured figure that he always does. Ancelotti must be pretty worried that his captain, one of his best players, and one of the few homegrowns that Chelsea have, isn't quite doing the job for the club these days.

Amongst other things, Joleon Lescott was very, very impressive in stopping Drogba —the one challenge where the former pushed him off the ball was simply top class—and ensured that with John playing Terryibly , Fabio Capello will be watching him a bit more.