The Sunday Times February 04, 2007


Charlton 0 Chelsea 1: Lampard closes gap
Rob Hughes at The Valley


IF doing just enough to monopolise all the points is an art, then
Chelsea are masters of it. One bolt from the boot of Frank Lampard,
surrounded by efficiency and effective toil, was sufficient to keep
Chelsea in the slipstream of Manchester United, and to keep Charlton
buried in the foothills of Premiership survival. This match, at least
until Shaun Wright-Phillips came on to provide some exuberance and
soul, carried the label: men at work.
Chelsea continue to look like a half-edible dish: the ingredients
should be first class given the expense, but the blend is more
laborious than glorious. They go forward without true fluidity, and
even against Charlton their superiority was not always marked.

The exception came after 18 minutes, from the redoubtable right foot
of Lampard. The movement that led to his 17th goal of the season was a
role reversal of what we might expect. Amdy Faye is in the Charlton
anchor role to ruffle such foreigners as Andriy Shevchenko and Michael
Ballack. Yet it was Faye who allowed himself to be mugged, robbed from
behind by the persistence of Shevchenko. When he then nudged the ball
back a yard, Lampard, given far too much freedom five yards outside
the area, was able to deliver a swinging shot that Scott Carson could
not get near.

What a remarkable midfielder Lampard continues to be: this was his
86th goal in Chelsea blue, just two behind the total that Jimmy Floyd
Hasselbaink accrued at the club. And Hasselbaink was there on the
Charlton bench to observe it.

Also in a non-starting capacity was John Terry. Sensibly there is
caution in rushing him back into the Premiership after his final
operation. Caution from Jose Mourinho and the medical staff, if not
from some around Stamford Bridge. On Chelsea's website there had been
a ridiculous degree of hyperbole. "Not since Napoleon's triumphant
return from exile in 1815 has a comeback been as eagerly awaited as
that of John Terry," was the online comment.

Somebody should tell the writer that Napoleon's return lasted 100
days, and then he met his Waterloo.

But curious things had beset this encounter from the outset. Alan
Pardew had suggested that he could "throw the dice" against Chelsea
and against Manchester United next time out. What he apparently meant
by that was a tactical variation which brought Jerome Thomas in from
the left, presumably to tie up Claude Makelele and disrupt the smooth
running of Chelsea's midfield.

That experiment lasted until the Lampard goal, and then a more
orthodox Charlton — through sheer work-rate, tenacity and endeavour —
came back almost as the equals of the team bidding to be champions of
England for the third consecutive season. Petr Cech had only one
anxious moment, when he stretched up to his crossbar to flick over a
long and hopeful cross-shot from the right flank by Talal El Karkouri.

Before and after that we were at least seeing that Shevchenko is
willing to try to run himself into the kind of form for which Chelsea
invested £30m, and Ballack showed, just occasionally, what a fine and
robust player he can be when his mind desires it. Even so, courtesy of
Carson saving a shot from the right by Shevchenko, and then clawing
down a lusty free-kick from Lampard, the game remained in the balance.

The second half was for long spells so tedious that eyes were
constantly drawn to the VIP limbering up on the touchline. Terry is on
the way back: his warm-up lasted 40 minutes, his playing time two, and
he put enough vigour, enough gymnastic stretching into his exercises
that he looks very close to genuine fitness.

For the rest? The high ball, and high spirit from Charlton — true
Pardew traits — will have to find softer opposition if they are to
garner the six victories they very likely require to stay in this
moneyed division. The closest they came to examining Cech was in the
69th minute, when the industrious Marcus Bent put Faye in behind the
Chelsea defence, and Cech, alert to the danger, smothered the ball
with his body at the near post.

Chelsea, somnolent in the manner of the subdued Didier Drogba, were
largely going through the motions until Wright-Phillips came on to
provide inspiration after all the perspiration.

He twice dazzled, leaving Ben Thatcher, his former Manchester City
teammate, bamboozled, drawing a spectacular low save from Carson to
the goalkeeper's left, and then obliging Carson to react with his
right hand to prevent the score being doubled. Thank you,
Wright-Phillips, for the entertainment on an afternoon when Chelsea
chose the dull route to narrow down Manchester United's lead to three
points.

Star man: Scott Carson (Charlton)

Player ratings: Charlton: Carson 8, Sankofa 6, El Karkouri 6,
Hreidarsson 6, Thatcher 6, Faye 5, Holland 6 (Lisbie 78min, 4), Hughes
6, Thomas 5 (Diawara 88min, 4), Rommedahl 4 (Hasselbaink h-t, 5), M
Bent 7

Chelsea: Cech 7, Diarra 5, Essien 5, Carvalho 6, Bridge 7, Makelele 6
(Terry 88min, 4), Mikel 5 (Wright-Phillips 75min, 7), Ballack 6,
Lampard 7, Drogba 5, Shevchenko 6 (Kalou 75min, 5)

Referee: M Halsey

Attendance: 27,111

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Cech in command as Chelsea close title gap
By Roy Collins at The Valley, Sunday Telegraph

Charlton (0) 0 Chelsea (1) 1

The late Brian Clough used to say that his Nottingham Forest and
England goalkeeper Peter Shilton was worth a dozen points a season, a
sentiment that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho would no doubt echo about
Petr Cech. And Cech produced a couple of outstanding saves here that
did more than preserve three points; they kept Chelsea's whole
Premiership title bid afloat.


Chelsea, who looked set for a comfortable win after taking an early
lead, were uncharacteristically wobbling when strugglers Charlton,
suddenly fired by self-belief, pressed forward for Amady Faye to
sprint onto Marcus Bent's deft ball to challenge Cech one-on-one in
the box.

As Faye scored his first ever goal in England to secure victory at
Portsmouth a fortnight ago, it was perhaps asking too much for him to
notch a second so soon afterwards. But he was still odds-on favourite
and it took exceptionally strong hands for Cech to turn his rasping
shot over. No wonder Mourinho is happy for Cech to play in a scrum cap
that would be more appropriate at nearby Twickenham.

Talking of goalkeepers, Charlton's fine young England prospect Scott
Carson produced another fine performance, too. And if he can save his
team even half a dozen points between now and the end of the season,
he will probably also secure their Premiership safety.

Mourinho, who left it until the final few minutes to put on skipper
John Terry, who will play some part for England in midweek, was just
happy to have closed the gap on leaders Manchester United to three
points, at least until this afternoon. And, under his guidance,
Chelsea are one team who have never minded winning ugly.

Mourinho, who shot down rumours that he was planning to become Real
Madrid's manager, admitted: "It was not a day to play with flair and
we had to fight at the end. We played them at the wrong moment. After
our goal, we were in complete command, but they put in a big effort in
the second half."

If they had put their mind to it before Charlton's late rally, Chelsea
might even have made inroads into Manchester United's huge goal
difference advantage. But that is not in Chelsea or Mourinho's nature.
As he has reminded us in the past, he is not into hockey scores and if
you can secure a lead of one or two goals, why bother to seek more?

Andrei Shevchenko would not have minded a couple but is still out of
sorts, even though Chelsea supporters have clearly decided to nurse
him back to goalscoring health through soft love, cheering even his
most appalling misses, a dangerous strategy seeing that he might
mistake it for ironic applause.

Thus they chanted his name when a header from Wayne Bridge's cross
landed among them rather than in Carson's net.

He acknowledged them on that occasion but turned away with a disgusted
and disconsolate look when they sang out his name again after he
shanked a left foot effort hopelessly wide. He was, however,
instrumental in his team's goal, though, initially, Chelsea's attack
broke down when he ran into a wall of defenders.

He did, however, get a touch onto Faye's clearance, which helped it to
reach Frank Lampard, who did what Lampard does from the edge of the
box, sweeping it into the corner for his 10th Premiership goal of the
season. And he is supposed to be out of sorts.

Charlton, despite collecting a surprising and possibly priceless haul
of four points from their previous two games, lacked the conviction
that they could extend the run against the champions, Talal El
Karkouri's dipping long-range effort forcing the only piece of
first-half acrobatics from Cech.

Charlton knew this game would not decide their Premiership fate and
neither will Saturday's visit to Manchester United, after which they
head off to Spain for a bit of sunshine training. If Rooney and
Ronaldo are on their best goalscoring form, they might need to go into
hiding.

After that, however, three of their next four games are against West
Ham, Watford and Wigan, the three other sides struggling for their
Premiership lives.

Manager Alan Pardew said: "We came out of the game psychologically
stronger than we went into it and if we can keep playing with the same
spirit, we have a very good chance of staying in this division."

Chelsea, with Terry back on the pitch and back in winning form, may
claim that they are also back in the championship groove. But it will
take a lot more convincing performances than this before a certain
Scotsman starts panicking about the title race's outcome.


Man of the Match:Scott Carson. Despite the match saving antics of
Chelsea's Cech, it was a series of saves from England prospect Carson
that kept Charlton within touching distance.
Moment of the Match: Petr Cech's outstanding save from Amady Faye as
Chelsea were struggling to hang on to their lead in the second half.
It was an effort that might just have saved Chelsea's title hopes.
Rating: 6/10

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Indy:

Charlton Athletic 0 Chelsea 1: Lampard dampens Charlton's spirit
Chelsea maintain the heat on Manchester United - and are warmed by
Terry's late cameo
By Steve Tongue at The Valley

Remarkably, this fixture early last season was between the top two in
the Premiership. Charlton have been on a downward spiral almost ever
since, and yesterday's match comprised second bottom against second
top. The oddity was the home side came closer in the end to stealing a
point from it than last time.

During their best period, in the final 20 minutes, Petr Cech was
forced to make two excellent saves from Amady Faye as Chelsea, less
than imperious on the day, had to work much harder than expected to
achieve the victory that takes them within three points of Manchester
United, who play at Tottenham this after-noon. Once Frank Lampard
scored his 17th goal of the season after 19 minutes they seemed likely
to cruise it, but failed to maintain their domination in the second
half, when Charlton's new spirit under Alan Pardew might conceivably
have brought them another invaluable point.Jose Mourinho, never one to
put style above substance in his teams, was merely happy to take the
points and get on the bus, though not before praising the fighting
qualities some of his squad have often lacked.

"It was not a game to play with the flair you want," he said. "It was
about keeping a result." In that respect he was delighted to see
Andriy Shevchenko putting himself about more enthusiastically than in
the past. This time, however, the manager's very public handshake was
reserved for his goalkeeper, and his other public praise was saved for
Lampard: "Unique... fantastic."

Mourinho was right that it was not the best time to play Charlton, so
supine earlier in the season but standing tall again after collecting
four unexpected points from away games at Portsmouth and Bolton.
Pardew took further encouragement, though no more points, from
yesterday's efforts, knowing that the crucial games for his side come
after this one and a visit to Manchester United on Saturday, when West
Ham, Watford and Wigan provide the opposition in quick succession.

"The commitment and effort were fantastic, and if we can play with
that spirit we'll have a good chance of staying in this division," he
said. Defeat or not, only Wigan's victory against Portsmouth spoilt
the day, carrying them five points ahead of the endangered London
pair.

Pardew was determined to try to take the game to the opposition, which
would have proved a big ask even without the absence of three of his
most important players in Darren Bent, Andy Reid and Luke Young. The
initial cunning plan involved Jerome Thomas, normally a winger,
sitting on Claude Makelele to stop the Frenchman distributing the
ball, which meant a lack of width down Charlton's left and had to be
revised once Chelsea had taken the lead.

The goal was just punishment for Faye, guilty of losing the ball to
Shevchenko 30 yards from his own net. The Ukrainian recovered
possession and fed Lampard, whose low drive from outside the penalty
area defeated a furious Scott Carson. Thomas then switched to his
normal wide position, though the home side, for all their
determination, continued to find it difficult to support the
hard-working Marcus Bent, a lone striker.

There were few problems, therefore, for Michael Essien, remaining in
central defence until John Terry was summoned from the substitutes'
bench to protect the lead in the final few minutes. Wayne Bridge stood
in impressively for Ashley Cole, as he is likely to do for England on
Wednesday and was able to venture regularly down the left flank.

In the first half, Michael Ballack headed one of his crosses wide and
Shevchenko met the next one with a firm header that was only just too
high. A second Chelsea goal almost arrived right on half-time,
England's Under-21 international goalkeeper Carson - who is certainly
getting plenty of practice while on loan from Liverpool - having
difficulty holding Lampard's fierce free-kick from fully 35 yards.

For the second half Pardew sent on Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink as a second
striker and as the game wore on Charlton suddenly started to believe
they might achieve the improbable. But Cech, in his protective pilot's
helmet, commanded his area when long balls and free-kicks were punted
forward and twice did splendidly to deny Faye, who had been put
through by Bent and then Bryan Hughes. Mourinho confirmed that with
Liver-pool dropping points, he is again looking upwards rather than
downwards when studying the League table.

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Lampard drive is enough for Blues

Stuart Barnes at The Valley
Sunday February 4, 2007
The Observer

What looked like a stroll when Frank Lampard struck in familiar
fashion proved anything but for Chelsea. Before and after Lampard's
18th-minute goal, they were in control of virtually every situation.
But their failure to deliver a clinching second goal offered Charlton
the incentive to regroup, redouble their efforts and ultimately go
close to drawing level.
Had they done so, there would have been some searching questions asked
in the defending champions' dressing room. As it is, the pressure is
back on Manchester United at White Hart Lane today. It is unlikely
United will take so much for granted.

Jose Mourinho resisted the temptation to bring John Terry straight
back to his starting line-up after missing 13 Premiership, FA Cup and
Carling Cup matches with spinal and calf injuries. Instead, he named
his captain among the substitutes and continued with Michael Essien
alongside Ricardo Carvalho in central defence. Lassana Diarra retained
the right-back spot, with Wayne Bridge replacing Chelsea's latest
casualty, Ashley Cole, who sustained a knee injury in the midweek
victory over Blackburn, on the opposite flank.
With Charlton's leading scorer Darren Bent still a week or so away
from full fitness, Marcus Bent continued to shoulder the lone
striker's role, which his manager Alan Pardew felt was influential in
four points being harvested from successive away games against
Portsmouth and Bolton. 'He has been a big bonus for me since my
arrival,' Pardew wrote in the match-day programme.

Bridge was soon prominent with a long cross that Hermann Hreidarsson
cleared only as far as Michael Ballack, whose shot struck a defender.
There was another early half-chance, this time for Didier Drogba, who
drifted away from his marker and fired across the face of goal and
beyond the far post.

Charlton had to defend two more threatening centres from Bridge and
came under further pressure from Andriy Shevchenko's run and shot from
a tight angle, which Scott Carson parried away.

They had still to mount a decent attack of their own when pressure
told after 18 minutes. Shevchenko and Amady Faye contested possession
and when the ball broke loose, Lampard had time and space to line up a
sweetly-struck drive from 25 yards, which found the bottom corner.
Chelsea went close to a second when Bridge crossed for Shevchenko to
head a foot too high.

Petr Cech finally had to extend himself, tipping over an awkward cross
from Talal El Karkouri. The goalkeeper then comfortably held a
snap-shot from Bryan Hughes, but much of Charlton's work in trying to
retrieve the situation was undermined by a tendency to give the ball
away cheaply. Against some teams they could probably afford to do so.
Not this one.

Lampard needed no second invitation to line up a free-kick 35 yards
out and again it was a meaty effort. This time, however, it was
straight at Carson, who held it at the second attempt.

Bent had made little impact on his own, so it was no surprise that
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink came on for the second half to play alongside
him. Dennis Rommedahl was the player to make way. A miscued shot by
Drogba could have led to Chelsea enjoying more breathing space had not
Carson spotted the danger, dashed from his line and blocked
Shevchenko's attempt to connect with the ball as it came across the
face of goal.

Ben Thatcher was also alert to danger when Lampard, played behind the
defence by Bridge, sought out Drogba, the full-back nipping in to
clear his lines. Charlton, beginning to enjoy more of the play,
scented an equaliser for the first time when Faye strode through a
rare defensive gap to fire in a shot that Cech tipped over.

Encouraged, Faye held off Claude Makelele to force Cech into another
save. Concerned, Mourinho made a double substitution, bringing on
Salomon Kalou for Shevchenko and Shaun Wright-Phillips for John Obi
Mikel. Almost immediately, Carson had to save at his near post from
Wright-Phillips, but for the first time in the match there was a hint
of disarray in the Chelsea ranks.

Terry came on two minutes from time for Makelele as his side hung on.

Man of the match: Wayne Bridge

The full-back can look forward to an extended run in the side in place
of the injured Ashley Cole and, with contributions like this,
Chelsea's cause will not suffer. Bridge provided a fi rst-class
service for the front two, helped, admittedly, by Charlton's failure
to close down his runs along the flank.

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MOURINHO GETS REAL

CHARLTON 0 CHELSEA 1

ANGRY JOSE DENIES MADRID LINK AS LAMPARD LIFTS BLUES
Paul Smith At The Valley

JOSE MOURINHO rubbished claims he was the Real deal - but then again
neither were Chelsea.

While the club's Portuguese coach was quick to respond to claims he
was on his way to Madrid, freescoring Frank Lampard eased the pain of
a below-par Chelsea performance with his 17th goal of the season.

Yet Mourinho seemed more insulted by claims he had agreed to go to the
Spanish giants than his side's lacklustre display at The Valley.

"It's an insult to Real Madrid and Fabio Capello. I don't play these
games. If somebody else is interested in playing games, it's their
problem.

"I respect Real Madrid and Fabio Capello. For sure I spoke with nobody
and nobody spoke to me."

The return of captain John Terry lifted the gloom as Chelsea ran out
unconvincing winners, thanks to some impressive goalkeeping from Petr
Cech.


"Naturally it's great to have JT back. He has great spirit and is a
great captain. And I hope he plays a period of the game for England
against Spain in midweek and comes back fit to face Middlesbrough.


"It's a critical time for us. I have said to my players that, starting
with this game, we have five cup finals in February and we need to win
them all."


While there were positives to be taken out of the game for opposing
manager Alan Pardew, he couldn't hide his disappointment.


"Our commitment and effort were outstanding and if we can play with
that spirit we will have a very good chance of staying in the Premier
League.


"At the start Chelsea were really flexing their muscles and we gifted
them a goal. But afterwards we forced them into errors and they were
never comfortable and in the last 10 minutes we had two or three good
chances to take something from the game.


"We didn't let them play and we unsettled them and naturally I'm
disappointed we didn't come away with something because I felt we
deserved to."


Despite claims to the contrary, Terry failed to make the starting
line-up and had to be content with a place on the bench.


It came as no surprise that Chelsea dominated early on, forcing
Charlton to defend in depth against the threat of Didier Drogba and
Andriy Shevchenko.


While no clear-cut chances were created, you sensed it was only a
matter of time before Chelsea opened the scoring - and it took them a
shade under 18 minutes to break the deadlock.


Shevchenko dispossessed Amdy Faye and fed Lampard, who took two
strides before unleashing a low drive from 25 yards that flew into the
corner.


It should have been two barely 80 seconds later. Wayne Bridge skipped
past a woeful challenge from Osei Sankofa and delivered a telling
cross that Shevchenko headed over from four yards. In reply, Dennis
Rommedahl's deep cross had to be touched over the bar by Cech.


After the break the Blues continued to dominate, but for all their
possession they struggled to breach a stubborn defence.


And they almost paid the price in the 68th minute when a worldclass
save from Cech enabled them to stay in front.


Faye picked up the ball from Bryan Hughes to unleash a crisp shot that
had Cech at full stretch.


Six minutes later Hughes and Faye combined again and as the latter
raced into the area, Cech narrowed the angle and pulled off another
telling save.


Pardew threw on reinforcements and to their credit Charlton laid siege
to the visitors' goal.


But it took a great save from Scott Carson two minutes from time to
deny substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips and by the time Chelsea brought
Terry on, the game was at an end.


Charlton met Chelsea on Boxing Day in 2003 at The Valley where they
promptly thumped the Blues 4-2. Goals from Hreidarsson, Holl and,
Johansson and Euell secured the Addicks' last home win over the
champions.


HOW THEY RATED


CHARLTON


Carson 7, Thatcher 6, Hreidarsson 7, El Karkouri 7, Sankofa 6, Faye 6,
Thomas 6 (Diawara 6), Hughes 6, Holland 7 (Lisbie 6), Rommedahl 6
(Hasselbaink 6), M Bent 6.


Manager: Alan Pardew 8


Couldn't fault his players for effort and commitment in the game.


CHELSEA


CECH 8, Bridge 7, Carvalho 7, Essien 7, Diarra 7, Makelele 7 (Terry
7), Mikel 7 (Wright-Phillips 7), Ballack 6, Lampard 7, Drogba 7,
Shevchenko 6 (Kalou 6).


Manager: Jose Mourinho 7


By the Special One's standards it was a game best forgotten.


CHARLTON


CHELSEA


47% POSSESSION 53%


4 SHOTS ON TARGET 6


3 SHOTS OFF TARGET 9


6 CORNERS 5


6 FOULS CONCEDED 9


2 OFFSIDES 5


0 YELLOW CARDS 1


Referee: Mark Halsey 9 In full control when required to take any action.


MAN OF THE MATCH


PETR CECH


Pulled off two outstanding saves to help Chelsea keep the pressure at
the top on Manchester United.

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