The Sunday TimesFebruary 11, 2007

Drogba dazzles Boro

Chelsea 3 Middlesbrough 0

Joe Lovejoy at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea maintained the pressure on Manchester United, the Premiership
leaders, with a routine victory that leaves them unbeaten at home in
the Premiership these past three years. Improving Middlesbrough
provided obdurate opposition before subsiding to their first defeat of
2007, but paid a heavy price for the loss of Jonathan Woodgate, who
aggravated an old hamstring injury on England duty in midweek. In his
absence, Abel Xavier moved from right-back to centre-half, and the
Portuguese defender was at fault for two of the goals The first, a
20-yard free kick from Didier Drogba, came after Xavier had dithered
over what should have been a simple clearance inside his own penalty
area. The second saw him divert in what would otherwise have been a
harmless shot from Arjen Robben.

The issue had been settled well before Drogba supplied his 17th
Premiership goal of the season, after 83 minutes, when another free
kick went in off Andrew Davies, in the defensive wall.

Jose Mourinho took special pleasure in the margin. Steve Gibson,
possibly the best chairman in the Premiership, had some trenchant
things to say in midweek about the impact of foreign imports on the
England team. The gist was the likes of Chelsea were not bringing
through enough English players, but this was hardly a case in point.

With John Terry back, Mourinho had three Englishmen in his starting
line up to Boro's four. Gibson's point is that Middlesbrough bring
theirs through while Chelsea have spent a fortune on Frank Lampard and
Wayne Bridge, not to mention Shaun Wright-Phillips, who was back on
the bench for all but a five-minute cameo as substitute after his
ill-starred performance for England last Wednesday.

Mourinho is never happy when his players have been away on
international duty in midweek, and an injury playing for Germany had
cost him Michael Ballack. Other notable absentees included Ashley and
Joe Cole, both long-term casualties, and Ricardo Carvalho, with flu.

Without their Portuguese central defender, Chelsea withdrew Michael
Essien to operate alongside Terry, who started for the first time
since mid-December. The vacancy in midfield went to Lassana Diarra. As
it turned out, Middlesbrough had more reason to rue international
week, with Woodgate's injury. Despite their improved results since the
turn of the year, Boro have not been playing particularly well, and
they were fortunate to escape with draws from their previous two
games, at Bristol City in the FA Cup and at home to Arsenal last week.
They started nervously here, conceding two chances to Drogba in the
first eight minutes. The first, set up by Lampard's diagonal pass, saw
the Premierships's leading scorer shoot wide, from right to left.

The second, again involving an assist from Lampard, albeit of the
involuntary sort, produced a similarly errant finish, wide of Mark
Schwarzer's right-hand post from 17 yards. Reprieved, Boro ought to
have taken the lead after 13 minutes, when Stewart Downing produced
the type of cross England were crying out for in midweek, only for
Mark Viduka to direct his unchallenged header wastefully wide of Petr
Cech's right upright from a central position, eight yards out. It was
a surprisingly tame finish from a striker who came to the Bridge with
six goals in his six previous games. After their disconcerting start
to the match, Southgate's team settled to compete well, beavering
industriously the length and breadth of the pitch. For Chelsea,
Salomon Kalou let fly from distance, but was no more accurate than
Drogba.

Not for the first time this season, they were finding it hard to break
down moderate opposition, and their frustration was evident in the
35th minute when Drogba's foul on Emanuel Pogatetz produced a
touchline protest from Gareth Southgate not to Mourinho's liking. The
two managers squared up, and Mourinho's suggestion that Southgate sit
down and keep quiet was not well received. Heated words were
exchanged. Handbags, they call it.

Boro's stubborn, resolute defence kept Chelsea at bay until the second
minute of added time at the end of the first half. Then, after a
prolonged sequence of head tennis in Schwarzer's penalty area, Xavier
was guilty to taking a touch to control the ball when the requirement
was a volleyed clearance. The consequent pressure lured George Boateng
into fouling Diarra in the D, producing a free kick in an inviting
position.

Terry joined Boro's defensive wall, and at the optimum moment moved
aside to allow Drogba's 20-yarder to pass through the gap and beat
Schwarzer low to his left. The goalkeeper got his fingertips to the
ball, and should probably have got across his line quicker and kept it
out. Schwarzer was beaten again four minutes into the second half and
grateful for Julio Arca's goalline clearance after Andriy Shevchenko
had met Lampard's corner from the left with a deft glancing header.

Boro were not finished yet and, with Cech backpedalling urgently,
Andrew Taylor hit the crossbar with what was probably intended to be a
left-wing cross, then Yakubu left Claude Makelele on the 18-yard line
before shooting over. End of flurry.

Midway through the second half Mourinho sent on Robben in place of
Diarra, and within a matter of seconds the Dutchman was off and
running down the right. Cutting inside, he dived over Boateng's
outstretched leg then, getting no free kick, regained his feet to fire
in a shot that was diverted in by Xavier's stretching attempt at a
block.

Chelsea would have had a third in the 80th minute but for the notable
reaction save with which Schwarzer denied Drogba close in. The
Ivorian's supplier: poor Xavier, with another maladroit intervention.

The champions were not satisfied, and three minutes later Jason
Euell's foul on Robben enabled Drogba to bag his second with a 25-yard
free kick that was helped on its way by Davies's head.

Star man: Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

Player ratings: Chelsea: Cech 6, Ferreira 6, Essien 7, Terry 7, Bridge
6, Diarra 5 (Robben 65min, 6), Makelele 6, Lampard 6, Shevchenko 5
(Geremi 88min, 5), Drogba 8, Kalou 5 (Wright-Phillips 85min, 5)

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer 5, Davies 5, Xavier 5, Pogatetz 6, Taylor 5,
Morrison 5 (Euell 73min, 5), Boateng 6, Arca 5 (Rochemback 83min, 5),
Downing 5, Viduka 5 (Christie 83min, 5), Yakubu 5

Scorers: Chelsea: Drogba 45, 83, Xavier og 66

Referee: C Foy Attendance: 41,699

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Telegraph:

No champagne style to celebrate Terry comeback
By Roy Collins at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea (1) 3 Middlesbrough (0) 0

Three weeks ago, after their tepid surrender at Liverpool, Chelsea
looked like a club in crisis on and off the pitch. Owner Roman
Abramovich had stopped watching them, after rumours of a fall out with
manager Jose Mourinho, who complained that he was being denied
transfer funds to secure temporary cover for his lengthening injury
list.

There is still no sign of Roman, not that he has ever figured in the
Chelsea scoring charts. But captain John Terry, the most important of
the injury victims, has returned to the saddle to ride to Chelsea's
rescue and Arjen Robben, heavily criticised by Mourinho after he came
off against Liverpool, appears to have settled his differences with
his manager as the club attempt to put on a show of unity.

Seeing that Chelsea had managed clean sheets in their previous four
matches without Terry, Robben's ability to pick defensive locks may
prove more crucial in the final months of the season as the club
continue their dogged pursuit of Premiership leaders Manchester
United. And dogged is definitely the word for a Chelsea side that
continue to eschew the swagger of champions.

Robben consigned Middlesbrough to their first defeat of the year
seconds after coming on in the 66th minute. His first touch was a ball
nicked between two defenders, his second action a theatrical dive. But
he got up to collect the ball from Salomon Kalou and drive a shot at
goal, Abel Xavier diverting it into his own net.

It was tough on Boro and their manager Gareth Southgate, whose team
had matched Chelsea throughout the first half and might well have led.
But they were well beaten in the end, softened up by Didier Drogba's
persistence and then finished off by him with a 25-yard free-kick
eight minutes from time that deflected off the head of Andrew Davies.

Chelsea were so frustrated at their lack of penetration in the first
half that they resorted to a long throw-in as the game ticked past 45
minutes. It caused a Keystone Kops moment in the penalty area and
ended with Chelsea winning a dubious free-kick in the D.

Even when they cannot find their fluent football, however, which has
been a rather too often in recent weeks, Chelsea can always winkle a
goal from a set-piece. And sure enough, Drogba blasted his kick past
the wall in the second minute added on.

It was a 16th Premiership goal of the season for Drogba, who was the
centre of attention all half, leaving Davies winded after a challenge
from behind and annoying Southgate with a challenge on Emanuel
Pogatetz which looked to have a touch of elbow in it.

Mourinho was furious with Southgate's reaction, racing across the
technical area to remonstrate with him before fourth official Chris
Foy broke it up. Mourinho was also upset that a TV cameraman zoomed in
on his notebook on the dugout wall, though it was impossible to make
any sense of his hieroglyphics.

Mourinho left out John Obi Mikel, presumably for disobeying orders by
playing for Nigeria in midweek when instructed to report in sick. And
one wonders how much of an injury Wayne Bridge was carrying when he
pulled out on England, seeing that he looked as fresh as a daisy here.

Definitely injured, though, was Michael Ballack and definitely ill was
Ricardo Carvalho, the latter's late withdrawal meaning his manager had
to renege on his promise that Michael Essien had played his last match
at centre back. Essien is also getting rather good at it.

Middlesbrough really should have been ahead from two outstanding early
chances, which might have made this encounter more interesting. Mark
Viduka missed a sitter with his head from a peach of a cross by Andrew
Taylor, who later pinged one on to the crossbar, and Yakubu failed to
deliver a cut-back for a colleague after slipping the offside trap and
galloping into the box.

The timing of the first goal seemed to deflate Boro. As Southgate
said: "It knocked a bit of belief out of us." Mourinho, who flew home
to Portugal for a break afterwards, will be just at frustrated that
his team remain six points behind United, though in scoring one more
than the leaders, Chelsea could at least claim to have marginally
closed the gap on them.

Match summary

Man of the Match: Didier Drogba. Two more Premiership goals and the
man who kept Chelsea battling during a tepid first half. Lucky with a
deflection for his second goal from a free-kick but his first was a
great strike.
Moment of the Match: Andrew Taylor's wonderful cross from the left
touchline from which Mark Viduka should have given Boro the lead. Had
he scored, it might have been a different game.
Rating: 6/10

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Indy:

Chelsea 3 Middlesbrough 0: Dead-eye Drogba restores status quo
Ivorian notches 25th goal as Chelsea make it three years unbeaten at
Stamford Bridge
By Steve Tongue at Stamford Bridge

The two-horse race that is the Premiership this season - one nag more
than for the past two campaigns - goes into the last few furlongs with
the same six lengths between the protagonists. Chelsea, like
Manchester United, were not at their best yesterday in what Jose
Mourinho had called the second of "five cup finals" this month - this
one was more Millwall against United than Liverpool against West Ham.

But on a poor pitch, the champions improved in the second half to
inflict a first defeat of 2007 on Gareth Southgate's dogged
Middlesbrough. That ensured that they will make it three years
unbeaten at home; though merely avoiding defeat, as Mourinho had
emphasised, was not the objective yesterday.

As happens too often to be coincidental, one of his substitutions
reaped rich reward, Arjen Robben having barely removed his tracksuit
before forcing the crucial second goal to deflate the visitors. Didier
Drogba's double, one just before the interval and the other late on,
carried him to 25 for the season and in Andriy Shevchenko, he had a
partner working harder and growing in confidence. Perhaps he could
pass some of both qualities on to the other major summer acquisition
Michael Ballack, who was not missed here.

The strikers were up against a defence lacking not only Jonathan
Woodgate who - it almost goes without saying - had failed to come
through England's game in midweek without suffering an injury, but
also Robert Huth, who Mourinho must surely regret selling last summer.
Yesterday John Terry was back but Ricardo Carvalho had developed flu
so Michael Essien was forced to remain in the centre of defence. The
potentially menacing partnership of Mark Viduka and Yakubu gave them
little trouble, Viduka wasting Boro's best chance of the game from a
free header. So Chelsea completed a fifth successive clean sheet,
during which time they have scored 14 times.

Mourinho kept his thoughts on the performance to himself, rushing off
for a few days at home and sending his rather less verbose assistant
Steve Clarke to face the media. "A difficult first half and a great
time to score just before half-time," was Clarke's perfunctory
summary.

It would have been more entertaining to hear his boss's version of a
touchline spat with Southgate in the first half. The Middlesbrough
manager, once such a mild-mannered young man, leapt to his feet in
protest at Drogba's clumsy challenge on Emanuel Pogatetz, drawing a
finger-to-lips rebuke from Mourinho. Southgate responded angrily and
the fourth official had to step between them. "Apparently I'm not
allowed to give an opinion on a decision," Southgate said.

Little had happened before that, except Drogba hitting two shots wide
and Viduka heading Stewart Downing's cross feebly wide. Then, right on
half-time, Abel Xavier passed up two opportunities to clear following
a scramble and Chelsea won a free-kick a yard outside the penalty
area. All 10 outfield players lined up to defend it, but Terry and
Claude Makelele pulled out of the wall to leave a gap through which
Drogba placed a shot that Mark Schwarzer should have come closer to
saving.

Forcing Julio Arca to head off the line from Shevchenko early in the
second half might have induced a sense of complacency among the crowd,
if not the home side. Both elements were reminded how fragile the
one-goal margin was when Middlesbrough's left back Andrew Taylor
essayed a cross from the touchline that dipped over Petr Cech and hit
the crossbar.

However, an injury then offered Mourinho the opportunity for a first
substitution that had a dramatic effect. Diarra hobbled off to be
replaced by Robben, returning for the first time since coming off
early in last month's defeat at Liverpool. Within 30 seconds, the
Dutchman fell over while bursting into the penalty area but jumped up
quickly enough for once to latch onto Salomon Kalou's lay-off and hit
a shot that the unfortunate Xavier diverted past a helpless
goalkeeper. With eight minutes remaining, Drogba sealed the victory
when he struck a free-kick from out on the left that flew into the far
corner of the net via Andrew Davies's head.

"We gave a decent account of ourselves," Southgate insisted. That has
not been sufficient to bring any team a Premiership victory here since
a chap called Claudio Ranieri was Chelsea's manager.
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Drogba's double keeps battle alive


Jamie Jackson at Stamford Bridge
Sunday February 11, 2007
The Observer


Chelsea won this, their third and final Premiership outing of the
month, at a canter. The rest of February consists of a fifth-round FA
Cup tie against Blackpool or Norwich, the resumption of their
Champions League campaign at Porto, and the Carling Cup final with
Arsenal. By the time the champions resume their quest to win a
hat-trick of titles at Portsmouth on 3 March, they could well be 12
points behind Manchester United.

Middlesbrough were the only club to have beaten Chelsea twice in the
Premiership since Jose Mourinho's arrival in the summer of 2004. Both
those results came at the Riverside - including a 2-1 win on the
second day of this season.
While Chelsea will hope a new fragility peaked during January, Gareth
Southgate's rookie season has gradually become more impressive. His
team arrived in west London undefeated in 2007, having collected 11
from the 15 available points and scoring 12 times. But Southgate's
prospects of becoming the first manager to win in the Premiership here
since Arsene Wenger on 21 February 2004 were weakened by the absence
of Jonathan Woodgate, who watched from the bench.

Mourinho, of course, is suffering the worst injury spate of his term.
To notable absentees Joe Cole and Ashley Cole Michael Ballack was
added, injured for Germany in midweek. And the Portuguese coach was
also forced to select Paulo Ferreira - hardly his favourite defender -
in place of Ricardo Carvalho, who did not make the 16.

At least John Terry was back for a first start since the 1-0 win at
Newcastle on 13 December. And the skipper would have been pleased with
a beginning from his team that was dangerous, yet frustrating. Three
times during the opening 10 minutes, Chelsea should have scored. Two
of those chances fell to Drogba. And if he had converted the first
from the edge of the area on five minutes, it would have been a
stunning end to a slick move that involved Frank Lampard's neat in and
out with Lassana Diarra, before the England international found Drogba
with a delicious pass with the outer edge of his right boot.

A major talking point came 11 minutes from the break. Southgate rose
to complain about a decision Chris Foy had not given. Over came
Mourinho to place an arm on the manager and tell him to sit down.
Southgate's umbrage at vintage Mourinho behaviour was returned with
requisite interest and the former England defender reached for the
industrial language. That eventually calmed down. But Middlesbrough
then finished the half poorly. Following a prolonged delay, Drogba's
low free-kick from 20 yards out beat Mark Schwarzer. It was a deserved
lead, but it should have been greater for the hosts.

Within three minutes of the restart, it nearly was. Andriy Shevchenko
- pivotal to all intrigue at the Bridge this season - produced a
glancing header from a corner that was cleared on the line by Julio
Arca. The Ukrainian's afternoon, though, was that one moment of
promise hampered by a tentativeness that has become the 30-year-old's
leitmotif.

As the hour mark approached, the game had become all Chelsea. Yakubu
Ayegbeni's skill took out Ferreira and Claude Makelele easily, but his
skied effort from the area's angle left him furious and was the
visitor's last true attack.

Abel Xavier was a touch more unhappy five minutes later, though. Arjen
Robben, with his first action since replacing Diarra, cut in from the
right. Possession was returned by Salomon Kalou to the Dutchman. His
cross - as against Wigan last month when Chris Kirkland was the
unfortunate player - was turned in by an opponent, leaving culprit
Xavier to begin his curses.

Drogba made it 17 in the Premiership this campaign with a second
accurate free-kick in the 83rd-minute. From a diagonal angle on the
left, the striker's effort deflected beyond Schwarzer off Andrew
Davies.

Man of the match: Didier Drogba

Frank Lampard was supremely effective. But the Ivory Coast striker now
has 25 goals in all competitions and might just have edged ahead of
Cristiano Ronaldo as this season's supreme player. Now scores far more
than he misses.

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