The Sunday Times
March 18, 2007

Shevchenko a cut above
Chelsea 3 Sheff Utd 0
Brian Glanville at Stamford Bridge

Tomorrow Chelsea must resume their FA cup battles at Tottenham. At
least they can be relieved that this victory over an outclassed
Sheffield United hardly exerted them to the full. Moreover, they
seemed to come through the game, most significantly of all, with no
reported injuries.

They did not even have to deploy Didier Drogba into the attack until
the 65th minute, and by that time they had their three goals in the
bag.

Sheffield United gave themselves the worst possible start, committed
footballing suicide with their dreadful marking for the first Chelsea
goal, scored after just four minutes, and with consiberable agility,
by Andriy Shevchenko.

Ricardo Carvalho, Chelsea's Portuguese international centre-back, set
off on a long, adventurous, unchallenged run from the right. This he
eventually concluded with a raking cross-field pass that found
Shevchenko, who coolly controlled the ball without hindrance, then
drove it home with a powerfully struck left-foot shot.

One really would have thought that when a team like Sheffield United
have salvation alone in their sights, the defence gets down to the
basics of decent marking rather better than this woeful display.

On 17 minutes Chelsea doubled their advantage. This time United's
marking was not as inept as on the first goal, but the defence still
seemed embarrassingly porous.

When Shaun Wright-Phillips raced in to cross from the right,
Shevchenko cleverly flicked the ball leftwards across goal, where
Salomon Kalou scored without difficulty.

To give United their due, they struck back almost immediately when
Colin Kazim-Richards raced dashingly through the middle, finally and
fiercely shooting from distance. Chelsea's keeper Petr Cech had no
easy job in pushing the ball to his right and high to safety.
Subsequently, receiving from Keith Gillespie, United loner striker Rob
Hulse tested Cech with a shot the keeper kept out with his feet, being
injured in the process. He needed treatment, but an injury to Hulse
proved a bigger blow to the Blades, as he was obliged to leave the
field and was replaced by Christian Nade.

At the interval Chelsea withdrew Frank Lampard and sent on in his
place Michael Ballack. Thirteen minutes later the German had scored.

Arjen Robben, in splendidly ebullient form, swung in a free kick from
the left. Ballack rose to it and deflected it past Paddy Kenny with
his head.

On 65 minutes Chelsea brought on a couple more substitutes in the
shape of Drogba and Paulo Ferreira. This enabled them to withdraw
Shevchenko, who had given a refreshing and reassuring performance in
tune with his very recent declaration that he now wants to stay at
Stam-ford Bridge. He moved effortlessly, swiftly and intelligently
across the face of the attack, and was usually there where it mattered
if there were chances to be taken.

Indeed, it was hard to understand why Chelsea should so often have
been written off, however successful, as no more than a highly
functional team. Yesterday, so much of their football was pleasing to
the eye, not only effective but inventive, fluent and imaginative.

Whether he was operating on the left or the right, Robben, with his
mesmerising footwork, was as entertaining as he was threatening.
During the game, he frequently interchanged positions with
Wright-Phillips to the profit of both.

It must have been very reassuring both for his club and his country to
see John Terry striding through the game with much authority and
acumen, betraying no sign of a reaction to the dreadful injury he
suffered playing for Chelsea in the recent Carling Cup final in
Cardiff.

Sheffield United at least never gave up the ghost against opposition
so utterly in complete control. You had to have sympathy with them for
the early loss of Hulse, who for weeks recently has been ploughing
such a lonely furrow with no small effect. He is a natural finisher,
not least with his head. Moving into the middle, Kazim-Richards did
his best with scant support, but in such difficult circumstances there
is clearly no happy substitute for Hulse.

Star man: Arjen Robben (Chelsea)

Player Ratings:Chelsea: Cech 7, Boulahrouz 6, Carvalho 7, Terry 7,
Cole 6 (Ferreira 65min), Wright-Phillips 6, Lampard 6 (Ballack ht, 6),
Makelele 6, Robben 7, Shevchenko 7 (Drogba 65min), Kalou 6

Sheff Utd: Kenny 6, Geary 6, Morgan 6, Davis 6, Armstrong 6, Gillespie
6, Montgomery 6, Quinn 6 (Tonge 67min), Jagielka 6, Kazim-Richards 7,
Hulse 6 (Nade 27min, 6)

Scorers: Chelsea: Shevchenko 4, Kalou 17, Ballack 58

Referee: C Foy

Attendance: 41,897
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Telegraph:

Easy for Chelsea as Blades lay down arms
By Patrick Barclay, Sunday Telegraph

Chelsea (2) 3 Sheff Utd (0) 0

Chants of "easy, easy'' are always unpleasant on the ear, but this
match deserved them; it was never a contest. Not that Chelsea were to
blame. Jose Mourinho's players took their stroll at a brisk tempo and
accepted a reasonable proportion of the chances they made. But I think
it would be legitimate to question Sheffield United's apparent
strategy of keeping defeat to acceptable proportions, which Neil
Warnock was happy to hail afterwards. "I thought we did fantastic,''
said the United manager, "to lose three-nil.''

He was entitled to praise his players for their hard work. There is,
however, a feeling that clubs in, or just above, the relegation zone -
and Warnock's United have done well to reach a position from which
safety should be secured - almost sacrifice matches against the elite
in favour of throwing all their energies into fairer fights. And, of
United's eight remaining fixtures, only one - Manchester United away -
is against a top-four side, so they are entitled to be optimistic
about the prospects of another season in the Premiership.

But what a poor advertisement such non-events are for the health of
England's footballing showcase; coming on top of another charade at
Old Trafford, where Manchester United beat Bolton 4-1, this hardly
smacked of a classic race for the title, even before Warnock's men
encountered the cruel blow of a serious leg fracture sustained by Rob
Hulse. "It puts things into perspective,'' said Warnock of his leading
scorer's misfortune, adding a tribute to the sympathy the crowd had
extended as Hulse was stretchered off, and there, incontrovertibly,
Warnock's was the true voice of football.

Mourinho was just grateful the command his men had been allowed let
them enjoy a "very comfortable'' afternoon, during which the likes of
Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard could be rested in readiness for the
FA Cup replay at Tottenham tomorrow night. The effect of a quick lead
earned by Andriy Shevchenko was enhanced by Salomon Kalou and Michael
Ballack, on for Lampard, got the third before the hour mark. Each of
the goals was greeted by mild applause; I have heard more noise salute
a throw-in here.

Disheartening though their pursuit of Manchester United may be -
almost a fool's errand, it seemed, during phases of the lunchtime
procession - Chelsea kept going like the professionals they are,
taking the lead, albeit rather too easily from the neutral point of
view. Ricardo Carvalho strode out of defence in typically smooth style
and, with a weighted pass of some 40 yards, picked out Shevchenko on
the edge of the penalty area. Not only that; when the Ukrainian
received the ball to the left, United's defence were obligingly
bunching in the middle, affording him time to tame it and let in
bounce to a nice height for despatch into the opposite corner.

In this sense the goal was reminiscent of Wayne Rooney's second in
Manchester -though at least that took place deep in the second half,
when matches are expected to become a bit loose. Here Warnock must
have squirmed. Not having to face Drogba when in this vulnerable state
- the Ivorian did not replace Shevchenko until midway through the
second half - was a mercy, but soon Shaun Wright-Phillips, fed on the
right by Arjen Robben, served up a judicious cross to the near post,
where Shevchenko helped the ball on for Kalou to sidefoot in on the
volley. Just 16 minutes had gone and this match was as dead as
Manchester United's had been after 25.

The Blades did then start to play, the lively Colin Kazim-Richards
testing Petr Cech with an impressive swerver. Yet their next chance
had sad consequences, for, after Keith Gillespie had sent a low ball
across the face of goal, Hulse, in forcing the goalkeeper to save with
his legs, took the fateful impact. With Christian Nade on in his
place, United still went forward for a time and threatened with a
corner-kick move that, by the time Claude Davis had put the ball in
the net, involved a choice of three possible offences for the referee
to choose from: an aerial push, offside, and hands. Warnock was
nevertheless about as impressed by his team's denial as you would
expect.

Ballack took over from Lampard at the interval and enjoyed some
exercise before rising to Wright-Phillips's slanted free-kick and
glancing a header into the middle of a disoriented Paddy Kenny's net.

So at the end of the day (as they say) Manchester United were as many
points ahead of Chelsea as when they started, and as many goals too,
and you were tempted to ask if was all worth the bother.
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Indy:

Chelsea 3 Sheffield Utd 0:
Spectacular Sheva cuts down Blades

Chelsea's cruise keeps them on the heels of United as Hulse's horrific
injury casts a shadow
By Jason Burt at Stamford Bridge

Their fans may have been banned from their ritual of throwing celery -
following a Football Association threat earlier last week - but
Chelsea easily tossed aside Sheffield United yesterday. Never mind
flying vegetables, the visitors' lack of ambition was enough of a
stick to beat them with.

Two early goals killed the contest. It was only then that United
decided to compete. But the Blades had already been blunted while
Chelsea had a little sharpener before the more taxing tasks ahead
starting with tomorrow's FA Cup quarter-final replay against Tottenham
Hotspur.

Jose Mourinho was able to rest and rotate. Neither Didier Drogba nor
Michael Ballack started; neither Frank Lampard nor Andrei Shevchenko
completed the match. When the latter, who had scored a sublime opening
goal, was withdrawn there was another half-hearted little handshake
from Mourinho and, afterwards, a sprinkling of praise. "He is a happy
boy," he said of the 30-year-old former winner of the Ballon D'Or,
"and still improving".

For United it was a dispiriting day compounded by a suspected double
fracture of the left leg for their top scorer Rob Hulse who fell
awkwardly over Petr Cech after the Chelsea goalkeeper had saved his
point-blank shot. "It was one of those where you look the other way,"
said manager Neil Warnock.

There was further damage. Although they still have a seven-point
cushion United have slipped to fourth from bottom. They have also lost
their last seven away matches. "I thought we did fantastic to lose
3-0," Warnock added. "I'm not trying to pull the wool over anyone's
eyes."

The evidence was clear enough and was collated as early as the fourth
minute. As well as Ricardo Carvalho did to surge from his own half
towards his opponents' goal, it was shocking that none of the three
players he ran past challenged him. Equally poor was the marking on
Shevchenko who was allowed to pull away to the left of the penalty
area, cushion Carvalho's lofted pass with his thigh and then strike an
unerring left-footed shot beyond the despairing grasp of goalkeeper
Paddy Kenny. It was Shevchenko's 12th goal of the season - "he is
scoring not an amazing but a good number of goals," Mourinho said.

Soon Chelsea scored again. Once more Shevchenko was involved as he
reached Shaun Wright-Phillips' dangerous low cross, helping the ball
on for Salomon Kalou to sidefoot his volley into the empty net.
Shevchenko was clattered for his efforts and was afforded an ovation
when he returned to the play. "Two-nil after 20 minutes and after that
the game was under control," Mourinho said.

United, temporarily, roused themselves. First Colin Kazim-Richards
sent in a stinging shot from distance that Cech pushed away and then
Hulse beat John Terry to the ball only to send his scissors kick
narrowly wide with the goalkeeper scrambling. Then a swift
counter-attack led Keith Gillespie to sweep the ball forward to the
edge of the six-yard box. Hulse reached it but Cech, once more, spread
himself to block the shot. The striker stumbled, twisted and fell and
it was immediate from Cech's reaction that he was badly hurt.

For Warnock, on his first return to Stamford Bridge since he earned a
2-2 draw when in charge of Notts County in 1991, it was a terrible
blow. He then raged against the decision that allowed Chelsea their
third goal - a free-kick earned by Arjen Robben.

From that award, just before the hour, Wright-Phillips bent the ball
in and Michael Ballack, who had replaced Frank Lampard at half-time,
easily headed past a bemused Kenny.

Mourinho responded by introducing Drogba. His fierce free-kick was
goal-bound but Phil Jagielka headed away before United tried to press
on themselves. It was to little effect. Chelsea weaved their patterns,
but didn't truly try to raise the score while, for England, there was
the boon of all their players coming through unscathed, with Ashley
Cole substituted as well.

With the deficit they have to make up on Manchester United back to six
points, but also 15 goals, Chelsea move on to White Hart Lane and to
another competition. What does Mourinho expect? "I expect to be in the
final," he said before departing.
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The Observer

Shevchenko shines as Chelsea cruise

Amy Lawrence at Stamford Bridge

This was a variation on waiting for Godot. It was waiting for Monday.
Ninety minutes of Premiership football passed by in a manner so
entirely predictable, with Chelsea going through the motions, and
Sheffield United helpless to do anything about it, that most of the
41,897 onlookers pondered that something altogether more exciting
might come along tomorrow in the FA Cup replay at Tottenham.
Once that is out the way, Chelsea will be back in the old routine of
waiting for something to happen to Manchester United. Now that the
Blues are back in crushingly relentless mode - this was their sixth
league win in a row - their thorniest problem is not their own
domestic programme. It is United's.

Chelsea can cruise through games like this without breaking sweat.
They can afford to leave their peerless hitman Didier Drogba on the
bench for much of the game. They can rest Frank Lampard for the entire
second half. They can choose to ease off with other competitions in
mind. But will that be enough to catch the spirited leaders from Old
Trafford?
Jose Mourinho knows they must just keep collecting points and hope for
the best. The Chelsea manager mentioned the word 'win' an obsessive
nine times in the first seven sentences of his programme notes,
leaving no one under any illusions that he is unbowed by the fact that
Manchester United's own winning mentality keeps them in pole position
match after match, weekend after weekend.

Challenge after challenge? Not exactly. Sheffield United's level of
ambition was summed up by the admission by Neil Warnock long before
the coach turned into Stamford Bridge that this was not a fixture from
which he was looking for a survival lift. His team were not switched
on, and their defensive slackness invited Chelsea to close out this
game inside the opening 20 minutes.

The Blades will be far more combative in their remaining games at
Bramall Lane, but they will have to make do without their talismanic
top scorer, Rob Hulse, who sustained an awful injury midway though the
first half.

'It looks like a double fracture,' was Warnock's initial post-match
assessment. 'It looks pretty horrific. He almost got to the ball to
score but his ankle collided with Petr Cech's leg. Rob's leg goes one
way and then the other, it's one of those where you look away. We wish
him well, and now the lads know we've got a job on our hands and
somebody has got to get the goals to keep us in the division.'

A slightly better fist at defending in their eight remaining games is
also a necessity. Woeful marking allowed Andriy Shevchenko to open the
scoring with a delightful fourth-minute strike. When Ricardo Carvalho
whipped a delicious pass to the Ukrainian, he had ample time to pick
out exactly which spot to lash the ball into. He delivered
beautifully.

Shevchenko's enhanced display earned some praise from Mourinho, who
predicts better things of Roman Abramovich's favourite striker next
season. 'I believe the same will happen to him as Didier. The second
season will be better than the first, and the third season will be
better than the second. His team play is much better and he is a happy
boy.'

Next Salomon Kalou took advantage of United's defensive generosity,
arriving unmarked in front of goal to bundle in Wright-Phillips'
driven cross, which was helped along the way by Shevchenko at full
stretch. Mourinho was delighted to be in control so soon. 'We needed
that,' he said. 'With the game on Monday I was hoping not to chase a
result. The game was comfortable so we could rest some players.'

As if embarrassed to find themselves so easily dismantled, Sheffield
United bit back. The effervescent Colin Kazim-Richards was at the
heart of it, unleashing a vicious, dipping shot that allowed Petr Cech
to demonstrate his gifts with a reflex save. He is one of the players,
along with Danny Webber and Christian Nade, Warnock identified as
possible matchwinners in Hulse's absence.

Claude Davis had the ball in the net but it was disallowed on three
counts - Kazim-Richards was offside, handballed, and gave a push in
the build up. Even Warnock did not have the nerve to complain too much
about that one, although he was infuriated with the free-kick from
which Chelsea scored their third early in the second half - a hallmark
header from substitute Michael Ballack.

And that was that. Roll on tomorrow. Is Mourinho expecting a cagier
game than the 3-3 humdinger last weekend? 'I expect,' he said with
typical bluntness, 'to be in the final.'
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Mail:

Mourinho's star cast turn into strolling players
Chelsea 3 Sheffield United 0
By IAN RIDLEY

Another win, Chelsea's sixth in a row in the Premiership, but another
game gone with Manchester United refusing to yield them any ground in
the contest for the championship.

Chelsea responded to the equally comfortable victory over Bolton by
Sir Alex Ferguson's side with an all too- easy win over Sheffield
United, who will need more fight and more quality if they are to avoid
relegation.

You would like to give Chelsea more credit for refusing to crack as
the gap at the top keeps widening and they keep gnawing away at it,
but the Blades never looked likely to test the champions' nerve.

Save for a brief flurry after falling two goals behind in the game's
first quarter, Sheffield United played as if accepting their fate of a
sixth consecutive away defeat, as if believing their home form will be
enough to keep them up. Performances are not so easily turned on and
off, however. The meek may inherit the earth but they do not stay in
the Premiership.

"It's a difficult time for us," admitted their manager, Neil Warnock,
who was at least pleased with his side's effort."But that's what we
are like at Sheffield United.We are used to it. I thought we did
fantastic to lose the game 3-0."

A sickening injury to their eight goal leading scorer Rob Hulse — a
double fracture of his left leg just above the ankle — will only
intensify their plight. "We can only wish him well," said Warnock. "We
need someone now to step up and score the goals for us."

Up stepped Andriy Shevchenko to score the game's opening goal after
four minutes and it was virtually game over. Hulse's injury may have
knocked some stuffing from Sheffield United but it had been limited
before, with Salomon Kalou having scored an easy second.

After that, it became a matter of how many a strolling Chelsea, their
touch and passing so superior, might score, settling in the end for
Michael Ballack's header. "With our Cup game against Tottenham on
Monday, I was hoping not to chase a negative result," said Jose
Mourinho.

"It was very good to get that start and have the game under control.
The players could enjoy the game not under pressure.

"Shevchenko is doing well for a first season in different football. I
think it will be the same thing that happened with Didier Drogba —
second season better than first season."

Mourinho is not a fan of rotation — the way he tells it,he has limited
options given the paucity of his squad — but with the FA Cup replay at
White Hart Lane tomorrow he left Drogba, the leading scorer, and
Ballack on the bench.

Chelsea reverted to the manager's preferred 4-3-3, Shevchenko the
focal point of the attack. And the Ukrainian immediately took to it.
When Ricardo Carvalho strode out of defence with the ball, he could
see Shevchenko in, astonishingly, 20 yards of space on the left.

The Portuguese duly found Shevchenko with an excellent crossfield ball
and after one touch and one left-footed volley, Chelsea were ahead. It
was still only his fourth Premiership goal of the season, his 11th in
total.

So confident were Chelsea, so apprehensive United, that a second goal
was not far away. Shaun Wright-Phillips, deputising in a more central
midfield role for Michael Essien, got away on the right for a low
cross that Shevchenko helped on and Kalou touched home.

What United feared had come to pass. And so they could relax. So,too,
did Chelsea. Colin Kazim- Richards forced Petr Cech to palm a swerving
shot away and Hulse was just wide with a scissors kick. It was to be
his last meaningful action, and for a while.

When Keith Gillespie escaped on the right for a low cross, it seemed
that Hulse might stretch out a left leg to reduce the deficit.
Instead, he accidentally caught Cech and barely moved for several
minutes before being carried off.

United did have the ball in the net when Claude Davis drilled home
following a corner but Kazim-Richards was offside. From then on they
seemed to sense their efforts would be fruitless.

Mourinho brought on Ballack for Lampard for the second half and the
German extinguished any ideas that United might mount a recovery.
After Arjen Robben was fouled, Wright-Phillips swung in a free-kick
and Ballack arrived unchallenged, in another sin of omission by the
visitors' defence, to glance a header past the embarrassed Paddy
Kenny.

"I look at how the assistant gave that free-kick and wonder why these
officials don't get punished," Warnock was left to lament.

Chelsea were sated and the game drifted to an inevitable conclusion.
Fortunately, Mourinho would later enliven matters. "Yes, a little
bit," he said when asked whether continued talk about his future
bothered him.

"But I don't change my mind. I want to be here next season. If I say
it 50 times and have to say it 51, I will say it 51."

And a preview of the Spurs Cup tie? "I expect to be in the final."

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