The Sunday Times
October 28, 2007

Sven-Goran Eriksson's latest six scandal

Chelsea 6 Man City 0

Joe Lovejoy, Stamford Bridge

The king is dead, long live the king. Chelsea's fifth win in a row, by
a crushing margin, was the most convincing proof yet that there is
life after Jose Mourinho. Not just life but fun, as his successor
Avram Grant demands. Didier Drogba's two goals underline the fact that
normal service has been resumed at Stamford Bridge. There has been
speculation that English football's most potent centre-forward would
like to follow his erstwhile mentor out of the door marked exit, but
there was no sign of that here, Drogba scoring two goals and
terrorising the City defence with a towering performance that left
England's Micah Richards abject in embarrassment.

In what was Chelsea's biggest win for 10 years, since they defeated
Barnsley 6-0 in the Yorkshire club's first match in the top division,
the others to fill their boots were Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou, Joe
Cole and Andriy Shevchenko. With a more accurate final pass, chiefly
from Kalou, the margin could have reached double figures.

Roman Abramovich's decision to jettison Mourinho in search of a more
adventurous style of play was much criticised by the fans at the time,
but none were complaining last night after a compelling, cohesive
victory which had a pleasing passing game at its core.

Frank Lampard, back to his best, was the man of the match, wielding
the conductor's baton to decisive effect in midfield. City arrived
full of hope after a promising start to the season but left with tails
lodged firmly between their legs, nursing the most comprehensive
defeat of Sven-Gφran Eriksson's long managerial career. "I have never
lost 6-0 before," the former England coach said.

"The worst result until this was when I was at Gothenburg, many years
ago, and we were beaten 5-1 by Arsenal in the old Cup Winners' Cup."
Eriksson bemoaned the fact that five of the six goals came in the
inside-right channel, with the scorer one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
"Our defending was awful," he said.

For Chelsea, in contrast, this was about as good as it gets. What had
Grant, the self-styled "Ordinary One", done to bring about such an
improvement? "In training we are concentrating on attacking football,"
he said. "People come here to have fun, and it is important not just
to win games – just as important is the way we win. We can't do it in
every game, but in modern football people come to have a good time and
enjoy the spectacle." Music, no doubt, to Abramovich's ears.

City began well enough, but their confidence was punctured in the 16th
minute when a cohesive passing move by Chelsea culminated in Lampard
playing in Essien, who evaded Richards and scored with a firm, low
shot from the right that arrowed across Hart, beating the keeper's
reaching right hand before nestling in the corner of the net. It was a
well taken goal from one of the Premier League's best midfielders, and
it could have been 2-0 little more than a minute later when Drogba
went past Richard Dunne before delivering a left-wing cross which
merited a better finish than Kalou's inaccurate glancing header that
flew wide of the far post.

City threatened with a 25-yard free kick from Martin Petrov which had
Peter Cech flying high to his right, but it was Chelsea who were in
charge and after 31 minutes they were rewarded again when Lampard's
clever, bending pass from the left took out Richards in the middle,
leaving Drogba with space in which to score with a natural finisher's
aplomb, again from right to left.

Lampard took special pleasure in his contribution, having just had an
exchange of unpleasantries with Richards, sparked when the City
defender accused his England teammate of diving in the penalty area.
The exchange resulted in both players being shown yellow cards by
referee Mike Riley.

The third goal, which effectively removed City from contention but was
only the start of their embarrassment, arrived 10 minutes after
half-time, when Lampard seemed certain to score, only for Hart to get
his right boot to the ball. Unfortunately for the goalkeeper, it fell
obligingly for Drogba, who evaded Dunne before thumping in his second
at a velocity that brooked no argument.

Drogba should have had his hat-trick before Cole made it four on the
hour. An overhead kick by Alex found its way via Drogba's head to the
England midfielder, who ran on with pace and purpose in the
inside-right channel before driving low into Hart's left-hand corner
from the 18-yard line.

Still Chelsea weren't finished and went in search of more. The fifth
saw Essien's through pass into the same area enable Kalou to shoot
home from closer in, and the sixth, in the last minute, came when
Shevchenko, on as a substitute for Joe Cole, drilled home a pass from
Essien. Grant loved it, even managing to crack a rare smile. "I
enjoyed the way we played," he said.

Would the fans ever chant his name, as they had Mourinho's? "I don't
know about that – you try singing my name." Altogether now: "One Avram
Grant . . . "

Star man: Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

Player ratings:

Chelsea: Cech 6, Belletti 7, Carvalho 6, Alex 6, Ferreira 7, J Cole 7
(Shevchenko 67min), Essien 7, Lampard 9, Mikel 6, Kalou 5, Drogba 7
(Pizarro 76min)

Manchester City: Hart 5, Corluka 5, Dunne 5, Richards 4, Garrido 4,
Ireland 5 (Vassell 63min), Hamann 5 (Ball 66min), Johnson 5, Petrov 5,
Elano 6 (Bianchi 73min), Samaras 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Telegraph:

Rampant Chelsea condemn Manchester City

By Roy Collins

Chelsea (2) 6 Manchester City (0) 0

The Special One? Who needs him when Chelsea have Avram 'The Alchemist'
Grant, who erected a Big Top in SW6 before encouraging his
entertainers to fill it with more goals than in any match during Jose
Mourinho's reign as manager, gaining the added reward of inflicting
the highest professional defeat on humiliated City manager Sven-Goran
Eriksson.

What a contrast to Grant's only other Premier League home game, a
goalless draw with neighbours Fulham, when supporters grieving for
Mourinho turned this place into the Bridge of sighs.

Yesterday, it was overflowing with goals, which prompted delighted
home supporters to chant, "Boring, boring Chelsea". After the sacking
of Mourinho, owner Roman Abramovich demanded enter-tainment.

And what Roman wants, Roman gets, without Grant even needing to send
in the clowns. Why, he even teased a first Premier League goal of the
season from Andrei Shevchenko, who hardly got a look in under
Mourinho.

Eriksson, after changing most of his team at the interval when manager
of England, was famous for summing up lopsided games by saying: "First
half good, second half not so good." Here, it was a case of first half
pretty average, second half bloody awful.

This was another spoonful of reality for high-flying City; no, make
that a ladle, and an even bigger one than they got in their first
visit to London this season when beaten 1-0 at Arsenal. There really
is no place like home for City, who have won all six league matches at
Eastlands but have now lost three times on their travels, or should
that be travails?

Chelsea fans still seem reluctant to acknowledge Grant, which he
weakly explained was because "it's not easy to sing my name".

The fans went through the rest of their repertoire, however, as
Abramovich's trademark half-smile became almost a belly laugh high up
in the West Stand.

John Terry, Chelsea's injured skipper, also looked pretty happy as he
and his wife cradled their twins in the stand, while it was child's
play for his team-mates on the pitch once Michael Essien had scored
the opening goal from Frank Lampard's dissecting pass.

It was remarkable not to see Lampard's name on the scoresheet after a
result like this but he was still man of the match, running the show
from central midfield and clocking up two more assists, his diagonal
through-ball to set up Didier Drogba the most exquisite of all.

All afternoon, City, who have earned praise for their attacking
football, found Chelsea players running through huge gaps to run at
their young goalkeeper, Joe Hart, much to Eriksson's disgust. He said:
"We completely failed to defend today. If you do that against Chelsea,
they will kill you. And they killed us.

"For five of the six goals, it was a Chelsea player alone against our
goalkeeper and that is not good enough for the Premiership. Hopefully,
it is a one-off. I am very disappointed but we will start working on
it tomorrow morning."

Eriksson's previous worst managerial defeat was a 5-1 thrashing by
Arsenal in the European Cup-Winners' Cup when in charge of IFK
Gothenburg in 1980.

Chelsea had not hit anyone for six in the league since thrashing
Coventry in 2000. But supporters sensed something special when
Lampard's shot rebounded off Hart's right foot early in the second
half and Drogba, the arch predator, sucked up the rebound and thumped
it into the net.

Joe Cole was next up as the City defence waved another one through
after Drogba had flicked on an overhead clearance from the mighty
Alex. Then Essien, a powerful presence in midfield, sent Salomon Kalou
galloping through to squeeze a shot through Hart's legs.

There was still one precious moment to come for the Chelsea faithful.

Shevchenko, who almost melted Abramovich's smile by losing the ball a
couple of times in promising positions, finally made a telling run to
pick up another Essien pass down the right to end another one-on-one
with Hart in Chelsea's favour. "He is a great player with a great
attitude," cooed Grant.

For Chelsea, who almost came unstuck in the final minutes of that
Fulham game, it was normal service restored at the Bridge, where they
are now unbeaten in 68 games. This was also a fifth successive win for
Grant, steering Chelsea on to the heels of the Premier League leaders.

Despite the injuries to Terry and Ashley Cole, Grant still found no
room in his squad for Shaun Wright-Phillips as he shapes the team in
his own image.

Most notably, instead of the twinkling feet of Claude Makelele in
front of the back four, there is now the imposing presence of John Obi
Mikel, whose control in that department allows Lampard the freedom to
roam and destroy. Shock and awe you might call it.

Mourinho, who never believed in scoring more goals than necessary to
win a game, will wrinkle his nose when he hears this result, no doubt
dismissing it as a hockey score. Eriksson, however, is the one facing
the stick, a position he is not unfamiliar with after his time with
England. Grant said it was important to win with style which proved
that, unlike his predecessor, he was listening to His Master's Voice.
Much more of this and he will surely soon be honoured with a song of
his own.

Man of the match
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
• Set up two goals
• Completed 87 per cent of passes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sven hit for six by new-look Chelsea


Duncan Castles at Stamford Bridge
Sunday October 28, 2007
The Observer


The slumped shoulders and hangdog scowl of one first-half camera shot
might not have suggested it, but Roman Abramovich received his first
shot of the free-flowing entertainment he is demanding from his 'new
way' Chelsea.
This was an exhilarating encounter: Chelsea powerful, coherent and
swift in their attacking; Manchester City precise on the counter and
real contenders for 45 minutes. If both defences were ragged and
rarely capable of shutting opponents down, it only added to the
enjoyment of a game that matched Avram Grant against form opposition
for the first time since usurping Jose Mourinho last month.

That the Israeli triumphed so impressively could be attributed to the
efforts of two of his predecessor's staunchest allies. Frank Lampard
and Didier Drogba were immense again, the midfielder central to the
first three of Chelsea's goals, the forward driving home numbers two
and three. While some wondered whether the betrayal of Mourinho would
have come so early in the season had this pair been fit from the start
of it, this was undoubtedly a day for Abramovich and Grant to savour.
'I smiled,' said Grant. 'I enjoyed it for the winning and the way of
the winning. I enjoyed that we are in the middle of a process and we
continue to do it step-by-step. Maybe today it was two steps.

'We have concentrated on attacking football, on how to move right, on
how to behave right, how to get the best from the players and how to
make them better. That's what we want from them, but I think it's more
important that they ask it from themselves.'

Sven-Goran Eriksson enjoyed not a minute of it. 'I'm very
disappointed,' said the City manager. 'It's the first time in my life
that I lose 6-0 and I'm sure it's the first time for most of my
players. I was very kind to Avram today. I didn't want to be that
kind. I'm sure he will do well, but we made him and Chelsea better
than they should be today; we were awful defending. It is a wake-up
call for all of us.'

Henk ten Cate had spent much of his first week of hands-on training
delivering a wake-up call of his own to the Chelsea squad. The
£40,000-a-week 'assistant first-team coach' began riling them on
Monday when he halted his first full session to chastise some for
laughing. Matters worsened on Thursday when the Dutchman put the team
through a full programme of sprinting, box-to-box running and a
10-versus-10 half-pitch game the morning after their Champions League
victory over Schalke. This is a radical departure from Mourinho's
calibrated regime, in which players engaged only in light sessions
post-match.

How much smoother the regime change at City, where Eriksson has turned
over half his playing staff, established an economical
counterattacking style and guided the club to long-forgotten heights.
His men started the stronger here, filtering the ball to Elano at
every opportunity. Like much of the Premier League before him, John
Obi Mikel struggled with the quick-witted Brazilian, hacking him down
twice in early breaks. One of the playmaker's deft chips put Stephen
Ireland free on goal where a too-delicate header was parried away; a
thunderous 35-yard free-kick was wonderfully clawed out of the top
corner by Petr Cech.

Between those opportunities, though, possession and pressure was
mostly Chelsea's, their power regularly taking them to the edge of
Hart's penalty area. After 16 minutes, Mikel combined with Lampard to
release Michael Essien, who strode onwards, collected himself and
dragged the ball low across Hart and in. A similar sally into the
space between Micah Richards and Javier Garrido all but allowed Drogba
to add a second. It was only a postponement.

Richards ill-advisedly wound up Lampard in a tangle for possession
and, after both had been booked, Chelsea's captain extracted beautiful
revenge. Collecting possession from Salomon Kalou 40 yards out and
with his back to goal, the midfielder turned and spun a pass of
forensic precision behind the City defence. Unlike his opponents,
Drogba saw it coming and cantered on to strike through Hart's legs.

The game was now stretched and Kalou almost extended Chelsea's
advantage. At the other end, Ireland was a foot away from reducing it
when teed up by Garrido and Michael Johnson's quick interplay.

It was only an interlude. As Thaksin Shinawatra, the City owner, took
his turn at looking glum, Drogba and Kalou worked Lampard into a
shooting position and though Hart parried that effort away, the ball
fell to Drogba to carry back across the area and wallop past the City
goalkeeper in the 56th minute.

Unused to such deficits, the visitors continued to push forward,
leaving larger and larger gaps for their opponents to exploit. After
an hour, Drogba nodded Joe Cole into a particularly broad one and the
right-winger ramped up the volume again. Kalou took the total to five
from one fine Essien pass, Andriy Shevchenko made it six with another.

'Boring, boring Chelsea,' sang a contented home support still not
ready to put Grant's name into voice. A few more of these and they
just might.

Man of the match: Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mail:

Abramovich gets fantasy football at last

Chelsea 6 Manchester City 0

By IAN RIDLEY

To adapt Sven Goran Eriksson's way of describing matches when he was
England's head coach: first half not so good, second half even worse.
Shambolic, in fact.

The Manchester City manager suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands
of the club who sought to hire him before Jose Mourinho as his side's
impressive start to the season, which has taken them into the top
three, came to a shuddering halt.

So poor were City, so porous their defence, that there was even a late
goal for substitute Andriy Shevchenko as part of a rampant Chelsea
performance of the sort that owner Roman Abramovich — seen smiling up
in his eyrie and later crossing the pitch to show his approval in the
dressing room — has been craving.

It has been coming — both a productive Chelsea performance and a heavy
City defeat. The London club have so many attacking players of quality
— as shown by Didier Drogba scoring twice,Michael Essien, Joe Cole,
Salomon Kalou and Shevchenko once each — that it was inevitable.

And City remain a work in progress,a mixture of some quality players
such as Elano and Martin Petrov but also some distinctly ordinary.
Eriksson, who allowed himself to be outflanked both in selection and
formation yesterday, will need to invest in the January transfer
window if their good start to the season, which saw them arrive on the
back of three consecutive wins, is not to be wasted.

"For five of the six goals the goalkeeper was left alone and that is
not good enough for the Premier League," said Eriksson. "If you give
Lampard and Cole all that space they will kill you and today they
killed us."

And he should know, having picked them often enough for England.

"We failed completely to defend, not just the back four and
goalkeeper.You have to defend with 11. For sure it's a wake-up call
for all of us."

The first time this season City came to London they appeared somewhat
overawed against Arsenal. This time they at least emerged with more
ambition and almost snatched an early lead.

The buzzing Brazilian Elano clipped in a ball from the left that
brushed the chest of Stephen Ireland and was heading for the Chelsea
net until Petr Cech stretched to tip the ball wide. It was to be a
false dawn and soon the Chelsea account was opened.

A splendid move it was, too. Cole played the ball infield to John Obi
Mikel who quickly found Frank Lampard for a threaded pass into the
path of Essien. As Micah Richards backed away, Essien drove home
crisply.

Now Chelsea assumed a comfortable control. Dietmar Hamann and Michael
Johnson were overwhelmed in central midfield, with Lampard, Essien and
Mikel swarming all over and around them as new manager Avram Grant
went to the old Mourinho formation that has Drogba leading the line
with two other attacking players wide.

Proceedings were interrupted by a spat between England colleagues
Richards and Lampard when the teenage defender fouled the midfielder
and then took exception to his reaction on the floor in holding his
foot. Both, with Lampard flabbergasted, received yellow cards.

He soon had his revenge. From the halfway line, Lampard picked out the
run of Drogba and played a perfect ball inside Richards and into the
Ivorean's path. The finish was a sharp low shot dispatched past the
hapless Joe Hart.

City needed to get back in the game and quickly. The chance came after
Javier Garrido ran at the Chelsea defence and the ball came to
Ireland.

On the edge of the area, he took careful aim but side-footed his shot
wide of Cech's right post.

It proved expensive. Early in the second half Kalou slipped a ball
through another gaping hole to Lampard, and after Hart had saved his
shot, Drogba pounced on the rebound and lashed home his sixth goal of
the season. Within five minutes, there was a fourth. Drogba was first
to Alex's clearance and flicked the ball between Richards and Garrido
where Cole stole in to score. The fifth came when Essien again saw
Garrido isolated and found Kalou, who cut inside before shooting home
through Hart's legs.

Shevchenko's sixth was almost a copy. "It is not easy for a great
player to be on the bench," said Grant. "But it was a fantastic goal
from a fantastic move."

"Boring, boring Chelsea," sang the Bridge. With Drogba replaced by
another lanky striker, it was even suggested Chelsea were taking the
Pizarro

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Indy:

Chelsea 6 Manchester City 0: Drogba stars as Chelsea hit Eriksson for
six of the best

Lampard provides inspiration and puts City to the sword as Grant shows
Mourinho how to attack

By Steve Tongue at Stamford Bridge

For all Sven Goran Eriksson's faults, real and imagined, his teams,
like Jose Mourinho's, rarely suffer a drubbing. Denmark's 4-1 success
in a friendly was England's worst result statistically, a margin
passed by Chelsea yesterday with less than an hour played, and the
final score constituted Eriksson's heaviest defeat in management,
outdoing a 5-1 loss at Arsenal with IFK Gothenburg almost 30 years
ago.

The performance, as much as the scoreline, confirmed that Manchester
City's third place in the table was a false one, built on the back of
a string of narrow home victories. On their travels, the defence has
been much less reliable and yesterday proved a liability, five of the
goals stemming from passes into the same area between left-back and
the centre of defence that left the goalkeeper, Joe Hart, with a blue
shirt bearing down on him.

A lot of water has flowed under Stamford Bridge since Eriksson took
tea with owner Roman Abramovich in the summer of 2003 to discuss
becoming manager of Chelsea. JoseMourinho was given the job and the
rest is history; or was until Avram Grant took over eight matches ago.
Six of them have been won, the last five in a row, and for the home
team's supporters it was all glorious fun yesterday as the
little-regarded Israeli lived up to his promise to produce a brighter
style of football.

Mourinho's inclination was always to shut up shop after achieving a
two-goal lead; his side only once scored as many as five in the
Premier League. New Chelsea simply kept on going as City collapsed in
a heap.

Outnumbered in midfield, they were overrun by Grant's central
triumvirate of John Obi Mikel, Michael Essien and Frank Lampard, the
latter pair regularly taking out Micah Richards and Javier Garrido
with diagonal passes that better covering might have smothered.

"We were awful," Eriksson admitted. "We failed completely to defend,
not just the back-four but all 11. We have played some good football
but there was maybe too much talk about it. It's a wake-up call for
sure."

Although latecomers handicapped by the engineering works on the
District Line may not have missed much yesterday, there was no
stopping Chelsea once the midfield trio combined in the 16th minute to
make and score the opening goal.

Mikel fed Lampard for a fine, incisive pass that found Essien in the
inside-right channel, able to shoot across Hart low into the far
corner of the net. Richards, a right-back for England but a
centre-half in City colours, might have been closer to the scorer on
that occasion and certainly should have been for the second goal.

This time Lampard collected possession close to the halfway line and
ran on before playing another immaculate pass into the same area as
before, where Richards failed to prevent Didier Drogba putting his
shot away.

City threatened only twice to score their first goal at Stamford
Bridge for many moons: a fierce free-kick by Martin Petrov and a bad
miss by Stephen Ireland, who shot wide from 15 yards.

Two more goals early in the second half then put the game even further
beyond them. Salomon Kalou, preferred to Florent Malouda or Shaun
Wright-Phillips, set up Lampard, and although Hart's foot saved,
Drogba was on hand to score.

There was another Hart save from the inspired Lampard, Drogba skewing
the rebound across goal, before Garrido simply stopped and allowed Joe
Cole to run on to Drogba's headed flick for four-nil. Garrido was
hopelessly caught out again in the 75th minute as Essien played
another pass into the inviting gap between Richards and the left-back,
Kalou running on to it to drive in a fifth goal.

Astonishingly, the sixth came from precisely the same place, Andriy
Shevchenko, on as a substitute, taking Essien's pass to provide the
goal the crowd had chanted for from him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
-------------------------------------------------------------------