Mail:

Chelsea boss Avram's on a roll as Pizarro nips in

Birmingham 0 Chelsea 1


By DANIEL KING

Claudio Pizarro cost £15million less than Nicolas Anelka but it was
the Peruvian, a substitute and free transfer, who snatched an
undeserved win for unconvincing Chelsea.

Just moments before his late winner, Pizarro had shown his team's
growing desperation by trying to fool referee Rob Styles with a dive
in the penalty area. But the striker redeemed himself, at least in his
team's eyes, with the headed goal which made an off-key display by
Anelka on his full debut irrelevant.


If winning games when you are not playing well is the mark of
champions, then Chelsea are still looking good to give Manchester
United and Arsenal a run for their money.

Birmingham will rightly feel hard done by. A week after claiming a
deserved point at the Emirates Stadium, Alex McLeish's team once more
matched their supposed betters. More than matched, in many ways, not
least because they played as a team against a disjointed Chelsea who
still show little sign of becoming the exciting, attacking force Avram
Grant promised to deliver.

Although Grant differs from his predecessor in almost every other way,
he shares with Jose Mourinho the uncanny knack of seeing a different
game from almost everyone else.

Grant said: "I thought we deserved to win. We had control of the ball
for most of the game. It was one of Pizarro's best performances for us
and he deserved to score the goal.

"We have momentum now because we have won so many games, when no one
expected us to. We cannot wait to get players back from injury and the
Africa Cup of Nations."

It was an injury which gave Pizarro a chance to shine, Shaun
Wright-Phillips hurting his ankle in a challenge which eventually
forced him off before the half-hour mark.

Despite enjoying spells of possession in the first half, Chelsea
created only one half-chance from open play. Birmingham gave the ball
away too frequently to be fluent, but when they did put their game
together they looked much the more dangerous side.

Cameron Jerome went closest, first heading against the post when
nervous-looking Petr Cech drove a poor clearance straight at the
Birmingham striker and then using his pace and power to create two
quickfire shooting opportunities, which were blocked by Juliano
Belletti and Alex.

The home side began the second half in the same vein and should have
been ahead when Olivier Kapo jinked along the byline and Cech could
only get a weak hand on his cross. Unfortunately for Birmingham,
Sebastian Larsson did not react quickly enough to send the rebound
into the net.

Just when you were wondering what on earth had happened to Anelka, he
had the chance to score the sort of goal for which he has been signed.
Florent Malouda touched the ball through to his fellow Frenchman, well
inside the box, but Anelka's shot was weak and Maik Taylor kept it out
easily with his legs.

It was soon time for the Birmingham fans to see their own new
multi-million pound striker and, with what may have been his first
touch, James McFadden turned on to a quick free-kick from Franck
Queudrue but the angle of his low shot favoured Cech, who saved.

Although Chelsea at last began to apply some sustained pressure,
desperation crept in when Pizarro threw himself to the ground in the
area and was deservedly shown the yellow card.

"Continentals see it as being clever," said a stony-faced McLeish. "If
he had got his team a penalty, none of the Chelsea players, even the
English ones, would have complained."

The Birmingham manager was more upset about the poor marking which
allowed Pizarro to head in Belletti's corner just moments later.

"It was a great performance,'" said McLeish. "We rattled Chelsea, but
unfortunately we've nothing to show for our efforts."

There was time after the goal for Anelka to sting Taylor's hands, but
for once in the Premier League, cheap and cheerful had, in a way, won
the day.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
-------------------------------


The Sunday Times
January 20, 2008

Claudio Pizarro in head start as Chelsea beat Birmingham
Birmingham 0 Chelsea 1

Brian Doogan at St Andrews

NICOLAS ANELKA'S frustrated efforts to secure his first Chelsea goal
epitomised an unconvincing, vulnerable performance by Avram Grant's
team. But, with only 11 minutes remaining, substitute Claudio
Pizarro's header from a corner kick – the Peru international's first
goal since he scored in a 3-2 win against Birmingham on the opening
day at Stamford Bridge – secured victory for the visitors and Grant
was able to walk away smiling about a result that proved beyond
Arsenal a week ago at the Emirates.

If Chelsea can maintain their present momentum – this was a fifth
victory in six Premier League games – they can surely be a viable
threat in the title race when they reintroduce the likes of Didier
Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Frank Lampard and John Terry from African Cup
of Nations duty and from injury. Petr Cech was more active than his
counterpart, Maik Taylor, in goal, and Ricardo Carvalho was
susceptible to Cameron Jerome's pace in an unbalanced defensive
partnership with Alex.

But Chelsea managed to hang on as a fortuitous header by Jerome struck
the post in the first half, Sebastian Larsson missed a sitter in the
second and "a world-class delivery" – Birmingham manager Alex
McLeish's justified description of Juliano Belletti's corner kick –
presented Pizarro with the perfect opportunity.

"Birmingham are a hard team to play, they know how to defend, they
make good counter-attacks and we had to be patient. It was very
important to win here," Grant said. "We have momentum now. We have won
so many games in the past three months when nobody thought these
players could do it."

Despite Grant's insistence that his side dominated the majority of the
game, there was no real conviction about this Chelsea display. Claude
Makelele was superb in his customary role in front of the back four,
breaking up Birmingham attacks and setting up Joe Cole and Florent
Malouda at the other end, but his level of assurance was lacking
elsewhere. Joe Cole's delivery lacked the precise effectiveness of
Belletti's decisive corner. Taylor was well protected by the central
defensive duo of Liam Ridgewell and Rafael Schmitz, and Anelka was
reduced to a few speculative shots on goal and one opportunity with
which he ought to have done better. He won a corner off Schmitz in the
opening minute, did the same again in a challenge with Franck Queudrue
and secured another with a shot from the left side of the penalty area
which struck Larsson.

An injury to Shaun Wright-Phillips forced Grant to replace him with
Pizarro. Malouda's tame shot from a Makelele cross from the left and
an Alex header wide from a Malouda cross from the right typified
Chelsea's impotence.

Ashley Cole had to block a shot by Garry O'Connor on the edge of the
penalty area before a corner by Larsson was headed wide by O'Connor.
Cech saved another header by Jerome from Larsson's cross.

Chelsea almost came undone when Cech took a return ball from Alex and
half-scuffed a clearance which was met by Jerome's head on the edge of
the penalty area. Fortunately for Cech and Chelsea, the ball hit the
right post and bounced wide. Birmingham kept up the pressure and
O'Connor's cross was knocked away by Carvalho but Jerome's shot
required a block by Alex. The corner fell for Fabrice Muamba, whose
shot cleared the crossbar.

Anelka had chances in the second half, the first when he beat Damien
Johnson but he dragged his shot between Ridgewell's legs and wide.

Twice his touch let him down when he failed to control the ball from a
header down and Olivier Kapo cleared before a clever one-two between
Anelka and Malouda on the edge of the area yielded a shot, as Schmitz
challenged him, which Taylor saved. Birmingham continued to look
dangerous and a header down on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area
presented Larsson with an opportunity from 25 yards but he sliced his
shot wide. Then the Swede missed a glorious chance when Kapo beat
Carvalho and drove in a low ball which eluded Cech and, somehow,
Larsson missed from point-blank range.

Cech denied Birmingham debutant James McFadden with a save at his near
post before, out of the blue, Chelsea struck gold.

Belletti swung in his corner kick with pace to the near post and
Pizarro met it with a solid header past Taylor. "We didn't do our job
of man-marking in the box and we got punished," reflected McLeish.

Match stats

Star man: Claude Makelele (Chelsea)
Player ratings: Birmingham: Taylor 7, Kelly 6, Schmitz 7, Ridgewell 7,
Queudrue 7, Larsson 6, Muamba 6, Johnson 7, Kapo 6, O'Connor 6
(Forssell 72min), Jerome 7 (McFadden 72min)
Chelsea: Cech 7, Belletti 6, Alex 6, Carvalho 6, A Cole 7,
Wright-Phillips 5 (Pizarro 29min, 6), Makelele 8, Ballack 6, J Cole 7
(Sidwell 85min), Anelka 5, Malouda 7 (Bridge 90min)
Yellow cards: Birmingham: Muamba
Chelsea: Pizarro
Referee: R Styles
Attendance: 26,567
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Telegraph:

Claudio Pizarro picks up pieces at Birmingham
By Duncan White at St Andrew's

Birmingham City (0) 0 Chelsea (0) 1

All the attention may have been focused on Avram Grant's first
multi-million pound signing but it was a Jose Mourinho bargain that
eventually broke a spirited Birmingham. Nicolas Anelka, the £15
million arrival from Bolton, made his full debut amid much expectation
but it was Claudio Pizarro, a summer free transfer from Bayern Munich,
who came off the bench to head the winner, thumping in Juliano
Belletti's fine corner.

The Peruvian marksman had been dropped to accommodate Anelka but when
Shaun Wright-Phillips was forced off with a worrying ankle injury,
Pizarro came on to play as a deep-lying striker. He hadn't scored in
the Premier League since the first day of the season when he found the
net against the same opposition, but he came up with the goods and
Chelsea have now won six on the spin.

Grant was not optimistic about the injury to Wright-Phillips, though.
"It's not looking so good," said Grant. "We keep losing our in-form
players and I want to get him back as soon as possible." It is also
bad news for Fabio Capello, who may lose the winger for his first game
as England manager, against Switzerland on Feb 6. The only beneficiary
is fellow right-winger David Beckham, who is desperate to earn his
100th cap in that game.

With Didier Drogba away with the Ivory Coast - and seemingly
determined to make that absence permanent in the summer - Anelka has
been charged with becoming Chelsea's chief source of goals. But
Pizarro, it seems, may still have a big part to play in the future of
this club. "It was one of his best games," said a predictably laconic
Grant. "He deserved it." Chelsea didn't. Birmingham, who gave a debut
to their own big-money signing in substitute James McFadden, were
dreadfully unfortunate not to score and, for much of the game, they
dominated a strangely lacklustre Chelsea. With the game scoreless,
McFadden even came close to crowning his first appearance since his £5
m move from Everton with a goal, running onto a quickly-taken Franck
Queudrue free-kick only for his shot to be blocked by Petr Cech.

By then Birmingham had spurned a series of chances to take the lead,
especially in the periods either side of half-time when they put
tremendous pressure on Ricardo Carvalho and co. Cameron Jerome twice
came desperately close. When Cech, under pressure, hooked a clearance
straight at Jerome, the Birmingham striker could not quite steer his
header into the open goal - it hit the post and squirmed wide. Just
before the break and with the Chelsea defence in disarray his shot
beat the prone Cech only to be blocked by the covering Alex.

If that was frustrating for the roaring home support, then Sebastian
Larsson had them hanging their heads after the break. With Birmingham
still on top, Fabrice Muamba breezed past Carvalho before squaring to
the Swedish winger. Larsson somehow managed to send the ball on a
vertical trajectory from point-blank range.

Chelsea got desperate - no-one more than Pizarro who disgraced himself
with an appallingly obvious dive in the box. He was justly booked but
moments later scored the winner, which made swallowing this defeat all
the harder for Alex McLeish's valiant players.

Match summary

Birmingham ratings: Taylor 7/10, Kelly 5, Schmitz 6, Ridgewell 7,
Queudrue 7, Larsson 6, Muamba 5, Johnson 6, Kapo 6, O'Connor 5
(Forssell 4), Jerome 8 (McFadden 5).
Possession 30%, offsides 1, shots on target 2, shots off target 6,
corners 6, fouls conceded 10, yellow cards 1, red cards 0.
Chelsea ratings: Cech 7/10, Belletti 9, Alex 7, Carvalho 8, A Cole 7,
Wright-Phillips 5 (Pizarro 8), Makelele 8, Ballack 7, J Cole 6
(Sidwell 4), Anelka 7, Malouda 7 (Bridge 4).
Possession 70%, offsides 4, shots on target 6, shots off target 3,
corners 10, fouls conceded 7, yellow cards 1, red cards 0.
Best moment: Midway through the second half Joe Cole deluded two
Birmingham defenders with a double drag back before pushing the ball
around a bemused third to earn space on the wing. Thrilling stuff.
Worst moment: Sebastian Larsson was given the ball by Fabrice Muamba
right in front of goal and with space aplenty he coived to slice the
ball so finely that it shot straight up into the air. A horror miss.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pizarro steals in to pick Birmingham's pocket


Duncan Mackay at St Andrews
Sunday January 20, 2008
The Observer


It would not have surprised fans leaving this match if they had met a
cavalcade of police cars, blue lights flashing, rushing to the ground,
such was the daylight robbery Chelsea pulled off. Totally outplayed
for two-thirds of this match by a Birmingham side rejuvenated under
Alex McLeish, they managed to nick all three points thanks to one of
two chances they created.
It came from an unlikely source, too, in the shape of substitute
Claudio Pizarro, the Peruvian who has been such a disappointment this
season and probably only owed his place on the bench to the absence of
so many regulars.

But Chelsea will be grateful he took his opportunity. By the time he
struck in the 79th minute they were probably thinking they would be
glad to leave here with a draw, such was the superiority Birmingham
were exerting.
It was a point illustrated by the fact that the corner Juliano
Belletti floated over for Pizarro to meet with an acrobatic diving
header that sailed past Maik Taylor was their first of the half. It
was his second Premier League goal of the season. The other one? For
Chelsea against Birmingham on the opening day.

The ground was again not full, which is sure to spark another debate
in the local press, especially coming so soon after McLeish was
allowed to spend £7m on buying James McFadden from Everton and Dave
Murphy from Hibernian.

It is a favourite topic of Birmingham chairman David Sullivan, and he
renewed his attack on the club's poor attendances. In the programme he
wrote: 'It does hurt us a bit, as a board, seeing Derby getting 32,000
gates, week in week out, and Sunderland over 40,000.'

Avram Grant may come across as Leonard Cohen's less cheerful brother,
but he has now fashioned a run of 12 victories in 17 Premier League
matches. It has largely been achieved while missing captain John Terry
and Frank Lampard, whose absence again for this match cast further
doubt over whether he will be available for Fabio Capello's first
England match against Switzerland next month.

With Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou on service in the African Nations
Cup, there were further problems for Grant - and Capello - when Shaun
Wright-Phillips limped off in the 29th minute.

It also robbed Nicolas Anelka of a vital avenue of service in his
first start for the club. He worked hard up front, alongside the
ineffectual Florent Malouda, but Birmingham's tactics of stifling the
opposition, which had worked so well the previous week in a draw
against Arsenal, again reaped dividends.

It nearly led to a bigger bonus in the 38th minute with an incident
that nearly so produced a moment that could have been a staple on a
bloopers DVD for years to come. Chelsea keeper Petr Cech, with no
Birmingham player within 10 metres of him, went to kick the ball out
but succeeded only in hitting it straight at Cameron Jerome, whose
header bounced back off a post.

It had the effect of whipping up the crowd and got Jerome's adrenaline
going because three minutes later he saw a double effort blocked, the
second by Alex off the line as the Birmingham player followed up his
first effort.

Birmingham's high-octane finish to the half was maintained into the
second period from crowd and players, with Chelsea being pegged back
in their own half for long periods.

But it is a truism that you have to take your chances when they come,
something that marks out the leading clubs from the rest. It is a
lesson Sebastian Larsson is probably pondering after being guilty of
one of the misses of the season in the 56th minute. He was four yards
from goal when Olivier Kapo's low cross found him unmarked only for
the Swede to fall over his own feet and embarrassingly loop the ball
wide.

Mind you, Larsson would probably point to what happened down the other
end 10 minutes later when, following good interchange work with
Malouda, Anelka found himself in acres of space and presented with
Chelsea's best opportunity of the match.

But even £15m, does not guarantee a 100 per cent success rate and the
Frenchman hit a pretty poor effort straight at Maik Taylor, who was
able to smother it with his legs.

The introduction of McFadden, Birmingham's record signing, in the 72nd
minute was greeted with great enthusiasm by the crowd and he so nearly
marked his debut with a goal within three minutes, firing a low shot
that Cech kept out with his legs. It turned out to be a valuable save.

THE FANS' VERDICT

Paul Rivers, VBBFootball.com If I could give Rob Styles a mark, it
would be a two. He was awful. We call him 'cyclops', because he has
only one eye and that's for the big clubs - he seemed to give Chelsea
every decision. We certainly didn't deserve to lose. You could tell
Chelsea are a class side with their passing and movement, but they had
no cutting edge and really didn't look like scoring. We, on the other
hand, had chances we just couldn't put away. I was beginning to think
what an entertaining 0-0 draw it was when they scored. It was
undeserved, because we were the better team for most of the game.
We've played the top three in successive games and got one point. This
time last year we were winning games for fun, which was probably why
the date on the match programme said 19 January 2007. Wishful
thinking.

Player ratings Taylor 7; Kelly 7, Schmitz 7, Ridgewell 6, Queudrue 8;
Larsson 8, Muamba 7, Johnson 7, Kapo 9; O'Connor 7 (Forssell 7),
Jerome 8 (McFadden 8)

Trizia Fiorellino, Chair, Chelsea Supporters' Group We were lucky to
get all three points. We looked like 11 strangers and I felt quite
sorry for Anelka as he was getting no service whatsoever. Some of our
defending was comical - Cech and Carvalho weren't on the same
wavelength, which is very unusual, and it was worse with Alex. They
weren't talking and at one point the ball almost just rolled into the
net. Grant seems tactically naive and only changed things when he had
no choice, when Wright-Phillips had to go off. Pizarro did quite well,
while Anelka did what he could. Malouda made a goalline clearance, but
otherwise was poor, though no one covered themselves in glory.

Player ratings Cech 5; Belletti 6, Alex 5, Carvalho 7, A Cole 6;
Wright-Phillips 7 (Pizarro 7), Makelele 7, Ballack 6, J Cole 5
(Sidwell 6); Anelka 7, Malouda 5 (Bridge n/a)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
--------------------------------------------------------------------