The Times
September 1, 2008

Chelsea run out of gas
Chelsea 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Martin Samuel

One chance, one goal, one point: slim pickings for Tottenham Hotspur,
but in the circumstances, enough is as good as a feast. Juande Ramos
got the draw he came for and avoided replicating the worst start at
the club in 29 years. A previous Chelsea manager might have sneered
that the opposition merely parked a bus in front of the goal, but Luiz
Felipe Scolari is more generous.

"Sometimes a team plays very well and it is impossible to win," he
said. "They had five, sometimes nine, players back in front of goal in
the last 30 minutes, but this is the game. We had chances, but when
you make mistakes with the final shot, a draw is the normal result."

Normality is not what is expected of Chelsea, however, and, having
started the season against Portsmouth as if powered by rocket fuel,
the past two matches have been a bungled splash landing. Chelsea got
away with it against Wigan Athletic eight days ago, when a moment of
brilliance from Deco turned the game, but Scolari's little magician
had his first quiet afternoon yesterday and the performance dipped
accordingly. If it were not for Frank Lampard, there would have been
barely a scoring threat, although that applied at both ends,
unfortunately.

It was a well-intentioned but misdirected clearing up job by Lampard
that set up Tottenham's equalising goal. Stealing the ball off Luka
Modric midway in the Chelsea half, Lampard's interception bisected
Ricar-do Carvalho and José Bosingwa in the back four, but not Darren
Bent, the striker bereft of goals since preseason ended, who was
suddenly left with only Petr Cech to beat. Bent's first touch was
poor, but by knocking the ball some way in front of him he drew the
goalkeeper from his lair and stuck the ball smartly under his body.

It sent Tottenham in at half-time with a parity that was scarcely
deserved but confidence-boosting. The first 45 minutes would have
shown them that Chelsea are a weakened force without Didier Drogba and
in the second half, the odd speculative effort from Lampard aside,
Scolari's team barely created a chance. Jonathan Woodgate, in
particular, and Ledley King were outstanding for Tottenham, watched by
Fabio Capello, the England manager, who is in a predicament
recognisable to many predecessors, with an embarrassment of riches in
one position – in this case centre half – and a shortage elsewhere.

Woodgate and King were aided by Chelsea's self-limiting decision to
attempt to win by lobbing high balls into the area for the final 20
minutes; potentially effective when Drogba is leading the line, but a
tactic that rendered Nicolas Anelka even more redundant than he has
rendered himself in recent matches.

Once, in the 78th minute, a long clearance from Carvalho found Anelka,
who passed the ball on to Florent Malouda, on as substitute for the
ineffectual Joe Cole, but he panicked and shot pitifully wide. The
rest of the time Tottenham's back-line treated Chelsea's route-one
approach like a training-ground exercise before a visit to Stoke City
and the tactics brought out the Brazilian in Scolari, who was
gesticulating ever more furiously on the touchline but clearly did not
know the sign language for "keep it on the damn floor". "We made a
mistake with too much long ball," he said. "The problem with hitting
it high is that you win that way one time, but lose eight times. I
understand, though, because when the players feel the pressure it
becomes difficult to think."

And the pressure is on Chelsea, certainly to take advantage of
Manchester United's traditional slow start to the season, the absence
of Cristiano Ronaldo and the brief period before the arrival of
Dimitar Berbatov or a run of form for Wayne Rooney. Dropping points at
home against opponents who have lost matches to Middlesbrough and
Sunderland is not part of the plan, even if Tottenham are in a false
position.

The most worrying aspect for Scolari will be that his players found it
hard to break through the defensive screen of Didier Zokora and
Jermaine Jenas and their best chances came from range, usually from
Lampard, who went close with two fantastic dinked chips at the start
of each half. The first caught Heurelho Gomes, the Tottenham
goalkeeper, off his line, but he recovered to tip over; the second
beat him but dropped just the wrong side of the bar.

Between that Michael Essien had a shot from 25 yards that struck the
bar, although Chelsea did get a reward from the resulting corner.
Lampard curled it in, Bent missed his kick with an attempted clearance
and Juliano Belletti glanced the ball past Gomes at the near post.

The match was a tiny triumph for Belletti, a reserve full back, who
was given the job of holding midfield with John Obi Mikel injured. In
addition to scoring from a set-piece, he shut Modric out of the game.
It is amazing that English football finds it so hard to fill this
position in the national team when foreign players respond instantly
to its code of discipline and self-sacrifice. These are worrying times
for English football all round, with injuries mounting in key roles, a
void where a world-class striker should be and a series of failed
auditions for David Beckham's role. Nothing David Bentley did here
would have impressed Capello going into his first competitive
international; mainly, because he did nothing.

"We deserved a point for what we did in the second half," Ramos, the
Tottenham head coach, said.

About right. Both teams looked as if they could do with an injection
of sorts. The arrival of Roman Pavlyuchenko at Tottenham and, perhaps,
Robinho at Chelsea cannot come soon enough.

Chelsea ratings

4-1-3-1-1

P Cech 6 J Bosingwa 6 R Carvalho 6 J Terry 7 A Cole 7 J Belletti 7 F
Lampard 7 M Essien 6 Deco 6 J Cole 5 N Anelka 5 Substitutes: F Malouda
5 (for J Cole, 65min), S Kalou (for Belletti, 75), F Di Santo (for
Anelka, 88) Not used: C Cudicini, W Bridge, P Ferreira, Alex Next: Man
City (a)

Tottenham ratings

4-5-1

H Gomes 7 C Gunter 7 J Woodgate 9 L King 8 G Bale 8 D Bentley 5 J
Jenas 7 D Zokora 7 L Modric 6 G Dos Santos 5 D Bent 7 Substitutes: T
Huddlestone 7 (for Gunter, 62min), A Lennon 5 (for Dos Santos, 59), J
O'Hara (for Bentley, 72) Not used: C Sánchez, Gilberto, M Dawson, B
Assou-Ekotto Next: Aston Villa (h)

Referee: H Webb Attendance: 41,790
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Chelsea long for Drogba as Spurs seize the initiativeGuardian report
Min-by-min Match facts
Premier League
Chelsea 1 Belletti 28
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Bent 45

Kevin McCarra at Stamford Bridge The Guardian, Monday September 1 2008

The transfer window is an invitation to peer into an enticing and
elusive future, but Tottenham Hotspur's supporters could not peel
their gaze from the joys of the present. There was no inclination to
start wondering what Roman Pavlyuchenko or signings yet to come might
achieve when the existing line-up was conducting itself with such care
and competitiveness. While the equaliser from Darren Bent had its
element of luck, there was an organised resilience to the visitors
that merited yesterday's draw.

When Juliano Belletti gave Chelsea the lead Tottenham looked bound for
a third consecutive loss. It was proof of the recovery by Juande
Ramos's team that much of what ensued raised questions about Chelsea.
Sharing the points is no fiasco, but the hosts' dullness was
unexpected.

Nicolas Anelka must have been dismayed. There are sound reasons for
using a single outright striker. Chelsea themselves were devastating
in the rout of Portsmouth with precisely that system. Here, by
contrast, the weaknesses of the approach were highlighted. Tottenham,
for whom Didier Zokora was significant, snipped the connection between
the midfield and the forward.

Anelka is not equipped to be a lone battler. In the wake of the match
there were immediate inquiries about the return of the injured Didier
Drogba. He assuredly has the height, weight, speed and skill to harry
an entire defence by himself, but the Ivorian's knee problem had been
an issue for a long time before it became acute early this year. The
30-year-old cannot be confident that the aches and pains will ever
leave him entirely.

The outcome of Chelsea's bid for Real Madrid's Robinho was still
inscrutable in the late afternoon yesterday, but the Brazilian bears
no resemblance to the sort of centre-forward whom Anelka needed badly
as a partner in this game.

Of course, there were also some mundane reasons for Chelsea's
mechanical football. With Michael Ballack injured, Michael Essien took
a more advanced midfield position to which he is not really suited and
Belletti, who is considered a full-back, was placed in the holding
role. The outcome was that Luiz Felipe Scolari's team did not move
fluently and Deco, in particular, seemed frustrated.

For all that there were omens of a standard win for Chelsea. Belletti,
for instance, split the defence with a devastating pass in the 26th
minute and Anelka tamed it with his first touch, only to bash the
finish over the bar. Two minutes later Scolari's team took the lead.
Tottenham were aggrieved that Joe Cole was not ruled offside before a
corner was awarded, but they should have coped with the set-piece.
Deco took it and Bent failed to clear before Belletti diverted the
ball into the net.

The leveller came peculiarly in first-half stoppage time. Bent headed
down and Frank Lampard, tackling Luka Modric, inadvertently fed the
ball back to the Tottenham striker. He finished with a shot through
the legs of Petr Cech. Were it not for the transfer market
machinations that kept Dimitar Berbatov away from Stamford Bridge,
there might have been minor involvement for the scorer yesterday.

The part Bent will play in the longer term is still in doubt, but that
goal could be seen as a telling episode in Tottenham's season. Ramos's
team did not put Chelsea in all that many difficulties and Modric,
specifically, was unable to show the zest expected of him. A share of
the points, nonetheless, will make Tottenham feel they can return to
normal business with fewer accusations of instability at White Hart
Lane.

The team, after all, was far from brittle. After the unfortunate
decline and sale of Paul Robinson it would have been a comfort for
Ramos that Heurelho Gomes was commanding in goal. His handling of
crosses was adhesive and while a couple of Lampard attempts to chip
him were entertaining the tall Brazilian dealt with them.

Tottenham, of course, may not have taken as much credit if they had
been under any obligation to attack. Berbatov's subtlety would have
been missed in a different type of match, where this side was supposed
to hold the initiative. Equally, it was apparent why Tottenham have
been so keen to buy Andrei Arshavin, considering how he links midfield
to attack.

For Chelsea there was a reminder that Scolari is not the guarantor of
verve. The efforts here were highly reminiscent of lacklustre
afternoons under Avram Grant and, indeed, Jose Mourinho. Both clubs
will have left with a sense of the long haul ahead. For once,
Tottenham must have been feeling cheerful about it.

Man of the match Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham)
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Indy:

Chelsea 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1: Scolari lets slip Kalou bid as a diversion

By Sam Wallace
Monday, 1 September 2008

Now we know that Luiz Felipe Scolari is not just a shrewd coach. He
has also read that chapter in the manager's handbook that tells you
what to do in the event of your team tossing away two points at home
to Tottenham. The answer? Tell everyone who Arsenal's transfer target
was earlier in the summer and hope they forget about the result.

It turns out Arsène Wenger made an offer for Salomon Kalou. It was
casually mentioned by Scolari yesterday as he discussed his striking
options in the absence of Didier Drogba. Arsenal made the enquiry when
they thought that Emmanuel Adebayor might leave them – possibly even
to Chelsea – and you suspect Wenger asked Chelsea to keep it to
themselves.

Asked why he considered Kalou as a central striker, Scolari cited
Wenger's opinion. "If you ask Arsène Wenger, he wants him [Kalou] as a
No 9 so why shouldn't I play him there?" Scolari said. "Arsène's an
intelligent man, so maybe he knows something."

No doubt his friend will be delighted to have his transfer business
made public but it served a purpose for Scolari. The Chelsea manager
is evidently not averse to being political when it suits him – he is
learning fast in the Premier League.

Nevertheless, it was difficult to dispel the notion that Juande Ramos
had the measure of another Chelsea manager yesterday, especially in
the way he changed his team after a fortuitous equaliser for Darren
Bent just before half-time. Before then Chelsea had run the game,
taken the lead through Juliano Belletti and generally looked like they
were about to extend Spurs' run of two defeats.

There are undoubtedly problems in Ramos's team. There is no Dimitar
Berbatov and too little Premier League experience in Luka Modric and
Giovani Dos Santos, who looked like autumn leaves in the slipstream of
the Chelsea juggernaut in the first half. But Ramos withdrew Dos
Santos and kept faith with Modric and Tottenham withstood the
onslaught.

With Tom Huddlestone on as the holding midfielder and Jermaine Jenas
as right-back, Ramos gave Spurs a touch of stability. He is adept at
thinking on his feet and is not afraid to make bold decisions – rather
like Jose Mourinho. Chelsea have not forgotten that he showed Avram
Grant how it was done in the Carling Cup final in February.

There were no Mourinho-style accusations of Spurs coming to Stamford
Bridge to "park the bus" in front of their own goal. Instead Scolari
was lyrical about the quality of Spurs' players and how difficult his
side found it to break them down. He must have been disappointed by
Deco, who was overly cautious after an early booking. Nicolas Anelka
did not suggest Drogba will have any trouble getting back in this team
after the international break.

Whether even Robinho would have made a difference was debatable
because without Drogba Chelsea do not have a target man in case of
emergency. In midfield, Didier Zokora had one of his best games for
Spurs, snapping around the heels of Frank Lampard and Michael Essien.
Gareth Bale excelled at left-back.

Chelsea's goal came on 27 minutes, when Bent moved to clear a corner
from Lampard at the near post and missed the ball. Belletti nipped
ahead of Zokora and toed the ball in from close range. Earlier
Lampard's chip had been touched over the bar by Heurelho Gomes but
Chelsea had precious few good chances.

They were punished just before half-time when Lampard and Modric
challenged and the ball rebounded into the path of Bent. His first
touch was dire and caught out everyone, including Petr Cech, making
the angle right for the striker to slip the ball into the net.
Tottenham were due a bit of luck but you would not bet on Bent keeping
his place ahead of Roman Pavlyuchenko for the match against Aston
Villa on 15 September.

Goals: Belletti (27) 1-0; Bent (45) 1-1.

Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Bosingwa, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole; Belletti
(Kalou, 76); J Cole (Malouda, 66), Lampard, Essien, Deco; Anelka (Di
Santo, 89). Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Bridge, Ferreira,
Alex.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-1-4-1): Gomes; Gunter (Huddlestone, 62),
Woodgate, King, Bale; Zokora; Bentley (O'Hara, 72), Jenas, Modric, Dos
Santos (Lennon, 59); Bent. Substitutes not used: Cesar (gk), Gilberto,
Dawson, Assou-Ekotto.

Referee: H Webb (South Yorkshire).

Booked: Chelsea Deco, J Cole, Bosingwa.

Man of the match: Zokora.

Attendance: 41,790.
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Telegraph:

Luka Modric tireless for Tottenham Hotspur as Chelsea stars fade
Chelsea (1) 1 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 1

By Henry Winter at Stamford Bridge

Luka Modric, his flaxen locks darkened by sweat, ran himself into the
ground so fully at the Bridge that his socks soon flopped around his
ankles. Ledley King, the man of the match, stretched out a leg to nick
the ball away from Michael Essien. Jonathan Woodgate, similarly
impressive, threw himself in the way of a Frank Lampard shot.
Collected together, such snapshots formed the big picture of Tottenham
Hotspur's ceaseless endeavour.

Spurs did not park their bus in front of their goal, as Jose Mourinho
once complained, nor even their Bentley; defending with organisation
and determination, Spurs were also committed to attack, particularly
in the second period. With the cloud called Dimitar Berbatov
disappearing north, the sun appears to be warming Tottenham, and there
was a real togetherness about them here.

If Spurs players are beginning to find their stride, certainly after
two false starts, further detail of the promising bigger picture was
provided by Juande Ramos' impact. His pursuit of Roman Pavlyuchenko is
inspired. Darren Bent scored for Spurs, equalising Juliano Belletti's
effort, but Ramos' 4-2-3-1 formation will carry even greater threat
when the lively Russian starts.

There is real substance to Ramos. When Giovani dos Santos looked
frustrated at being substituted, Spurs' manager gave him a
blood-chilling glare that brooked no arguments. Ramos' second-half
tactical switches also worked.

Tom Huddlestone brought some control to central midfield, Aaron Lennon
injected energy down the right and Jamie O'Hara arrived on the left
and combined well with Gareth Bale. Chelsea could not pour forward
completely because of the danger of a Spurs counter-attack.

Two dropped points should not alarm Chelsea unduly, particularly with
Manchester United slow out of the traps, and particularly if their own
reinforcements arrive soon. For all the talk of Robinho's little bit
of magic being needed to unlock the door, Chelsea could really have
done with Didier Drogba. Still recovering from injury, the Ivory Coast
battering-ram allows Chelsea an extra option, the direct ball. When
Luiz Felipe Scolari's men played it high towards Nicolas Anelka, he
was too often outmuscled by King and Woodgate.

What should worry Scolari was the way some of his players faded. Deco,
kept in reserve by Barcelona last season, needs to work on his core
fitness. Florent Malouda had no excuse, tiring after coming off the
bench. One of Chelsea's strengths, their ability to overpower teams,
will be enhanced when Michael Ballack and John Obi Mikel are fit.

Belletti may have scored Chelsea's goal but he is not an anchor man.
The right-back's presence in central midfield was partly to keep an
eye on Modric in what was loosely a 4-1-4-1 formation with Deco and
Joe Cole out wide, although often interchanging. This constant
movement afforded some early space for Lampard, whose wonderful chip
drew an equally superb tip-over save from Heurelho Gomes.

Spurs were far from daunted. With Didier Zokora and Jermaine Jenas
holding, and Zokora earning rich applause from the visiting contingent
with one lovely turn away from Deco, there was plenty of movement in
Tottenham's midfield.

Modric sought to support the initially isolated Bent through the
middle while Dos Santos and the right-sided David Bentley worked the
flanks. Giovani soon glided inside Belletti and cut the ball back to
Bent, whose shot deflected wide.

Chelsea fans were quick to find their voice, serenading the noisy
visitors with chants of "Berbatov'' and "going down''. Anelka should
have scored, controlling Belletti's neat pass expertly, but shooting
wide.

Sometimes it takes a tackle to stir a team to real life, and when the
excellent Essien thundered through 50-50s against Jenas and Zokora,
crashing a shot against the bar, Chelsea hopes were lifted. Woodgate
conceded the corner, which Deco swirled into the box, and Bent missed
badly. The ball continued to Belletti, who had lost Zokora, and a
touch took it past Gomes.

Spurs never gave up, levelling just before the break. When Bent's
nod-down found Modric, the Croatian's pass hit Lampard and deflected
back into Bent's path. His first touch was poor, carrying it slightly
to the left, but it served to entice Petr Cech from his line, allowing
Bent to slide the ball under the onrushing keeper and in.

Chelsea raised themselves briefly in the second half, Ashley Cole
shooting wide, Lampard firing just over and Ricardo Carvalho heading
into the Shed. Enlivened by Ramos' changes, Spurs responded. One
sinewy Bale run took him past Deco, and required the combined
strengths of Jose Bosingwa and Carvalho to bring him down. The
Welshman stood up, dusted himself down but swept his free-kick into
the wall.

Now it was Chelsea with sweat beads glistening. John Terry was
desperately fortunate to escape sanction for blocking off Modric, an
offence that may not be forgotten when the pair run into each other in
Zagreb next week. Scolari sought to influence the game, sending on
Salomon Kalou, who wasted a decent flick-on from Anelka, and the
promising Franco Di Santo, a prolific force in the reserves. Spurs
stood firm and held on to a deserved point.

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Mail;

Spurs hold out for a point despite Chelsea's Brazil trick
Chelsea 1 Tottenham 1


By Matt Lawton Last updated at 11:27 PM on 31st August 2008


Until Darren Bent followed a terrible first touch with a terrific
finish, Luiz Felipe Scolari once again looked like something of a
genius at Stamford Bridge.


The deployment of a Brazilian full back with no apparent ability to
defend in the midfield holding role would have baffled a watching
Claude Makelele as much as anybody.


But Juliano Belletti not only performed admirably in the position but
scored the goal that even Juande Ramos probably suspected would secure
a third successive League win for Chelsea and condemn Tottenham to a
third successive defeat.


Then, however, came three more surprises: Frank Lampard gave the ball
away, Bent seized on the opportunity with the same predatory instincts
he showed regularly prior to moving to White Hart Lane, and
Tottenham's defending excelled for the remaining 45 minutes.


A draw leaves Tottenham second from bottom of the Barclays Premier
League, but the importance of the point will not be lost on Ramos when
his side have lacked confidence as much as Bent has lacked support in
attack.


Ramos owed much to Didier Zokora at the base of a midfield five as
well as Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King at the heart of his defence.


All three were outstanding. Zokora was a destructive force in the
middle, Woodgate and King inspirational at the back. They were
brilliant and Scolari recognised as much, rejecting an invitation to
echo former boss Jose Mourinho in accusing them of 'parking the bus'
in front of their goal.


They parked three buses on this occasion, all at once.


As well as adding Roman Pavlyuchenko to a forward line who have
struggled in the absence of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, Ramos
needs to do everything he can he keep Woodgate and King on the field.


This match was as memorable for the fact that it represented King's
second appearance on the bounce, and relying on two centre halves who
have suffered so badly from injuries remains a problem for a club with
ambitions to break into the Champions League.


Judging by this, the Champions League is still a long way off. But
Spurs will return from the international break lifted by their success
in at least stopping Chelsea build on an impressive start to their
campaign.


If Scolari was frustrated, he did a fine job of disguising his true
feelings. Just as he did, it has to be said, when mention of the
controversy surrounding Robinho was made.

So Real Madrid are branding the conduct of Chelsea's directors as
deplorable? Sir Alex Ferguson will see the funny side of that one.


It's a bit like Woodgate accusing Dimitar Berbatov of giving
professional footballers a bad name.


Clearly, Scolari could use Robinho if only to increase the competition
for places in the Chelsea attack.


The Stamford Bridge team are not the same when Didier Drogba is
missing but the arrival of Robinho would lessen the chance of Deco and
Joe Cole performing as they did yesterday.


They were both poor, as was Nicolas Anelka. The France striker really
should have scored in the 26th minute.


It was a super ball forward from Belletti, dropping between Woodgate
and King and at the feet of Anelka. But a fine first touch was
followed by an awful finish and Anelka and Belletti both cursed the
sight of the half-volley flying over the crossbar.


Michael Essien struck the crossbar seconds later with a beautifully
struck shot and it was from the corner which followed that Belletti
scored his goal.


Deco's delivery may have been decent, but it was Bent's failure to
clear that enabled Belletti to turn the ball past Heurelho Gomes with
what looked like his left thigh.


Belletti ran immediately to Scolari to celebrate and the manager
responded by urging his countryman-to push further forward.


Turns out Scolari's knowledge of Brazilian football benefited Chelsea
yesterday, because he knew Belletti had played in the position during
his time at Sao Paulo.


The demeanour of Ramos suggested he was almost resigned to a third
defeat on the bounce.


But when Lampard tracked back to regain possession from Luka Modric,
he succeeded only in knocking the ball into the path of Bent.


One rather fortuitous touch then took Bent away from Ricardo Carvalho
before his finish was driven through the legs of an advancing Petr
Cech.


Chelsea did create opportunities after the break. Ashley Cole dragged
an effort across the face of Tottenham's goal and Lampard threatened
with a clever chip, having forced a fine save from Gomes with a
similar effort in the first half.


For all their dominance, though, Chelsea could not break through that
determined Tottenham triumvirate and in the end they were a little
lucky not to lose their captain for what looked like a cynical elbow
in the face of Modric.


Ramos was not amused.


Fabio Capello will be equally unamused if he now discovers that the
sight of Lampard limping away from Stamford Bridge last night amounts
to bad news for England.


But withdraw him Scolari no doubt will if there is any danger of
losing him when the Premier League resumes for Chelsea at Manchester
City on September 13.


Not even a manager with the international experience of Scolari is
going to worry about England after dropping two points here.