Mail:

Bosingwa's magic - Sugar Ray can only look on as Chelsea's Portuguese
star KO's Stoke By Mark Fleming
Stoke 0 Chelsea 2

After Muhammad Ali inspired the American Ryder Cup team to a famous
victory, Stoke wheeled out Sugar Ray Leonard in the hope of some
stardust from the former world champion being sprinkled on their
honest toilers.
By awarding Leonard, in town for a speaking engagement, the No 7 shirt
once worn with such distinction by Stanley Matthew, the home fans
began the match in high spirits as they were given something to cheer
lustily.
Memories were stirred and hopes were raised but the subsequent 90
minutes of action followed a sadly predictable pattern. Chelsea were
too good and Stoke could not make up for a gulf in class by throwing
their bodies on the line and fighting to the end.
So no surprises there. But, at least, the occasion confirmed the
arrival of yet an other highly-priced Chelsea star, who could be
destined to have an impact on the title race.
Step forward Jose Bosingwa, a 26- year-old Portuguese international,
who arrived at Stamford Bridge with a reputation as an exciting,
attacking full-back, and has already shown why the club forked out
£16.2 million to acquire his services.
But, if Chelsea diehards are already aware of the gem on their hands,
only yesterday did Bosingwa show the rest of the country just how good
he is.
According to Scolari, the Stoke defenders were unaware of the former
Porto defender's quality as he stole unnoticed into the penalty area
to control Frank Lampard's pass on his chest before volleying
sumptuously past Thomas Sorensen.
'They left Bosingwa free because they didn't think he was going to be
a threat,' said Scolari, with the hint of a smirk, 'and he took his
goal beautifully.'
The breakthrough, after 36 minutes, came at a time when Chelsea were
beginning to become frustrated The neat patterns they drew across the
Britannia Stadium pitch had, until then, lacked an end product through
the willingness of the Potters to regard no cause as lost.
Denied the services of their longthrow specialist and principal
weapon, Rory Delap, who damaged a hamstring at the end of training on
Friday, Stoke offered hardly a danger in attack, even though the burly
figure of Mamady Sidibe threw himself about and won a few headers.
Battle: Stoke's Dave Kitson challenges Bosingwa
But, when Florent Malouda's fierce drive cannoned off Sorensen's arm
and then the underside of the crossbar to leave Chelsea hanging to
their single-goal advantage, the prospect of a late Stoke rally kept
the fans interested.
But just when the locals were revving up for some giant-killing drama,
Leon Cort's blunder allowed the confident Londoners to play out the
final 15 minutes free of worry.
Again Bosingwa was involved, delivering a curling cross that the Stoke
central defender tried to control but merely played the ball into the
path of Nicolas Anelka.
The Frenchman, on as a substitute, had early blazed a clear
opportunity over the bar but made no mistake this time, drilling a low
shot under Steve Simonsen's body. Lampard, whose elegant control of
the midfield had been a feature, failed to accept the goal his
performance deserved when he drove a 10-yard shot into the ground
after Didier Drogba, in his first full appearance, had set him up.
Stoke might have had a late penalty when Ashley Cole caught Ricardo
Fuller in the area but referee Martin Atkinson decided that the
Jamaican's elaborate fall was not worthy of spot-kick, even though TV
replays confirmed that there was contact.
The afternoon was a tale of the expected. Chelsea are a strong,
skilful side who have added to their quality with the signing of
Bosingwa and certainly could regain the title, particularly if they
can overcome potentially awkward matches with such efficiency - which,
perhaps significantly, Liverpool could not achieve at Anfield last
week. As for Stoke, they certainly work their socks off and make life
tough for the opposition. But will that be enough?
'The second goal killed us,' said manager Tony Pulis. 'We're
disappointed because we defended solidly and were still in the game at
that point.
'But I take nothing away from Chelsea, who are a fantastic team. When
they break it's like defending against the Red Arrows - or maybe the
Blue Arrows. We've had a tough start but we must make sure we don't
get down in the dumps.' Their future will be decided against lesser
opposition than Chelsea.

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Times
September 27, 2008

Chelsea choke fiery Stoke
Stoke 0 Chelsea 2


John Aizlewood at Britannia stadium

SERENDIPITY works in many different ways. Having spent the week
grappling with just how their team of all talents might combat Stoke
City's blunderbuss weapon of choice, Rory Delap's long throws, Chelsea
arrived at their first league fixture in the Potteries since 1988 to
find Delap had been waylaid by a hamstring injury sustained at the
very end of Friday's training.

As it was, so dominant were Chelsea that Stoke had to wait 72 minutes
to earn a throw-in in what would have been Delap territory. Then,
predictably, Danny Higginbotham's long but comparatively short effort
was meat and drink to Alex and John Terry, the unyielding homunculuses
of Chelsea's rearguard.

Even so, Chelsea had to contend with a Stoke buoyed by last week's
heroic point at Anfield, the Premiers League's most cacophonous crowd
(including the unlikely figure of Sugar Ray Leonard, who tried the red
and white stripes for size before kick off) and the growing belief
that Tony Pulis's band of artisans might embarrass the naysayers and
actually warrant their place at the top table.

Chelsea's week of heading practice might have been in vain, but they
had done other homework. From first to last, they out-Stoked Stoke,
eschewing width on the Premier League's narrowest, most
long-throw-friendly pitch and, seeing if the clothes of the underdog
fitted, they harassed and harried their hosts.

Frank Lampard, John Obi Mikel and Michael Ballack, midfield terriers
who were not too proud to graft, snapped at the heels of Stoke's
startled midfield, while Chelsea's defence refused to cede territory.

When they rolled forwards, Chelsea's labourers reminded us that they
are, in truth, artisans and only Thomas Sorensen's left boot foiled
Didier Drogba in the 14th minute after Lampard's majestic through ball
had unpicked Stoke's defensive locks.

"A difficult game," admitted Chelsea manager Luis Felipe Scolari.
"First I want to win and second play beautiful football, but it's
impossible to play beautiful football when the other team is just
waiting for you to make a mistake." For all Leon Cort and Abdoulaye
Faye's trojan defending, the home side struggled to cross the halfway
line and, as Chelsea shots rained in, the bursting of Stoke's dam was
inevitable.

When the opener came, it was sublime. Irony of ironies, it began with
a long throw, albeit a giant hurl from goalkeeper Petr Cech. Jose
Boswinga linked with Salomon Kalou and kept on running into the
penalty area where he collected another glorious Lampard ball on his
chest, before belting home his first Premier League goal with the
insouciance of a born executioner.

"Their defence made a mistake," noted Scolari. "They didn't expect
Boswinga to be in that position."

After the break, Chelsea continued where they left off. Soon, Sorensen
was stretching out a hopeful hand to tip Florent Malouda's piledriver
onto the underside of the bar. Ricardo Fuller — confined to the bench
by a virus — had replaced Dave Kitson but Stoke's problem still lay
with their inability to serve their strikers in the face of Chelsea's
whiplash sortees forwards and ferocious midfield toil.

Yet, football's immutable laws dictated that somewhere along the line,
a chance would fall to Stoke. Said chance fell in the 61st minute.
Liam Lawrence floated in a corner.

Cort leapt above the pack to make a firm headed connection, only to
look back in anguish as Mikel strained every last neck sinew to nod
off the line.

They would not come closer, but such was Stoke's indomitable spirit
that they began to threaten, albeit gingerly, and without being in
severe peril, Cech twice had to move swiftly to foil Fuller. Chelsea's
response was to crush such impertinence at once.

Boswinga whizzed down the right with coltish enthusiasm. His low cross
cannoned off Cort, a doughty presence all afternoon but who had had
slipped at precisely the wrong moment and fell kindly for the
typically mercurial Nicolas Anelka, who showed no mercy. There would
be no glorious reprieve for Stoke and Chelsea cruised home with
neither fuss nor ado.

Indeed, there might have been further Chelsea goals for Ballack and
Lampard, but a combination of Sorensen's exemplary positioning and
marginally wayward finishing kept the score decent.

"Defending against Chelsea is like defending against the Red Arrows,"
sighed Pulis. "They suck you in and then they drag you all over the
shop. We could have pushed on more in the first half, but I'm pleased
at how we competed in the

second. The important thing now is that we don't get down in the dumps."

For Chelsea, who will face the Romanians of Cluj in the Champions
League on Wednesday without the injured Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho and
Deco, further indication that there is iron aplenty in their soul. For
Stoke, no disgrace, but a sobering warning that a giant heart is
sometimes not enough

STOKE: Sorensen 7, Griffin 5, Cort 6, Abdoulaye Faye 7, Higginbotham
5, Lawrence 5 (Tonge 65min), Olofinjana 6, Diao 7, Cresswell 5, Kitson
5 (Fuller 52min, 6), Sidibe 6 (Amdy Faye 81)

CHELSEA: Cech 6, Bosingwa 7, Terry 6, Alex 6, Cole 6, Ballack 7
(Ferreira 89min), Obi Mikel 7, Lampard 7, Kalou 6 (Anelka 46min, 6),
Malouda 6, Drogba 6 (Belletti 73min)

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Telegraph:

Chelsea thankful for sleek Jose Bosingwa
Stoke City (0) 0 Chelsea (1) 2

By Patrick Barclay

Chelsea can cope with just about anything the Premier League can throw
at them. Or not, as the case may be. Here, though Stoke lacked the
hurling prowess of Rory Delap, it was a proper contest for a 24-minute
period between the advent of Ricardo Fuller, the newcomers' most
exciting feature even when he is suffering from the after-effects of a
virus, and the aspiring champions' second goal, scored by the
substitute Nicolas Anelka.

That was enough to stave off boredom pangs. Stoke, having taken a
point at Liverpool last weekend, could not quite claim another in
front of the whole of their admirable support. But they knew promotion
would entail a struggle and, having met Aston Villa (whom they beat)
as well as Champions League finalists from each of the past two
seasons, need not be too daunted by the long remainder of their
survival test.

"They are difficult to play against,'' said Luiz Felipe Scolari of
Tony Pulis's physical but fair team. "If I can play beautiful
football,'' the Chelsea manager added, "I will. But it's not easy
against a team who want to play only off your mistakes.'' Chelsea made
few enough of those, delighting Scolari. Pulis, by contrast, rued the
error by Leon Cort that helped Anelka to end a contest that had been
swung the visitors' way by an excellent goal from the Portugal
right-back, Jose Bosingwa.

Pre-season, while Scolari was welcoming to Stamford Bridge the sleek
Bosingwa, with whom he had spent the earlier part of the summer at
Euro 2008, Pulis contented himself with the more prosaic Andy Griffin
at right-back. This is the stark reality of the Premier League and yet
the wonders of modern coaching (and Pulis works hard at his job) can
close the gap. "I'm pleased,'' said Pulis. "We've played two top teams
and done very, very well.'' As long as morale remains buoyant, that
should continue.

Scolari had been respectful to his opponents in the build-up and no
wonder; when it comes to taking full advantage of the rules, as Pulis
does in narrowing the pitch here in order to optimise aspects of his
team's style including the long throws of Delap, the Brazilian makes
the Welshman seem a purist. Maybe Scolari has reformed since leaving
Brazil, but there he would go to the lengths of ordering ball-boys to
delay returning balls to the pitch, or to throw on two, if he wanted
the opposition's rhythm to be disrupted.

Coming from the relatively cold and muddy southern state of Rio Grande
do Sul, moreover, Scolari understands rudimentary football and may
even have been looking forward to the challenge presented by Delap's
throws until it was disclosed that the midfielder would be missing
with a hamstring problem. Just as frustratingly for Pulis, Fuller had
to sit on the bench for 52 minutes. But there was Mamady Sidibe, whose
deft turn prompted John Terry to wrestle him to the ground: a
privilege the FA appear to believe should come with the England
captaincy. At any rate Martin Atkinson, no doubt having noted the
rescinding of Terry's red card at Manchester City, settled for a
lecture when yellow was required. And the football in that opening
half? The first sustained passage of sweet skill was discerned in the
36th minute – and gave Chelsea the lead. Bosingwa began this move by
surging down the flank and finding Salomon Kalou. On the ball went to
Frank Lampard and, again, Bosingwa, who had continued his run and,
taming Lampard's chip with his chest, cleverly used its bounce in
driving past Thomas Sorensen from a narrow angle.

The atmosphere created by the Stoke fans was hardly affected by the
setback and, after Abdoulaye Faye had blundered and Sorensen been
obliged to divert Florent Malouda's shot against the crossbar, Pulis
cheered them by sending on Fuller. Soon Faye, from a corner, would
have equalised but for John Obi Mikel's appearance near the goal-line.
Another mistake was, however, to kill Stoke off, Cort inelegantly
stooping to Bosingwa's routine cross and Anelka putting a low shot
beyond Sorensen.

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Indy:


Stoke City 0 Chelsea 2: Stoke's brave efforts derailed by Bosingwa's
touches of class

By Steve Tongue at the Britannia Stadium
Sunday, 28 September 2008


Another lesson in reality for a Premier League newcomer. Against a
team missing Deco and Joe Cole, Stoke City kept out Didier Drogba,
Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack, only to find a £16 million
right-back scoring one goal and making another. Jose Bosingwa, much
the best of the many expensive players Chelsea have signed in that
position, was on the mark for the first time since joining from Porto
and after a brave rally by Tony Pulis's side he created a goal for
Nicolas Anelka, a £15m substitute.

Lampard and Ballack were excellent in midfield, an area Stoke tend to
bypass in moving from back to front with maximum speed. Although
parking several buses in the Anfield goalmouth earned a 0-0 draw last
week, in driving forward at home they were always vulnerable to
Chelsea's more sophisticated breaks.

Even Luiz Felipe Scolari had not seen a weapon like Rory Delap's huge
throw-ins, but the Republic of Ireland international was declared
unfit. Deprived of that threat, Stoke brought in the big striker
Mamady Sidibe as a target for their clearances and set-pieces, with
his partner, Dave Kitson, looking largely in vain for the second ball
and knock-downs. Chelsea supporters disdainfully bawling "hoof!" at
every long ball must have gone home with sore throats.

"A difficult game," Scolari said. "It's sometimes impossible to play
beautiful football. The other team sometimes don't try to play. First
win the game. Then if it's possible, play beautiful football."

Stoke hoped to capitalise on corners instead of throws, the irony
being that as soon as they won one, after 35 minutes, they found
Chelsea breaking upfield to score. The corner was nodded back across
goal to Sidibe, who could manage no power in his header at the far
post. Petr Cech cleared and Bosingwa went down the right, feeding
Salomon Kalou, who passed inside to Lampard. A chip to Bosingwa and
the full-back chested down and scored with a shot across the
goalkeeper that Andy Griffin, racing back, could not quite keep out.

Stoke had been pinned back for the first quarter of an hour. Early on,
Ballack had a 25-yard shot pushed over the bar by Thomas Sorensen and
from the resulting corner the goalkeeper plunged to save Ballack's
header at John Terry's feet. Ballack's free-kick then flew off the
wall for a corner, and when the midfielder Seyi Olofinjana lost the
ball, Lampard put Drogba clear and Sorensen had to save with his foot.

Stoke left the pitch at half-time to appreciative applause, returning
to find Chelsea bringing on Anelka for the injured Kalou and almost
scoring again. Abdoulaye Faye presented possession to Florent Malouda
, Sorensen having to divert the swerving shot on to the bar with his
forearm.

Scolari, who has made a virtue of sticking to the same personnel and
formation as much as possible, kept to the same 4-3-3 for a while with
Anelka out on the right, from where he wasted one good chance by
shooting high and wide. So strongly did Stoke push, nevertheless, that
with 20 minutes to play it was felt necessary to introduce Juliano
Belletti as an extra midfield player. Pulis, meanwhile, sent on
another beefy striker, Ricardo Fuller, and came desperately close to
equalising. Leon Cort met Liam Lawrence's corner with a firm header
that had the beating of Cech, but John Obi Mikel cleared off the line.

One error, however, and they were done for. Bosingwa swung in a low
cross from the right and Cort merely cushioned it straight to Anelka,
who put the seal on a sixth successive away win. "It's like defending
against the red arrows – or the blue arrows," Pulis said. "But I'm
very pleased that we've played two top teams and competed very well."


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Observer

Bosingwa draws Stoke sting
Stoke City 0
Chelsea 2 Bosingwa 36, Anelka 76

Duncan Castles at the Britannia Stadium

Jose Bosingwa is congratulated by Salamon Kalou after scoring his
first Chelsea goal. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Who would have thought the Premier League's first Brazilian boss would
relish an encounter like this? Long-ball, body-bruising Stoke City the
weekend before a Champions League away trip should be a recipe for
calamity, yet Luiz Felipe Scolari saw it as a joyful challenge to his
old Gaucho scrapper's spirit.

As he had been in his days as a brutal stopper on the rough pitches of
Rio Grande do Sul, Scolari had his squad steeled for the battle. As
he'd guided his Brazil and Portugal teams through tournaments, he
ensured Chelsea's skills were not forgotten in the physicality.

A goal in either half returned them - at least temporarily - to the
summit of the Premier League where they should not be far from when
Scolari's first English season comes to its conclusion.

'Sometimes it's impossible to play beautiful football,' he said. 'We
need to construct first, win the game. Sometimes we try to play and
the other team tries only to play with your mistakes. It's not easy
but today my team played with a good position on the pitch and for me
that's beautiful.I know my team, they play as I want. For me they play
fantastic football because I am coach and I don't see it the same as
fans.'

There had been civility in Stoke's teamsheet. Rory Delap, and the
'incredible' long throws that Scolari spent three days preparing a
solution for, was absent after a hamstring strain. A raucous home
support was less welcoming, roaring lusty delight as Stoke barrelled
into Chelsea from kick-off.

Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Essien short of their own best
eleven, Chelsea's intention was to set the tone with as positive an
opening as possible. Frank Lampard's craftily chipped pass to Didier
Drogba came close to delivering one, only for Thomas Sorensen to parry
the forward's finish.

Chelsea's opening goal was a thing of beauty, started and emphatically
completed by José Bosingwa. Taking possession 10 yards inside Stoke's
half, the Portugal right back laid the ball off to Salomon Kalou then
sprinted into the box to reclaim it from Lampard. Finally, came a
vicious shot, propelled abreast of goalkeeper and off Andy Griffin's
chest.

Though John Terry resorted to the rugby-tackle defending that landed
him in trouble at Manchester City, Chelsea's area did not come under
threat until the second half. By then Chelsea's lead might have
doubled as Lampard's shot deflected a foot wide and Sorensen
strong-armed a raking Florent Malouda drive on to the crossbar.

Malouda signalled a Chelsea lapse in petulantly standing over a Stoke
free-kick at the cost of a shove in the chest from Griffin and a
mutual yellow card. Some loose passing allowed the home team
sufficient dead balls to frighten, particularly when Leon Cort drew
John Obi Mikel into a goalline clearance.

Chelsea, however, had a salve for touchline concerns. Bosingwa
attacked Stoke's left flank before crossing toward the penalty spot.
Though Cort read the centre, he could not control it, leaving Nicolas
Anelka with a chance even the profligate Frenchman could not miss.
'That killed it for us,' said Tony Pulis. 'But we've played well in
some difficult games. We must not get down in the dumps.'

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

Nick Dunn, StokeCity.rivals.net forum

This match came straight after the Liverpool game and we weren't
expecting points from either, so we were already ahead. It's always
hard to concede an own goal, which it was in my view, early on. But we
made Chelsea work for the victory. Delap being out injured cut off one
of our avenues of attack, which wasn't helpful. We were spirited, but
it's always a concern when one of their players costs more than our
entire squad! In the second half we were way more spirited and had a
few decent chances. We conceded a second, but our players didn't let
their heads go down and we avoided any 5-0 or so scoreline.

The fan's player ratings Sorensen 8; Griffin 7, Cort 6, Ab Faye 8,
Higginbotham 8; Lawrence 7, Tonge 7, Diao 7, Olofinjana 6, Cresswell
6; Sidibe 7, Kitson 6 Fuller 8

Trizia Fiorellino, Chair, Chelsea Supporters Group

Stoke harried us really well. We lacked creativity without Joe Cole
and Deco, so struggled to get the ball to Drogba, who had go out to
get it himself. Still, it was the kind of workmanlike performance that
teams need to put on every now and again, and we did very well
considering our absentees. Scolari changed it around in the second
half - Anelka came on and we started holding the ball up better. Stoke
went after us with a bit more bite and they should've had a goal.
However, class showed in the end. When we scored we were far more
comfortable than them and we looked for more diverse ways of getting
the ball into the box.

The fan's player ratings Cech 8; Bosingwa 9, Alex 8, Terry 8, A Cole
8; Mikel 8; Ballack 7 Lampard 7; Kalou 7 (Anelka ht 6), Drogba 7
(Belletti 8), Malouda 7

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NOTW:


STOKE CITY 0, CHELSEA 2
Big Phil Scolari delighted with gritty win

From ROB BEASLEY at The Britannia Stadium, 27/09/2008

BRILLIANT Brazilian football it wasn't but Phil Scolari still
applauded his stars after they showed they can win ugly, too.
Stoke may not be pretty to watch — but they are pretty damn difficult to beat.

Ask Liverpool and Aston Villa.

So the Chelsea boss was thrilled with his side's disciplined display,
raving at how his men kept their cool, their patience and their shape.

No-nonsense Stoke certainly made the millionaires from the capital
battle every inch of the way.

Click here to see what real Stoke and Chelsea fans think of this game
- and to have your say

But credit to the Londoners — first they coped with it, then they
countered it and, finally, they conquered it.

And on the final whistle Scolari gave a contented nod of approval at a
job well done.

Big Phil said: "The first aim was to win the game, the second was to
play beautiful. Sometimes it is impossible to play beautiful football
— and today it was difficult.


"But it was still beautiful for me to see my team out on the pitch.

"I see fantastic football because I am the coach.

"When we lose the ball I look to see who is covering on the left side,
the right and the middle. Today my players were in the right
positions.

"Sometimes we didn't pass the right ball, sometimes we chose the wrong
time to shoot, but we did not make a real mistake.

"We knew if we made a mistake they would be on to us."

Stoke were full of effort and endeavour but Chelsea's superior class
told in the end.

Man of the match Jose Bosingwa fired them in front after 36 minutes
after a classic Blues attack.

Praise
The right-back rampaged forward before laying off a pass to Didier Drogba.

He knocked it wide to Frank Lampard on the touchline while Bosingwa
continued his charge into the box. England star picked out his run
perfectly and Bosingwa took full advantage, aiming a terrific shot
beyond Thomas Sorensen and in off luckless Andy Griffiths on the line.

The Portugal international has been a revelation since his £16million
summer move from Porto.

And Scolari was full of praise.

Big Phil said: "He may have been unknown in England before but now
everyone in the world knows he is a very good player.

"He goes forward 200 times in a game but also keeps his position very
well. He's very good for us."

So good for Chelsea that he followed up netting the opener by creating
the second.

Credit
It was his ball in that caught out Stoke centre-back Leon Cort.

Cort lost his feet trying to clear and only succeeded in presenting
the ball to sub Nicolas Anelka, who fired home a first-time shot with
Cort on the turf and powerless to react. Job done. Match won.

And won well because the scoreline could have been another four- or five-nil.

Keeper Sorensen deserves credit, too. He tipped over an early long-
range effort from Michael Ballack, saved bravely at the feet of
Drogba, and had no chance of stopping Bosingwa's strike.

Anelka blazed over the bar on 65 minutes and although his goal made
amends, there was no such luck for the badly out-of-sorts Ballack.
After a match littered with misplaced passes he then lashed a
close-range effort wide. He almost atoned when he set up Lamps in the
dying seconds but, for once, Lamps' finishing was found wanting.

Tough
From barely eight yards out he could only tamely prod the ball
straight at Sorensen.

Stoke have come through the toughest of baptisms. They've faced Villa,
Liverpool, Everton and Chelsea and have never been over-run.

Relief is in sight. Next up, crisis- club Portsmouth and then Spurs.

Tony Pullis can't wait.

He confessed: "It's been a really tough start but we must not get down
in the dumps.

"We got a point at Anfield and today faced a top, top team and gave
them a real game.

"I was thinking 'We might get back into this' but then Corty lost his
footing and the ball's in the net.

"But we have to take the positives from it and go again."