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Dull, colourless and heavily abused Blues sneak out of Loftus Road with a win
Sarthak Dubey casts an eye on Chelsea's trip to QPR and wonders whether on current form, AVB's men can overcome Manchester United and Napoli...
29-Jan-2012 11:21:00 AM
By Sarthak Dubey
Getty Images
The FA, Queens Park Rangers and a mysterious suspect have exchanged quite a few parcels amongst themselves through Britain's Royal Mail over the past week. A few hours before kick off, it all seemed like Agatha Christie's famous detective Miss Marple was putting together the pieces and was ready to reveal the outcome - "QPR's twitter tyrant Joey Barton tweets; The FA sends him warning letters; Barton throws them in the bin; Mysterious man posts Anton Ferdinand a bullet; The FA forbid his team from shaking hands with the opponent. But who is the murderer?" Even Miss Marple would never say John Terry.
Mr. Chelsea (as John Terry is better known) is a man of immense mental strength and character. Since January 2010, leaving his controversial sagas of the past aside, to be booed, insulted and abused for every minute, of every away game, donning a blue shirt in the United Kingdom and to still have the vigour to keep shut, stand tall and be extremely professional for the football club you love is an exceptional achievement of its kind.
Even before we begin analysing the QPR - Chelsea FA Cup fourth round tie at Loftus Road, let's end the positives really quickly, because there were very few on offer in footballing and non-footballing terms:
1. John Terry and David Luiz were an excellent solid defensive pair with perfect positioning and deserved the clean sheet.
2. Crowd trouble was minimum with no cases of extremism or hooliganism reported.
3. There was no alcohol on sale in the away stand.
4. The media's bubble of clouding the 'handshake issue' was burst by The FA in a brief statement that prevented tension and unnecessary hatred from the crowd.
5. There were 22 footballers on the pitch after 97 minutes!
Every local derby is a special occassion in the community and a reason to cherish and celebrate the spirit of football. And with this tie being an FA Cup clash, it promised nothing less than a spectacle of football. But a complete lack of passion and penetration on the field, slowly sucked the passion and atmosphere off it.
With the Pensioners recording Barcelona-like possession stats with 66 percent, anybody would have believed that Chelsea steamrolled QPR by 7 or 8 goals! The first half was anything but remarkable or memorable. Most number of complete passes were exchanged meaninglessly between the defensive duo of Terry and Luiz as drought struck Fernando Torres stared foolishly at the proceedings.
The complete lack of penetration, flair, excitement and enigma of a fast and furious local derby made the viewing a forgettable experience. A neutral fan would watch and wonder who replaced the vintage blues with the 'blues of Saawariya' (pun intended).
Mata Is The Key
Everybody knows the importance of Juan Mata in the Chelsea side as he is the key that unlocks those daring passes, blasting runs, looping balls for the striker and much needed reserve energy. The Spaniard's well-placed penalty was the difference between the two sides on the scoresheet, after Daniel Sturridge was awarded a 'soft penalty' much to the anger and frustration of QPR supporters who, many may argue, must learn to cancel such decisions out with the one given to Helguson for a nudge by Luiz, the last time these teams met at Loftus Road in the Premier League.
Rarely do we see encounters with an away side maintaning 66 percent possession and treating the away pitch as home territory. Keeping in mind the hostile atmosphere and vulnerable crowd, Chelsea did a great job of ball retention, but the real question lies ahead - will this sort of possession work against the quick witted Napoli in the Champions League, who will pounce at the Chelsea goal at the slightest of opportunities? Or will it help against a resilient Manchester United in the league?
Andre Villas-Boas will have to force his men to be brave. They must not tremble at the possibility of playing a few more balls up front, or a few more attacking passes to the frontman Torres, or a few more crosses from the wingers or full backs. Even if many of them are unsuccessful ones, the goals will eventually come as the chances are being created at the least.
Sturridge and Mata look like the Pensioner's livewires on the field and the duo must combine more often to create opportunities to score. As Mark Hughes would admit with his old style honesty, Queens Park Rangers were not even good enough to be called 'the home side'. The former Chelsea man was pleased with the efforts of his players but was quoted saying, "We didn't do enough to win but easily could have got a draw out of the game."
The Welshman was bang on target with that statement as Chelsea knew how dull they were. With Lampard, Obi Mikel and now Ramires out, the blues must sort out their 'mini midfield crisis'. Did anybody hear about Federico Macheda's loan move to QPR from the red devils? The Italian was virtually invisible on television after his coming on as a half time substitute!
The gaffer AVB enjoyed the transition of form from the first half to the second after a strenuous training session for the Blues in 'sunshine Mallorca'.
"I think the excellent positive today was our change from the first half to the second," the 34-year-old highlighted. "We looked dominant for the whole game but in the first half we looked one-paced, slow in our possession, still creating danger but maybe with less incisiveness than in the second half and in the second half we were better and improved as a team."
Low on confidence and devoid-of-Josh McEachran Swansea are up next for the Stamford Bridge outfit. With 4 wins and a draw in all competitions, Chelsea are unbeaten in 2012 and must continue for a positive season ahead.
Mr. Chelsea (as John Terry is better known) is a man of immense mental strength and character. Since January 2010, leaving his controversial sagas of the past aside, to be booed, insulted and abused for every minute, of every away game, donning a blue shirt in the United Kingdom and to still have the vigour to keep shut, stand tall and be extremely professional for the football club you love is an exceptional achievement of its kind.
Even before we begin analysing the QPR - Chelsea FA Cup fourth round tie at Loftus Road, let's end the positives really quickly, because there were very few on offer in footballing and non-footballing terms:
1. John Terry and David Luiz were an excellent solid defensive pair with perfect positioning and deserved the clean sheet.
2. Crowd trouble was minimum with no cases of extremism or hooliganism reported.
3. There was no alcohol on sale in the away stand.
4. The media's bubble of clouding the 'handshake issue' was burst by The FA in a brief statement that prevented tension and unnecessary hatred from the crowd.
5. There were 22 footballers on the pitch after 97 minutes!
Every local derby is a special occassion in the community and a reason to cherish and celebrate the spirit of football. And with this tie being an FA Cup clash, it promised nothing less than a spectacle of football. But a complete lack of passion and penetration on the field, slowly sucked the passion and atmosphere off it.
With the Pensioners recording Barcelona-like possession stats with 66 percent, anybody would have believed that Chelsea steamrolled QPR by 7 or 8 goals! The first half was anything but remarkable or memorable. Most number of complete passes were exchanged meaninglessly between the defensive duo of Terry and Luiz as drought struck Fernando Torres stared foolishly at the proceedings.
The complete lack of penetration, flair, excitement and enigma of a fast and furious local derby made the viewing a forgettable experience. A neutral fan would watch and wonder who replaced the vintage blues with the 'blues of Saawariya' (pun intended).
Mata Is The Key
Everybody knows the importance of Juan Mata in the Chelsea side as he is the key that unlocks those daring passes, blasting runs, looping balls for the striker and much needed reserve energy. The Spaniard's well-placed penalty was the difference between the two sides on the scoresheet, after Daniel Sturridge was awarded a 'soft penalty' much to the anger and frustration of QPR supporters who, many may argue, must learn to cancel such decisions out with the one given to Helguson for a nudge by Luiz, the last time these teams met at Loftus Road in the Premier League.
Rarely do we see encounters with an away side maintaning 66 percent possession and treating the away pitch as home territory. Keeping in mind the hostile atmosphere and vulnerable crowd, Chelsea did a great job of ball retention, but the real question lies ahead - will this sort of possession work against the quick witted Napoli in the Champions League, who will pounce at the Chelsea goal at the slightest of opportunities? Or will it help against a resilient Manchester United in the league?
Andre Villas-Boas will have to force his men to be brave. They must not tremble at the possibility of playing a few more balls up front, or a few more attacking passes to the frontman Torres, or a few more crosses from the wingers or full backs. Even if many of them are unsuccessful ones, the goals will eventually come as the chances are being created at the least.
Sturridge and Mata look like the Pensioner's livewires on the field and the duo must combine more often to create opportunities to score. As Mark Hughes would admit with his old style honesty, Queens Park Rangers were not even good enough to be called 'the home side'. The former Chelsea man was pleased with the efforts of his players but was quoted saying, "We didn't do enough to win but easily could have got a draw out of the game."
The Welshman was bang on target with that statement as Chelsea knew how dull they were. With Lampard, Obi Mikel and now Ramires out, the blues must sort out their 'mini midfield crisis'. Did anybody hear about Federico Macheda's loan move to QPR from the red devils? The Italian was virtually invisible on television after his coming on as a half time substitute!
The gaffer AVB enjoyed the transition of form from the first half to the second after a strenuous training session for the Blues in 'sunshine Mallorca'.
"I think the excellent positive today was our change from the first half to the second," the 34-year-old highlighted. "We looked dominant for the whole game but in the first half we looked one-paced, slow in our possession, still creating danger but maybe with less incisiveness than in the second half and in the second half we were better and improved as a team."
Low on confidence and devoid-of-Josh McEachran Swansea are up next for the Stamford Bridge outfit. With 4 wins and a draw in all competitions, Chelsea are unbeaten in 2012 and must continue for a positive season ahead.
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