Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City - Tweets, Reports, Goals
Matt The Blue |
The tweets
The buildup…
OptaJoe: 4 - Chelsea & Man City have kept 4 PL clean sheets each in 2011-12, down from 8 and 6 respectively at this point last season. Open.
ChelseaAnalysis: Chelsea line-up vs. Man City: Cech - Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole - Ramires, Romeu, Meireles - Sturridge, Drogba, Mata.
ChelseaAnalysis: The only change from the side that started against Valencia being Bosingwa who replaces the suspended David Luiz.
BluesChronicle: A drizzly Stamford Bridge: Chelsea v Manchester City kicks off in 1hr 15. http://t.co/i0ECYsST
AndrewTurmer: No real shocks on either side then. Still scared when I picture Bosingwa trying to keep City out…
chelseaoffside: Manchester City XI v. Chelsea: Hart, Zabaleta, Clichy, Kompany, Lescott, Barry, Yaya Toure, Milner, Silva, Balotelli, Aguero.
InfostradaLive: Chelsea have conceded nearly twice as many goals per match in the PL fixtures which David Luiz has NOT played in than in those he has played.
OptaJoe: 24 - Man City have scored 24 PL away goals this season, more already than in 10 of their previous 14 PL campaigns. Boisterous.
BluesChronicle: Woooaaah. Driving rain at Stamford Bridge now, echoing the soundtrack of the Small Faces’ All OR Nothing. 15 mins to KO.
The first half…
Chelsea 0-1 Man City: Balotelli slices through the Blues defence, as if it were not there. Ivanovic the man out of position. Too easy.
— Dan Levene (@BluesChronicle) December 12, 2011
BluesChronicle: Goal: Chelsea 0-1 Man City. Balotelli.
Goal video: 2’ Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City - Balotelli
AndrewTurmer: What a start. Big game record continues…
BluesChronicle: Chelsea 0-1 Man City: Balotelli slices through the Blues defence, as if it were not there. Ivanovic the man out of position. Too easy.
BluesChronicle: Get this: Man City have a bobble-hat roadie. Just came out of the tunnel with woollen-wear for the bench. No job for him in Dubai.
BluesChronicle: Matthew Harding End singing: “Thursday nights, Channel 5.”
AndrewTurmer: Defence looks all over the place. Where’s Luiz when you need him hey?
ChelseaAnalysis: Ivanovic is too slow for City’s attack. We’ve missed David Luiz from minute 1.
BluesChronicle: AVB just signalled for JT to drop back off Balotelli, and leave him for Romeu to mark.
BluesChronicle: Amazing darting, turning, dribbling run from Aguero. Only the shot let him down: just wide.
TheChelsOrg: If there’s one player I wish we’d got it’s Aguero, should have bought him instead of Torres.
ChelseaRumours: Could’ve been 3-0 for City by now.
BluesChronicle: Big City shout for a penalty, as Silva goes down in the box. Ref is right on top of the situation, and waves for him to get up.
AndrewTurmer: We’re getting cut open at will. City in a different class to us at the minute.
chelseaoffside: We’re being overrun here.
BluesChronicle: A stoic chant of ‘COME ON CHELSEA’. The Blues being completely bossed by their visitors at the moment.
OptaJoe: 2 - Chelsea have conceded a home PL goal inside two mins for the first time since Aug 2004 (James Beattie for Southampton). Stunned.
ChelseaRumours: I haven’t seen an English side play this well in years.
TheChelsOrg: Yaya Toure slapped Mata around the head! Ref missed it… video evidence please FA?
BluesChronicle: Chelsea defence dealing with City attacks as if they were trying to stop-up a shower-head, one hole at a time. The flood just keeps coming.
ChelseaRumours: Bosingwa has been so so poor.
BluesChronicle: Best Chelsea chance yet, as a Mata attack finds Drogba, who twists and turns, before forcing Hart to push wide.
BluesChronicle: Drogba has another shot wide of target, then goes down holding his foot. Medical team rush on. Without him, we really are stuffed.
TheChelseaBlog: Come on Didier, we’ve forgotten the shot now - get up!
BluesChronicle: Watching replays of Balotelli goal, I think the correct terminology is that he went through Chelsea’s defence like a Sat-night vindaloo.
BluesChronicle: Drogba’s bright yellow boots are pacing the damp turf: no injury worries there.
AndrewTurmer: Tactical tweak…looks like 4-2-3-1 now. Some drastic changes needed.
Chelsea 1-1 Man City: Sturridge works down the right, and pulls back a ball for Meireles to volley in. SUPERB.
— Dan Levene (@BluesChronicle) December 12, 2011
BluesChronicle: GOOOOOAAAALLLL! CHELSEA 1-1 MAN CITY. MEIRELESSSSSS!
Goal video: 34’ Chelsea 1-1 Manchester City - Meireles
AndrewTurmer: Tactical tweak worked to PERFECTION!
BluesChronicle: Chelsea 1-1 Man City: Sturridge works down the right, and pulls back a ball for Meireles to volley in. SUPERB.
BluesChronicle: Yellow for Meireles: late(ish) tackle on Zabaleta.
OptaJoe: 8 - Man City have gone eight PL games without keeping a clean sheet within a single season for the first time since April 2006. Leaky.
AndrewTurmer: Stunning one touch football from City. Beautiful stuff.
chelseafc: Kompany picks up City’s first card, for a foul on Drogba.
henrywinter: Fabulous atmosphere. Total tumult. Loads of chants… “Thursday night, Channel 5” from #cfc is the cleanest.
Half time…
BluesChronicle: HT: Chelsea 1-1 Man City. A pulsating half of football. But for all City’s dominance, just the Balotelli goal. Great Meireles equaliser.
InfostradaLive: Chelsea have lost just two of their last 62 home matches in which scores were level at the break but one was against Man City (Feb 2010, 2-4).
BBCSport: “Man City will be as disappointed as they have been all season as they should be 3-0 up” Lee Dixon on Radio 5 live.
BluesChronicle: Chelsea team out for second half. No sign of City. This could be just the advantage we need.
TheChelsOrg: Just seen the Yaya kick, then slap on Mata again. Ref took no action - @thefadotcom really need to look into it.
The second half…
BluesChronicle: Sturridge just did a fantastic 360-turn on Balotelli, and left him for dead. Yellow for Clichy for pulling down Dan The Man.
ChelseaAnalysis: Did you see Yaya Toure there? Tried to kick Ramires while he was running.
TheChelsOrg: Mata making Toure and Kompany look silly.
BluesChronicle: Mata leaves the City right side for dead, before being felled by Kompany - who is already on a yellow. Ref shows no card.
ChelseaRumours: As far as I’m concerned, Yaya Toure and Kompany shouldn’t be on the pitch anymore. Milner perhaps too.
AndrewTurmer: How is Toure still on the pitch? So dirty.
TheChelsOrg: Every time we play them they kick us to fuck, about time one of them got their just deserts.
AndrewTurmer: Yesssss! Deserved red!
TheChelsOrg: Prophetic words! Clichy sent off!
TheChelsOrg: Half an hour to go against ten men.
chelseaoffside: Huge. We must take advantage. Come on lads!
OptaJoe: 3 - Manchester City have now been shown three red cards in their last six Premier League games. Rash.
BluesChronicle: The rain continues to tip down at Stamford Bridge, but is there a glint of sunshine ahead for Chelsea. 11 v 10.
chelseaoffside: Romeu booked for a nothing tackle. Absurd.
AndrewTurmer: Aguero off? Thanks Roberto.
AndrewTurmer: Tricky for AVB. Go for the win and risk the counter and embarrassing defeat to 10 men?
BluesChronicle: SO CLOSE! Bosingwa cross inches away from the advancing Drogba. How this game has changed: all Chelsea now.
ChelseaRumours: Balotelli from 30 yards, easy for Cech.
BluesChronicle: Don’t let anyone tell you the ref has turned this game. City’s indiscipline has done that. They could easily be down to eight men by now.
OptaJoe: 49 - Manchester City now have 49 PL red cards, one more than Manchester United despite playing 190 games fewer. Blues.
chelseafc: Lampard replaces goalscorer Meireles, 73 mins gone.
BluesChronicle: Yellow for Ramires.
BluesChronicle: Man City sub: De Jong on for Silva. Lots of boos for the man coming on.
TheChelsOrg: Mancini’s signalled his intention to sit and defend now, we just need to open them up.
BluesChronicle: Mancini trying anything he can now: has just brought on his paper teacup, which seems to be playing wide left.
AndrewTurmer: Game has kind of died. We look a little lost as to what to do next.
BluesChronicle: Another great chance for Chelsea: Drogba back heel to Ramires, who just can’t get enough of a strike on it. Collected by Hart.
BluesChronicle: PENALTY TO CHELSEA!
BluesChronicle: Lampard to take Chelsea’s penalty…
Chance created by Lampard, penalty converted by Lampard.Welcome back, Frank. #Chelsea #CFC
— TheChels.Org (@TheChelsOrg) December 12, 2011
BluesChronicle: GOOOOAAAALLLLL! CHELSEA 2-1 MAN CITY. LAMPAAAAARD PEN!
Goal video: 83’ Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City - Lampard (pen)
BluesChronicle: Chelsea 2-1 Man City: clear as crystal handball in the City box. And Lampard sends the pen home with a rifle shot. COME ON!
TheChelsOrg: Chance created by Lampard, penalty converted by Lampard. Welcome back, Frank.
BluesChronicle: Chelsea sub: Malouda on for Mata.
ChelseaAnalysis: No Torres today. Mikel comes on for Danny.
ChelseaAnalysis: AVB’s rightly gone defensive now. Mikel and Romeu holding in midfield.
ChelseaAnalysis: I liked that by Balotelli. High sportsmanship. Sturridge is a great player.
BluesChronicle: Stamford Bridge sings: “Super Chelsea, super Chelsea FC: by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.”
OptaJoe: 36 - Frank Lampard is now 20 successful penalties behind Alan Shearer’s PL record of 56 scored. Dispatched.
ChelseaRumours: THURSDAY NIGHTS, CHANNEL 5!
TheChelsOrg: Ramires has been kicked to buggery tonight. He’s just got up, and got on with it. Machine.
Full time…
TheChelsOrg: Get in! What a massive win for us and completely deserved!
BluesChronicle: FT: Chelsea 2-1 Man City. Chelsea overturn early City dominance (and goal) thanks to Meireles & Lampard goals. MAHOOSIVE result.
MacAree: That was an awful lot like the 2-1 win against United last year.
chelseafc: Best crowd performance of the season too! Great atmosphere, singing and encouraging throughout. Well done Blues fans!
ChelseaChadder: Lampard’s penalty was only his second ever #Chelsea goal as a substitute.
BluesChronicle: Chelsea deliver Man City’s first league defeat of the season. And what a game that was.
chelseayouth: Fucking go and write something negative about that.
The press reports
The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: "The upper reaches of the Premier League are once more a place of fascination and fallibility. This was Manchester City's first defeat in this competition since last season, when they were overcome at Everton on 7 May. They were hampered by the dismissal of the left-back Gaël Clichy with a second yellow card after he had fouled Ramires in the 58th minute. City lead the table by a mere two points, much to the satisfaction of a pursuing Manchester United. That, all the same, was an irrelevance to everyone at Stamford Bridge. The gap that Chelsea must close does still stand at a substantial seven points but outcomes of this sort should galvanise the squad and enhance the authority of the manager, André Villas‑Boas."
The Daily Telegraph, Henry Winter: "When the moment came, when the chance to prove his critics wrong arrived, Frank Lampard took his chance. He took responsibility for the late penalty, took the ball and drove it with unadulterated venom into the back of Manchester City’s net, bringing Chelsea a momentous victory. This was pure Lampard, pouring all his frustration at being again left on the bench into a constructive act for his club. He could have sulked, could have looked to link himself to another club but Lampard got his head down, remained the true professional, and revived Chelsea’s title ambitions."
The Independent, Sam Wallace: "He may not get from box-to-box as he once did, he may not score 20 goals in a season ever again and these days he does not get in Chelsea's first XI, but when there is a game to be won from the penalty spot at Stamford Bridge that job is still best left to Frank Lampard."
The Official Chelsea FC Website: "Having gone behind less than two minutes into the game against a side full of confidence, Chelsea might have crumbled but we did anything but, coming back into the game with determination, Raul Meireles levelling before the break and then Frank Lampard coming on to score a penalty winner late in the game. The league leaders had a penalty shout of their own turned down in the first half but then had Gael Clichy dismissed with just over an hour to play. By that stage the momentum was already with Andre Villas-Boas's team who kept pressing until the moment came to inflict a first league defeat of the season on the leaders and send Chelsea up to third."
The goals