Rovers 0 Chelsea 2

[Alan75]

Rovers 0 Chelsea 2.

Most players hope to make an impact on their debuts but I would suggest that Rovers midweek signing Ooijer from PSV, will want to forget yesterdays debut against Chelsea.

Things went from bad to worse for Ooijer, after making a shaky start; he put Friedel under pressure with a poor back pass, before being involved in both of Chelsea’s goals. Early in the second half he was alleged to have pulled Terry’s which resulted in a penalty and with 10 minutes remaining he allowed Drugba to get past and fire home Chelsea’s second.

Up until the penalty Rovers had never looked threatening but in fairness although they had dominated the game, Rovers hadn’t threatened Chelsea’s goal either, apart from a Pedersen free kick that landed on the roof of the net.

If there had been any consistency by the referee, then Rovers themselves should have had a penalty before the Ooijer / Terry incident, when Chelsea’s Carvalho pulled Roberts’ shirt, as it was the first incident went unpunished and the second went in Chelsea’s favour.

After Lampard had converted the penalty Chelsea defended in depth bringing on Drogba as an outlet for the long balls lobbed out of defence, a tactic which ultimately resulted in their second goal, when the substitute brushed off Ooijer’s challenge before blasting a shot past a stranded Friedel into the net.

As against Everton midweek, Rovers had dominated the game but failed to create any chances, which in the second half resulted in Chelsea’s keeper only being called into action on two occasions, a free kick from Reid and a close range shot from McCarthy.

Whilst Bentley, Reid and Savage are adept at hassling and closing down the opposition, there is no creativity in midfield. The team is crying out for a midfield general, such as Tugay who can put his foot on the ball and create something for Roberts and McCarthy to capitalize on. As for Pedersen, once again yesterday he went missing for lengthy periods of the game and the team looked more balanced when he was replaced by Gallagher late on in the second half.

The man of the match again had to be Emerton who playing his second game at right back, was excellent and got more crosses into the box during this game than he did for three years as a winger. A player once the target of fans, could soon be the darling of the Blackburn End with performances of this nature.

As for Chelsea, on yesterdays performance they will not win many neutral fans over with their dire defensive tactics and could even struggle to retain their title. That said Rovers weren’t much better and now sit anchored to the bottom of the league with only one point in the bag.

Rovers: Friedel, Emerton, Khizanishvili, Ooijer, Neill, Bentley, Savage, Reid, Pedersen (Gallagher 69), McCarthy, Roberts.

Subs Not Used: Brown, Todd, Kuqi, Jeffers.

Booked: Savage, Ooijer, Khizanishvili.

Chelsea: Cech, Boulahrouz, Ricardo Carvalho, Terry, Bridge, Makelele (Mikel 88), Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Kalou (Drogba 56), Shevchenko (Wright-Phillips 83).

Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Paulo Ferreira.

Booked: Makelele.

Goals: Lampard 50 pen, Drogba 81.

Att: 19,398.

Ref: M Clattenburg