Clash of the Titans: Chelsea 2 - Manchester City 1

It was a putative clash of the titans at Stamford Bridge on Monday night, with the former Champions of England, Chelsea FC, hosting the once and possibly future champions from the city of Manchester.  Titanic amounts of money and even larger egos were at stake, pitting the noveau riche Russian oil Oligarch (who made his money the old fashioned way,  by stealing it) versus the nouveau riche Middle Eastern oil oligarch (who made his money the new fashioned way, by fleecing the West).  All eyes in the football world were turned squarely on London, as the title bout held repercussions up and down the table.  Straight to the match observations we go:

o Chelsea had it all to play for yesterday, entering the contest 10 points behind City in the table. A victory would also ensure that Chelsea moved to third in the standings. So how could they possibly have let the game begin so disastrously, allowing Mario Balotelli to waltz into the goal mouth, not a care in the world, and open the scoring before the home fans could even dry off their seats?  It was shocking defending, even by Chelsea's standards this year, as Balotelli made Branislav Ivanovic and Petr Cech look like rank amateurs on his way to scoring a goal in his eighth straight start.

o City opened the game looking like a schoolyard bully toying with the 80 pound weakling. Confident in possession, knocking the ball around this as if it was a Sunday kickabout at the park, City looked relaxed and comfortable in the hostile Stamford Bridge environment. On the rare occasion when they didn't have the ball, the Sky Blues were quick to close Chelsea down and forced repeated cheap turnovers from the home side, who opened the game looking almost as nervous as a very short nun at a penguin shoot.

It's Alive

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As if to prove that quantity is better than quality, here's Columnist Ed:

I’m guessing it was from a few inappropriate comments to the boss man about his relegation zone performance in the firm's fantasy league, or maybe it was that time I rubbed the top of his head at the firm holiday party in a crude attempt to make a wish (I don’t know, it just seemed like it would work at the time).  But for whatever the reason, I’ve been put on the Chelsea beat this week, so here are my comments on a team that’s seemed somewhat dysfunctional so far.

It was actually nice to see that Chelsea remember that they are a good team this week in their Champions League game against Valencia.  They looked bigger, stronger, faster, and more skilled than the Spanish side.  Except for Mata who merely looked more skilled.  Mata is an interesting player.  He’s so slow as to be a defensive liability.  He’s also small enough to get shoved around a bit.  However, he gets the most out of what he’s got by being a very creative player on offense.  I can see why he can’t get on the field for Spain, and against good teams I think his skill is not enough.  But he’s a nice player that has added a ton to the Chelsea attack this year.

Having Fernando Torres behind him has definitely changed the tempo of Didier Drogba.  There were many times over the past few years where he semed disinterested in the games he appeared in.  In the game against Valencia, I saw a statistic that nearly put me to the ground.  Drogba had run 3.83km in merely 30 minutes.  I think he went months last year without running that much.  Plus, he sprinted with the ball on a nice fast break, and put one in the net after a nice move in close space.  Drogba hasn’t lost any ability in his age; it’s all a matter of desire with him as far as I can see.  It would be a mistake to get rid of him and keep Torres.  It would be expensive to do what they should do and get rid of Torres to keep Drogba.

Working the Phones

Correspondent Ed Working the Phones Yesterday to Chase Down the Latest Transfer Rumors
photo by Darwin Bell	via PhotoRee

I can't get all that excited about the transfer day "drama" from last night.  Sure, I worked hard to try and get into the spirit: I watched Sky Sports' wall-to-wall HD Transfer Day Deadline broadcast along with the rest of you, religiously checked my Twitter feed every two to three minutes during the day, and searched longingly for some "in the know" sources to tip me off to the latest and greatest rumors.  But in the end, I was left with a general emptiness and overall sense of boredom.  In retrospect, I found myself wondering what all the fuss was about.

In the drama-laden world of SSN, Mikel Arteta went to Arsenal on a 'shock' transfer, Raul Meireles pulled a 'stunner' with his move to Chelsea, and the combination of Peter Crouch and Cameron Jerome will go a long way toward creating the 'twin towers' destructive front line at Stoke City.  But do any of these 'dramatic' transfers really matter? Has the title race been changed or altered in any meaningful way?  Methinks not, and it appears to me that every team bar Chelsea has effectively ceded the race to the two teams from Manchester, and Chelsea hasn't done nearly enough -- even including the signing of the wily Spaniard, Juan Mata -- to put any real fear into the heart of their two northern opponents.