Match Report: Chelsea 2 – 1 West Brom

By: Jamie | August 21st, 2011

Not a great win, but a win just the same. If we want to have any hope of reclaiming the league trophy, we need to win these games where we aren’t playing so well. And this time, we did.

Well, the first half was dire. Utterly awful. Especially our passing. It was that awful passing that helped contribute to the West Brom goal – Ramires sent a light pass toward Alex, who didn’t move toward it and thus got bullied off the ball. It was the kind of stupid, easily avoidable goal we tended to concede a lot last season during our exceptionally low months in the late fall/winter. And then, instead of using the goal to incite a response, we seemed to keep falling apart.

Fortunately, things seemed to come together a bit more in the second half. Malouda was on for Kalou before the halftime (and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in asking a big “wtf?” at Kalou still being in the starting eleven) but the breakthrough came with Nicolas Anelka. The first goal of the season seemed to be the kick in the ass we needed to get it together and try to win the game.

We’re still having trouble finishing, but West Brom were stubborn defensively and constantly blocked our shots and crosses into the box. Drogba came on for Torres and was pretty ineffective, and Ivanovic replaced Alex and should have earned us a penalty during one of our corner kicks. The ref, for the second week in a row, ignored our pleas.

Bosingwa, one of our brightest sparks in these opening matches, was the one to create the winning goal. I don’t have too many complaints about the Unibrowed One for the way he has started this season. I hope he keeps it up, considering our interests in the transfer market seem to have moved away from a right-back and onto the midfield.

I still think we move the ball too slow and have trouble figuring out how to break down defenses. We got away with it against West Brom, but what is going to happen when we get to the tougher matches against sides usually in the top ten of the table? It’s worrying, but the rumors of the Blues finally picking up a proper winger are encouraging.

Here are AVB’s post-match comments:

AVB mentions the crowd being anxious which contributed to the players’ being nervous – truth be told, Stamford Bridge was like a morgue during the match. Considering it was the first home match of the season, I thought the place would be rocking. That was disappointing. Hopefully we can get some more goals going in next weekend and help get the volume up at the Bridge.

Some Related Chelsea Posts:

MoTM Poll: Chelsea 2 – 1 West Brom

Category: Chelsea Team News, Fixtures, Match Reports, Premier League

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ph0bolus

I really hope these stories about Rajkovic going to Germany are not true. If so it seems we've lost yet another product of the youth academy, even though he didn't even spend that much time at the academy. Totally gutted if he does leave an Ivanovic+Rajkovic pairing at the back would of been impenetrable.
pfelds

i could care less on rakjovic, he has been a blue for awhile apparently, yet he has been on a multi-season loan for as long as i can remember, never seems to impress in those lesser leagues, and i guess is not in a position for a work visa, he is so damn obscure, i quite often forget he, and even matic, are on the clubs payroll.
ph0bolus

He can't get a work permit, because he can't get into the Serbian national team due to the fact that the defense is stacked with quality. With Alex being linked with a move to Juve it wouldn't hurt to have a 6'3 center back as a backup in case JT, Ivanovic, or Luiz gets injured. Also, Matic doesn't play for Chelsea anymore he was used as a makeweight in the Luiz transfer.
Mateo

i would like to point out the great job AVB did with the subs...not bacause i think Flo is doing great, but because i remember last season plenty games like this one with poor preformances, subs done at the 85th minute and 3 points lost... kalou's early sub was very simbolic in my opinion it sends a clear message to players to preform since the start of the game. it shows confidence and power from the manager which i think is a great thing
Maysam

In my opinion, the most amazing substitution was changing Torres with Drogba. We desperately needed a goal and keeping Torress on pitch seems to be the most common solution; however, adding Drogba to Torress could cost us width and West Brom is very tight in center. Boas brought Drogba in, we kept the width and finally scored ...
Gary

CHELSEA'S OFFICIAL SITE JUST CONFIRMED THE MATA DEAL
Wayne

I miss David Luiz :( There he is cheering them on. Love the pic Jamie.
Yoshi

Yep, I loved the pic too. Very family-esque :D
CharlieFineman

Finally, my very own Disqus profile!
CharlieFineman

But Chelsea website is a bit slow to react.
CharlieFineman

Valencia have just confirmed the sale of Mata on their website, all subject to medical, yay!
'El Valencia Club de Fútbol ha llegado a un principio de acuerdo con el Chelsea FC para el traspaso del futbolista Juan Manuel Mata. El acuerdo está sujeto a las pruebas médicas pertinentes. '
Guest

MAAAAAAAAAATAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
Buzzi

This is why I was glad when I saw the schedule-- We have a few relatively weaker/smaller clubs to build up and fine tune or play in the first few games to warm up the team, before we have to play a big club. Of course, that big club well be the biggest test being United, but it could be worse and we could have had them or City in the first game or two.
hailpantani

Typically biassed report from someone who is obviously used to seeing his spoilt pampered superstars getting their own way.

Whatever you do, don't under any circumstance give your opponents any credit for the way you played. West Brom play good quality football and are credited by most people with being a good team. They were unlucky not to get something out of the game.