Match Report: Stoke 0 – 0 Chelsea

By: Jamie | August 14th, 2011

Welcome to the Premier League, AVB.

Is this seat taken?

First: That shot from Mikel. Brilliant. I told you, the man is going to score this season.

Now – as Jack said, a draw away at Stoke isn’t exactly a bad result. Especially as we seemed to start a bit slow and Kenwyne Jones was winning headers all over the place against our defenders as Stoke lumped the ball forward. But we held out with Cech fantastic in goal, and we finally started to get a rhythm going as the second half started.

Our defense looked solid. Alex was a beast and I wish that he had gotten a chance at one of the freekicks. I also want to single out Bosingwa for a job well done – it’s nice to see someone actually taking on defenders and getting past them. He also did a good job defending, not just as an addition to the attack. We may yet get the pre-injury Bos of a few years ago back.

I still don’t understand why people still think we need to get rid of Mikel. I am firmly in the other camp. I think he’s great. Ramires as well. He nearly had a fantastic assist, if only someone had been bothering to run into the box and get on the end of that great cross after his superb run. Lampard may not have been at his best, but he worked hard to win the ball back and I hope he starts to make those storming runs into the box again.

We had about three penalty appeals – two of them involving Torres, who was being manhandled constantly at the apparently approval of Mark Halsey, the ref. The third was when Frank Lampard was clearly tripped in the box. But no dice and no luck, as usual (but doesn’t every team say that?). Anelka had the best opportunity to score, which our old nemesis, the crossbar, kept out. Why wasn’t he starting over Kalou? Oh, Kalou.

Torres was possibly the liveliest I’ve seen him since he arrived at the club, and he was named the Barclays Man of the Match. He made some great runs and cut past defenders in the box. If only we can get that finished product now. My only problem was that he seemed so keen to impress that he wouldn’t always pass when he should have.

My biggest complaint today, despite the positives, was that we fail to take advantage of any opportunity we might have to break forward when Stoke was out of position – usually on a set piece of theirs. We would run forward, stop, then pass backward instead of storming ahead. Entirely too much backpassing going on for my liking. Spread out, pass forward!

Post-match interview with Torres and JT:

All in all, not a bad outing at a place where it is notoriously difficult to pick up full points. The defense kept a clean sheet. We need to score, though. We need players to get in the box. We need to be quicker moving forward.

Some Related Chelsea Posts:

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

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Jack

No disrespect guys, but why are we discussing Kun at length? I'd much rather focus on the excellent performance we received from Torres, and the fact that had he enjoyed some decent service he probably would have bagged two - at least.
EthAn39

aguero is class. sky sports with the headline, "a star is born" after his debut... jesus some sectors of the brit press/epl fans make me nuts... i guess you can only pity the ignorant tho?
ASR

aguero seemed quite impressive today... too bad we didn't get him...
ph0bolus

My word Ageuro...Given it was at home to Swansea, but that second goal was an absolute screamer...We may have missed out on a great player..
Chelsung

They won over new boys with 4 to 0. But remember last year we trashed new boys WBA with 6-0. But we still couldnt win the league. Early days.
Mateo

anyone heard about Mikels father issue? such sad news
orthodoxyordeath

Sturridge and Torres are both playing with chips on their shoulders. Sturridge is having better results, but it's great to see nonetheless. I agree with Jamie, I think Mikel is quite good.
Gonner

im a liverpool fan but like chelsea 2 nd i am glad dat all of us drew (liverpool,chelsea nd arsenal) but fuk man utd! lucky bastards
Ray

I am not glad at all.
Sharinganfx

Kalou, is at best, just a super sub. He really just doesn't cut it does he? Once Sturridge is available and Lukaku is signed, don't really see him getting a look in at all. I think Anelka should've started instead of Kalou because of his ability to retain the ball and better dribbling, passing, shooting.

Torres was excellent but I feel like he was trying too much to be a false 9, trying to emulate Drogs by coming in deep to collect the ball. The problem was the wingers weren't good enough to replace him in the box so basically we ended up with no striker. The Stoke back four were all over him so that's probably why he had to come to collect + complete shit play from wingers, but as an assassin I like to see him stay around the box more.

We definitely have the best defense in the league so it's gonna be a tight race for the title and whether we can execute up front with the brutal precision of two seasons past.
Gary

Torres tried to dribble through the Stoke defence a
number of times yesterday and his efforts were appreciated. But it just
reinforces Chelsea’s need for a tricky winger/striker. There are players out
there who are specialized in what Torres attempted. Ronaldo and Neymar spring
to mind. What Torres attempted is Neymar’s bread & butter, and he does it
with twice the effect. Modric is the right answer for a playmaker but he cannot
dribble through a defence. Neymar’s tricks and skills scatter defences
regularly. If Modric is the next signing, we must follow up with Neymar. Yes, he
is young and has a big head, and Santos don’t want to let him go. But we must
go for what we need. I think Roman should make Santos an offer they cannot
refuse; we don’t need Neymar going to our opposition.
Afm4

excited to get a look at romeu now that esp are out of the u20
Ray

Kalou and Malouda were horrible.
Sloany

I totally agree watching the match i think our defense were brilliant aswell as ramires, mikel and torres. Aswell with the counter attacks there were so many opportunities to break on stoke from a set piece when they had both cb up there and we would play it out to malouda mainly and instead of him putting him putting his head down and taking on defenders or even getting his head up and trying to find torres he stopped turned around and played it back to a cb or even worse at one point played it back to bloody cech. Kalou didnt play well either one point should of put the header away. looking at this game i really do believe we need someone like neymar or hazard to come in and have sturridge on the opposite side someone that has pace and will take on players. other than that good performance so happy to see torres playing well.