Derby: Your Team’s Favorite Team

By: Jack | March 12th, 2008

Indeed. If you’re keen on erasing a poor result, dismissing crisis talk or just scoring a few dozen goals to boost your self-esteem, then Derby is your team.

Chelsea put on an electric show at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, shipping six past Roy Carroll and the Rams. Super Frank, soon to be replaced by one dynamic Brazilian, scored four himself in what was a superb performance from the Englishman. In fact, it was only dwarfed by the spectacular Joey Cole, who continued his unbeliveable run of form — and added some end product to go with his sublime skill this time around. It was Lamps’ third hat-trick at the club, and took his season tally to 17 goals in all competitions.

“It was a world heavyweight champion against a lightweight,” Derby manager Paul Jewell said. “I spent the night squirming in my seat. They are a great team, and we are not.”

Yeah, Derby isn’t a great team — egregiously poor on the night. But this result was more about Chelsea’s complete dominance. The Blues showed they can still make statements ~~against mid-level to poor competition~~. What’s more important is that we are only five points behind Arsenal with a game in hand. The Gunners travel to the Bridge in just 10 days, with that match set up to be a classic (though it’ll probably end up a bore draw).

Cole, who has been Chelsea’s spark plug over the past several weeks, put on a show for the home fans. Though he had lacked the final product in matches beforehand, Wednesday he was an assasin. Showing up on both wings to equal effect, Joey Boy carved effortlessly through the Derby defense all night long. Mazy runs, clinical delivery (for the most part) and unmatched running earned him a well-deserved standing ovation at the end.

Again, Grant decided against a two-prong attack at the front, leaving Drogba on the bench in favor of Le Sulk. I call him Le Sulk because he has added nothing to the cause in recent weeks. I mean, he should’ve had a pair Wednesday; instead, he decided he didn’t want to score — or really contribute. Back to Grant’s decision: If you can’t play the two of them together against Derby, who can you play them against? One of these days we’re going to need to imploy a pair up top, and this lack of faith is going to cost us. Regardless, Grant’s exclusion of Drogba further heightens speculation about his future in London me thinks.

Whatever though. It was a good result. Now, can we find some consistency? Thank you.