Better teams than us will fall at the leading team in the country, and to be honest most won't even put up as good a display. Four was a bit harsh, but be honest---are you really surprised? At a ground we simply don't win on, against a team who's bench might have a decent shot at the title (and is making a fist of the cups), for an hour or so it looked like we might just about hold our own and come away with a point we'd snap their hands off for. Nah, not with our "defence".
Bramble and Johnsen restored to central defence with young Taylor continuing at left back. And for that first 60 minutes we did look alright. OK we didn't really threaten too much but hey, miracles not expected. But you just knew, knew, that it couldn't last. The warning signs had been there as Bramble and Johnsen conspired in a ridiculous passage of non-passing to gift Chelsea a golden chance only for the ball to power inexplicably wide. No such problems from the second chance. The entire midfield forgot that they should be doing something when they don't have the ball and allowed possibly the most dangerous midfielder in the control to stroll into the box and collect the ball. Lampard of course did finish.
That seemed to be the signal for a quick collapse of any pretence at being able to defend. Bramble, improved in recent weeks, again belied his apparent ability and strength to allow himself to be easily shrugged off for the second. The third and the fourth followed inevitably as, with some credit, we at least tried to look forward more. Weren't getting anywhere though. Kluivert again was completely ineffectual, touching the ball only when somewhere near the centre circle (in fairness, there wasn't a lot of service further up the pitch). Bellamy buzzed but again lacked much to really feed off. Dyer seemed sparked into life, probably by the thought he might impress someone---hopefully he will and can become someone else's post-christmas turkey. A nod to Bowyer who I thought actually had a good game stuck out on the right.
So, we lose to the best side in the country and one of the very best in Europe. Not a huge disaster it must be said. Move on, get over it. It is at least one of those games that most teams are going to lose. At least it's out the way. Nothing's changed. We still need defence from somewhere in the January sales. We still have to struggle on until then. The trouble with this league is the fixture list never gets that much easier for too long but hey, maybe we can be a tricky tie ourselves.
(@01:12)
