3rd Round

Date: Wednesday 22nd September 2010
Kick-off: 7:45pm (BST)
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Attendance: 41,511 including 1,500 away fans
Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Teams
Chelsea: Turnbull, Ferreira, Terry (Alex 46), Van Aanholt, Bruma, Ramires, Benayoun, Zhirkov, Sturridge, Anelka, Kakuta (Kalou 46 [McEachran 56])
Subs Not Used: Cech, Chalobah, Clifford, Mellis
Booked: Bruma

Goals: Van Aanholt 6, Anelka 70, 87pen

Newcastle: Krul, R.Taylor (Tiote 63), Coloccini (Williamson 63), Campbell, Ferguson (Barton 90), Smith, Gutierrez, Vuckic, Lovenkrands, Ameobi, Ranger.
Subs Not Used: Soderberg, Nolan, Carroll, Ben Arfa
Booked: R.Taylor, Ameobi, Tiote

Goals: Ranger 27, R.Taylor 32, Ameobi 49, 90

Manager Chris Hughton spoke afterwards:

”We showed great character and great finishing to get back in the game. The equaliser for them to get back 3-3 was the softest penalty you will ever see and it got them back in the game. Fortunately, it was us that stopped the game going to extra-time. I didn’t think it was a penalty. That is an understatement. It disappointed me because at that stage we hang on and win 3-2. If we had not got the winner and it had gone to extra-time, it would have been a travesty. This was a game that most people felt we couldn’t win irrespective of what side they put out. ‘It speaks volumes for the players in the changing room. Hopefully it will give us the momentum to go into the next few games. Shola showed why he is still at this football club. ‘He has had periods at the club where injuries have hindered his progress. That was the case last season. But on this form he is a top player.”

Two-goal hero Shola Ameobi added:

“The manager knows that I am unhappy – he knows that I want to be playing, like every other guy who is not in the team at the moment. For those of us who have not been playing a lot, this was a chance to show what we can do and I think we managed to do that. I have to do my talking on the pitch – hopefully that can push me up into the team on a regular basis. The boys have been doing fantastically this season and produced another great performance at Everton last weekend, so all I can do when given the opportunity is to score goals and play well. Outside the dressing room, no-one expected us to get a result, so it was remarkable. But we’ve taken confidence from our start to the season and are playing with freedom. Some of the younger lads showed a strength of character that was beyond their years.”

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said:

“It was not our priority. I wanted to win but I’m not so disappointed. I was happy not with the result but for the performance, absolutely. We had a fantastic reaction when we were 3-1 down. We had 10 against 11 and showed good spirit and good personality, which is the most important thing for us. You can count on the future with these players. They played with flair, personality and character. This was their competition, they had a fantastic experience tonight. The game was difficult by the end but we are happy with the performance of our players. The match was very good and we came back into the game. The referee played a good match, he was fair on the pitch. This is not a problem. It was a good performance.”

Match Report
A last minute header from Newcastle United striker Shola Ameobi sealed an incredible victory for the Magpies over Chelsea in the Carling Cup at Stamford Bridge. Ameobi’s second goal of the game came from a Jonas Gutierrez corner to give Newcastle their first win at Chelsea sine 1986.

Unfortunately for me my FoxTel IQ box decided to play up and only starting taping the match when I get up at 6am to watch it ‘live’ in delay. Therefore, I had to start watching the game in the 50th minute with us 3-1 up, fortunately that quickly eased my annoyance of missing the first-half.

The home side started the match in their usual fashion of this season and took the lead on 6 minute thanks to former Toon loanee Patrick Van Aanholt. The left-back was able to score following a series of Newcastle defensive blunders that included Sol Campbell colliding with goalkeeper Tim Krul, Nile Ranger giving the ball away and Krul failing to block the deflected shot. It looked like being a long evening for Toon Army.

Newcastle responded well and on 27 minutes their efforts were rewarded when following some fine passing football the ball found Shane Ferguson down the left flank and the impressive 18-year-old left-back wiped in a cross that just evaded Peter Lovenkrands, but found Nile Ranger at the back post who cracked the ball home to make it 1-1.

Five minutes later and Newcastle were in front. Shola Ameobi was brought down on the outside the area and free-kick specialist Ryan Taylor fired home a suburb strike that left Chelsea goalkeeper Ross Turnbull well beaten.

Newcastle continued where they left the first half off with Ameobi making it 3-1 four minutes into the second half. The Geordie born striker picked up a loose pass and drove forward with the ball before curling home a brilliant a low right footed strike. This was the frustrating Amoebi at his best, if we had seen more of this type of play from the big man then his Newcastle United career could have been so different.

After making a double switch at half-time injuries to Kalou and then Benayoun left Chelsea down to ten man for the remainder of the match. This only seemed to inspired the Blues as the took the game to Newcastle.

Following plenty of Chelsea pressure the home side got themselves back into the game on the 70 minute. Van Aanholt made a marauding overlapping run down the Chelsea left before pulling the ball back into the path of Nicolas Anelka for the French international to stylisly stroke the ball home.

Chelsea capped off a remarkable 10 man comeback after referee Phil Dowd awarded the home side a penalty which Anelka cooly slotted home. How Dowd saw a foul on Alex by Mike Williamson is anybody’s guess!

With the game heading towards extra-time Ameobi snatched a dramatic winner by heading home a Jonas Gutierrez’s corner. This sparked wild scene’s among the travelling fans housed in the Shed End. Newcastle have finally broke their Stamford bridge hoodoo and at the same time bundling the Champions out of the cup.

Liverpool, Man City, and Spurs were all dumped out the cup in this round so can we dare to dream? Of course we can but no doubt an away trip to Old Trafford or the Emirates will put a stop to that.

Andrew McTernan – Row ‘S’ Army

3rd Round

Chelsea (a)

Date: Thursday 23rd September 2010
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Kick-Off: 4:45am (AEST), 4:15am (SA), 2:45am (WA)
Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)
Australian TV: Live on Foxsports 2
Forum: Match Thread

Last 5 Form:
Chelsea
PL – Blackpool (h) W 4-0
UCL – MSK Zilina (a) W 4-1
PL – West Ham (a) W 3-1
PL – Stoke City (h) W 2-0
PL – Wigan (a) W 6-0

Newcastle United
PL – Everton (a) W 1-0
PL – Blackpool (h) L 0-2
PL – Wolves (a) D 1-1
CC2 – Accrington Stanley (a) W 3-2
PL – Aston Villa (h) W 6-0

Match Stats:
All time – Chelsea 61 wins, 37 draws, Newcastle 47 wins

Odds:
Brought to you in association with…

Chelsea $1.25, Draw $5.50, Newcastle $10.00

Did You Know?
Newcastle United have not won their last 21 matches at Stamford Bridge since they beat Chelsea in November 1986. Newcastle have also failed to win a single cup tie at Chelsea in eight attempts.

Team News:
Newcastle United will be without the suspended Xisco and James Perch who has picked up five bookings in the opening five matches of the season, while Steven Taylor and Dan Gosling remain out injured. Leon Best, Danny Simpson and Danny Guthrie are all now back in full training and will come into consideration.

Chelsea are set to rest Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, John Obi Mikel, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba, while Frank Lampard is still unfit. Confirmed starters are Ross Turnbull, Jeffrey Bruma, Gael Kakuta, Daniel Sturridge and Patrick van Aanholt, while John Terry could make his comeback for part of the game.

Match Preview
Manager Chris Hughton has indicated that he will be making ‘significant changes’ to his starting XI for this Carling Cup tie against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Hughton told the Evening Chronicle:

“It’s the ideal opportunity for them. I’ve said that I will make significant changes, but it’s a chance for those that haven’t played. It doesn’t come any tougher, especially with the form Chelsea are in, but nothing has changed my thinking from the day the draw was made. We knew how tough it would be. Nobody expects us to get anything from the game – and that’s a plus. When that is the case you can go there with less pressure on you. Whether you can enjoy it or not it’s always down to what the result is.”

The Aussie Mags forum members seem to be in full agreement with Hughton as the talk on the match thread for this game has everyone fully backing the manager’s policy. Their argument (and I guess Hughton’s too) is that the league comes first and that it is important to give the fringe & younger players some game time.

The policy of playing younger and reserve team players in the Carling Cup has become the norm for the top teams in the Premier League. The devaluation, or disrespect some might say, of the competition has become very apparent over the last 10 years or so.

Now while I don’t totally disagree with this policy in principal, at the end of the day we surely have entered this cup competition to try and give it our best shot of winning it. So I beg the question, since when did Newcastle United start to not take cup competitions seriously? And why, as our trophy cabinet is hardly overflowing.

The fact that Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has also indicated that he will be playing a very young Chelsea side means they will not be at full strength and are potential vulnerable. The rampaging Chelsea we’ve seen in the Premier League would have been unstoppable at home for even our strongest starting XI but not so the team Ancelotti will put out tomorrow morning.

I hope Chris Hughton’s policy works naturally. Hopefully the lads can sneak through and extend our run in the cup, but if we lose by the odd goal knowing an Andy Carroll, or an Hatem Ben Arfa, or an Jose Enrique would have made a difference will be very frustrating indeed.

Great to see Foxsports have picked this game up to show live here in Australia, their coverage of English football really is top notch given the fact that they don’t just show the games that are live in the UK, they actually try and show as many games live as they can.

Let’s hope we all enjoy it…HOWAY THE LADS!!!

Andrew McTernan – Row ‘S’ Army