Still unlucky, still playing well, still getting beat - Chelsea report

If you got points in football for playing well we’d be comfortably safe now, in fact probably challenging for Europe. So many times this season we’ve heard the same thing: ‘Played well, unlucky not to score, will still be okay’. No doubt the same will be said on Match of the day tonight and by other assorted pundits as we gave Chelsea a good game today and were the better team, but ultimately still lost. The record books will show a 0-1 victory with an early goal and it will appear, to the outsider, as though Chelsea controlled the game, got the goal and then were comfortable sitting on that lead. In truth it wasn’t like that at all. However, despite being second best and despite being a bit lucky they still did win and did what they needed to. That’s what separates the best teams from the rest.

The team was once again changed round with Reid and O’Donovan coming back in to the line up and a very welcome return for Carlos Edwards but no place for Richardson, Murphy or Chopra in the 16. The latter 2 isn’t too surprising as Keane does rotate his front players but Richardson, for all that he was poor last week, is still one of our better players so it was a shame not to have him playing.

Chelsea had loads of good players obviously, so many in fact that they couldn’t even fit in Anelka on the bench. Names aside though they were fairly average and never got any kind fluency into their play. Credit has to go to Sunderland for that. In fact the game was mostly about Chelsea stopping Sunderland playing. This was largely down to the fact that they were defending a lead for most of the game given to them by a John Terry header from a corner after 10 minutes. It was a poor goal to concede given that we should be at least looking to keep out set pieces. It’s fair enough if the top sides break you down and score a well worked goal but a simple header from a corner seems too easy.

The goal was also largely against the run of play too. Sunderland started brightly and forced a few early corners and generally got about Chelsea, something they didn’t do last week against Everton. Jones went close with a header and a superb Andy Reid free kick was tipped over by Cudicini - it was a carbon copy of last weeks effort and he was really unlucky not to score. We all know about the size and shape of Reid and he’s not a typical winger but he’s a fine player and always has that potential for the killer ball and he played very well today.

We were also denied a good shout for a penalty when John Terry seemed to drag O’Donovan down in the area but the ref gave nothing, the start of a series of decisions that infuriated the crowd but in fairness he got most other things right. Other efforts from Edwards and Reid went wide while the best Chelsea could offer was a speculative shot from Lampard which was saved easily by Gordon. Kalou almost got through on goal after a defensive mix up but a great last ditch tackle from Bardsley saw off the danger.

Unlike Man Utd, Chelsea don’t look to kill teams off and are happy to sit on a goal lead so you always feel in the game still and the second half started with the similar pace and pattern and again we had the better of the play. Leadbitter had a long range shot on goal that Cudicini turned round the post after Reid had sliced a similar effort after the nervous looking Alex had messed up a headed clearance.

As time wore on though the prospects of anything out of the game looked bleak and for all our good play there weren’t many clear cut chances created. Prica and Yorke came on and Yorke almost made an instant impact when a diagonal ball found Jones in the box but his header went straight at Cudicini. Despite injury time efforts from Jones again and a last gasp shot from Leadbitter that went wide it remained the same score but the performance was summed up when the players were given a standing ovation at the final whistle.

This game proves the talent is there and the possibilities for this team are there but making most of the remaining performances like this is the key. Games are running out and we’re still right in it and still losing. We need to get back our home form quickly and turn in wins as playing well but getting beat gets you nowhere.

Report by marcopaul