August 24 2004

FA Premiership

Goals by Didier Drogba and Tiago were enough to beat a hard battling Palace side, writes Simon Pophale.

I suppose if you were like me, the thought of the Roman Empire rolling into town after the performance against Everton, was one that didn't fill me with hope.

Everton had punished us for poor defending. Chelsea, who have spent close to £300 million in the last few years on players, were going to make us look inept in front of a national TV audience to condemn us to more embarrassment.

This is how it all used to be. Palace, the joke team. We never made things easy for ourselves and we were the national icon of ridicule. Not any more. Even in the warm up, you could tell that the players were ready. Still no Torghelle in the warm up though, which makes you wonder how long he is going to be missing. We could use his height up front. Kaviedes was going to make his full debut.

When the teams came out, European Cup winners, World Cup winners on one team. Stars the like of which we had not seen play on this hallowed turf for years. Not since Jari Litmanen who played for Liverpool and maybe some of those Leeds players in the FA Cup 5th Round match a few seasons ago, had we witnessed players of this magnitude on the field with our boys. I am sure that the players were awaiting the battle as much as we were.

Mourinho has maybe one of the easier jobs in football. Romans open cheque book means that he can build a squad of such depth, he can afford to leave Bridge,Duff out of the first 16 entirely (injuries or the fact that he has no place for them permitting), while relegating £20 Million defender Ricardo Carvalho to the bench.

It must be so easy for Jose, to name a player then off Kenyon rushes to keep upping the ante until that club sells. Dowie must have been wondering what did he deserve when Aliou Cisse made a last minute U-turn and joined Portsmouth for £300,000. The gap between the 2 clubs could not be greater. But the reality is that it is 11 against 11, irrespective of the cost.

And what an 11 we had. From the first whistle, this was a transformed performance. Everyone was up for it. Joe Cole was causing havoc early on, and forced and early corner which came to nothing. Meanwhile, Tony Popovic showed Dider Drogba the floor in the 7th minute with a tackle so fierce, but fair, that it brought the house down. £20 Million or not, we were not going to let anyone walk all over us.

It was going to be a hard night, with very few chances for us up front. But we almost stunned the nation in the 11th minute. A corner, floated over by ROUTLEDGE was headed wide by Danny Granville. The belief was seeping in that we could take them all the way.

3 minutes later, Chelsea tested Speroni with a shot from Joe Cole. With Jules attoning for that error against Everton making it look like a one off, we looked solid at the back.

Chelseas quality was there for all to see and despite their slick no nonsense passing and pretty triangles, we were not to be outdone. What Chelsea had in the bank, we had in the energy bank. One man was epitomising the Palace cause, was Aki Rhihilaati. His tackling work rate and constant dogged running in the midfield was making the contest an absorbing one.

Lampard, Makalele and Cole were Not going to have it all their own way. Aki was superb. Despite Lampard and Cole creating chances for Drogba, the Ivory Coast hitman could not finish. In fact, he looked a shadow of the player that looked so dangerous for Marseille last season. Miscuing passes and shooting wayward, he did not look up for the fight.

Chelsea had superiority, for a full 20 minutes, dominating possesion and making purposeful forays into our half. But the score was still 0-0 and every time we went forward, we won corners and look impressive on the counter. However, we still hadnt tested Petr Cech, all £9 Million of him. It was all to be in vain though, as on 28 minutes,Chelsea took the lead.

Good interplay between Joe Cole, Makalele set Babayaro free on the left and his pinpoint cross was met by Drogbas' inviting head, who rose above Popovic and made it 1-0.

Chelsea were in the ascendancy. A mistake by Emmerson Boyce almost let in Cole 2 minutes later, but he shot wide. Cole tested our defence one minute later, a 20 yard run and shot which Speroni stopped without any problems. We managed to whether this Chelsea storm however, with Aki and just before half time, Fitz Hall setting up Andy Johnson, but AJ had been marked well throughout the half and each time shot wide.

The 2nd half began much like the first, Chelsea attacking and us on the back foot. But there were signs that at 1-0 down, we had not given up. Aki, playing the game of his life, played a through ball to AJ who held of the attentions of Gallas but the finish ended up going wide to the left. Moments later, Aki was at it again, this time playing a ball with the outside of his foot to AJ, who was closed down well. This was turning into the best performance of a Palace side, for many a year.

However, as the 2nd half wore on, Chelsea were coming into the game more and more and for all the good endeavours by Aki,Fitz and the resolute defending by Poppa and Hudson, we didn't get many more chances to score and it was only a matter of time before Chelsea were going to get a 2nd. Cole and Paulo Ferreira both went close before Frank Lampards cross was cleared by Hudson for a corner, which again came to nothing.

AJ was getting no change out of the Chelsea defence and on 62 minutes, his persistance led to Babayaro lunging out at him, earning him a yellow card and from the free kick, Hudson went close, but again didn't force Cech into a save. Lampard was also making more of a nusicance of himself, sending a dipping shot over on 65 minutes, as he was beginning to find more space.

Dowie could see that the boys were tiring, so made the first substitution on 67 minutes, bringing off the fairly effective Kaviedes for Micheal Hughes, leaving AJ now very much on his own up front.

Chelsea followed suit 3 minutes later, with Adrian Mutu replacing Mateja Kezman, who had done a fair job, but Hudson and Poppa had his card marked throughout the match and had totally snuffed him out. A great job none the less, but with 18 minutes to go, the match was effectively over as a contest.

Tiago, who had done nothing much in the game so far (He comes from Portugal, he has really done f*ck all - would have been the chant up to that point) found space on the right hand side and drilled a shot home from 18 yards. Again, Speroni had no chance. 2-0 and basically all over.

It was hard to take, particularly as we had played and competed so well. The frustration had gotten to the players too, as Hudson won a 30-70 ball with Drogba. Booked in the process, Drogba was not getting back up and despite a lot of attention, was substituted for Eidur Gudjohnsen, who immediately got a cross in to no avail. Mourinho made his last change with the impressive Joe Cole coming off and Geremi replacing him.

Despite being 2-0 down, we never gave up. Aki was still bossing the midfield and mixing it with Champions, often coming out on top. Speroni was called into action again, saving from Mutu but with very little action in the last 10 minutes, the match petered out to its end, Chelsea happy with the days work and we were left floundering up front, unable to break down the rearguard of International quality in front of us. But we fought to the end, in the last minute Fitz Hall going forward, pushing to the end but with the same outcome, no end product.

But this is not a time to be too negative. We have arrived now properly and every player played his part. WAYNE could be criticised for being a bit greedy, maybe he saw Sven in the crowd and wanted to impress? But that was all. Honest endeavour had won the day and at the final whistle, the players were clapped off by the assembled throng who wanted to pay tribute to the team, who had worked hard and never gave up and played well above themselves. There was no-one who let anyone down.

I hope that Aki and Hudson get all the plaudits. They played well above what they were capable of. Aki especially looked like a world class player last night. He worked and toiled hard and this is the Aki we want to see week in, week out. Granville and Poppa were also brilliant. Johnson worked hard but Chelsea knew his threat, his pace was always troubling but he does need a big man to play off.

Kaviedes has bags of skill and will trouble many sides, but AJ and Ivan need to know each others strengths but this will come in time. All in all, we should have no complaints, except maybe that if we played like that against Everton, we would not be bottom now. But there is now hope for the future and if we play like this against Middlesborough, we should get something.

Incidentally, the only blot on the copybook would be that my "Mellor Sucks" flag, crafted only 1 hour before the game, came out as 2 red blobs on a white sheet, hence there was no unveiling. Apologies and next time will be more organised. I'll take one to Stamford Bridge.

Simon Jordan did promise that he would make us a respected club again. Last night he has achieved that. Reading the papers this morning, The Sun is backing us to stay up if we can keep playing like that. Dowie must realise that this is the challenge for the next 35 games, to keep the level of quality which we performed at last night, at this plateau. In front of a nationwide audience, we arrived on the Premiership and World scene proper last night. How wonderful it was too.

Crystal Palace: Speroni 7, Boyce 6 , Hudson 7, Popovic 7 , Granville 7, ROUTLEDGE 7, Hall 7, Riihilahti 9 , Kolkka 7, Johnson 7 , Kaviedes 7 (Hughes 67- 7).

Subs Not Used: Derry, Freedman, Borrowdale, Kiraly.

Booked: Hudson.

Chelsea: Cech 7 , Paulo Ferreira 6 , Gallas 7 , Terry 7, Babayaro 7 , Makelele 7, Lampard 8 , Tiago 7, Cole 9 (Geremi 76 6), Drogba 7 (Gudjohnsen 75), Kezman 6(Mutu 70 6).

Subs Not Used: Ricardo Carvalho, Cudicini

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