Chelsea Crushes Guangzhou Pharmaceutical F.C. 4-0
July 23rd 2008 21:07
A veteran-laden Chelsea side kicked off their pre-season in style with a crushing victory over Chinese club Guangzhou Pharmaceutical F.C. It was manager Luiz Felipe Scolari's first match at the helm of the Blues, and he displayed the same energetic character (shouting instructions to his team during the game) that became one of his trademarks when coaching Brazil and Portugal. Of course, with new managers also come new players as offseason signings Deco and Bosingwa played their first game in the Blues' shirt.
Unlike fellow managers Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger who decided to give more playing time to their reserves, Scolari didn't hesitate to put a regular Chelsea squad on the field, and methodically inserting younger players throughout the match. As such, Petr Cech started in goal with José Bosingwa, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, and Ashley Cole in front of him. In midfield, John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien shared defensive duties while Frank Lampard and Deco were free to attack as they pleased. Finally, Nicolas Anelka was partnered with Salomon Kalou in front, a slight change for a team that usually played a 4-5-1 last year.
Armed with such starpower, it wasn't a surprise to see Chelsea completely dominating their Chinese rivals in every aspect of the game. Penetrating runs from both A. Cole and Bosingwa stretched Guangzhou's defense to all its width, and were a headache to deal with. The opposing team had so much trouble getting out of their own half that A. Cole often seemed to play as a midfielder/winger with no reason for him to come back deep in his territory. After a couple of opportunities, the Blues finally scored their first at the 20th minute as Lampard set up Kalou who confidently finished the job. An injury to Bosingwa resulted in Chelsea's first substitution right after the goal as Paulo Ferreira replaced his compatriot on the right side of the Blues' defense. Guangzhou's attack got their first shot of the game in the same time frame, then quickly disappeared again under Chelsea's domination. Unlucky striker Anelka hit the post at the 43rd minute (I say unlucky because even though he gets into good scoring positions, something or someone always prevents him from scoring). One minute later, Guangzhou tested Cech for a second time on a free-kick that almost beat the Czech goalkeeper. (On a sidenote, Asian players seem to really know how to curl the ball around a wall, I wonder what's their secret). The first half ended 1-0 and it could've been 5-0 with all the chances Chelsea got throughout the opening 45 minutes.
Scolari made five substitutions at halftime, replacing Cech, Terry, A. Cole, Essien, and Anelka by goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, Brazilian giant Alex, reserves Wayne Bridge (for A. Cole) and Franco Di Santo (for Anelka), and Frenchman Florent Malouda. Chelsea got right back where they left off as defender Bridge hit the post on a low shot at the 48th minute. Two minutes later, Lampard found the back of the net on a superb lob from right outside of the box, keeper Liu Shai had no chance on that goal despite his desperate attempt to run back. Twenty minutes later, Bridge, once again, almost surprised Liu Shai with a Roberto Carlos-like outside-of-the-boot shot from a no-angle position (almost on the goal line, near the corner flag). Before that, Chelsea had proceeded to two more substitutions, replacing Kalou by Shaun Wright-Phillips at the 57th minute, and Deco by Branislav Ivanovic at the 62nd minute (Ivanovic went to the left side of defense and Ferreira pushed up to midfield). Chelsea added two more goals to their tally, both coming from crosses by Malouda. The first, scored at the 79th minute, was the result of Di Santo's second effort who slid down to meet Malouda's cross at the far post while the second, scored at the 87th minute, was a beautiful low shot from Wright-Phillips which narrowly beat the keeper.
At the end of the day, Scolari can be pretty satisfied with his squad display on their first pre-season match. The defense hasn't been tested so it's hard to say if they're holding up or not. The one flaw in their play today was the almost-exclusive use of the left wing. They stuck to it during the whole game, rarely venturing on the right wing so I expect them to have a better ball distribution for the next match. I also wonder how Scolari will deal with Ballack and Deco during the regular season as both players have the same style of play.
My man of the match: Frank Lampard. He had one goal, one assist, and seems to have found an agreement with Deco.
Honorable mentions:
- Florent Malouda. There's no telling how France would've played in the Euro 2008 had Malouda shown that much of passion in his game over there. But then again, this statement could apply to the whole French team.
- Wayne Bridge. It's too bad that Ashley Cole is immovable on the left side of defense because Bridge looked really good there today.
Unlike fellow managers Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger who decided to give more playing time to their reserves, Scolari didn't hesitate to put a regular Chelsea squad on the field, and methodically inserting younger players throughout the match. As such, Petr Cech started in goal with José Bosingwa, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, and Ashley Cole in front of him. In midfield, John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien shared defensive duties while Frank Lampard and Deco were free to attack as they pleased. Finally, Nicolas Anelka was partnered with Salomon Kalou in front, a slight change for a team that usually played a 4-5-1 last year.
Armed with such starpower, it wasn't a surprise to see Chelsea completely dominating their Chinese rivals in every aspect of the game. Penetrating runs from both A. Cole and Bosingwa stretched Guangzhou's defense to all its width, and were a headache to deal with. The opposing team had so much trouble getting out of their own half that A. Cole often seemed to play as a midfielder/winger with no reason for him to come back deep in his territory. After a couple of opportunities, the Blues finally scored their first at the 20th minute as Lampard set up Kalou who confidently finished the job. An injury to Bosingwa resulted in Chelsea's first substitution right after the goal as Paulo Ferreira replaced his compatriot on the right side of the Blues' defense. Guangzhou's attack got their first shot of the game in the same time frame, then quickly disappeared again under Chelsea's domination. Unlucky striker Anelka hit the post at the 43rd minute (I say unlucky because even though he gets into good scoring positions, something or someone always prevents him from scoring). One minute later, Guangzhou tested Cech for a second time on a free-kick that almost beat the Czech goalkeeper. (On a sidenote, Asian players seem to really know how to curl the ball around a wall, I wonder what's their secret). The first half ended 1-0 and it could've been 5-0 with all the chances Chelsea got throughout the opening 45 minutes.
Scolari made five substitutions at halftime, replacing Cech, Terry, A. Cole, Essien, and Anelka by goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, Brazilian giant Alex, reserves Wayne Bridge (for A. Cole) and Franco Di Santo (for Anelka), and Frenchman Florent Malouda. Chelsea got right back where they left off as defender Bridge hit the post on a low shot at the 48th minute. Two minutes later, Lampard found the back of the net on a superb lob from right outside of the box, keeper Liu Shai had no chance on that goal despite his desperate attempt to run back. Twenty minutes later, Bridge, once again, almost surprised Liu Shai with a Roberto Carlos-like outside-of-the-boot shot from a no-angle position (almost on the goal line, near the corner flag). Before that, Chelsea had proceeded to two more substitutions, replacing Kalou by Shaun Wright-Phillips at the 57th minute, and Deco by Branislav Ivanovic at the 62nd minute (Ivanovic went to the left side of defense and Ferreira pushed up to midfield). Chelsea added two more goals to their tally, both coming from crosses by Malouda. The first, scored at the 79th minute, was the result of Di Santo's second effort who slid down to meet Malouda's cross at the far post while the second, scored at the 87th minute, was a beautiful low shot from Wright-Phillips which narrowly beat the keeper.
At the end of the day, Scolari can be pretty satisfied with his squad display on their first pre-season match. The defense hasn't been tested so it's hard to say if they're holding up or not. The one flaw in their play today was the almost-exclusive use of the left wing. They stuck to it during the whole game, rarely venturing on the right wing so I expect them to have a better ball distribution for the next match. I also wonder how Scolari will deal with Ballack and Deco during the regular season as both players have the same style of play.
My man of the match: Frank Lampard. He had one goal, one assist, and seems to have found an agreement with Deco.
Honorable mentions:
- Florent Malouda. There's no telling how France would've played in the Euro 2008 had Malouda shown that much of passion in his game over there. But then again, this statement could apply to the whole French team.
- Wayne Bridge. It's too bad that Ashley Cole is immovable on the left side of defense because Bridge looked really good there today.
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