OK... having watched match of the day I think we can close a couple of situations which have seemed to cause debate. First of all, in my opinion it was a definite penalty. I respect Lambert and what he has done as a manager for norwich but how he can say that it wasnt a penalty is beyond me! Second of all, Torres probably should have been sent off and the Ruddy sending off is a 50/50 decision... Third of all, hopefully that ipswich fan now sees that norwich played well and should stay up. Fourth of all, Hilario is hopeless, unreliable and I hope he never wears a chelsea shirt again. Every time I see him play he makes a mistake. Lastly, quote of the day from Shearer. 'after 4 or 5 mins when chelsea scored, I thought we would see them score 3,4 or 5 goals'....... We scored 3 goals you idiot!
at what AVB said after about PL's comments. I believe the Torres incident(s) is very dubious, I don't think his first was even a yellow, head clearly up in the clouds and aiming for the ball and I don't think he meant with any malice whatsoever so benefit of the doubt there, his second was maybe a yellow as there was no real need to try and gain the ball, I've seen referees let worse things go on 2nd yellows so I think Norwich are scraping the barrell there personally. We definitely deserved a win, as soon as Mata and Anelka came on our play was awesome. Agree with your points on Hilario, absolutely dire - no idea whatsoever why he was awarded with a new contract, he's probably very cheap and isn't going to complain about being second fiddle to Cech. We should've had a clean sheet.
Lee Dixon was kind about us last week, the big surprise was Shearer! He said hethought Swansea would stay up because he saw them play a couple of times LAST SEASON
Yeah you can tell AVB has a good sense of humour.. almost like a certain jose mourinho.... he was basically saying... paul lambert can go **** off!
I'm sure Lambert's view of the pen is simply about psychology within the City camp. Having conceded pens in all of our league games so far, it would be all to easy for fear of tackling in the area to creep in. Today's was stone wall, but the pens we conceded against Wigan and particularly against Stoke were poor decisions. In the case of Stoke, if it was much further out of the area it would have been in the centre circle! I think Torres was probably two yellows, but the ref didn't give it so that's the end of that.
Again, fine and balanced view chelseaboi. :emoticon-0148: In fairness, i think i can understand Lamberts viewpoint, even if it's not quite right against the letter of the law; although it is certainly comprehensible that on another occasion nothing would have been given. My view of it is that Ramirez does seem to be preparing for contact in his declining stance prior to Ruddy doing so, hence possibly looks like simulation in the process. However fact is contact was made regardless, and legitimate officiating (which is hardly something the ref was an example of) would be compelled to reach the decision the ref did, i'd of thought. It was a penalty. With two Norwich players positioned in line or behind Ruddy, alongside the nature of the foul and play prior to it, i am myself still convinced it's not a red. As for Shearer... :emoticon-0114:
I totally agree Exile. As a great man manager Lambert will use the experience to try to galvanise the team. There is no doubt it was a penalty because if that had been for us we would all be demanding a penalty (however time will tell if we get anything from the refs this season - to say I'm more than sceptical is an understatement!) I also thought that AVB's reaction to Lambo's comments were funny. He had apparently been very complimentary to Lambert in the build up to the game but I'm guessing he doesn't feel quite the same way now!
The Ramires penalty decision was correct, as was the red card for the Norwich City goalkeeper John Ruddy. Ramires, technically, was running away from goal, but it was still a clear goal scoring opportunity as if he had not been brought down he would have had a shot on an open goal, albeit at an angle. The first Fernando Torres yellow card was a joke. He had his eyes on the ball and it was not a high foot, so it should not have warranted a yellow card. It will mistimed yes, which would mean it was a foul, but nothing more. Torres' challenge in the second half should have been a yellow card so in the end it evened itself out. Henrique Hilario is still a liability. We need a 30+ year old experienced keeper to be available for when Petr Cech is injured and I just do not see Hilario as someone who is up to that task. He made a mistake today for the Norwich goal and fortunately it did not cost us in the end, but it may well do in the future. In this league we cannot afford to throw away points and if Cech is out for any longer or he sustains another injury or suspension, we will be in trouble if Hilario is in between those goalposts. If it was up to me I would bring in a more suitable replacement for Cech who has the capability to stand in for him when he is unavailable for whatever reason. To be honest I'm a bit worried that we didn't put Norwich to bed in the first half. They had plenty of chances to equalise against us and to even take the lead while it was 1-1. We have not looked impressive in any of our three matches so far and once we play teams closer to the top of the table we may be in trouble unless we start playing well soon. A new backup goalkeeper aside, I still think that we need at least two more players to form a strong challenge - a creative central midfielder (e.g. Luka Modric) and a right winger. As for Norwich City, it won't be the games against the big teams that matter. Anything they can get from the Arsenals, the Manchester Citys, the Manchester Uniteds etc. will be a strong bonus and to be honest three games is not enough to tell the quality of a team. What is important is what they do against the teams around them. Blackpool started well last season, as did Burnley the season before that, but they both went down in the end Even if they have a good first half of the season, I reckon they will be in a relegation dogfight come the final third. In a way it might be better for them. If your goal is to stay in the Premier League you have to settle in slowly. Too good of a season and you will very likely suffer from second season syndrome.
I have seen Cech do just as daft recently which is unsettling. Cech has been coming further off his line of late than he ever used to. In pre-season he appeared to be playing sweeper mostly. I am just wondering if this isn't Hilario being stupid or if it is Lolichon's directions. From the Start today Hilario was dictating to the centrebacks. Hilario told JT and Ivanovic early in this match that he was coming for the ball. If you had seen the whole game and not just highlights you wouldn't of missed it. Coming that far is something he and Cech have been doing in all the games pre-season and the three league matches. So who is in charge at the back. I assumed it was JT as did JT till Hilario told him different in the first five minutes. Ivanovic didn't like the new regime, you could read his anger clear as day and he started to chaff against it and a clash was on the card long before it happened. Basically a communications break down, but I suspect not just on the pitch but amongst the staff. I believe Lolichon hadn't cleared his tactic of Goalie as defensive captain with AVB. The keepers mainly train alone as a unit at Chelsea, that is well known. Of course Hilario isn't as good as Cech, but he is no Beasent or Barota either and that he always makes a mistake every game is simply untrue. His willingness and confidence alone making him the obvious choice before Turnbull. I would love a Cech clone at Chelsea but it isn't going to happen. Bearsonally I thought Cuddicini was perfect at Chelsea, yet I remember times when Chelsea fans pre and post Cech worrying because due to injury we had to play Cuddi, despite his obvious talent and commitment and I'm sure sometime in the future it'll be another Chelsea keeper coming in to replace the number one and Chelsea fans saying but he always makes a mistake. Hilly was wrong to come for that ball. JT is the Captain. I saw two centre backs and a keeper with different agendas and I have to ask why the game started like that, and was it really the three players wholly to blame? One last thing. How do you think Hilario performed after the goal?
Well said DferPolarBear hilaro made the mistake of a goalie and a defence that has not worked together for ages. Personally I think he made the call for the ball and inaovich ignored him, anyone who thinks that he was the main problem with our defence is ****ing clueless. We were getting caught time and again, but I going to put that down to just still getting up to speed.
Thanks to a rubbish stream I missed the penalty/sending off decision but thankfully have seen it this morning. Penalty? Yes, no issue with that and at least it WAS in the penalty box, unlike the Wigan & Stoke penalties. Sending off? No way. The player was heading away from goal but had he rounded the keeper would have had a shot at goal from a tight(ish) angle, that much is true. However, Norwich had a defender running in near the center of the goal and when the foul was committed that City player was nearly on the 6 yard line (DeLaet I think), he would have been in a position to possibly clear a shot - therefore Ruddy was not the last man between the attacker and the goal. Perhaps in a few months we will get used to these poor decisions that seem to be handed out to us every week but I would rather the officials got it right and gave us a chance to compete with 11 v 11.
only highlight of this match is - no kalou on the other note - juan, romelu look promising, bring on danny next week for florent. give the legend an extended break after his face injury!
Having now seen the highlights of got to say it was a penalty. Yes Ramires looks to be on his way down already but if you clatter a player in the box like that you're going to give away a penalty no matter what level of football you play at. The red card was probably harsh as he was going away from goal and we had a defender covering the goal so Ruddy wasn't the last man and wasn't denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. Would we have seen the same result had it been down the other end? Probably not. As for the Torres incident, I think he should have gone. The first was, in my opinion, a definite yellow. Yes, he had his eyes on the ball as some people have pointed out, but he caught Barnett in the groin while Barnett was heading the ball, so he missed the ball by a good three feet. The second, again a blatant trip and a yellow card and I firmly believe if the ref hadn't booked him already he would have booked him them. Overall I think City can be proud of the fact we more than matched Chelsea and it was only after we went down to ten men that they took the game away from us.
It's difficult to give a completely balanced and unbiased view because as fans we always want to see the best in our respective teams. It was good to go to Stamford Bridge yesterday, it was another stadium to tick off the list. I don't think I'd be in a rush to spend £47 on a ticket again, as a footballing experience, the atmosphere was sadly lacking, and you can understand why flags had to be handed out pre-Champions League games. That downside is probably softened as a Chelsea fan by the silverware the club has won recently. As for the game, after the nervous settled, which unfortunately meant after Chelsea had scored, Norwich gave a good account of themselves and matched Chelsea in every area of the park. Drogba and Torres were both quiet, the midfield seemed an even battle and I think for the most part Norwich were defensively sounder - as strange as that may sound after conceding three. We'll learn from this and move on to the next game. Norwich's aim is only ever going to be taking points off teams in the lower half of the table. Anything gained from the top half teams will be a bonus, but we proved we can compete with the big boys if we apply ourselves and concentrate, which for the first goal and the penalty we didn't. We know it'll be tough, but as MOTD's highlights showed there's enough quality in our squad to create chances even against the better teams in the league. If I was a Chelsea fan I would be worried. Grant Holt isn't a quick player even when I wear my yellow and green tinted specs, but he managed to get in behind your defence through his positional sense - the bigger teams could cut through you like a hot knife through butter - look what happened to Spurs today. That's not good if you have aspirations of winning things this year. Anyway enough rambling. Bring on WBA...
