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WARDY'S TACTICS TALK - BORO v CHELSEA 23-8-06
Stuart Ward
Welcome to my second tactical analysis of the season and this time I am covering Boro v Chelsea. First up are the Premiership Champions, Chelsea.
Key Players.
Andriy Shevchenko - The Ukrainian international signed for Chelsea for a fee of £30 million from AC Milan, and it is already looking to be money well spent. Sheva has everything you could want: pace, power, brilliant finishing and a great attitude. He is already looking at home in the Premier League, and has settled in VERY quickly with his new teammates.
He opened his account for the Blues in the Community Shield with a class finish, and also caused Manchester City a whole load of problems on matchday one. His movement in and around the area is superb and I can really see him causing untold problems for a Boro defence that were made to look rather silly by Reading on Saturday.
Frank Lampard - After an ordinary (at best) World Cup, it would seem Lampard is relishing being back amongst the Chelsea team. He scored on Saturday, albeit through a deflected shot, and he also has a few assists to his name already this season. He is still arguably the finest attacking midfielder in the Premier League. He thrives on making late surges into the opposition areas, and his long range shooting is of the finest order. George Boateng is going to have A LOT to do to keep Lampard out of the game, which he needs to do or the Chelsea man will run the game for the Blues.
John Terry - The Chelsea and now England captain is one of the top three central defenders in the world at this time. He is an inspirational leader of men, a brick wall in defence and a huge threat at set pieces. He scored against Manchester City and also looked unbeatable at the back, he is comfortable on the ball, has the necessary pace and can pick a pass out.
He will undoubtedly be looking for some revenge after last season's awesome 3-0 win for Boro at the Riverside when Yakubu Aiyegbeni made him look rather silly at times. I for one will not be betting on it happening again. I expect Chelsea to have him challenge Viduka for the ball when Boro manage to get it forward, and unfortunately I expect him to win it more often than not.
The Manager
Jose Mourinho - A man that is hated by almost everyone in England seemingly (apart from me!) Mourinho is probably the best manager around at the minute, and will probably go down as one of the greats whenever he calls it a day. He has won everything in Portugal on offer, has won the UEFA Cup, Champions League and has had huge success in England in the two seasons he has been here.
Yes yes yes, all that money DOES help, however, Mourinho is also the most thoroughly prepared manager around. It doesn't matter who he is playing or in what competition, he prepares a special dossier for all his players on their opponents whom he has had scouted many times. This man knows all the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents and sends his team out to exploit them.
Likely Line Up.
Carlo Cudicini
Paulo Ferreira - John Terry - Ricardo Carvalho - Wayne Bridge
Saloman Kalou - Frank Lampard - Mikael Essien - Arjen Robben
Andriy Shevchenko - Didier Drogba
I expect there to be one change from the Manchester City match, with Saloman Kalou replacing the unimpressive Shaun Wright-Phillips. Kalou has impressed me at least with his play so far, and could cause Downing and Pogatetz problems down the Boro left.
Mourinho singled out Essien for praise after the match at the weekend and will employ him in the defensive midfield role, providing some cover at the back and allowing Lampard to bomb forward at the other end and control the game. Robben on the left will be, as always, a huge threat when he gets the ball at his feet and runs at people. He should have a whale of a time taking the Mickey out of our right hand side, I can't see Parnaby putting up much of a fight, as he wasn't actually anywhere to be seen at right back for most of the second half against Reading.
Up front, Shevchenko seems to be dropping a bit deep, with the Chelsea side using Didier Drogba as a target man and Sheva playing off him. The movement of both of them has been top class, and with the two wingers bombing down the wings, they are sure to get a lot of quality ball into the area.
This is best shown by the top-drawer team goal that Drogba finished with a diving header on Saturday. Shevchenko has a class touch and is a great passer of a ball as well as probably the best goal getter in the league and Drogba seems to have cut out some of the theatricals from his game. Shame the same can't be said for Robben, eh?
At the back, Chelsea look awesome. Terry is the best centre-half around at the minute, and he leads his troops by example. He tackles, heads and reads the game better than anyone and Viduka and Yakubu are going to have to come up with something special to get past him. Carvalho looks class one minute and very dodgy the minute, and if they have a weak spot in the defence it is him.
I would suggest to Mr Gareth that he tells Vids to try and play off Carvalho, as it is probably the way he will get the most joy. The full backs are solid if unspectacular, but they are released to go forward most of the time due to Essien sitting in front of the defence. They could cause Boro added problems if they overlap well on both flanks.
Middlesbrough
Key Men
Stewart Downing - It would seem, judging on Saturday's performance, as if someone has reminded Stewy that it is OK for him to run at defenders. In the first half hour of the match, he took on and beat the Reading right back on numerous occasions. This is something we are definitely going to need more of on Wednesday otherwise we will have very little possession of the ball and will be in all kinds of trouble. Downing needs to get the ball at his feet and attack the Chelsea fullback, and if he is able to get quality balls into the area, which we all know he is capable of, then hopefully the physical presence of Yak and Vids can cause Carvalho some problems in the six yard box.
Aiyegbeni Yakubu - The Yak got his goal tally up and running in the first game of the season with a typical predators goal, and I expect him to be firing on all cylinders for this one. Last season against the Chavs, Yak ripped Terry and company apart with the perfect display of how a lone striker should operate. I think he will be paired with Viduka this time round, but I think that he has all the potential to cause problems. He will adopt his usual left wing starting position and I don't think Paulo Ferreira will have the talent necessary to deal with both the Yak and Downing being in close proximity to him all match. This is something that Boro need to focus on, as it may well be our best chance of success.
Stuart Parnaby - Quiet down! I am not saying he is a good player; I am using this part of the article to highlight something! Arjen Robben is one of the finest wingers in the world, and Parnaby is one of the most clueless full backs in the world. The area of right back in Boro's defence is going to be a key area in the match. Against Reading, Andrew Davies was constantly coming across to right back to cover the AWOL Parnaby. He is going to have to do this again today to keep Robben quiet. This could have rather dire consequences for the rest of the team.
The Manager
Gareth Southgate - After twenty-five minutes against Reading every Boro fan was hailing Gareth as the second coming of Christ. He then however demonstrated a ridiculous willingness to revert to tried and failed methods from last season. "We knew at 2-0 we would have to dig in" Am I the only person who screamed "WHY!?!???"
We had proven that the way to beat them was to attack them as we had been doing, yet when we went 2-0 up, instead of ramming our superiority home a la Arsenal, we reverted to what I now call "Dave Doriva Syndrome" - sit back and hope to hold on for the rest of the match. I hope to God that Gareth is as intelligent as he seems and has now noted that this cost us a victory and indeed even a draw. I think the boss is going to try and take the game to Chelsea, and I think we will make a good fist of it, although he still hasn't solved our defensive woes.
Likely Line Up
Mark Schwarzer
Stuart Parnaby - Andrew Davies - Chris Riggot - The Pog
James Morrison - Fabio Rochembach - George Boateng - Stewy Downing
Mark Viduka - Aiyegbeni Yakubu
The only change from the Reading match will be left-back Julio Arca dropping out due to his broken foot. I expect Davies to come in for him and slot in at centre half, much as he did to excellent effect against Reading, with Pogatetz moving to left back.
Starting up front, Yakubu opened his season's account on Saturday with a good striker's goal, and showed us flashes of his best stuff. He will be looking to turn in another performance like last season, and we all hope he does. Viduka was a bit quiet in the second half, with Boro definitely using him as the target man. This is understandable as he has got the best touch around at the minute, but I am also looking at him to get into the area and show us that he is a top finisher.
These two have real potential as a partnership, they just need a bit of time to work on it which I am sure Southgate is going to give them. It will come good, starting tonight I believe. Their physical presence will upset Carvalho at least, and if they can isolate him and try and attack towards him more then they will get a great deal of success.
The midfield should be unchanged from Saturday, as it showed in that opening half and hour that it has class to burn. Our wing play was exciting, with both the young wingers taking their men on and showing that all important desire to go forward that we appeared to be lacking last season. In the middle, Rochembach is looking more comfortable and everyone looks to have him link up the attacking play. Boateng started slowly in my opinion, but looked more like himself in the second half. He needs to be on the ball early doors though, as if you give Lampard too many chances he is going to punish you, but if we can clatter him early on, I don't know if he will have the desire to match that of our skipper.
Now to the problem. Unless Southgate has worked some miracles in the last couple of days, Shevchenko and co. will be wetting themselves in anticipation of the goal fest they could have. Both our wings were ruthlessly exposed by Reading, Arca got skinned every two minutes and Parnaby was missing for the second half. If this occurs against Chelsea, we will get pummelled.
Robben is hard enough to handle for the best defences in the world, never mind our much maligned right back. Shevchenko will move all over our backline, and I am pretty sure that he will notice quickly that he will get joy by starting his runs far out on the right and then moving infield. Riggot is a very good centre half, and Davies was man of the match when he came on on Saturday, but they are likely to have their hands more than full with Sheva and Drogba.
This will be compounded by the fact that Davies is going to have to cover for Parnaby in much the same way he did against Reading, leaving a rather large hole for the likes of Lampard and Shevchenko to exploit, which they will do to lethal effect.
How it will go
As much as I would like to see a repeat of last season, I can't see it. Our defence is far to weak to stop Chelsea scoring at least two. We may scrape a consolation, and I don't think we will disgrace ourselves as we usually don't against Chelsea. Boro have got the attacking potential to trouble most teams, and we can do damage if everyone is on form. Unfortunately it only takes one misplaced Boateng ten yard pass to break up our attacks, so unless George does the right think and just gives it to Rochembach, then we will struggle against a team with Chelsea's undoubted class.
So in conclusion I reckon that Chelsea will probably take it 2-0 or -12. Lets see if I am as close as I was last week!
Until the weekend.
Stuart Ward
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