Chelsea 6 Albion 0 - Big match verdict

Aug 16 2010 By Chris Lepkowski

FIRST must come perspective.

Next, a test of Roberto Di Matteo’s management skills – to lift morale in his dressing room and in the stands.

Yes, losing to Chelsea by six goals is the kind of performance that produces an ‘ouch’ and a chuckle or two from sages around the country. That’s football.

It happened, it’s over – better, more established Premier League teams than Albion lost by bigger margins at Stamford Bridge last season. Someone else will ship as many goals again this season.

But Albion’s biggest test, in many ways, will be the reaction.

Scott Carson, re-installed as captain for the season, will have flashbacks to his mishandling of the early free-kick which led to Florent Malouda’s opener.

He, perhaps, could have done better with two other goals.

Yet for the first-half period between goals one and two Albion were worthy of parity. They passed the ball around well and grew in confidence. Jerome Thomas had the beating of Paulo Ferreira, with Di Matteo trying to exploit this during the opening periods of the second half when he pushed Marek Cech further forward in support of his left-sided team-mate.

By then, sadly, it was too late.

The game was effectively over when Albion conceded their third sloppy free-kick within range for a Lampard/Drogba/Malouda effort. Malouda had already pinged one of his 30-yard efforts over the bar just a few moments before Didier Drogba curled one past Albion’s buckled defensive wall and into the net.

It was practically half-time and, as both managers said afterwards, the worst time to concede.

The second half was a mess from Albion’s point of view. Chelsea continued to break them apart with consummate cruelty at times. You sensed that the referee was doing Albion a favour when he instructed two minutes of injury time. Drogba was to finish on three goals, Malouda with two, Frank Lampard one.

Too many individual mistakes crept in. Carson was the obvious one, but Pablo Ibanez and Gabriel Tamas both conceded free-kicks in areas where Albion could be harmed. Youssouf Mulumbu ducked out of the way in the wall when Malouda’s free-kick flew over.

Gonzalo Jara, fresh from a decent World Cup, lacked consistency. He struggled for long periods of the first half, then improved his tracking of Ashley Cole, before resorting to previous mode.