標題: Chelsea spoil Robinho's party [打印本頁] 作者: cchl8 時間: 2008-9-14 03:27 AM 標題: Chelsea spoil Robinho's party
Robinho scored on his Manchester City debut but was still on the losing side as Chelsea came from behind to win 3-1 at Eastlands in the Premier League.
The Brazilian forward famously snubbed Chelsea for the trillions of City on transfer-deadline day, and the Blues of London delivered on their vow to prove he had made the wrong decision.
While his 12th-minute opener sent the crowd into raptures, Robinho faded badly and Chelsea took their richer hosts to pieces through goals from Ricardo Carvalho, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka.
City got off to a dream start, attacking with vigour and wowing the crowd with some neat passing moves.
And they took an early lead through you-know-who. Carvalho fouled Jo on the edge of the area and there was only one man taking the free-kick.
The crowd held its collective breath and he did not disappoint. The ex-Real Madrid man delivered a curling free-kick that took the merest of deflections off a poor Chelsea wall and flew past the static Petr Cech.
But that was as good as it got for City - Chelsea equalised three minutes later and went on to dominate the game.
A free-kick on the right was amateurishly defended and the visitors got the rub of the green when John Terry's header rebounded off Joe Cole into the path of Carvalho, who lashed the ball into the roof of the net.
Aside from a few glimpses of class from ex-Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, the hosts were second-best for the rest of the match.
Anelka missed a free header that substitute Didier Drogba would have gobbled up, while Florent Malouda nodded a similar effort off the bar. Malouda and Anelka both missed one more opportunity apiece before the break, with half-chances from Stephen Ireland and Jo all City could muster in response.
The stats said it all - Chelsea had 60 percent of the first-half possession - and the second period saw little change in the pattern of play.
Five minutes into the half, the excellent Lampard fired over after excellent play by Joe Cole and Anelka, but he made no mistake 180 seconds later.
A sweeping, counter-attacking move involving the same combination of players climaxed in a sweet touch and low finish from the England midfielder, who claimed his 150th goal for Chelsea.
Anelka was then denied a cast-iron penalty when, after he was found by a great diagonal ball from Lampard, Micah Richards quite simply shoved him off the ball as he prepared to finish from close range.
It was a bizarre decision by referee Mark Halsley, and one matched later on when he sent Terry to the stands for pulling down Jo on the halfway line. The foul was cynical but not dangerous, and Carvalho was several yards beyond Jo when it occurred.
Unless Chelsea appeal, they will now be without Terry when they play Manchester United on Sunday September 21. Hasley aftewards said the straight red card was given for serious foul play, which means Terry faces an automatic three-match ban.
Halsey then showed a lack of consistency when Richard Dunne brought Drogba down with four minutes remaining. Dunne actually was the last man, and the foul was significantly closer to goal than Terry's, yet he did not even receive a yellow card.
Nothing changed though as, before Terry's dismissal, Chelsea had already gone 3-1 up when Malouda and Joe Cole combined to put Anelka through, who made no mistake with the low finish.
With Chelsea down to 10 men and City unable to create anything of significance, the match petered out, with Ireland's hesitance to pull the trigger on three occasions denying his side good shooting opportunities.
Substitute Daniel Sturridge had a good run and shot blocked for a corner, but Robinho was anonymous and started to frustrate with needless step-overs and wasteful delivery.
The early promise of his goal was a distant memory and Chelsea showed their nouveau-riche rivals that there is a long way to go before they can call themselves challengers
