Beaker's View

First to all those who claimed it was difficult to buy your seats:

Season ticket holders can call the Credit card hotline and buy your normal seats over the phone quoting your season ticket reference number and they'll send your ticket to the address in your book!! No excuses next time;

So to the Match:

This match reminded me of sitting in the garden on a blisteringly hot summer's evening and watching as a huge dark black thunder cloud passes over head, you can feel the power and the odd spot of rain hits you but it moves off into the distance to unleash its deluge elsewhere leaving something of an anti climax. Let's hope it breaks over Arsenal on Sunday.

This was the most one-sided match I have borne witness to at Stamford Bridge, right from the off we played some majestic football and it was never a matter of whether or not we'd prevail, but what the final damage to the Slavic team would be. Bobby D got the show on the road, finding space inside right after some school boy defending, he slotted the chance as though he were on the training ground. At this point we were so dominant that we might have been playing the Sunday morning Boys XI.

However, Vialli's profligate finishing and the team's general arrogance and desire to pass the ball into the net meant we left it very late before we made the class gap tell. Notable misses between the 2 goals;
- Vialli's unchallenged header had my granny turning in her grave,
- Vialli's miss from 3 yards when it would have been easier to score,
- Vialli sent clear springing the offside trap only to get the ball stuck under his feet,
- Zola's free kick that nearly broke the frame of the goal,
- Zola's attempt to win the goal of the season contest where his final ball, After nutmeging a player lifting the ball again over his head, left a lot to be desired.

The second half was a story of arrogant little flicks that never quite came off and at times my frustration at the nightmare that Vialli was enduring boiled over to screaming at Gullit to haul him off. Then, finally, just as I was about to go berserk, Danny Grannville came up with a superb piece of skill that should ensure I have no sleepless nights whilst on holiday on the night of the return leg. Wise knocked the ball into the danger area, and Danny boy flicked the ball over a defenders head and finished on the volley - much relief - but there was still time for Vialli to miss three more chances, shooting straight at their keeper every time. Really this was a miss match and I read that the Slovan manager said after the game that he felt one of these two sides would feature in the final. Well I can tell him this for nothing: It won't be Slovan Bratislava!

Ratings:

• De Goey 5 Impossible to judge as he didn't have to make a save. One Cross that he punched.
• Granville 8 Very useful down the right, good defensively in the few times it was required and attacked at pace.
• Leboeuf 7 Steady if unspectacular, made the mistake on a couple of occasions of shooting from 40 yards!! Get real Frank!
• Doobs 8 Was the main reason they were impotent in attack, cut out everything.
• P Hughes 7 Got shouted at twice by Wise for conceding possession needlessly but overall did OK
• Wise 10 No kidding, justified all the pre match hype, didn't waste a pass all night absolutely outstanding.
• Di Matteo 8 Got kicked to bits and was clearly targeted, seemed short of pace but distributed the ball well.
• Poyet. 7 Not such a great game, had a good chance that was squandered and drifted in and out of the game
• Petrescu 7 This was his worst game this season and he was still pretty good.
• Zola 8 Good in patches but still missing the vital spark
• Vialli 6 Oh dear, Gullit obviously saw something that I didn't. To be fair he was very useful in that first half, but for the papers to say he might not have missed so many chances had he been starting more regularly is rubbish and is mischief making.

Overall 7 In the first it was better than watching Brazil. But woeful finishing and unnecessary show boating in the second half meant that a match that should be out of sight still has to be won. Foot note; Roald I owe you a pint, He did play 4-4-2.

"I thought Coco the Clown was dead" (Priesty's Report)

You could be forgiven for thinking that Slovan Bratislava fielded an under-strength team, but apparently that was the best they have !

The fact that Chelsea failed to find the back of the net more than twice was due only to their keeper, who appeared to know what he was doing, and Luca Vialli - sorry, Coco - who obviously didn't.

For God's sake, Ruud, give Vialli a few games on the trot, otherwise we'll never know whether he really is as awful as he looks, or whether it's just the fact that he's out of practice. (The 4 goals against Barnsley, apart from the first which was superb, would have been scored by any 13 year old)

We've got to know how to deal with him, at the moment it starts off with everybody chanting "Vialli, Vialli" as though he were a God, but more often than not, it ends up with at least 20,000 people laughing their bollocks off at his stagey antics. Don't get me wrong, I really want him to do well. He's a likeable character who obviously has buckets of skill at his disposal, but how long do we have to wait to see him make something of it ?

Any road up... As usual, things started well but soon deteriorated, but only in the sense that the more Chelsea attacked, the less likely it looked that they'd score a goal. The football they were playing was mostly excellent, with one vital difference: the defence, for the first time since Eddie McCready, Ron Harris, Dave Webb and co. were in the team, actually look as though they can deal with bulky forwards and high balls this season (mostly courtesy of Doobs, who has come back like he never left off).

It really is nice not to crap yourself every time an opposing team whacks a high ball over the middle any more. That isn't to say, of course, that they're perfect, but it definitely is looking better.

Old Coco was actually looking good at the beginning, very sharp, good vision, nice crisp passing, but only with his back to the goal. He must have been watching Hughesy, after all, he's had plenty of opportunity from the bench. The trouble is that he was rubbish FACING the goal, what bloody use is that ? He missed at least three chances that can only be described as gifts, and a couple of others that he should have scored easily. As Marc put it, "He got 37 quid for falling over just now, plus another Ģ18 for standing up again" (Perhaps implying that Luca is a trifle overpaid ?).

I couldn't believe how unadventurous and awful Slovan were - do all European teams play like that away from home ? I hope not. They really did look pedestrian. "land" De Goey looked like he was having trouble staying awake for most of the match, he had so little to do (just as well, some might say!)

The two goals were great, Bob's usual long drive from the edge of the box, and Danny Granville's magical control and shot inside the 6-yard box. It just got a bit frustrating to see all the chances Chelsea created going to waste. The score would have been at least 6-0 if they'd put their chances away. 2-0 is just slightly uncomfortable to protect away from home, where I'd imagine Slovan will contrive to be a bit more attack-minded. You only have to go a goal down and you're in trouble.

All in all, though, it wasn't half a bad performance, to complain when you've won 2-0 in Europe seems a bit churlish. It just shows the expectation around the Bridge these days.