WATFORD   V   CHELSEA

FA Carling Premiership

FIXTURE

DATE

Saturday 18th September 1999

3pm

AT

Vicarage Road

KICK OFF

MAN OF THE MATCH

ATTENDENCE

SCORE

Ed De Goey

21,244

0-1

SCORERS

CHELSEA

WATFORD

Smart 57

REFEREE

Mike Reed

REFS PERFORMANCE

5/10

S.Gagen
G.Turner

ASSISTANT REFEREES

TEAMS 

CHELSEA

Ed De Goey, Jes Hogh, Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps, Chris Sutton, Bjarne Goldbaek, Graeme Le Saux, Albert Ferrer, Gabriele Ambrostti, Tore Andre Flo, Jody Morris,

Substitutes  Zola (Flo) Petrescu (Goldbaek)

WATFORD

Chamberlain, Kennedy, Pge, Palmer, Robinson, Hyde, Smart, Wooter, Gibbs, Easton, Williams

Substitutes Mooney (Palmer) Ngonge (Robinson)

MATCH REPORT

How does a team that completly overuns European giants AC Milan, then go to Watford and lose - simple they underestimate the opposition.

And that is what Vialli made the mistake in doing, making six changes to the team from the Champions League match , thinking that the inclusions of Ambrosetti and Goldbaek would be strong enough to see of a inferrior Watford side-How wrong we all were.

Watford started the game at a furious pace giving Chelsea no time to settle on the ball, with Ed De Goey forced into making a couple of saves earlier on.

You sensed that Watford were on fire for this game, and new signing Wooter was very impressive , running our defence ragged at times.

Too many Chelsea players were giving the ball away too easily, particulary Deschamps who had a nightmare in midfield, who done little to stem there midfield dominance.

Sutton made captain for the match and the lazy Flo never troubled the Watford defence in the first half.

The Watford fans sang "What a waste of money" aimed at Sutton and on this performance who can argue with them.

In my opinion we should sell Sutton while we can, "Is he Robert Fleck in Disguise", umm I wonder.

The truth of the matter is he does not look like scoring full stop, and that is a worrying thought, and the big question is "Why was he made captain for the match" when quite clearly up to now, he has been lucky to make the subs bench.

Call it a European hangover or something else, but there was no excuse for such a inept performance from Chelsea in the first half, our first shot on target never came to the 40th minute.

We were lucky to go into the break on level terms as Watford were much the better side and with there workrate and dominance in midfield they were unlucky not to be leading at half time.

The second half started off, how the first half had began with yet again Watford looking the better side, with only the odd moments of class coming from Ambrosetti, lifting the Chelsea fans gloom,the rest of the team performances were well below par.

You sensed  Watford were going to score , and they finally got the goal they deserved when Smart raced through to beat a static defence to drive a fierce shot past Ed De Goey.

Chelsea  quickly tried to step up a gear but it was never going to be enough to stop a Watford side who stuck to there game plan and to be honest made us look second rate.

It came as no surprise to see Flo replaced by Zola and Goldbaek replaced by Petrescu to try and salvage a point, but the substitutions came too late and the result really by then was inevitable.

This really has put pressure on Vialli to think about off loading Sutton and and with the money raised, to buy a striker who can deliver the goals we so desperately crave.

"I you are listening Luca , dont look no further than Fiorentina, one name-
25 goals a season.

"BATISTUTA"

A game to foget in a hurry, lets hope there's some improvement in Berlin on Tuesday for the Champions League match.

Viva Vialli