BlueLion.

The world record is 20 matches and 61 minutes. If they beat that I'll serenade around Manchester naked.

I wouldn't be surprised tbh. They're 1-0 up against Blackburn already.

If the Bosingwa shot was a foot either side it would have been a goal, and the same for Ballack. Shame.

http://www.talkchelsea.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3689 Match report

Aston Vila 0-1 Chelsea F.C. February 21 2009, Premier League, Villa Park, Birmingham Michael Ballack celebrates with goalscorer Nicolas Anelka. Nicolas Anelka continued his scoring form to net the winner at Villa Park in a potentially vital win for the Blues. Heading into the day's clash against the West Midlands side in fourth position, new manager Guus Hiddink will be delighted to see his side claim victory against their fellow Champions League contenders. A result that sees the visitors leapfrog their opponents into third position, Chelsea will certainly look to build on their improved recent form heading into their mid-week crunch clash against Juventus in the Champions League. For his first team selection as Chelsea manager, Guus Hiddink made several changes from the side that had won away at Watford. Sticking with the same midfield and strike force, the Dutch coach elected to field Paulo Ferreira at left-back in place of the suspended Ashley Cole, whilst John Terry and José Bosingwa replaced Branislav Ivanovic and Michael Mancienne respectively. Villa were without captain Martin Laursen, and the presence of the big centre-half as Blues striker Didier Drogba made a nuisance of himself throughout. Former Chelsea midfielder Steven Sidwell was on the bench, along with the fit-again John Carew. Emile Heskey and Ashley Young passed fitness tests and started the game. It was Drogba who created the best chance in the opening exchanges, latching on to a through ball and launching an ambitious, angled effort that Friedel collected. At the other end, Villa went close when Cech flapped at a cross, but Heskey's rushed effort was high and wide thanks to John Terry, who managed to hurry his England colleague with an attempted challenge. Agbonlahor wasted a half chance when his effort lacked the power to worry the Chelsea goalkeeper, before Lampard was gifted time and space, and almost punished the hosts with a brilliant shot from 30 yards that fizzed inches over Brad Friedel's crossbar. But Chelsea demonstrated their class on 19 minutes as Nicolas Anelka put them ahead. Bosingwa played in Frank Lampard, who brilliantly danced between two Villa defenders with some brilliant footwork, before passing cutely into the penalty area to Anelka. With the goalkeeper rushing out, the Frenchman cleverly dinked the ball over the advancing American for his first goal in the Premier League since the equaliser against West Ham in December. Kalou's pacey run threatened to open up the Villa defence that as becoming increasingly shaky, but Drogba and Lampard were not on the same wavelength, and the ball was cleared. From the subsequent corner, captain John Terry had a bullet header saved at point-blank range by Friedel after the England skipper had connected with Lampard's front post delivery. Without a league goal since Chelsea's visit to the Stadium of Light last season, the Chelsea number 26 will fail to come much closer without finding his name on the scoresheet. Chelsea were almost punished for missing opportunities on 33 minutes when Ashley Young struck the crossbar from a freekick. Wrongly given the set-piece in the first place, the Villains came desperately close to equalising, but Heskey's follow-up header on the rebound was wide of the mark. The away end breathed a collective sigh of relief. Terry could have scored again mere moments after the break but his header was cleared off the line by the alert Petrov, but Chelsea's attitude in the second half was far more defensive than their expansive play in the first period, preferring to keep the ball than run at the Villa defence which looked to be buckling under the pressure from the Chelsea attack. Cech saved from Agbonlahor with relative comfort on 52 minutes, as the Blues looked happy to sit on their one-goal lead, but it still required effective concentration from the Chelsea shotstopper. Hiddink wasted no time in shaking the team up by bringing on Deco for Kalou to tighten the midfield. Gareth Barry, the stand-in Villa skipper was next to try his luck from range, but again Cech was up to the task of denying the England midfielder, tipping his drive wide with a solid pair of wrists, before again shooting on 74 minutes - straight into Cech's well-positioned gloves. Drogba fired wide with the angle against him, before Bosingwa had a brilliant chance on the counter. The Portuguese defender scored in previous trips to the Midlands against Stoke and West Bromwich Albion, but this time his shot was straight at Friedel after playing a clever one-two with Drogba, the Ivorian doing well to feed the ball back to his teammate. To compound Bosingwa's misery, the defender will miss next week's game against Wigan after picking up his fifth caution of the campaign. Ballack could have wrapped up victory but his rocket shot was tipped over by Friedel after being set up brilliantly by Deco - the former Barcelona man weaving between the Villa defenders. But the day was Chelsea's, and Guus Hiddink was given a winning start to his reign as manager of Chelsea Football Club. ___________________________________________________________________ The TalkChelsea.net Man of the Match award goes to... Frank Lampard Aston Villa: Friedel; Cuéllar, Knight, Davies (Carew 70), L Young; Milner, Petrov, Barry ©, A Young; Agbonlahor, Heskey Manager: Martin O'Neill Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa, Alex, Terry ©, Ferreira; Ballack, Mikel, Lampard; Kalou (Deco 55), Drogba (Belletti 90), Anelka Manager: Guus Hiddink

I thought he was sensational today.

Was more of a bitch slap if I recall correctly.

Very good first half. I'm impressed with Lampard and Anelka in particular.

The owner of the site is busy running a bigger forum.

CONFIRMED TEAM NEWS Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Davies, Knight, Luke Young, Milner, Petrov, Barry, Ashley Young, Heskey, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Sidwell, Carew, Delfouneso, Salifou, Shorey, Gardner. Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Ferreira, Mikel, Ballack, Lampard, Kalou, Anelka, Drogba. Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Quaresma, Deco, Belletti, Mancienne, Stoch. Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

If we win I'll go to school in my Chelsea pyjamas on Monday If we play that system, I will be happy. 4-4-FUCKING-2 :D

Being realistic, the club would tell Citeh to fuck off for the simple reason JT loves Chelsea - and supported Manchester United as a boy

I don't think Drogba enjoyed playing under Scolari. He's been injured for much of the season and he wasn't being given a solid run in the team under Scolari. Under Mourinho in his first two seasons, we played with wingers that actually went to the by-line and pulled balls back for Didier to do his business - either score or lay it off for the likes of Lampard and Tiago and Essien who were supporting him at the time. Then, he totally flourished when he was partnered with another top striker who he could lay the ball off to. Now, Andrei Shevchenko didn't exactly find his feet at Chelsea but he was certainly another attacking outlet and he had a brilliant understanding with Drogba in my opinion - in the two years they were at the club together, they banged away 70 goals in total. It worked brilliantly because players marked Shevchenko because of his reputation, giving Drogba the chance to bring down long balls and feed it to Ballack, Lampard, Robben and so on. He was suited to playing in that formation and because players marked Shevchenko, he had space to get a shot away. In games like the Watford home match which we won 4-0, Drogba scored a hat-trick and Shevchenko scored the other, and in that game they played together so well it looked like another Hasselbaink-Gudjohnsen scenario. Didier enjoyed it under Mourinho because not only was he moreorless worshipped by Mourinho (he was constantly lauding him and singing his praises), but the systems he played in suited him and we had the right players to utilise those systems to the maximum. Even under Grant, we were playing a similar system and Drogba still banged away 15 goals - not bad considering he was at the Cup of Nations and injured for a part of the campaign as well! Scolari again played a system with wingers - but Kalou and Malouda are not Damien Duff and Arjen Robben. Sure, the formations worked at the start and we were beating teams out of sight, but the system did not suit Drogba. Scolari would try bringing him off the bench but he rarely scored because either he or Anelka was forced to play up top. Drogba prefers the ball being pumped up long - Scolari didn't like that. Scolari thought Drogba was his plan B but bringing him off the bench to play out wide was never going to work. Okay, it worked when it needed to against Cluj, but Drogba has scored only three goals due to injury, lack of form and being played in the wrong position with the wrong players in the wrong system. Malouda shits himself when someone comes to tackle him - how often do we see him beat a defender and run to the by-line and whip a cross in? How often does Kalou actually pull of a decent centre to one of his own teammates? Hopefully, Hiddink will play a decent system that is beneficial to the player - because on his day, Drogba is the best striker in world football.

At least you're honest. But I agree we could do with a few more people contributing, even if its just the people who come on, read, and don't post anything, as TB says.

I am quite aware of what John Terry means to the supporters of Chelsea Football Club. If Manchester City came with an offer that exceeds £30 million we would be IDIOTS not to accept it.

Of course. If the right amount of money is offered I think we should sell. No player is bigger than the club, and they all can be replaced.

In all honesty, I'll be disappointed if we don't get a result tomorrow, we are the better side out of the two even if recent results contradict that. Plus its the first game under Hiddink, which may be a massive incentive for the players to go out and perform.

In all honesty, I don't John Terry would ever leave the club anyway...

For £50 million plus Robinho, Joe Hart, Michael Johnson and Valeri Bojinov, sure.

Here we go again. I don't want him to leave because he is a phenomenal player on his day, and when he plays well the team does as well.

I think we should start a START STOCH campaign

Exactly. It won't hurt anyone.

I doubt we will be able to get £16 million for Riccy, he is 31 in the summer.

Personally I think Coventry away would be a potentially more difficult match than Blackburn. Either way, will hope to go to this one.

I wouldn't be so sure.