Bolton 0-4 Chelsea

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Harsh ratings there Madmax, we just won 4-0 you know!

Cech - 7

Bosingwa - 8

Terry - 7

Ivanovic - 6

Cole - 6

Mikel - 8

Essien - 6

Ramires - 7

Anelka - 6

Malouda - 7

Drogba - 8

[spuz 143]

Any chance Carlo will play Josh and Sturridge more?

[zolayes 14,489]

Harsh ratings there Madmax, we just won 4-0 you know!

Cech - 7

Bosingwa - 8

Terry - 7

Ivanovic - 6

Cole - 6

Mikel - 8

Essien - 6

Ramires - 7

Anelka - 6

Malouda - 7

Drogba - 8

id go with yours rather than my friend the apprentice bean counter

[HRiver 1,512]

Great win, brilliant performance from the boys. Drogba's goal was ace!

[Wilson 358]

Amazing goal from Drogba. Loved it when Ramires scored and all the lads ran to him. Could see the genuine happiness on Ramires' face

[The Big Drog 1,110]

Wasn't it refreshing to see Didier Drogba saunter around a football pitch as if he were its rightful owner? Wasn't it inspiring to see John Terry give a true captains performance? Wasn't it breathtaking to see Petr Cech in top form? Wasn't it magnificent to watch Michael Essien in full flow? Wasn't it a fantastic feel good moment when Ramires scored his first Chelsea goal? Didn't it feel right to see Chelsea play the way we all know they are capable of? As if a particularly grey cloud, or blue mood, had lifted from the players shoulders, the shackled released with one mighty swing of Drogba's right foot and all was right with the world again?

Ok so perhaps all was not exactly right with the world, for one there was no Frank Lampard who missed yet another game through injury, a worrying sign of super Frank's advancing age, the sight of Kalou donning a Chelsea jersey is rarely a welcome one either but I suppose with the good must come the bad.

However tonight the positives far outweighed the negatives and the greatest positive of all was the talismanic performance of the long time main man at Chelsea, Didier Drogba. With the confidence to take on a shot from long range, with the power and skill to execute it, Drogba scored a stunner which Sky delighted in showing us over and over again. Suddenly the confidence was back, the slick skills, the driving runs, the clever movement to unsettle the Bolton backline, the workrate to track back time and time again, the aura that he is and indeed Chelsea's great player, the great man, like Torres gave us a reminder at the weekend why he is still one of the worlds top strikers, Drogba tonight sent a message just as powerful.

At the back we were solid, Terry, as he has been for much of the season, immense in holding the Chelsea backline together, Ivanovic an able ally, Bosingwa too produced one of his finer defensive displays and Cech, with the score at 1-0, pulled a top drawer save out of his large bag of tricks to deny Botlon an equaliser.

Essien entered his best performance in months, Mikel was solid, Ramires put forward another energetic display which has won over the Chelsea fans and players alike and deservedly got his first goal for Chelsea, deserving as he has been Chelsea's best player for a month or so. McEachran got 20 minutes and looks so much the part, technically I can't think of too many English players more proficient whose name is not Paul Scholes and Nic Anelka had the bit between his teeth.

Infact throw in the strong rumours about the imminent arrival of David Luiz, that we have 3 wins on the trot and we have found our golascoring boots again and perhaps this "bad moment" has become a "good moment"

[chrismada9 1,948]

Horrible first half. Game was over after 2-0, Bolton stopped putting pressure on us so the game was easy after then. Yet we still weren't able to really perform so i'm still worried. Poor but efficient game. But we won, scored four goals and didn't concede so i guess i should be happy about that.

But there's no way we'll beat the likes of Man Utd, Spurs and City if we play like this. I even give Copenhagen a good chance knocking us out if we continue like this.

CA has a lot of work to do. But hopefully this win boosts the confidence of the players which can lead to better performances.

Cech - 7

Bosingwa - 5.0

Ivanovic - 5.5

Terry - 6.0

Cole - 5.0

Mikel - 6.5

Essien - 5.0

Ramires - 5.5

Anelka - 6.5

Drogba - 6.0

Malouda - 5

And ohw yeah, if CA is trying to turn Josh into a DM then i hope he moves on soon.

And Kalou over Sturridge again.. sigh.

Dude, take a chill pill, we won 4-0 tonight. A win like that boosts confidence!! Performance when you look at a win like that doesn't matter. What matters is that we have 4 goals, and 3 points in the bag. Don't write off the Chels! We'll be back up and running again after this!

[YankinBlue42 72]

What a fucking brilliant performance. On this night, I completely ignore the negatives, because it felt so good to watch us clobber a team. Hasn't happened in the Premier league since September.

Maybe...just maybe...we have turned this ship around. I still want to see this kind of performance against a big club, but I like what I've seen in the last couple weeks. Just in time for the CL.

[Madmax 9,219]

Petr Cech for Chelsea Player of the Season. He has to win it this year.

Yeah. I too kept thinking that all through the game. The man's been a different class.

Harsh ratings there Madmax, we just won 4-0 you know!

But for me the scoreline doesn't mask the fact that we're having to rely on individual brilliance (DD) rather than slick passing, intelligent movement and good all round team play to score goals. Like Blue Heart said, the game was over at 2-0 and then it was much easier for the guys to find space around them, allowing poor performers like Essien to get into it much more. I rated those guys based on how effective they were for the team when it was needed most.

id go with yours rather than my friend the apprentice bean counter

You're cross with me aren't you?

[Rambo 1,729]

MOTM should be Kalou for that stunning cross within the box. play of the year

[RX8 40]

Petr Cech for Chelsea Player of the Season. He has to win it this year.

:goodpost:

Absolutly Agreed... He is Without a Doubt The best Player of the Season..... He is the Only Line who no body can Question anything...

[coolhead23 1,146]

Horrible first half. Game was over after 2-0, Bolton stopped putting pressure on us so the game was easy after then. Yet we still weren't able to really perform so i'm still worried. Poor but efficient game. But we won, scored four goals and didn't concede so i guess i should be happy about that.

But there's no way we'll beat the likes of Man Utd, Spurs and City if we play like this. I even give Copenhagen a good chance knocking us out if we continue like this.

CA has a lot of work to do. But hopefully this win boosts the confidence of the players which can lead to better performances.

Cech - 7

Bosingwa - 5.0

Ivanovic - 5.5

Terry - 6.0

Cole - 5.0

Mikel - 6.5

Essien - 5.0

Ramires - 5.5

Anelka - 6.5

Drogba - 6.0

Malouda - 5

And ohw yeah, if CA is trying to turn Josh into a DM then i hope he moves on soon.

And Kalou over Sturridge again.. sigh.

I agree ... Wasnt great scrappy play lot of time, a better team could have killed us ... But a win is a win and i guess we would take anything that comes our way, glad we finally got an away win after such long .... We have some tough games coming up next and i hope that we take this run into the matches ahead ....

[Fulham Broadway 16,410]

i've noticed we always start off slowly -this needs to change.

Sterling performance overall though, Chelsea are Back

How was that not a penalty ?? linesman must have been a woman.....

[erinblue 13]

i've noticed we always start off slowly -this needs to change.

Sterling performance overall though, Chelsea are Back

How was that not a penalty ?? linesman must have been a woman.....

yes it was a great performance---some excellent `individual` performances against a very hard working, robust and at times pretty physical Bolton ( i thought they had changed there style--got that one wrong)

However, (there always is an however these days)

Once again we started off very slow and methodical, but against this maybe Carlo knew Bolton would throw everything and everybody at us early doors

An early goal---what a difference it makes to the team and the oppositions plans (see Utd games and Barca (they scored after 1min 36secs) and how easy it becomes for them)

A crucial and brilliant stop by Cech---different game if that went in---shows importance of him this season

A Drogba with a winning and determined game head on----brings the team on and players around him

A bit of luck (Elmanders effort of Cech) what we have been missing for so long

good points

Ramires showing the energy required to get outta the period

Mikel-----showing the physical power and ability to control the game and protect the defence

Change of game plan (esp after we scored) Ash & Bos held a line behind the front three, so the defence were not stretched and caught on the counter, and ultimately give front three space to move.. played with patience and not chasing a second.

JT & Bran for their physical capabilities to withstand Bolton and not panic under there pressure

Josh -- what a cool kid on the ball

Anelka for his constant movement and playing further up field.

bad points

Essiens passing (tho it and he got better in the last 10 minutes)

why we didn't challenge the ref for the penalty decision

we're back!!!!!

[Milan 17,835]

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Peace, love, unity & having fun - These are the lyrics of KRS-ONE

Appropriate lyrics for that picture

[Wilson 358]

Delighted for Ramires. Was nice to see that celebration. It showed we are a true team.

[Ray. 217]

Good to see us get this win, it will surely give another boost to our confidence. I think it was important that we got that early goal and really we dominated from there on. I stood in awe watching Petr Cech again put in an sublime performance, think he should have been man of the match, not the Bolton player who's name escapes me. As always the Chelsea faithfull were quick to respond with Man of the Match, you're having a laugh, man of the match you're having a laugh Then there was all the Andy Gray and Richard Keys chants, very topical. Good to see Ramires find the net in his first goal for us.

Finally got to bed at 7am after getting back from the match. Looking forward already to doing it all on Saturday and then Tuesday, but am yearing for a home game, ah of course against Liverscum on the 6th.