Slipperduke
The Camden Cad
Scolari Safe... For Now
Luiz Felipe Scolari may not be in the mood to be pleasant to any of his players after a week of backbiting and under-achievement, but if he has any sense, he'll give Petr Cech a very firm pat on the back. The word 'crisis' may be overused in football, but had it not been for his goalkeeper's world class reaction save to Alex Revell's diving header, the Brazilian boss would have been staring down the barrel of a very serious one. Southend were already one goal to the good. A second before the break would have sent the Chelsea players in at the break with their egos trailing behind them in the mud. On such fickle twists of fate are managers judged.
Michael Ballack's emphatic equaliser on the cusp of half-time brought the Premier League side back into the game and Salomon Kalou's fine individual effort on the hour put it beyond the League One minnows. Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard gave the scoreline a shine that it didn't entirely deserve and that their supporters barely acknowleged. Just as in the first game, Chelsea controlled possession and fired shot after shot at Steve Mildenhall's goal, but defensively they were absolutely appalling, a disgrace to their pedigree, and it should have cost them. Scolari's decision to insist upon zonal marking has, if anything, confused his players even further. Every Southend set-piece caused panic in the ranks and on another day, this could have been very different.
It was a match that almost never kicked off and, at times, Scolari must have wished that referee Chris Foy had stuck by his original decision to postpone it. A thick blanket of fog made it impossible for the officials to see from one end of the pitch to the other, but as soon as Foy vanished down the tunnel shaking his head, the murk lifted. Desperate club officials hammered on his changing room door, asking him to take another look, and to his credit, he quickly reversed his decision. Not quick enough for the 30 Chelsea fans who were reported to have been turned away at the turnstiles in the meantime though. They headed back to London in ignorance of the U-turn.
But if they were disappointed to miss the match, spare a thought for the Southend fans in despair at the way this game slipped away from then. Captain Adam Barrett headed home the opening goal in the 16th minute and, though it was very much against the run of play, Chelsea couldn't break down their backline. Barrett and his fellow centre-back Peter Clarke defended like Spartans, but Cech's heroic save as half-time approached broke their hearts. Suddenly it no longer seem fated that Chelsea would join Manchester United in the ranks of elite teams vanquished at Roots Hall.
Scolari will take no joy from booking his place in the fourth round. Ipswich, another ball-playing lower league side await them, but they wo'nt have seen too much to fear here. Something is rotten with the state of Chelsea's defence. They are playing like a team of strangers, reliant on individual moments of class to see them through where team spirit and resilience used to serve them far better. Southend's fans, exceptional throughout, were the only ones singing at the end and, when the scoreline reads 1-4, that tells its own story.
Crowd -
Yellow Cards -
Red Cards -
Southend - Steve Mildenhall 7, Peter Clarke 8, Andy Barrett 8, Anthony Grant 8 (Simon Francis 6, 79th), Lee Barnard 7 (Dougie Freedman 6, 72nd), Alex Revell 7 (Kevin Betsy 6, 85th), Franck Moussa 7, Osei Sankofa 8, Johnny Herd 8, Jean-Francois Christophe 7, Junior Stanislas 8
Chelsea -
Petr Cech 8, Ashley Cole 6, Frank Lampard 7, Joe Cole 7 (Franco di Santo 6, 74th), John Obi Mikel 6 (Juliano Belletti 6, 45th), Michael Ballack 6, Jose Bosingwa 7, Salomon Kalou 7, John Terry 7, Alex 6, Nicolas Anelka 6
