A game of two halves; Reading win the first half; Chelsea throw caution to the wind and win the second; Drogba back amongst the goals with a 2-1 away win. 

 

A slick, wet pitch, raucous home fans, a wet Wednesday night, perfect for football.  Coming off and a draw; against the Champions; Reading fans were looking for a more open and attacking game for the first home fixture.  The Reading #13 was out tonight as was a decent contingent whom had made the trip west. 

 

Hahnemann stayed in goal, the back four changed with Murty dropping into a full back role, Ingimarsson, Duberry and Shorey finished the back line; Oster started wide right, Harper and Cisse in the middle with Hunt wide left; Long and Doyle stayed up front.  This was a more attacking team than Sunday's. 

 

Cech stayed in goal, Ben Haim deputizes for Terry, Ferriera and A.Cole out wide with Carvalho in the middle; Wright-Philips worked the right flank, Sidwell; guaranteed a torrid reception; sat in alongside Lampard and Malouda played on the left; Kalou partnered Drogba up front. 

 

Reading started bright and attacking; Doyle on left worked the ball into the area, Oster at the far post failed to shoot and took the ball on but was pushed wide and ended up with a poor cross which Chelsea cleared. 

Reading set their stall out with determined midfield play and looks to exploit the flanks.  Chelsea looks to attack and get the ball forward quickly. 

Wright-Philips finds space on the right, delivers a great ball for Drogba but the Ivorian is offside. 

Long and Hunt combine on the left to deliver a great far post ball for Oster, he pulls it back and Harper's shot is cleared behind, Hunt shoots and gets another corner kick, the ball goes far post and Kalou clears for another corner, Ingimarsson heads wide. 

Reading's width causes Chelsea problems, they trouble the visitors on set pieces and Cisse is dominant in midfield.  Chelsea struggle in midfield but look crisp going forward; Cole fires in an early cross which Hahnemann claims.  Cole's next cross is just to long for Drogba. 

Kalou passes to Drogba; the big man turns and shoots wildly.  As the half wears on Chelsea start to show more fight in midfield; Malouda misses the opportunity to play in a wide open Drogba and sees his shot cleared. 

Oster plays a deep ball but Hunt can't get the right touch and Chelsea clear, Kalou makes a mazy run at Reading but his final ball lacks a target and Reading clear. 

Wright-Philips delivers a free kick into the area but Hahnemann is smartly off his line to claim ahead of Drogba.  Malouda runs into trouble in the left channel but wins a corner, Murty clears the first and Drogba skies a good chance at the far post from the second. 

Carvalho sees a long shot fly wide. 

The game is settling down and being mostly played between the areas, both teams can't quite play well in the final third. 

Wright Philips works the right channel and finds Kalou inside, the ball to Malouda is cleared easily and Reading break quickly in the right, Carvalho's professional foul earns him a yellow card; Shorey delivers a poor ball in off the free kick. 

Sidwell is nutmegged in midfield and hauls Hunt down; he gets a yellow; which delights the home fans. 

Bikey comes on for Duberry and less than a minutes later is on the score sheet.  Shorey delivers a long free kick into the area, Ingimarsson heads on for Oster to head back across goal, Cech comes off his line but fails to connect and clashes with his defenders, the ball drops inside the box for an easy tap in; Bikey will never get an easier Premier league goal. 

Cech does better the next time around, Sidwell gets a yellow for persistent fouling and Shorey delivers a long ball in the box only for Cech to claim. 

Carvalho finally comes off to be replaced by Johnson. 

Harper delivers a ball into the area, Oster has his shot blocked but Reading maintain possession, Cisse delivers a looping ball to the back of the area which Ferriera misjudges; he cuts inside but overruns the ball a touch, Doyle; coming in late; smashes his shot straight at Cech.  

Kalou is stripped by Ingimarsson who play Doyle on the flank; his cross goes wide for a Chelsea goal kick.  Doyle gets on the end of a far post cross and nods it back across the goal, Oster takes hit shot first time but it cannons of the post to be cleared by Chelsea.  A Reading cross isn't cleared well and the ball falls to Oster who almost lobs Cech. 

Malouda and Cole combine on the left and deliver the ball inside for Sidwell, his ball for Kalou is too long; Bikey heads a long free kick down but Chelsea clear; Hahnemann claims Kalou's cross in front of Drogba; Oster cross sails over his teammates; Bikey clears a cross from Wright-Philips, for a corner kick, Johnson finds space but can only head at Hahnemann from close range. 

Sidwell combines with Kalou and Wright-Philips but the Reading back line can't be breached; Hunt and Long combine to set up Doyle but he drifts too wide and shoots at Cech; Long dispossess Cole but the referee awards a Chelsea free kick; Oster crosses after being sent free by Murty, Cech claims the high ball in; Wright Philips delivers a pacy ball through the D, Cisse misses his clearance and Lampard; in space and behind the midfielder; has not time or speed of though to take the ball on, Chelsea get a late corner but Kalou can't combine with Sidwell. 

 

Coppell keeps his side unchanged as they come out for the second half, Mourinho changes Chelsea around dramatically, Wright-Philips fills in as right, Mikel comes in for Sidwell and Pizarro replaces Ferriera.  The formation is switched to look almost like a 4 2 4. 

 

Straight from the whistle Chelsea attack in numbers at pace.  Mikel, Pizarro and Drogba combine through the middle but see the ball cleared.  Chelsea come forward again, Bikey misses a defensive header and Pizarro knocks the ball on, Drogba does likewise and Lampard is quickest to the knock on, he knocks the ball forward; taking Shorey out of the play; and drills the ball past Hahnemann. 

Chelsea continues to attack; going forward in numbers looking for the winner.  Reading is struggling to cope with the increased intensity of Chelsea. 

Cisse gives Reading some respite; although he is struggling to cope with the runs of Lampard; with a cross into the Chelsea penalty area, Cech claims and starts another attack. 

Malouda wins a corner kick, Lampard takes it short and Mikel feeds Wright-Philips, the diminutive winger blazes a shot wide. 

 

Drogba receives the ball 35 yards out and fights two Reading players to keep possession and spray the ball to Kalou; who occupies the inside right position; he evades the pressure and sends a return ball to the unmarked Drogba.  The big Ivorian turns and places his shot past Hahnemann's outstretched left hand for a goal. 

Reading are still looking for a way to play football and not capitulate, Pizarro sees his powerful strike blaze high; Doyle sees a cross claimed by Cech; Drogba crosses for Kalou but Hahnemann claims; Cole whips one in from the byline but it's just to high for Drogba; Hunt puts in a decent ball into the area but Cech gets plenty of distance to his punch; Kalou works the ball on the left and threads a ball through to Pizarro, the striker fires a low cross/shot across Hahnemann, the ball goes wide but not without a static Lampard failing to stick a leg out for an easy tap in; Reading get a corner but the delivery in the box is poor; especially as set pieces have been a threat for the Royals; the home team starts to apply some pressure and retain some possession as the last twenty minutes come around. 

Unfortunately a piece of terrible refereeing scuppers the chances of a Reading fight back as Cisse receives a second yellow from an unsighted Dean. 

It's a scrappy end to the match; with their fight gone Reading just go through the motions.  Chelsea eases off and just let Reading play in front of them. 

 

Certainly a game of two halves for Coppell, effective and energetic in the first and hopelessly outsmarted in the second.  His players were game and showed plenty of skill, Cisse dominated in the first half, Hunt and Oster put plenty of balls in the area, but finishing wasn't great as Cech wasn't really tested.  Oster hit the post but had two other similar opportunities he chose not to shoot.  The first goal was poor defending, the second just pure class. 

 

 

Mourinho gambled and won in the second half, his team was tepid in the first, Wright-Philips not having any end product, the defence missing Terry and the midfield unable to cope with Reading's pace and energy.  Putting four up front and leaving the midfield almost bare worked and worked quickly.  After that Reading was too stunned to retaliate.  Masterful tactician with large stones. 

 

Dean has a word with Ben Haim and Doyle for persistent argy bargy in the area.  Generally the referee was competent; he was quick to reach for his card in a first half that had little or no malice on the field of play. 

Most of his cards were about right except the second yellow for Cisse.  Without a clear view of the play he waits for Pizarro to start ludicrous play acting and then books the Frenchman.  Awful decision, particularly if you watch the incident frame by frame. 

Pizarro is hauling back Oster to get to a lose ball, the ref is standing less than ten yards away but can't see the shirt pulling, Cisse and Pizarro both make a move for the loose ball, Pizarro's method is to get both feet of the floor; studs up; and hope he hits something; Cisse is more technical, trying to poke the ball to Oster he misjudges it and his toe happens to collide with an airborne Peruvian.  The contact is minimal and Pizarro sits back on the turf, miraculously the force of the blow; which of course happens to defy the laws of physics; is delayed by the shin pad and with circus like agility the cheating Chelsea striker rolls over grabbing his leg and howling like a baby.  Mike Dean can't see the incident, Pizarro's body is between him and the ball, but he does react only when the Peruvian cheats, he is conned into thinking it was anything more than a fifty fifty ball.  So a referee can't see a player wrapping up his opponent and hauling him back, nor can he see a dangerous two footed lunge but he does have super x-ray vision and can see through flesh; at worst a foul; maybe even a card for Pizarro, booking Cisse halted any chance Reading had of a comeback and killed the last twenty minutes. 

Oh, and Wright-Philips doesn't get a red for a sloppy two footed crunch tackle a few moments later?

C'mon Mister Dean, you were awful, go and hang your head in shame. 

 

 

Reading:-

Hahnemann

Murty

Ingimarsson

Duberry (Bikey 29)

Shorey

Oster (Seol 79)

Cisse

Harper

Hunt

Long (Gunnarsson 74)

Doyle

 

Bookings:-

Long

Cisse

Cisse (R)

Hunt

Ingimarsson

 

Goals:-

Bikey 30

 

Chelsea:-

Cech

Ferriera (Pizarro 46)

Ben Haim

Carvalho (Johnson 31)

A.Cole

Wright-Philips

Sidwell (Mikel 46)

Lampard

Malouda

Drogba

Kalou

 

Bookings:-

Carvalho

Sidwell

Wright-Philips

Cole

Mikel

 

Goals:-

Lampard 47

Drogba 50

 

Attendance:-

24031

 

Referee:-

Mike Dean