Don’t be alarmed, that strange feeling is OK-it’s called winning.  It’s just been a while since you’ve experienced it, that’s all.  If it lasts longer than four hours…congrats.

With a comfortable 2-0 win over Birmingham City this afternoon, Roberto Di Matteo officially has a 100% record as Chelsea manager.  His team selection was “interesting” according to most of the web, which would have translated into “crazy” if AVB was still in charge and had chosen the team.  Cech; Bertrand, Luiz, Cahill, Ivanovic; Mikel, Meireles, Ramires; Kalou, Torres, Mata were the starters with Hilario, Terry, Lampard, Essien, Drogba, Lukaku, and Sturridge on the bench.  No Lampard, Essien, or Drogba on the field and no backlash from the media…funny how that works when you win and you have a new manager.  Matteo looked calm under the spot light and made good decisions on substitutes throughout the game.  Of course people will take this result and run with it, but try and remember that it is just one game…against a Championship side.

Collectively, the Blues put together a fine performance that saw them through to the semi-finals with relative ease.  It was not a commanding performance, but it was far better than we’ve seen lately, no doubt about it.  The game started off fairly quickly, with both sides having some opportunities.  Mata had a great chance to put Chelsea ahead early, but a combination of bad touches and the field sucking lead to defenders being able to catch up and interfere with his shot.  Chelsea had control for the majority of the game early on, but once again failed to find the back of the net in the process.  The possession Chelsea had was due more to the fact that Birmingham isn’t very good rather than Chelsea playing well.  Birmingham wasn’t parking the bus, but it was in neutral and happened to be in their half the majority of the first 45 minutes.  The result was a pretty typical first half for the Blues, where they could maintain possession in the back and through the DM, but it started to look very sloppy and unorganized when they attempted to move the ball further up the pitch.  The second half opened the same way as the first, with neither manager making any substitutions or noticeable tactical changes.  However, Chelsea got a bit of fortune when Ramires aimed a cross at Kalou, who was stationed in the center of the field on the 18.  After a few seconds of botched attempts on goal by Kalou and clearances from Birmingham City, Mata was able to reach out a midget-sized right leg and poke the ball past the keeper for the opener.  It was a bit of fortune, but we take what we can get these days.  After that, the game was essentially over.  Birmingham was force to commit more players forward to push for the equalizer and Chelsea were able to put their foot on the gas.  A mere 6 minutes later and Chelsea had doubled the lead through Raul Meireles.  You read that correctly.  Ivanovic made a run down the right, made a BCFC defender fall over on the cutback, and picked out Cahill, who touched the ball to Ramires, who laid it off for Meireles to run onto and cannon into the upper 90.  It was one of the best “team” goals Chelsea have scored all year, with a combined 5 players touching the ball from start to finish, 4 of which being one-touch.  One interesting thing to note was Meireles’s complete lack of celebration after the goal, reminiscent of Sturridge when he scored on Bolton.  Seems like Raul isn’t too happy about AVB being axed and wanted to let AVB (and maybe everyone else) how he felt.  It was a classy move and he went up a hair in my book (just a hair though).

The biggest difference was the level of effort put forth by the players, something else that is sure to cause controversy.  They really put themselves in a lose-lose situation because there are two ways you can “spin” this increased level of effort:  1) They were actively trying to undermine AVB and once he was forced out they started trying again or 2) It was the player’s effort and performance all along, not AVB’s managing.  Along with this comes the argument that AVB should have been able to get the best out of them, but I digress.  For the first time in many weeks, the Blues looked hungry for a win.  They were not losing the first and second ball, as AVB put it, they were winning the first, second, and third ball, while making improved runs both offensively and defensively.  You would be hard pressed to find a Chelsea player who had a poor performance, since their level of effort really made up for many of the technical mistakes they made on the field.

One thing that this game showed: Chelsea desperately needs to work on finishing.  Sturridge missed another silver-platter goal (the first being during the international break), this time a wonderful pass from our under performing Fernando Torres.  Mata also botched a clear goal chance when he was fed through by a Torres flick and was stopped by a sliding defender on another opportunity (it was good defense, but still).  Torres dragged a left-footed shot wide from inside the 18 to pile on top of his misery as well.  None of these missed opportunities ended up being a deciding factor in this game, obviously, but chances like those cannot go to waste if Chelsea are going to make a push for a Champions League position.  Then of course we come to Mata’s missed PK (from Torres earning the call).  I usually think practicing PK’s is a waste of time since any professional player should be able to make one 9 times out of 10, but I think I will break my rule for Chelsea.  With an attack that is as impotent as Chelsea’s is, we simply cannot afford to leaves points on the field.  They may be few and far between, but they are free chances at a goal that can make or break a season.  Food for thought – what would Chelsea’s season be like right now had Rooney not put both of his penalties away?

The other, and more important thing this game showed, was how crucial it is for Chelsea to score first.  In the first half, BCFC were more than willing to sit around and wait from extra time and PK’s because as noted above, Chelsea blow at making shots from 12 yards away with no defenders.  Chelsea was unable to break down a Championship side defense and had to fall back on making hopeful long balls and even worse – crosses.  Kalou actually provided some help in the creativity department and had a few good runs at the BCFC defense, but he usually lost out in the end before it came to fruition.  Mata did his best but once again was unable to crack open the defense by himself.  One the flip side, Chelsea looked terrifying once they bagged a goal and Birmingham was forced to run at the Blues.  The game opened up and Chelsea immediately had opportunity after opportunity, with 1 resulting in a goal and one with a PK.  Chelsea must figure out a way to break down a defense that is packing it in because right now they are too easy to draw.  Get the game opened up and Chelsea can compete with the best.

All in all, a competent performance from the Blues, but one that desperately needs to be built upon for Chelsea to have a “successful” season.  One of the biggest positives of AVB’s sacking is that the media will back off a little bit (at least I would think) and that can only be a good thing.  Chelsea need to go from strength to strength and get a winning streak going before Napoli come to visit if they want to have any chance of moving on in the Champions League.

Chelsea Man of the Match:  Juan Mata.  Sure, he frustrated us all by missing another PK against BCFC, but he still provided the game winner and put himself in good positions throughout the game.  It’s great to see him buck his bad form trend and we can all only hope that he continues to improve from here on out.

Birmingham City Man of the Match:  No one stood out to me.

Chelsea Player Ratings:

Cech – 7.5.  He made 8 saves throughout the game and absolutely commanded the box against a team that was cross-happy.  2nd good performance in a row for the Captain for the day.

Bertrand – 7.  He was in the right place for the entire game.  His pace was helpful in overloading the left side and reminded me of what Ashley Cole used to look like.  His crosses were decent and his defending was excellent.  It should be noted this was BCFC, but he deserves some more games.

Luiz – 7.5.  I lost count of the number of interceptions he had.  He seems to be getting better and better at his positional awareness and came from a support position multiple times to cut off a pass or make a tackle.  He was also no-nonsense when it came to getting rid of the ball, clearing many straight to the touch line.

Cahill – 7.  Him and Luiz more than held their own against the giant Zigic and seem to be growing as a partnership.  His sliding tackle to save a goal was inch perfect.

Ivanovic – 7.5.  Ivanovic rounds out a very strong defensive performance from the Blues.  He doesn’t get forward as much as Bosingwa, but he picks his times more appropriately and is drastically better when he does.  Strong defensively and smart offensively, he was outstanding today.

Mikel 7.5.  He bossed the midfield and helped Chelsea maintain possession throughout the game.  He showed off some of his non-sideways passing with some great through balls and as usual had pretty solid positioning.  Has worked his way back into the rotation it appears.

Meireles – 7.  His goal was top-notch and he wasn’t horrible today.  I think it helped that he wasn’t put under immense pressure by BCFC, but that is no reason to give him a poor score.  His decisions were much better and he showed class with his lack of celebration.

Ramires – 7.5.  He was used on the right wing a decent amount since Mata drifted central and it seemed to work out pretty well.  This might be a useful tactic against weaker teams since it gives Mata freedom and still uses Ramires’s biggest strength – his engine.  He was able to get into position on the wing for attacks, but drop back to the center midfield and win possession back when needed.  Interesting…

Mata – 7.5.  The fact that he was MoTM and his rating is the same as most others shows that it was truly a team effort today.  See MoTM for more.

Kalou – 6.5.  He wasn’t terrible and didn’t make a horrible decisions.  When he did lose the ball it was way up in the attacking third where it is acceptable to do so.  He didn’t really kill off any chances (something he used to do a lot) and tried creating things out of nothing.  It helped.

Torres – 6.5.  I have no idea to be honest.  Sure, he easily could have had 2 assists and a PK assist, but he ended up with zero.  He can blame his teammates but in the end I think he is still doing more harm (mostly from added pressure and the media) than he is good (some assists).  We need goals and he isn’t providing.

Subs:

Sturridge – 6.  Missed an easy opportunity and didn’t really add anything more than Kalou was offering.

Essien – 6.  Not enough time to make an impression.

Lampard – 6.  My feed went out for a minute and it took me 10 minutes after I got it back to notice Frank had been subbed on.

Kalou impressed me with his effort during his hour on the field and earned quite a few cheers from me on the couch.  He was willing to help on defense and rarely gave up on a ball when he inevitably lost possession.

Highlights:

chelsea 2-0 by Futbol2101