About a quarter of a century ago, while in club management in his native country, former Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari declared that the 'beautiful game was dead,' and also complained that his team did not commit enough fouls, yet his Brasil side played open attacking football in 2002 and so did Portugal. It was the type of football that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich wanted and Avram Grant delivered in part, but ultimately without success. Scolari tried to deliver, but found to his cost that if a team has no intention of playing football, the game can quickly turn ugly.

Newcastle arrived at Stamford Bridge on November 22nd, looking only to frustrate Chelsea and come away with a 0-0 draw. “I make no apology for playing for a draw,” said Joe Kinnear, whose contract to manage Newcastle has subsequently been extended to the end of the season. “In the last three days we've been planning to force Chelsea to play in front of us, which I thought we did very well. It is probably the best team performance we've had away from home this year.” Kinnear thought that Chelsea did not create a clear chance, but then contradicted himself when praising his goalkeeper Shay Given. After five minutes Florent Malouda delivered an inviting cross that Frank Lampard met with a firm header from about eight yards out, but Given denied him with a fantastic save. The game needed Chelsea to score to open up, something Kinnear had no intention of allowing.

With just over fifteen minutes gone Malouda showed his class with a delightful piece of skill that created a chance for himself only to lose his footing after doing the hard work and Given easily collected. Newcastle mustered a shot in anger on twenty minutes, but Jonás Gutiérrez blazed it well over. The Magpies settled back into defensive mode and were not seriously tested again until half an hour had passed. It was certainly beautiful football as ten Chelsea players stroked the ball around until the chance was created for Lampard to let fly a fine volley, but Given was once again equal to it. Right-back José Bosingwa's cross led to a chance for Ashley Cole, but the left back failed to convert it. Shortly afterwards Lampard's free-kick offered young defender Branislav Ivanović an opportunity, but his header was off target. Guttierrez almost created a chance for Michael Owen during a rare foray out of their own half, but Chelsea and England captain John Terry's interception snuffed out the danger. Lampard went close again, but half time came without a breakthrough.

With almost an hour gone Malouda's shot was parried upwards by Given and bundled in by Joe Cole, but the goal was rightly disallowed for offside by referee Phil Dowd. Shortly afterwards Lampard curled a shot that Chelsea were convinced had crossed the line, but Dowd gave Given the benefit of the doubt. Scolari brought Salomon Kalou and Michael Ballack on later in search of the elusive goal, but Ballack's shot into the side netting when he really should have done better by his own high standards with about five minutes remaining. It was the last real opportunity to break the deadlock; Newcastle had what they came for.

“Although Chelsea had more possession than ourselves, they didn't create a clear-cut chance really,” said Kinnear. “We got bodies in the way and dug in there and it feels like a win.” Meanwhile, Scolari had no criticism of the refereeing and was magnanimous to Kinnear and Newcastle. “Newcastle did not have one shot on goal in 90 minutes,” said Scolari. “We had 70 per cent of the possession but we didn't score a goal. If we had scored, maybe we would have scored three or four but we lost two points. Newcastle had a strategy to draw and it worked. We had two or three chances to score and we didn't – this is football.” But where does that leave the beautiful game?

by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (February 12th 2007)