Good First Night In Europe?

 

CHELSEA 4 – 0 BORDEAUX  

Well it was Scolari’s first trip into Champions League territory and you’d have to say it was a comfortable one. Most of the damage was inflicted in a fairly lively first half from Chelsea (well, as lively as they needed to be anyway) and if anything the final scoreline probably flattered Bordeaux more than us.

In the first half, Chelsea’s movement and passing was fluid, with Lampard opening the scoring 15 minutes in, meeting a cross from Bosingwa with his first touch.  Another good performance from Bosingwa for sure, who definitely prefers playing more as a right-winger. Anyway, despite a couple of lampposts towering over him, Joe Cole managed to get his head to a ball from the corner and see us go in two goals to the good at the break.

Whatever Laurent Blanc said to his side at half-time must’ve worked to an extent though because they looked a bit more interested in the second half. Unfortunately, that seemed to coincide with Chelsea taking a bit of an unscheduled break as things went a bit flat. Still, I guess when Sunday comes around, Scolari’s apparent frustration at Chelsea taking their foot off the pedal could be replaced by relief that they haven’t burnt themselves out.

To be fair though, the ever-slated Malouda turned in the sort of performance – even throughout a pretty dull second half – that could’ve reaped a few more rewards than it did. Chelsea played a little too deep for a little two long after the break, Deco seemed to have nodded off and was replaced by Ballack, and even our German took a little while to wake up after his time out.

Still, it came together again towards the end of the game, with an impressive Malouda running onto a Lampard backheel and putting it into the net with his left foot. And even Nicolas Anelka, who looked as if he wouldn’t be able to buy a goal on the night, eventually got his name on the scoresheet, courtesy of an unbelievably good long range effort from Belletti hitting the bar, and the Frenchman made sure he was in the right place at the right time to follow it up into the back of the net.

All in all then, a pretty good night. Deco could have done without getting himself an unnecessary yellow card, we probably could’ve scored a lot more although clearly didn’t need to and Joe Cole’s reaction to being subbed, yet again, highlighted his increasing frustration at being the eternal fall-guy.

On the plus side though, a decent amount of energy was conserved and with the United attack to contend with on Sunday that has to be a good thing. Mikel continues to look as if he’s played in that role a lot longer than he actually has and Malouda’s starting to show some of the form that made him look an exciting prospect when he arrived at Stamford Bridge. Add to all that an Anelka goal, which will never go amiss with Drogba continuing to recover from a lengthy spell out, Michael Ballack returning from his injury, a reminder of exactly how hard Belletti can hit the ball and a four goal return without breaking a sweat, and it wasn’t bad for Scolari’s first Champions League outing.

Let’s hope the rest of the journey is as fruitful.