Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 1: Ominous signs for Carlo as title pretensions exposed

18 October 2009 00:27
Sling a delivery into the Chelsea danger zone and you could be confident of one of two things. A blue head, normally the ball like a magnet to John Terry's leap, or an orange jersey arriving to avert the danger. Aston Villa scored two headed goals from set-pieces when their central defenders - Richard Dunne and James Collins - jumped unmarked to beat Petr Cech and cancel out Didier Drogba's early strike. The word has gone out: Chelsea are wide open at the back, their goalkeeper isn't the force of old and teams fancy their chances. A bit like Liverpool. Terry wasn't to blame for either of the goals and his screaming, on-pitch tantrum revealed his true thoughts. Weak marking, poor match-ups (Dunne versus Carvalho was a no-contest) and a lack of presence from Cech. He went walk-about for the second, winning goal, amid claims his shirt was pulled by John Carew. He emerged later to say: 'There was a deflection for the first goal. And the second, I went for the ball and clipped someone in front of me. That's why I failed to reach it. 'It's not a general problem, but the last two away games - this one and Wigan - we have conceded three goals from set-plays, so we need to get our discipline in marking because this was costly.' Costly, indeed. Villa sensed their opportunity and took it. Deliveries in from wide by Ashley Young came with pace and accuarcy, but Chelsea will not compromise on their attacking instincts and there is no panic from Carlo Ancelotti. 'We have to improve on the set-plays,' he said. 'We have to maintain our concentration better. 'We had chances when the score was 2-1. Anelka, Malouda, Deco - all man-for-man with the keeper. 'For me, I don't want to change because the team is playing very well. This is the way we want to play. We don't want to change because we lost one match. We are confident like this.' And Martin O'Neill, who masterminded this Villa victory, agrees. 'I don't think Chelsea ever get the credit they deserve for being brilliant,' he said. 'This was a setback for them - brilliant for us, mind you - but they are really strong. 'Be careful about making assessments just on one game. Drogba and Frank Lampard have been around for a number of years, Michael Essien is as strong a player as you will see. They are really good. 'If you are asking me now, I don't think there is a massive difference from that side that won those titles to this. They play to a pattern, they can manipulate it and, with 20 minutes left out there, they were going for everything. While it was 2-1, they were just going for us. 'Do I see any sign of them ageing? Absolutely not. Not at all. Not one jot of it. I really don't see that criticism at all. I wonder where that came from? The fact they have lost twice now doesn't put them out of the race. I genuinely believe the team that finishes in front of them will win it.' Villa must have something going for them if O'Neill can persuade Carew to sprint back into his own half and help out. Yet, here he was, putting in a shift as Villa cashed in on two moments of weakness. Special mention has to be made of Brad Friedel, who used his experience to recover from seeing Drogba's shot rise up over him in the first half to produce three stunning blocks in the second half. And for all that Dunne and Collins played well, Stephen Warnock overshadowed Ashley Cole as the outstanding left back on show. It was a near flawless performance. Carew said: 'I think one of the big things now is that we aren't scared of these teams. We are getting more consistency in our performances. 'The team is looking really strong and really solid, all over. We've got the new boys at the back who have all settled in quickly and then in the middle we have the likes of Stiliyan Petrov and Steve Sidwell, who are showing what they are made of both in attacking and defensive situations. 'When Gareth Barry left there were people looking closely to see how we would cope. It was just time to pull your sleeves up and get on with it. We lost a great player but we now have a bigger squad and a stronger squad. I think the team is stronger now overall.'

Source: Daily_Mail