Happy 60th Birthday Phil for Yesterday
Happy 60th
By Since66
November 10 2008
Big Phil celebrated his 60th birthday at a rain swept Ewood Park yesterday lunchtime as Chelsea regained top spot after a 2-0 win on a pitch that the ducks would have felt more at home, let alone footballers. Many a time during that first half I thought referee Chris Foy would halt proceedings.
But after the 4th official Andre Marriner sought weather reports from the Met Office, the torrential rain died away, and any more thoughts of an abandonment were dismissed. Nicolas Anelka scored a double to take him to the top of the scoring charts, ten League goals, Chelsea equalled their own record of NINE successive Premiership victories and after last Wednesday's night defeat in Rome, all appears well with the world. Blackburn's Paul Robinson was the busier of the two 'keepers, but should Robinson have been allowed to stay on the pitch after 'appearing' to trip Anelka inside the area as early as the 3rd minute. Anelka had a clear goal-scoring opportunity denied, but no penalty or further action was taken. Did Chris Foy bottle it? Ray Wilkins faced the media after the game and said of Anelka, "He's looking good. He's doing a fantastic job, again today he was exceptional and had it not been for Paul Robinson in the Blackburn goal he'd have had another hat-trick which would have been very pleasant. "He has worked extremely hard, it's not his game to play up front on his own and bring people into the game and hold the ball up, but he has worked very hard at that aspect of his game. Thankfully for him he has managed to knock in a few as well." On the absences of Didier Drogba and Joe Cole, Wilkins said, "Didier has been out for quite a period, and he still isn't quite feeling good enough to come into the fold, so we thought it best we left him behind. There is no setback he just doesn't feel that he's ready to crack on. "Joey has stiffness in the right hamstring. I think he's been out for three weeks and you tend to pick up little injuries along the way. "What he didn't really do is have a fantastic recuperation period. He has done a lot of work trying to get fit and make himself available when he wasn't 100 per cent. He is showing great spirit and attitude towards the team." Blackburn: Robinson, Simpson, Khizanishvili, Nelsen (c), Olsson, Villanueva, Grella (Mokena 44), Andrews (Derbyshire h/t), Warnock, Gamst Pedersen, Roberts (Fowler 77) Booked: Warnock 62, Simpson 80 Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry (c), Bridge, Mikel, Kalou (Belletti 61), Deco, Lampard, Malouda, Anelka Goals: Anelka 38, 67 Booked: Malouda 85 Goals and Highlights 
It took both teams a while to adjust to the ball holding up on the pitch but we managed a nice passing game in the first half.
2nd half they dominated for a good half hour although they didn´t manage any meaninful attack with the exception of Roberts sharp turn that caught JT out.
I noticed a bit of niggly undercurrent - Lampard got reall riled about one challenge and then later JT was having a good argument with an opponent.
Very nice finish for Anelka´s 2nd goal. He´s come in for criticism from some Chelsea fans - yet he´s top scorer in the league. All he can do is be there when it counts and put it in the back of the net. No doubt if he scores one that he more or less crafts himself and that goal saves our bacon then opinions will change.
During Scolari´s pre-match interview noticed that he seemed almost upset about Drogba and Cole - surprised and disappointed - couldn´t help feeling there was something afoot there.
No Drogba, Essien, Ballack, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Carvalho...yet top of the table - not bad is it?
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.