<div style="width: 244px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/news/salomon-kalou-chlesea-2010/image/10176923?term=kalou" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" style="border: 0px" src="http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/10176923/salomon-kalou-chlesea-2010/salomon-kalou-chlesea-2010.jpg?size=234&amp;imageId=10176923" border="0" alt="Chelsea v Fulham, Premier League 10/11/2010 Salomon Kalou of Chelsea Photo Marc Atkins Fotosports International Photo via Newscom" width="234" height="319"></figure></div></a>Kalou missed a sitter to pile on the misery at Chelsea</div>
The problems at Chelsea continue to mount as a draw in the North East allowed Manchester United to overhaul the champions at the top of the table for the first time this season.
With an important month in the title race about to begin injuries, backroom drama and poor performances have left confidence shattered at a club that has only collected four points from a possible fifteen.
Injuries and Suspensions With all the problems around the club it would be easy to forget that Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Alex and Didier Drogba have either been unavailable or not fully fit over the last month or so.
This constitutes the spine of the first team and it is clear that with the loss of Deco, Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Ballack the depth is not what it needs to be for the club to overcome injury blights unaffected.
Ray Wilkins Nobody truly knows what happened and the reasoning behind the decision to axe a winning back room figure, but it will clearly have drained morale and it must be a contributing factor to recent results.
With the next month or so crucial for the first time in over a year Chelsea look vulnerable something that was unthinkable just a few months ago, when the Blues raced out of the blocks with six wins in a row. Significant changes in luck around injuries and the defining moments in games are required if Chelsea are to remain in the title race come January.
Brought to you by <a href="http://www.echelseafc.co.uk">eChelseaFC</a>
<a href="http://www.echelseafc.co.uk"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-27058" src="/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/ecfc20con.jpg" alt="" width="299" height="42"></figure></div></a>

Chelsea Title Challenge Continues To Cool With Draw Against Newcastle

Chelsea Title Challenge Continues To Cool With Draw Against Newcastle  - World Soccer Talk

<div style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> 
<div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://view2.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/10138771/real-madrid-coach-jose/real-madrid-coach-jose.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="336"></figure></div>José Mourinho was not impressed either with Atlético Madrid.</div>
As with most local derbies (national derbies such as El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Le Classique between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain, De Klassieker between Ajax and Feyenoord, etc. excluded), the derby means a little more to one club than the other. &nbsp;While Arsenal always wants to defeat their north London neighbor Tottenham Hotspur, Tottenham usually focuses their year on the north London derby whereas Arsenal usually has higher aspirations. &nbsp;FC Barcelona and Espanyol share the city of Barcelona, but Barcelona sees Espanyol as their little brother they always pick on, whereas Espanyol continually fights for respect from their much bigger neighbors.
Atlético Madrid shares these same sentiments with Espanyol, Tottenham, and the other lesser teams in derbies. &nbsp;While Atlético has won the third-most amount of league championships with nine and the fourth-most Copa del Rey titles with nine in Spanish history, Real looks at los colchoneros as little more than annoying mosquitoes on its alabaster skin.

To Real Madrid’s credit, their record against Atlético Madrid in the last nineteen years has made El Derbi Madrileño into a rivalry in locality only. &nbsp;Since the commencement of the 1992-93 La Liga season, Atlético Madrid has won a total of two matches against Real in the league in thirty-two attempts, one at home and one away in 1999. &nbsp;Even in their triumphant, double-winning year of 1996 when they won both La Liga (their first league crown since 1977) and the Copa del Rey, the Atlético fans still rue the fact that they lost both meetings against Real in that season, who finished a distant seventeen points behind Atlético in a horrid sixth place and missed the UEFA Cup with such unfancied clubs as Tenerife and Espanyol taking those berths.
Even when Atlético suffered the ignominy of relegation in the 1999-00 season for the first time since 1936 (history note: even though Athletic Club de Madrid, as Atlético Madrid was called back then, was relegated, the Spanish Civil War intervened for the next three years, and Real Oviedo, who finished third in La Liga in 1936, was the one who was forcibly relegated to the Segunda División when the league resumed in 1939 because their pitch was unplayable due to General Francisco Franco’s use of Oviedo’s stadium as an ammunition dump), los colchoneros tend to look at that season as the campaign where they did not lose to Real Madrid in a season since the 1978-79 season, winning at the Santiago Bernabéu and drawing at the Vicente Calderón.
While Atlético Madrid’s form has fallen off since the beginning of this season, when they deservedly defeated Inter Milan in the European Super Cup and won their first two La Liga matches to briefly top the table, their confidence heading into the derby certainly did was not lacking. &nbsp;Atlético goalkeeper David de Gea gave Cristiano Ronaldo a backhanded compliment within his comments about the derby:
<blockquote>“Ronaldo is doing great and he is having good fortune in front of goal, whereas we have had bad luck, especially at the back. &nbsp;Real Madrid are doing so well, but then we are doing well too.”</blockquote>
Atlético trainer Quique Sánchez Flores instilled his confidence in his team with his comments to the press in his media session prior to the match:
<blockquote>“We are Atlético Madrid, and we go to the Bernabéu to win. &nbsp;This year, we have self-esteem in place, and our goal is to enter the Champions League. &nbsp;For this, we need things to work and to go our way.”</blockquote>
José Mourinho, with the delightful arrogance he carries himself, downplayed the significance of the derby with his comments in his Saturday press conference:
<blockquote>“It’s not an exam for us. &nbsp;It’s just another game. &nbsp;My teams don’t play to win derbies; they play to win leagues and titles. and to win the championship, you need to win games and points. &nbsp;I want to win tomorrow because we want the points, not because we are playing Atlético or because it is the derby.</blockquote>
Within the first twenty minutes, Real Madrid played the match as if it were just another match, and Atlético Madrid played as if this were a very important match. &nbsp;Advantage Real Madrid.
If Atlético wanted to slow down Real’s rampant attack, circumstances prevented Quique Sánchez Flores from presenting his best defensive line. &nbsp;Luís Perea picked up his fifth yellow card of the season last round against Almería, which meant a one-match ban, and Tomáš Ujfaluši moved from right back into central defense to cover Perea. &nbsp;Juan Valera replaced Ujfaluši at right back, and while Valera can play well when he goes forward, he is more like a right winger, and many times, Valera suffers an allergy for defending. &nbsp;Talented but still green central defender Álvaro Domínguez came in for Diego Godín after Godín underwent an emergency appendectomy a week ago.
In a span of six minutes, Real exposed this makeshift defense and scored twice to relieve any tension that they might have held prior to the match. &nbsp;Ricardo Carvalho joined in the attack from central defense in the 13th minute, and after Ángel&nbsp;di María’s attempted through ball to Carvalho came off Ujfaluši’s arm and diverted perfectly to Carvalho’s feet, he made no mistake as he slotted it past de Gea to the left near post.
Six minutes later, Domínguez clearly pulled Cristiano Ronaldo down to set up a dangerous free kick, although referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz initially hesitated to blow his whistle. &nbsp;Ronaldo’s “performance” against AC Milan when he clutched his face in agony after Milan fullback Ignazio Abate raised his arm at his upper chest certainly came into Mateu Lahoz’s mind for a split second before acknowledging the foul. &nbsp;From the free kick just outside the right border of the penalty area, Mesut Özil curled his low free kick to the left far post, hoping to find a runner at that far post, and de Gea was frozen solid as he watched Özil’s effort nestle into the side netting without any touch.
Although Atlético would come close on a few occasions, with Diego Forlán pelting the post on a first-time volley attempt and José Antonio Reyes testing Iker Casillas with a couple of powerful curlers with his sweet left foot, Atlético simply was not good enough in any facet of the game to match Real Madrid, and the 2-0 fulltime score flattered los rojiblancos to a certain extent.
With the Monday night football match between Sevilla and Valencia yet to be played, a Sevilla win or draw could drop Atlético to eighth in the table, and they cannot complain about their position. &nbsp;In defense of this mediocre record, Atlético has already played all the top tier teams in Spanish football: Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Villarreal, Valencia, and Sevilla, and only against Barcelona were they in the friendly confines of the Vicente Calderón. &nbsp;In addtion, their next ten La Liga fixtures features only two teams that are currently in the top half of the ladder: -4 goal difference Espanyol at home and surprising and plucky Mallorca at home.
They could easily gain many points in this stretch and play themselves back into consideration for a Champions League spot, but against the toughest teams in La Liga, there is something missing that many can see in plain sight. &nbsp;Quique Sánchez Flores does not see too many problems as he stated in his post-match comments:
<blockquote>“We have been good, and the result has not done us justice. &nbsp;Two isolated moments have changed the game, but I have nothing to say to my players. &nbsp;All we needed was a goal, and we would have been in the game. &nbsp;I have not seen a lack of intensity from my players. &nbsp;We leave the Bernabéu after a very serious game after two early goals and know that we rebuilt after that moment. &nbsp;We have forcefully demonstrated that we can compete with Real Madrid, even with two goals against.”</blockquote>
Whether he made these statements in denial or to raise his players’ spirits, what Atlético lacks in abundance is a sense of belief in themselves and what they do on the pitch. &nbsp;They did raise their game after conceding two early goals, but this was more a function of Real Madrid easing the pressure off Atlético and going into cruise mode.
As much as Atlético made clear of their frustration of a lack of a penalty call on Xabi Alonso’s handball after Sergio Agüero smashed his shot that came of Alonso’s arm from less than a yard away, that moment in the match clouds the real issue of belief, and they will likely cling on to that moment as one that would have turned the match in their favor and forget the massive gaps that the midfield and the defense left for Real Madrid to exploit throughout the match. &nbsp;Diego Forlán’s stellar European and World Cup form from last season and summer has not translated into this season, and the paucity of rest has caught up with Forlán. &nbsp;Without the telepathic and lethal combination of Agüero and Forlán combining at their best, Atlético Madrid cannot make up for their chronic defensive woes.
Before the match, a banner that spanned one side of the Santiago Bernabéu displayed the Grim Reaper with the message “Esto es Madrid” (This is Madrid). &nbsp;Real has ripped the soul out of Atlético Madrid for so long that Atlético cannot rebut that statement. &nbsp;The Fountain of Neptune was empty last night, and until Atlético tightens up in the back, the Fountain of Neptune will remain scarce of colchoneros after Real Madrid matches for years to come.
Fueras de Juego
– Aythami Artiles must have invoked the spirit of Franz Beckenbauer preceding Deportivo de La Coruña’s match at Levante, as the sweeper in Miguel Ángel Lotina’s newly formed five-man defense scored Depor’s second goal with a curling aplomb that Beckenbauer would stand and applaud. &nbsp;With this five across the back strategy, the Galicians have won two consecutive matches against Espanyol and Levante to pull themselves out of the relegation zone, and while they will likely be bogged down in the relegation fight throughout the season, Lotina’s last stand to save his job has worked in the short-term, and no one would be happier with Lotina’s success than Depor chairman Augusto Lendoiro, whose relationship with Lotina is almost father-son like.
– Real Zaragoza notched their first win of the season with a stirring fightback against Mallorca with ten minutes remaining. &nbsp;A goal from Nicolás Bertolo in the 84th minute and a Gabi penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time gave&nbsp;los maños a win the fans at La Romareda will remember for years to come. &nbsp;Referee José Paradas Romero correctly whistled for the penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time after Gabi’s shot struck José Luís Martí’s arm inside the box, but the controversy stems from Paradas Romero’s decision not to blow the whistle after Mallorca sent it out of play after the four minutes of scheduled stoppage time had passed. &nbsp;Paradas Romero felt there was still time for Zaragoza to take the throw-in and let the buildup transpire, and Zaragoza took advantage and got the penalty call. &nbsp;Zaragoza is still a top candidate to fall to the Segunda División, but the fashion in which they won their first match of the season could be a buoy to save themselves.
– After Athletic Bilbao took the early lead against Villarreal with a Fernando Llorente header, Villarreal stormed back with the heart of a champion with four goals and a display of football that would rival Barcelona or Real Madrid on any day. &nbsp;While Athletic has plenty of young talents and lion-hearted men such as Gaizka Toquero, Carlos Gurpegui, and Pablo Orbaiz, they would be near the bottom of the table without the presence of Llorente up front to create and score. &nbsp;With the big European clubs setting up to pounce with a €30 million plus offer for Llorente, the Athletic scouts are already searching for the next Llorente as the club figures out who will take the load off Llorente from match to match.

La Liga Jornada 10 Review: Atlético Madrid Suffers Another Derby Loss to Real Madrid

La Liga Jornada 10 Review: Atlético Madrid Suffers Another Derby Loss to Real Madrid - World Soccer Talk

<div style="text-align: center"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/real-madrid-coach-jose/image/9800939?term=real+madrid" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9800939/real-madrid-coach-jose/real-madrid-coach-jose.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=9800939" border="0" alt="Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho speaks during a news conference at the Valdebebas training grounds outside Madrid September 17, 2010. Mourinho will not accept an offer to take temporary charge of the struggling Portuguese national team for next month&apos;s Euro 2012 qualifiers, the Real Madrid coach said on Friday. REUTERS/Susana Vera (SPAIN - Tags: SPORT SOCCER)" width="500" height="334"></figure></div></a></div>
Early in the second half, before Angel di María opened the scoring with a sublime curler to the right far post to give Real Madrid the 0-1 lead, “El Especial,” José Mourinho, lambasted referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz for showing a yellow card on Sergio Ramos for an apparent trip on young Real Sociedad starlet Antoine Griezmann. &nbsp;Replays showed that Griezmann fooled Mateu Lahoz by tripping himself and baited the referee to flash yellow. &nbsp;Whether Mourinho actually saw what transpired or merely stood up for his player, he infused a renewed energy into his team that had frankly been outplayed in all facets of the match by the Basques from San Sebastián. &nbsp;One minute later, di María gave Madrid a one-goal cushion.

Some teams respond to a manager that stays calm despite the chaos surrounding them. &nbsp;Last season, Manuel Pellegrini led Los Blancos with this type of tranquil and stolid style, and they earned their highest point total in their illustrious history and in the history of La Liga prior to last season. &nbsp;The only problem was that Barcelona also broke this record and pipped them at the end by three points with an astonishing ninety-nine points out of a possible one hundred fourteen.
In their three most important matches of last season, the two El Clásico fixtures and the second leg against Olympique Lyonnais in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid could not muster the strength and character to overcome the deficit in any of these matches. &nbsp;Was it Pellegrini’s fault that they lost these three matches? &nbsp;Not in the least. &nbsp;Did Pellegrini do anything extra within the match to lift his team above the level at which they were playing? &nbsp;Unfortunately for the Madridistas, the answer again was no.
José Mourinho, whether coincidental or intentional, affects his team from the technical area in each match they play, and when Mourinho feels that he needs to berate the referee, the linesmen, or the fourth official to get his point across while catalyzing his players at the same time, he will do so. &nbsp;With Real Sociedad outplaying and beating Real Madrid to most of the loose balls in the first half, Mourinho needed to perform some of his world-famous magic to pull his team across the sea of blue and white at the Estadio Anoeta.
Real Madrid somewhat got shafted by the schedule makers who slotted them into the late Saturday kickoff after dismantling Ajax in the Champions League a mere seventy-two hours prior whereas both Valencia and Barcelona received Sunday kickoffs after playing in the Champions League on Tuesday, two extra days to recover from their exertions in the midweek. &nbsp;Despite this quick turnaround, Mourinho did not make any changes to his starting eleven.
As for Real Sociedad, manager Martín Lasarte also kept his lineup mainly intact from the team that gave up the late equalizer to Almería on Monday to prevent a perfect two-for-two start, the only change being the 19-year-old Antoine Griezmann slotting into the left attacking midfield spot in place of Francisco Sutil.
That modification proved a brilliant move as Griezmann, along with Raúl Tamudo&nbsp;and Xabi Prieto created several chances that cut through the Real Madrid defense. &nbsp;Two opportunities, in particular, should have given Real Sociedad at least one goal but probably two goals to send Real Madrid into panic mode within the first half-hour of the match.
In the sixth minute, Xabi Prieto provided the perfect curling cross from the right wing for Griezmann, who was unmarked in front of the penalty spot, but Griezmann struck his header over the bar. &nbsp;He could do nothing but place his hands over his face in bewilderment and disgust about wasting a well-engineered opening.
In the twenty-fifth&nbsp;minute, Griezmann again missed a golden chance to give Real Sociedad the lead when he missed a yard right of Casillas’ right near post. &nbsp;From a long ball from goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, it eventually led to Raúl Tamudo sending Griezmann in with a nicely weighted through ball into the box, but Griezmann’s left-footed effort, that fooled Casillas as he dove to his right, went wide.
On a handful of occasions, man of the match Ricardo Carvalho prevented the culmination of well-worked Sociedad moves to keep his club level with the Erreala. &nbsp;Just after the half-hour mark,&nbsp;Carvalho slid in and toe-poked away a certain goal for Tamudo after Xabi Prieto provided the squared cross across the face of goal to the right back post. &nbsp;Without Carvalho’s intervention, Tamudo had a sliding tap-in from two yards away.
A few minutes after Real Sociedad equalized at 1-1, Carvalho&nbsp;again prevented a potential scoring chance as he stuck a foot out to prevent Xabi Prieto’s through ball that would have certainly put in Tamudo toward goal. &nbsp;Mourinho has managed Carvalho at three different clubs, FC Porto, Chelsea, and Real Madrid, and even when Mourinho coached at the San Siro for Inter Milan, he wanted to purchase Carvalho from Chelsea to consolidate his central defense. &nbsp;Like Gerard Piqué currently and Fabio Cannavaro from the recent past, Carvalho’s strengths as a central defender are not necessarily in his pace or physical strength (although he has both) but in his positioning and passing ability from the back, and Saturday’s match against Real Sociedad showed this characteristics in full display.
The familiar story read through at the fulltime whistle, and Real Madrid somehow left the Estadio Anoeta pitch with the three points and left their Basque hosts in disbelief. &nbsp;Madrid’s second and decisive goal propitiously came off a massive deflection from Pepe’s back after he could not duck away from Cristiano Ronaldo’s free kick, and despite Sociedad creating more and better chances, the indomitable spirit that has not enveloped this team often enough pulled them through a tough match on the road.
When a lower side achieves a victory over a top-level club, they capitalize on small number of breaks they have during the course of ninety minutes. &nbsp;Real Sociedad deserved to share the points with Real Madrid, but whereas Hércules converted twice on the few chances they had against Barcelona, Sociedad were not efficient with their numerous chances.
Real Madrid will not score 102 goals as they did last year, far from it. &nbsp;They will not sparkle in attack as their extravagant eternal rivals to the northeast in FC Barcelona. &nbsp;While some of the Madridistas will loathe Mourinho’s lack of flair when it comes to the play on the pitch, Mourinho only cares about winning and not necessarily pleasing the supporters (sorry Alfredo Di Stéfano).
The following statement is no slight to previous manager Manuel Pellegrini, but Real Madrid likely would have not won this type of match last year when they were not playing their best. &nbsp;José Mourinho provides that belief in self that has characterized all of his previous teams. &nbsp;Despite their relatively mediocre performance, they stuck with it and got the winner, however fortunate that goal was. &nbsp;With this kind of fight and non-wavering spirit, Real Madrid might have that little extra to pip Barcelona to the title.
Fueras de Juego
– FC Barcelona broke Atlético Madrid’s&nbsp;hoodoo over them at the Estadio Vicente Calderón with an entertaining, yet physical 1-2 victory on Sunday evening, but Tomáš Ujfaluši took this physicality over the edge when he flew into Lionel Messi ankle in stoppage time and immediately received a red card for the challenge. &nbsp;Messi’s ankle visibly swelled within seconds of the tackle, and while the Culés can breathe a sigh of relief that he will only be out for a couple of weeks, there are calls for the competition committee to invoke Article 97 that could raise Ujfaluši’s suspension from 1-3 matches to 4-12 matches. &nbsp;Article 97 is conjured when an incident “occurs in a violent manner, resulting in harmful consequences considered serious by its nature.”
– Through the first twenty-five minutes, Hércules looked hungover from their monumental victory over Barcelona as their derby rival Valencia brought the Alicante club down to Earth with two splendid goals from Juan Mata and Pablo Hernández. &nbsp;To Herculés’ credit, they rose from the canvas after Valencia punched them in the mouth with a penalty kick goal from David Trézéguet after David Navarro handled the ball in the box and a commencement of an assault on Valencia’s goal after Navarro received a rather dubious second yellow card. &nbsp;Valencia held on for a 1-2 road victory and is now the only team in La Liga to earn the maximum nine points from their first three matches.
– Levante and Real Zaragoza appear doomed to relegation this early in the season after they both looked awful on Sunday afternoon.

La Liga Jornada 3 Review: Real Madrid Grinds Out A Victory Over the Better Real Sociedad Side

La Liga Jornada 3 Review: Real Madrid Grinds Out A Victory Over the Better Real Sociedad Side - World Soccer Talk

Latest news from Ricardo Carvalho. Find out about all the news related to Ricardo Carvalho on worldsoccertalk.com

ALL POSTS TAGGED "Ricardo Carvalho"

News

Chelsea Title Challenge Continues To Cool With Draw Against Newcastle

News

La Liga Jornada 10 Review: Atlético Madrid Suffers Another Derby Loss to Real Madrid

News

La Liga Jornada 3 Review: Real Madrid Grinds Out A Victory Over the Better Real Sociedad Side