retired_amyslack

The Guardian
Wednesday September 29th, 2004
Late Goal Stuns Chelsea

A brilliant performance by Ronaldinho, during which he scored twice, looked like giving Chelsea a win in their Champions League group at home to Sparta Prague. But it was not to be as the visitors, who looked dangerous on the break all evening, stunned Stamford Bridge with a stoppage-time equaliser. Ronaldinho struck early, latching on to a pass from Joe Cole and swivelling to shoot home after just 6 minutes. But Sparta showed their capabilities with a superb equaliser ten minutes later. Jiri Kral played a wonderful defence-splitting pass for Jan Rezek who controlled the ball at pace to finish past Cech. However, within 5 minutes Chelsea were in front again as Ronaldinho picked up the ball midway inside his own half and, leaving a trail of defenders in his wake, scored a dazzling solo effort. Both sides threatened further goals without actually delivering until the killer blow from the visitors at the end.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Celtic | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 6 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Sparta Prague | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Chelsea | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 1 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | CSKA Moscow | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 1 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

retired_amyslack

Decoded Despatch from Agent Sokolov
Friday October 1st, 2004

The transfer dealings of Mr. Abramovich have made quite a dent in the club’s bank balance – I estimate that they now have some £75M of cash available. I have been investigating the financial organisation of the team and I have made some contacts in the accounts office that may prove to be useful. One of the clerks in particular, a young lady called Sally Brown, may be a useful source of information. She is very talkative and I am trying to develop a personal relationship with her that would allow me to get some inside information. Comrade Djerkinov continues to work well with the players, despite his difficulties with the language, but that does mean that I am having to spend more time in translating duties than I had originally hoped.

retired_amyslack

The Independent On Sunday
Sunday October 3rd, 2004
Arsenal Top As Chelsea Held At Bolton

Arsenal’s 4th straight Premiership win, 3-0 at home to Portsmouth, coupled with Chelsea’s 1-1 draw at Bolton, has moved the Gunners to the top of the table on goal difference. Thierry Henry was on target twice in the first 20 minutes at Highbury as Arsene Wenger’s team proved to be far too powerful for a limited Pompey. An Edu penalty late on sealed a comfortable win for the new leaders. Bolton matched visiting Chelsea stride for stride in their encounter and took the lead inside 15 minutes through Henrik Pedersen. But their lead lasted barely 5 minutes before Man of the Match Ronaldinho squared the game. The Brazilian is looking increasingly influential in his advanced midfield position now that he is settling into the pace of the English game and with Vieira starting to hit his stride, Chelsea have a strong look about them.

Curvature

KUTGW BobBev sounds interesting and I think Im gonna try the challenge too what leagues you got running ?

retired_n_S_R

Good story so far, if it ends up being anywhere near as good as your Fano one then it will be great! KUTGW

retired_amyslack

US ARESENAL - I am running all the English and Russian leagues.

porph - thanks, the Fano tale will continue but I'm a bit distracted with other stories at the moment.

The Daily Mail
Thursday October 7th, 2004
Chelsea Back On Top

With Arsenal losing 3-1 at Spurs in the London derby, a 3-2 win at home to Newcastle was good enough to move Chelsea back to the top of the Premiership. The Blues raced into a three-goal lead at Stamford Bridge but a Shearer-inspired fightback almost got the Magpies back on terms. Didier Drogba scored twice inside the first 20 minutes as Chelsea looked like overwhelming the visitors. Frank Lampard added a 3rd on the hour and the home side were cruising. But when Juri Djerkinov withdrew Ronaldinho and Vieira, Newcastle sensed a glimmer of hope. Shearer stuck on 70 minutes with a trademark near-post header and caused Chelsea pulses to race when he added a second in stoppage time. But it was too little too late from the Geordies and Chelsea were able to hold on for the win.

Curvature

I started the challenge myself after reading all this it was awesome until about the 19th game in then it all started going wrong what tactic are you using bob ?? any help would be gladly taken at this point again KUTGW great story

retired_amyslack

US ARSENAL - in game terms I at least two seasons ahead of the story so I can't tell you exactly the tactics I used. As I recall it was based on a 4-4-2 with a standard back four. The midefield had two wingers (Duff & Robben) and the central two had quite different roles. One would fall back to support the defence (Vieira) and the opther would push forward to support the attack (Lampard). I didn't set them out in a diamond though - I used forward and backward arrows and thier individual instructions. I used a single striker (Drogba) with an AM/F pulled slightly back in support (Ronaldinho). It worked really well with the right players as you will see if you keep reading.

The Telegraph
Wednesday October 20th, 2004
Robben Scores In Delayed Debut

Having now seemingly recovered from the broken foot that kept him out of action since his arrival in England, Arjen Robben came off the bench for half an hour in Chelsea’s Champions League game against CSKA Moscow to score the final goal in his team’s 3-0 win. And a welcome win it was too – their first in three attempts in the group, it lifts them into second place behind leaders Celtic. Ronaldinho got the home side off to the perfect start, scoring his 5th goal in 8 games with just 10 minutes on the clock. The Brazilian was a constant threat with his close control and he came close on several occasions before half time without adding to his tally. Damien Duff scored his first of the season 10 minutes after the restart following good work from Fernandes on the right. The young Frenchman was withdrawn shortly afterwards to allow Robben to get a run out and he made an immediate impact, scoring within ten minutes of setting foot on the pitch.

retired_amyslack

From the Diary of Yuri Djerkinov
Thursday October 21st, 2004

It is great to see Robben finally getting back into action and, along with Damien Duff, I expect him to be a very dangerous attacking weapon indeed. It was also very important to get our first Champions League win too and I am confident that we are capable of qualifying from our group. Young Misha is becoming a little frustrated that I keep him at my side constantly to translate my instructions and I have the sense that there are other things that he would rather be doing. But I prefer to have him where I can see him so it is as well that he believes that I am genetically incapable of ever speaking any English – I must be careful not to disabuse him of that notion. I also noticed that Abramovich partook in some “hospitality� with a couple of the CSKA delegation. The two men concerned are unknown to me but they certainly did not look like football men to my eye.

retired_amyslack

The People
Sunday October 24th, 2004
Late Lampard Strike Breaks Stalemate At Bridge

Chelsea spent the best part of 85 minutes subjecting the Fulham defence to a barrage of attacks, all of which were repelled one way or another. They finally got their reward when Frank Lampard scored with an unstoppable shot from around 25 yards after a lovely knockdown from substitute Kezman. An eight-game unbeaten run had taken Fulham to 3rd place at the start of play yesterday but they found themselves on the back foot from the off and rarely ventured too far forward. In fact Chelsea keeper Petr Cech was a virtual spectator for the full 90 minutes, not having a single save to make. The bad news for the blues was an injury to striker Drogba, a groin strain that will keep him out for a few weeks. Substitute Kezman was also withdrawn late on and it remains to be seen if he will be fit enough for their next game.