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FA Cup Final Review : Chelsea Deserving Winners

Published by Ian John on May 31, 2009

Chelsea are deserving winners of the FA Cup after a 2-1 victory over Everton at a baking hot Wembley. In the end it was pretty much a stroll in the sunshine for the Londoners, despite going a goal down to an excellent Louis Saha strike after just 26 seconds of the game.

Chelsea’s stop-gap manager Guus Hiddink has a reputation as something of a master tactician, being only seconds from eliminating European Champions from the competition a few weeks earlier, he used his knowledge well to pinpoint the glaring weaknesses of the Everton defence and exposed them superbly, giving Chelsea control of the game, in more dangerous areas and a far greater percentage of meaningful possession and chances.

Tony Hibbert may well wonder what happened during the first 45 minutes of the game. Indeed, the homegrown Hibbert-Osman combination down the right for the Toffeemen was astutely exploited by Chelsea who recognised the weakness and made them pay. After Saha’s goal, Chelsea probed continually down the Everton right, creating opportunity after opportunity against a bewildered Hibbert. The full back struggled against the pace and guile of Ashley Cole and it came as no surprise when Chelsea’s equaliser came from that source. Cole not closed down by Osman and given time to pick out Drogba with a fine cross which the striker powered home. I was staggered by the pundits analysis of Lescott and Yobo being at fault for the goal. How can a defender in position, outjump a striker who has a running start and is running full pelt to meet the ball? He can’t. It’s impossible. The defending has to be done at source and time and time again the Everton right sided players failed to do this.

I was not surprised to see Jacobsen brought on at half time, but by then the damage had been done. Chelsea had gained the upper hand and despite their commendable effort, Everton could not get enough of the ball to pose a sustained threat to the Chelsea defence. Saha too often cut a lonely, frustrated figure, Fellaini’s aerial threat only resulted in flick on’s to the Chelsea back line, Cahill was always catching play up instead of being involved in it. Of course, Moyes had to play this way. It has served Everton well over the course of the season, however credit must go to Hiddink and Chelsea for realising where the Everton weaknesses lay, and exploiting it so successfully.

Lampard’s winner was fully deserved. A curling left foot shot which Howard could only finger tip into the net. I wondered initially if the keeper could have done better, but after viewing several replays I am convinced he did well to get a hand to the ball. Malouda’s terrific shot could have made it three. The ball looked more over the line than Geoff Hurst’s did and had Nicolas Anelka been able to lob the ball properly, he could have helped himself to a brace too. For Everton, they were willing, tried hard but ultimately the quality was lacking. Mainly because Arteta, Yakubu and Jagielka were sat in the stands watching the game.

It will be interesting to see where both teams go from here. Chelsea seem to have lined up Carlo Ancelotti as their new manager. The Milan boss is every bit as astute tactically as Guus Hiddink, but one would assume that the Italian would want to make significant changes to the Chelsea squad. A squad which is not getting any younger. Not that Ancelotti has a problem with keeping older players on. Under Ancelotti, the Milan dressing room is not unused to being knee deep in zimmer frames and cod liver oil capsules with the likes of Maldini, Shevchenko, Costacurta, Crespo, Beckham, Serginho, Nesta, Dida and others all being retained by Ancelotti. Don’t be surprised if Frank Lampard is given a 5 year deal now he is 30, and Ray Wilkins could even be given a short term contract to cover for Jon Obi Mikel in midfield.

Although Everton may want to consider signing Wilkins to play right back. I don’t want to appear harsh towards Tony Hibbert who is an honest and hard working player. However it is tribute to David Moyes that this Everton team has taken massive strides forward from the time when that was just what Everton were. A hard working team who battled hard to mask deficiencies in other areas. Moyes now has the makings of a team to push on in the Premiership. However to do that, the deficiencies so expertly exposed by Chelsea need to be addressed. That means improvements in key areas and a much greater depth to the squad. Whether Bill Kenwright has the financial power to do that is questionable but they are precisely the steps Moyes needs to take to move Everton on further and while Osman and Hibbert may be good squad men, they are not really the top quality players the blues need to improve significantly upon what they have. When Arteta, Jagielka and Yakubu return they will be stronger, but there is no disguising the fact that Everton still need another 3 or 4 quality players to come into the team and give players like Fellaini, Cahill, Arteta and Yakubu the chance to do what they do best.

Photo Credit Courtesy of : **ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images**

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