Chelsea keep their first clean sheet in the league at home this season but Wolves did not provide much opposition
The post-match party line was insistent there was no reason to revel in any sense of relief. Andr� Villas?Boas and his team had taken a first small step en route to recovery after a dismal sequence but, according to the manager, the pressure has not been eased and a dismissal of Wolves did not necessarily jolt the sat-nav back on course. "Wait and see" was the mantra trotted out, the caution cracking only once as he lingered momentarily over the word "finally" in welcoming this victory.
Chelsea have far sterner tests than this to come over the next six weeks, but they can approach the contests ahead reassured. After the comical home defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool, and the desperate late surrender in Leverkusen, this was a stroll. Back when Luiz Felipe Scolari's tenure appeared to be unravelling in early 2009, the Brazilian had erupted on the touchline in celebration as goals from Juliano Belletti and Frank Lampard in the last two minutes overhauled Stoke. That frenzied finale was supposed to breathe life into his reign, though he ended up being sacked within a month. Villas?Boas will hope a calmer, more measured return to the comfortable wins of his brief tenure's early days bodes better.
The manager was right to put this result into proper context. Wolves had arrived here depleted and with only one win in 10 league games, and quickly felt like ideal opponents for a team whose confidence was brittle. The visitors' own initial slackness invited a thrashing. Mick McCarthy had not set his side up particularly defensively, but his gameplan did not take into account Nenad Milijas dawdling in possession seven minutes in. Ramires robbed the Serb and, although Wayne Hennessey did well to turn away his shot, Wolves were still panicked at the resultant corner as John Terry guided in the opener. They had become obliging opponents far too readily.
That trend was reflected in their profligacy, too, with the home side's jittery rearguard going unpunished for the first time in the league at Stamford Bridge this term. Better opponents would have plundered where Rob Edwards and Stephen Ward passed up. Even so, there was still reason for Chelsea to savour the saunter. Villas-Boas had been recruited to oversee a regeneration, and here was evidence of progress, his selection reflecting a team under development. Of the six players making up midfield and attack, only Didier Drogba could be deemed representative of the "old Chelsea", a lone survivor outside defence from the Jos� Mourinho era.
The key omission was Frank Lampard, the campaign's leading scorer even if his four previous bookings were a plausible excuse for non-inclusion. Yet, if the omission hinted at risk, fears were allayed by the sprightliness of those picked. The local clamour for Josh McEachran to gain time in the first team will be prolonged until Tuesday's Carling Cup tie against Liverpool, but there was a first Premier League start for Oriol Romeu, and the sense renewed that Daniel Sturridge is now integral.
The Spaniard was tidy and efficient and, while he is no feverish tackler, he felt secure with his positioning canny. "He is not a player we have to teach how to behave in that position," Villas?Boas said. "He always chooses the right option."
The manager himself had that Midas touch before he arrived in south-west London, but his purchase of Romeu already feels shrewd.
Sturridge merely maintained encouraging form. If Chelsea's campaign were to be curtailed now, he would be considered their stand-out performer, with the slippery Juan Mata at his shoulder. That pair cut swathes through the visitors and had the home support, so anxious prior to kick-off, distracted from Fernando Torres's absence until after the hour-mark. The Spaniard remains the great quandary Villa-Boas seems no closer to solving, though he can seek to address the mystery of the �50m man's form in the weeks ahead. This regime always required time to bed in. Villas?Boas has bought himself some more.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/nov/26/chelsea-wolverhampton-wanderers-villas-boas
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