Luiz Felipe Scolari enjoyed the perfect start to his Stamford Bridge reign as Chelsea beat Portsmouth 4-0.
Deco caps debut with fourth goal in easy win
Luiz Felipe Scolari enjoyed the perfect start to his Stamford Bridge reign as Chelsea swept to an impressive 4-0 victory over Portsmouth.
A woeful defensive display from the FA Cup winners contributed to their downfall but, inspired by the promptings of new signing Deco, Chelsea put down an early marker to their title rivals.
The Blues took the lead on 12 minutes when Joe Cole finished clinically past David James following a superb pass from Michael Ballack.
Nicolas Anelka then headed home from close range after poor goalkeeping from James and Frank Lampard celebrated his new contract by slamming home a penalty in first-half injury-time after Sylvain Distin was penalised for handball.
Pompey tightened up for most of the second half before Deco capped an eye-catching debut with a goal a minute from time when his vicious shot from 25 yards was helped into the net by James.
Scolari had promised a samba style to his time in West London, and he did not disappoint after being introduced to the crowd and giving them a thumbs-up.
Dominated
His five-man midfield dominated through the middle, which is where the opener was created from less than a quarter of an hour into Scolari's career in England.
Anelka cushioned a header back to Ballack, who lifted the ball over Pompey's defence with the outside of his boot for midfielder Cole to steer his finish around James.
It could have got worse for the visitors as Lampard split their defence again, only this time James saved with his feet when Anelka ran through.
The France striker was not made to wait long for his goal. Jose Bosingwa helped set it up by getting to the byline and standing up a cross to the far post.
Ballack almost got in the way as Deco met the ball but the Portugal midfielder managed to clip it over James and Anelka beat Sylvain Distin on the line to head into the empty net.
Anelka should have added a third on the half-hour mark when he raced through again, but his effort went just wide of the post after he tapped the ball around James.
It did not run entirely smoothly for Scolari as he was forced into a change when Ballack picked up a knock, with Florent Malouda coming on.
Pompey also suggested they were willing to fight back when Petr Cech was forced into a double save before the break, first from Niko Kranjcar's powerful drive, then bravely with his body when Peter Crouch latched onto the rebound.
However, their hopes ended when Chelsea were awarded a penalty in first-half stoppage-time after Distin handled a cross by Joe Cole.
James was booked for kicking the ball away before Lampard tucked away the spot-kick and tapped his badge in celebration as he ran to the crowd.
The attacking continued after the break, with Anelka twice firing over the crossbar after the restart.
Midfielder Cole was sent through over the top again but fired wide of the post after outpacing the Pompey defence.
Short on belief
Pompey, in contrast, looked short on belief and were contributing to their own downfall, one free-kick in their own territory resulting in possession lost and a chance being presented to Anelka.
Younes Kaboul thought he had a sight of goal from a corner but his effort came off his knee, and Crouch could not tame the ball when it fell to him.
Pompey also had a penalty appeal when Kranjcar's drive was blocked by Ricardo Carvalho.
Crouch's partnership with Jermain Defoe clearly needs time to gel. It took them 78 minutes to combine, and Defoe could not get direction on his finish when he met a flick-on.
Deco's goal came in the 89th minute, a powerful and swerving effort from 30 yards that James could only parry into the top corner.
| Chelsea |
Team Statistics |
Portsmouth |
| 4 |
Goals |
0 |
| 3 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 9 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 9 |
Shots off Target |
4 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 8 |
Corners |
3 |
| 12 |
Fouls |
8 |
| 6 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 88.3 |
Passing Success |
72.8 |
| 27 |
Tackles |
21 |
| 70.4 |
Tackles Success |
66.7 |
| 68.9 |
Possession |
31.1 |
| 56.4 |
Territorial Advantage |
43.6 |
|
