Chelsea's new policy of not offering more than a one year contract to players over 30 is laudable. As a policy 'guideline', I wholeheartedly agree with it. But there have to be cases (such as Frank) where the player is playing so well that they are deserving of a two year deal, despite their age (34 in Frank's case).
In the Club World Cup final Frank looked well off the pace, and shouldn't have started. But since then, the more game time he's been getting, the better he's been playing. And with 501 league games under his belt, Frank is a player used to playing week in week out.
This game couldn't have started any worse for Chelsea, with Steven Pienaar scoring for the home team in the second minute! Indeed, for 15 minutes there was only one team in it (and it wasn't us). But that kind of high pressing game really saps the strength of whoever is doing all the running, and after about 20 minutes Everton started to run out of puff, which allowed us to get a foothold in the match.
Frank scoring just before half-time was probably a fair reflection on the first half overall, and I expected Everton to start the second half the way they started the first. But for some reason they didn't, and the contest continued to look pretty even, with Chelsea having the better of the play, but Everton having the better of the chances, hitting the woodwork no less than three times in the match.
Also, Cech was substituted at half time with an ankle injury, with Ross Turnbull (a very average keeper) coming on. But, to be fair, Ross did quite well when called upon.
Lampard popping up in the right place at the right time to grab the second on 72 minutes was just the bit of luck we needed. And from there we never really looked like letting the lead go.
Take out from this game is that Torres was all but invisible, and Luiz has the worst pass completion rate in the history of football. Neither of which is exactly breaking news. Also, Mata and Hazard both had quiet games by their standard. And Oscar needs to start more games, as he always seems to make a difference once he's on.
KTBFFH!!! :)
Brian M Logan
ThatActionGuy.com
SEONorthSydney.com.au