Hull City soon remembered how difficult life back in the Premier League can be as a dominant first-half performance by Chelsea effectively ended the opening game as a contest after 45 minutes.
Although Steve Bruce`s side improved in the second half, they could never threaten with any regularity so as to worry Chelsea unduly, who held on to extend Jose Mourinho`s unbeaten home record in England to 61 games on his homecoming to Stamford Bridge.
Team Selection
Steve Bruce surprised a few in his team selection by naming the same side which had impressed in a 3-0 win over Real Betis last week. That meant new midfield recruits Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore had to settle for a place on the bench which was dominated by an excess of defenders. George Boyd was City`s only attacking influence of note as Matty Fryatt and Nick Proschwitz both missed out on making the eighteen man squad.
Jose Mourinho included many familiar faces in his team to the one he last managed, fielding Cech, Cole, Terry and Lampard. Chelsea`s only debutant was Kevin Du Bruyne who linked up in attack with Oscar and Eden Hazard. Summer signings Mark Schwarzer, Andre Schurrle and Marco Van Ginkel all had to settle for places on the substitutes` bench.
Steve Bruce chose to line his players up in a 433 formation, Sone Aluko and Yannick Sagbo supporting Danny Graham whilst Chelsea deployed a fluent 4231 system, the midfielders and lone striker of Fernando Torres interchanging to provide any number of options in attack.
First Half
With the return of Jose Mourinho, City should have expected a tough test from the kick-off. It proved to be exactly that as the fluency of Chelsea`s trio of attacking midfielders in support of Fernando Torres caused City`s defensive midfielder David Meyler, as well as centre-backs Curtis Davies and James Chester no end of trouble early on.
Twice Chelsea threatened in the opening minutes and both were from the Belgian Eden Hazard. The midfielder first saw an effort dragged wide before his second attempt was brilliantly blocked by James Chester. After Du Bruyne also sent a shot over McGregor`s goal, City knew that a strong defensive performance was required to obtain anything from the game.
Alongside a strong defensive performance, City needed to ensure that they did not gift Chelsea any opportunities. A routine ball over the top saw Fernando Torres spin in behind Chester. An outrushing McGregor failed to get to the ball first, instead colliding with Fernando Torres for a clear penalty. Lampard, who had recently been successful from the spot on ten occasions in a row but who had most recently missed went towards his favoured corner, only to see McGregor react to push the ball away to his right with a strong hand. City had survived the early scare of their own making and perhaps, just possibly this could be their day.
Such optimism was soon dismissed as some naïve defending saw Chelsea take the lead. Torres again caused the City defence to be pulled out of position, Curtis Davies tracking the striker into the right hand channel. As the ball was passed to Hazard and then Du Bruyne, City`s defence had failed to adequately cover. A slowly retreating Davies played Oscar onside and he was able to prod the ball under an onrushing McGregor to give Chelsea a deserved lead as early as the 11th minute..
Further attacks from the home side continued with Lampard denied brilliantly by McGregor before Oscar dragged a shot wide. In the 25th minute, Torres would go down under a challenge from James Chester. Television replays later showed that there had been no contact on the Spaniard, but the free-kick was awarded and Lampard stood over it. Still mulling a penalty miss, Lampard let fly from thirty yards, perhaps catching McGregor unawares as he should have palmed the ball over the bar, instead only pushing the ball into the net for 2-0 leaving City with uphill battle to take any points from the contest.
Slowly, City did grow into the game and make it more of a contest, predominantly through the influence of Yannick Sagbo through the middle rather than Danny Graham. The former Evian striker has a real physical presence and battled valiantly against Terry and Cahill whilst Sone Aluko had some joy against Ashley Cole. A Brady free-kick, which was directed into the wall, was City`s only real opportunity of the first-half.
On the stroke of half-time, after Lampard had again been denied by McGregor, goal line technology was used for the first time in the Barclays Premier League. Lampard`s corner was met by Ivanovic, unmarked and six yards out from goal. His header hit the chest of McGregor and in falling back, the Scot clawed the ball away from the goal-line. Replays showed that the ball had not fully crossed the line and City had survived another scare whilst also proving the Hawk Eye technology does work without the need of any contentious refereeing decisions – without any undue delay to the game, it appears to be a welcome addition.
Second Half
Both sides started the second half with the same line-ups as had ended the opening forty-five minutes but City immediately looked more determined and less star struck, perhaps realising that they deserved to be on the same pitch and in the same league as their opponents. Some of the naivety from the first-half was lost and City started to pass the ball around at Stamford Bridge, albeit with little end product against a stubborn defence.
The introduction of debutants Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore early in the second half, replacing Danny Graham and David Meyler promoted a shuffling of positions but was a move that allowed City to gain a foothold in the game. Huddlestone showed instantly why Bruce paid £5.25 million for his services, displaying a physical presence in the middle of the park whilst he rarely misplaced the football and displayed a good range of passing. Livermore alongside him, a former Tottenham team-mate, provided greater tenacity in midfield and allowed City to move the ball quicker than had been achievable through Meyler sitting in front of the back four. Both should certainly start against Norwich City at the KC on Saturday. It should be noted that whilst Huddlestone and Livermore impressed, Chelsea could not maintain the high intensity pressing game displayed in the opening stages of the game, naturally allowing the City defence and midfield more time to find their own players.
Although City looked composed in possession in the second half, it was mostly when they were in their own half of the pitch although they avoided losing possession within their own final third, an issue which contributed to Chelsea`s dominance of the opening stages of the match. When City could attack, the crossing of Elmohamady and Brady was surprisingly poor, meaning Sagbo and Graham before he was substituted were devoid of any reasonable service.
City`s first effort on target came from long distance as Cech mildly fumbled a effort from captain Robert Koren. This was closely followed by City`s best opportunity. After a corner was half cleared (having possibly hit the arms of both John Terry and Frank Lampard following a close range prod at goal by Sagbo,) a return cross from Elmohamady found a leaping Davies who forced Cech into a diving save. Had Davies connected to send the header a little further to the right, it would have been a debut goal for the former Aston Villa and Birmingham centre-back.
Chelsea`s attacking threat in the second half certainly diminished as the game wore on. Under Mourinho the first-time, a 2-0 result was very common, Mourinho favouring to secure the lead he had rather than aggressively add to it. Debutants Schurrle and Van Ginkel were both introduced, the former seeing his chip over McGregor landing on top of the net whilst a second Frank Lampard free-kick, this time from the corner of the penalty area, flew narrowly wide of the far post as Chelsea rarely troubled McGregor during the second half.
What did we learn?
On the basis of the first half performance, we could surmise little else other than this is going to be a long season. City were naïve at times, especially in defence and the team appeared star struck in their more illustrious surroundings. Yet by half-time, City had acclimatised and the second half gave renewed optimism that City can compete in the Premier League. City are not there through any fluke and some of Bruce`s new recruits have shown immediate promise whilst others need to display more.
We know that any points against Chelsea will have been a bonus and our Premier League status is not going to be decided by such games. It will be decided by games such as next Saturday, when Norwich City visit the KC. A home fixture against Norwich, despite the impressive millions that they have spent on player recruitment this summer, is the sort of game that Steve Bruce and his side must target as a win. With Manchester City away on the horizon after the visit of Norwich, and an international break thereafter, Bruce will want to have points on the board as the season heads into September.
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