Chelsea's quadruple dream withered and died at Newcastle after Jose Mourinho's
double FA Cup gamble backfired spectacularly.
Mourinho, who already had skipper John Terry suspended, chose to rest six more
key players ahead of the Champions League trip to Barcelona, a decision he was
forced to re-think after seeing Patrick Kluivert head the home side into a
fourth-minute lead.
Damien Duff, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Frank Lampard were all drafted in at the
break, but 'Plan B' was ripped up within two minutes when full-back Wayne Bridge
was stretchered off with a suspected broken ankle.
The visitors ended the game in disarray with only nine men after 'keeper Carlo
Cudicini was sent off in injury time.
The Blues still had enough quality to push Newcastle all the way to the
whistle, but apart from Mateja Kezman's 24th-minute lob, which came back off
Shay Given's crossbar, never really troubled the Irishman as Graeme Souness' men
battled their way into the quarter-finals on a bitterly cold Tyneside afternoon
in front of a crowd of 45,740.
It was Chelsea's first defeat in 16 games and only their second in 30, but
just what the Magpies' boss needed after several tough weeks.
Teams of stewards had joined the Newcastle groundstaff to clear snow from the
pitch following a morning inspection by referee Mark Halsey, and there was
little doubt there was an appetite from both sides to get the game played.
The Magpies' eagerness may have had much to do with Terry's ban and the
absence through injury of Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba, while the central
defender knew a postponement would rule him out of next Sunday's Carling Cup
Final.
They were not admitting in the run-up to the game, but Souness and his players
were well aware that they might never have a better chance to beat the current
dominant side in English football, and they started the game as if they meant
business.
The Toon Army have spent much of recent weeks bemoaning their lot as a run of
just one defeat in nine games has disguised a lack of victories and little of
the exciting football they have come to expect.
However, they were in good voice from the off as they sensed an opportunity,
and they were on their feet with just four minutes gone when their side surged
into the lead.
Kieron Dyer and Nicky Butt, back in the side after illness and injury
respectively, combined in the middle of the park to find recalled Frenchman
Laurent Robert on the left.
When he whipped in the kind of cross which persuaded former boss Sir Bobby
Robson to persist with him, another recent under-achiever Kluivert got in front
of marker William Gallas to power an unstoppable header past Cudicini and into
the top corner.
The script could hardly have been more appetising for the under-pressure
Souness, although no-one inside St James' Park was kidding themselves that the
job had been done, and so it proved.
While Kluivert and skipper Alan Shearer battled manfully in attack and Dyer,
Butt and Jermaine Jenas worked hard in an attempt to contain their opposite
numbers in the middle of the park, it was the home defence which had to bear the
brunt of a Chelsea fightback, although they did it with few true scares.
That said, Kezman was desperately unfortunate to see his lob clear Given but
not the crossbar on 24 minutes, and the Irishman had to make a solid save from
Jiri Jarosik nine minutes later as Joe Cole and Tiago started to cause real
problems.
Mourinho's reaction was as decisive as it was swift, replacing Cole, Geremi
and Tiago with Gudjohnsen, Duff and Lampard at the break, although he was left
to wish he had not been so bold when Bridge collided with Shearer just two
minutes after the restart.
The England defender was in agony and after extensive treatment on the pitch,
he was stretchered off with his left ankle in a protective brace to leave his
side down to 10 men as he headed for hospital.
Gallas, Ricardo Carvalho and Glen Johnson reorganised themselves into a back
three, but the latter twice found himself exposed by the pace of Robert in quick
succession, although the Frenchman could not pick out a black and white shirt in
the middle on either occasion.
Souness made his own moves as the game entered its final quarter, replacing
Shearer and Dyer with Shola Ameobi and James Milner, but Kezman and Gudjohnsen
both tried their luck from distance to keep Given on his toes.
Full-back Stephen Carr saw a glimmer of goal 16 minutes from time after being
played in by Milner, but Duff and Cudicini did enough to deny him as a tense
conclusion loomed.
But the Italian's afternoon ended in personal misery when he raced from his
line in injury time in an attempt to head off Ameobi, but simply succeeded in
getting himself sent off as Newcastle kept Shearer's trophy dream alive.
Teams
Newcastle Given, Carr, Boumsong, Bramble, Babayaro,
Dyer (Milner 68), Jenas, Butt, Robert, Shearer (Ameobi 64),
Kluivert.
Subs Not Used: Caig, N'Zogbia, Hughes.
Goals: Kluivert 4.
Chelsea Cudicini, Johnson, Gallas, Ricardo Carvalho, Bridge,
Jarosik, Smertin, Tiago (Gudjohnsen 45), Geremi (Lampard 45),
Kezman, Cole (Duff 45).
Subs Not Used: Cech, Paulo Ferreira.
Sent Off: Cudicini (90).
Booked: Tiago, Ricardo Carvalho.
Att: 45,740
Ref: M Halsey (Lancashire).
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