Anelka the top dog as goals rain down on Keane's head

Chelsea 5 Sunderland 0: Blues cruise with Lampard on century duty but Sunderland manager sees red

By Glenn Moore at Stamford Bridge

Sunday, 2 November 2008

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It must be hoped Triggs is in the mood for a good walk this morning. Roy Keane is in the habit of taking his dog for a hike when he has matters to brood on, and after this thrashing there is plenty for the Sunderland manager to contemplate.

His team were outclassed at Stamford Bridge, where it rained cats, dogs and Chelsea goals. Nicolas Anelka helped himself to three of them, taking his season's tally to eight in the League. With Didier Drogba making his return it was a timely treble, though the plaudits belonged to its architects, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard. Keane's ire was further exacerbated by his being sent to the stands at the interval for disputing the validity of Chelsea's goals.

He had a point. Anelka was offside when he tapped in the second and Pascal Chimbonda was fouled in the lead-up to the third, but while goals change matches it is hard to believe the result would have been substantially altered. Keane admitted as much when he said: "Chelsea were outstanding and there is no shame in losing to them."

"We played football," said Chelsea's manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari. The Brazilian, who reserved particular praise for Joe Cole, added in a reference to his team's failings in last week's defeat by Liverpool: "We tried to play on the ground, not high balls, feet to feet with the players changing positions." The only negative for Scolari was a calf injury to Ashley Cole which will rule him out of Tuesday's Champions' League tie in Rome.

Keane denied he had been dismissed, but said the referee, Martin Atkinson, had "told me not to come to the dug-out for the second half," which sounds very much like it. He added: "All you want is a bit of fairness. We felt we did not get that today."

Keane was unhappy enough going into the match, making five changes from the side beaten at Stoke. Clearlyhe felt too many had still been basking in the glory of last weekend's first home League victory over Newcastlein nearly 30 years. The reshaped side never got going, and Chelsea's early dominance was nearly rewarded when Deco chipped Marton Fulop only to hit the bar. After 27 minutes the dam broke. Lampard slid a ball down the inside-right channel to Joe Cole, who turned George McCartney before driving in a low shot that Fulop allowed to squirm under his body for Alex to tap in. Three minutes later Alex was driving forward again as Deco picked out Lampard's excellent run into the same inside-right channel with a beautifully weighted pass. Lampard squared and Alex steered the ball goalwards, only for Anelka to pinch the goal. The Frenchman, though, was offside, having been ahead of Alex when he shot.

Chelsea had not got round the back of the defence at Liverpool once last Sunday. Now they were doing it to order. A minute before the break Joe Cole, Lampard and Florent Malouda exchanged passes and, with the Sunderland defence appealing optimistically for offside, Anelka tapped in.

Keane made two changes at the break, one positional as he switched to 4-5-1. As a damage-limitation exercise it failed miserably. Within six minutes Joe Cole skipped around the hapless McCartney again and chipped a cross which an unchallenged Lampard headed in. It was his 100th League goal.

"He can get 150 goals," said Scolari. "For a midfielder it is fantastic. We need to think about who is the best in the world in this position – maybe it is Frank Lampard."

With the next attack Anelka completed a 23-minute hat-trick, tapping in after John Terry freed Malouda on the left. Malouda missed further chances as Chelsea passed around the bedraggled visitors with ease. In the stand the cameras caught Keane on the phone. An amateur lip-reader swore he said: "Is that the Samaritans?"