The French pair were left scratching their heads, and later their manager, Ars? Wenger, concurred straight-faced: "They made a mess of it." However, his insouciant addendum: "Even when you've been in football a long time, there will always be surprises when you think you've seen everything. As part of that commitment, the club have linked with Sky TV to produce Football Icon (starting tonight on Sky One at 7pm), a kind of Pop Idol for footballers, with the prize of a professional contract with Chelsea for the winner.. The back of their shirts read Henry and Pires. You could have been forgiven for imagining it was Laurel and Hardy as they conspired to produce a second- half penalty attempt which, had it succeeded, would have seen them eulogised for their inventive Gallic thinking...
but instead must go down in football folklore as the worst penalty ever. The champions as producers of young talent rather than simply procurers does take some believing, but a reported £5m compensation fee for his services agreed with Tottenham Hotspur, following his acrimonious departure, and a £2m-a- year salary in his new role of director of youth development, does tend to confirm that Chelsea's long-term strategy will at least attempt to concern wealth creation as far as young talent is concerned. No matter, the young Dubliner was on hand with his 25-yard left-footer to celebrate the show It summed up the day which is summing up their season.. Just as a cynical world accepted that Roman's Chelsea empire would rise, and rise further, on the basis of an Abramovich- financed policy of Spend! Spend! Spend!, Frank Arnesen has arrived to correct that impression. His current lack of confidence quickly seeped through the ranks.Wigan's never dipped.
Long before Alan Mahon's spectacular in the 83rd minute, they should have made it safe when Roberts failed to pull the trigger in time and when Camara ruined his mazy run with a greedy shot at Thomas Sorensen. Filan didn't even flinch as that one flew over but the Australian's ring-pull reactions were necessary on the brink of the break as he somehow kept out a deflected Eirik Bakke fizzer when an equaliser seemed a certainty. As O'Leary maintained, it might even have been warranted.But opportunities count for nought without being knocked in and when Phillips looped a free header harmlessly to sky, the desperation only grew with the introduction of Angel. "We should have been clear after that opening 25 minutes," said O'Leary, but they weren't and Wigan sniffed their quarry after Liam Ridgewell had headed a James Milner free-kick wide and John Filan denied Kevin Phillips.Unsurprisingly, Samuel was the player found flapping as Henri Camara flew down the right in the 32nd minute before delivering a delicious ball across. Indeed, it was so tasty that, with Jason Roberts lurking behind, Aaron Hughes could not resist a nibble and he poked home one of the more forgivable own goals.What was not so easily dismissed was young Luke Moore's miss four minutes later when gifted a one-on-one by Arjan de Zeeuw's slip. His men have quickly learnt to respect reputation like a Villan respects a Blue and once again Wigan struck a blow for the few positivists left in the modern game by taking it to the home side after withstanding the early advances. In truth, though, it was a good 16 as the presence on the bench of Juan Pablo Angel and Mark Delaney signified.Jewell even acknowledged afterwards that he had glanced to his left in envy But not for too long.
