By |

By, Ugo Nwogwugwu

The Proof

Tuesday 31st October, Stadio Olimpico – Another evening of Champions League football; Chelsea were in the Italian capital for their European match against AS Roma. It was almost exactly two weeks since the reverse fixture at the Bridge – in which Eden Hazard had somehow prevented his club from turning a relatively straightforward 2 – 0 win into a disastrous 3 – 2 defeat.

Since then, AS Roma had kept three clean sheets and won three Serie A games in a row. They’d beaten Torino, Crotone and Bologna 1 – 0 each, and their top scorer Edin Dzeko was now up to 10 goals for the season. Chelsea had also won their three domestic fixtures since the Roma game. They’d scored seven goals, many more than Roma had, but they’d also conceded three goals in those three matches, all against far more humble opposition than their opponents tonight.

Well, now they had a tough midweek game against Roma, just before another major test at the weekend versus Manchester United. But playing the best in Europe one game, then the best in England the next – these are big team troubles. If Chelsea truly deserved to win anything this season, this was the opportunity to prove it.

Roma full backs Emerson, Bruno Peres and Rick Karsdorp were all out injured. Chelsea’s Victor Moses was still recovering from a hamstring problem. N’golo Kante, although partly recovered from his injury, was not included in the matchday squad.

Roma lined up in a 4-3-3 with Stephan El Sharaawy, Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti up top. Chelsea reverted to their familiar 3-4-3 with Rudiger, Luiz and Cahill in center back, and Cesar Azpilicueta shifted out to right back. Cesc Fabregas and Tiemoue Bakayoko started in midfield.

It was a slightly less compact, defensive setup than expected from Chelsea – they were away from home and two points clear at the top of the group – Roma needed a win much more than they did. Either way, Antonio Conte would soon find out whether or not it was right tactical setup for this game.

Line-Ups & Ratings

AS Roma

Becker 7, Fazio 7, Jesus 7, Florenzi 6.5 (Manolas 6), Kolarov 7.5, Nainggolan 7.5, De Rossi 7, Strootman 6.5, El Sharaawy 8.5 (Silva 5), Perotti 7.5 (Pellegrini NR), Dzeko 7.5

Subs Skorupski, Manolas, Under, Gonalons, Gerson, Pellegrini, Moreno

Chelsea

Courtois 5, Azpilicueta 5.5, Rudiger 4, Luiz 5.5, Cahill 5 (Willian 5), Alonso 5, Fabregas 4 (Drinkwater 5), Bakayoko 6, Pedro 6, Hazard 7, Morata 5 (Batshuayi 5)

Subs Caballero, Christensen, Zappacosta, Kenedy, Drinkwater, Willian, Batshuayi

Big Moments

El Sharaawy’s Still Got It

And… less than a minute into the game, Chelsea were a goal down. No, a 3-4-3 with Cesc Fabregas in midfield probably wasn’t the right tactical choice for this game. Pedro had a shot blocked at Roma’s end, then Kolarov carried the ball up the left wing into Chelsea’s half. He played a long ball up centrally to Dzeko, who headed it backwards into the path of Stephan El Sharaawy.

The young Italian striker had been through a few difficult seasons struggling with injury, but he had not lost his pace, or his marvellous finishing ability. He left Marcos Alonso eating his dust, and rocketed a goal in from the edge of the box – Roma were 1 – 0 up.

A couple of minutes later Chelsea broke forward – Fabregas picked out Hazard with an early ball over the top, and he raced down the pitch. Unfortunately he slowed a little at the end of his run, and Alessandro Florenzi caught up with him and leaned on him a little, putting him off his shot – chance missed for an equalizer.

Hazard had another good opportunity just under twenty minutes gone. He drifted in from the wing, and tried a near post shot similar to the one that beat Bournemouth at the weekend. Alisson Becker saved easily.

Ineffectual Play

Roma had been playing it safe since their early goal, sitting deep and only countering when necessary. It had worked really well against the visitors. Alvaro Morata had barely had an impact on the game, and Pedro wasn’t doing much better.

Hazard had been his team’s only spark, albeit a faint one. Pedro centered the ball for him on a rare Chelsea counter, and he rolled his defender and took a shot, but it was more or less at the keeper, another easy save. Then Morata had a golden chance when Pedro charged down a clearance from Kolarov. The ball rebounded to him just outside the six-yard box, but Becker closed him down and he put his shot in the rafters.

On 28 minutes Florenzi sneakily trod on Hazard’s ankle right on the border of the penalty box, but the referee missed it. Fortunately Hazard was not badly hurt, and was able to carry on after treatment.

Roma had another fantastic chance on the counter, when David Luiz failed to control a long ball in midfield. Edin Dzeko gained possession and carried the ball upfield in a three on two break. He passed the ball to El Sharaawy, but this time the wide forward’s shot was tame and Thibaut Courtois saved. The rebound came back to El Sharaawy but his second shot went off Alonso for a corner.

Hard To Explain

Then came a

moment that was almost impossible to explain. Radja Nainggolan played in another long ball from almost the same spot as Kolarov did for the first Roma goal. It should have been relatively easy for Antonio Rudiger to clear it… but he chose to watch the ball bounce in front of him… perhaps entranced by its graceful parabolic arc.

El Sharaawy cut in behind him, and in spite of Azpilicueta’s attentions, must have really enjoyed his easy chipped finish for 2 – 0. The stadium was rocking now, the home fans singing… it was looking like a really good evening for them to go top of their Champions League group.

Marcos Alonso had a good try at pulling one back just before half time – he found space at the left of the penalty box, and tried to curl it in, but Becker got a hand to the ball. Bakayoko had a free header from the resulting corner, but put it just wide of the post. Roma were by far the better side in the first half, and deservedly went in two up at half time.

Crapped Out

Not much changed for Chelsea after half time. Play was a little more even, but Roma were still creating the better opportunities. Ten minutes into the second half, Conte must have decided there was no point playing three center backs if he was going to get such poor results defensively, and replaced Gary Cahill with Willian. Azpilicueta returned to his familiar right center back position, and Pedro replaced him at right wing back.

It was at best a roll of the dice from the manager, and unfortunately, this time he crapped out. On sixty-two minutes, Kolarov intercepted another poor pass from Fabregas on Roma’s left wing, and he passed to Diego Perotti, who had given Chelsea so much trouble in the first game at Stamford Bridge. Perotti dribbled inside past Pedro, and rocketed a low shot past Courtois from distance – 3 – 0.

Conte put Fabregas out of his misery shortly afterwards, hooking him off for Daniel Drinkwater, and then replaced Morata with Michy Batshuayi. It was too little too late though, and Roma were too professional, and Chelsea too shell-shocked to respond. And so at the final whistle, Roma leapfrogged Chelsea to go top of Group C.

Final Score Roma 3 – 0 Chelsea

 

Thumbnail image courtesy of: Mirror

 

Would you like to write for London is Blue? Click on the “contact us” tab located on the top menu, fill out the form, and we can get started!

By |

Ugo Nwogwugwu

The Run Starts Here

Saturday 28th October, Vitality Stadium – Chelsea travelled to Dorset for their Premier League game against AFC Bournemouth. It was only the second away game of their five fixtures in October.

Under normal circumstances, the EPL champions would have been favourites for this fixture – they were 5th and Bournemouth 19th as at the start of play. But Chelsea had been well beaten by the bottom club in the league, Crystal Palace, in their other away game this month. In fact, they had not kept a single clean sheet in October, conceding an average of 2 goals per game across their other four fixtures. If they were to have any hope of retaining their title, Chelsea would have to start defending better and find some winning form pretty soon.

On the other hand, Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth had been showing some good form recently. They’d won two and drawn one of their last five games, including a 2 – 1 away win over Stoke the previous Saturday, and a midweek 3 – 1 victory over Championship side Middlesbrough in the Carabao Cup. The week before that, they’d been unlucky to lose 1 – 0 away to Tottenham. They would definitely not be pushovers today.

Ryan Fraser and Josh King were left out for Bournemouth through injury, but Jermaine Defoe had recovered from a hamstring problem, and started this game. Victor Moses was out injured, but N’golo Kante had returned to training for Chelsea – he was not however, included in the squad for today’s game.

Line-Ups & Ratings

Bournemouth

Begovic 7, Smith 6, Steve Cook 7.5, Ake 7, Francis 5.5, Daniels 6, Lewis Cook 6, Surman 6, Stanislas 5.5 (Pugh), Defoe 5.5 (Ibe 6), Afobe 6.5 (Wilson 5)

Subs Boruc, Arter, Pugh, Mousset, Gosling, Ibe, Wilson

Chelsea

Courtois 7, Zappacosta 7, Rudiger 7.5, Luiz 7, Azpilicueta 8, Alonso 7, Fabregas 7, Bakayoko 7, Pedro 6 (Drinkwater 6.5), Hazard 8 (Willian 5.5), Morata 7 (Batshuayi 6.5)

Subs Caballero, Cahill, Christensen, Ampadu, Drinkwater, Willian, Batshuayi

Big Moments

Effectively Contained

Bournemouth set up from the start to absorb pressure and play disciplined, defensive football, and although Chelsea dominated possession and chances, Bournemouth were effective at containing their visitors in the first half.

Pedro dribbled past ex-Chelsea defender Nathan Ake for an early opportunity, but blazed his shot high at the end of the move. Alvaro Morata had been working hard to recover form since his hamstring injury, but he wasn’t quite there yet for this game. Eden Hazard created some great chances for him in the first half, but he was unable to take advantage.

For the first, Hazard got to the byline and crossed for him, but Morata put his finish wide under pressure from Bournemouth keeper Asmir Begovic. In the second, Hazard got possession in Bournemouth’s final third and put Morata through for what should have been an easy finish, but again his shot curled just wide of goal. Morata did eventually get the ball in the net, off a trademark Chelsea short corner on 27 minutes. Unfortunately the goal was wrongly ruled offside, as Cesar Azpilicueta was deemed to be interfering with play.

Benik Afobe almost got through on a rare Bournemouth counterattack, when he passed to Daniels on the left and received the ball back in the box. He tried a shot but Azpilicueta closed him down and the ball went out for a corner.

Morata made and almost finished another fantastic opportunity for himself – he received the ball back to goal from Hazard, rolled his defender, drifted left and took a vicious shot. It was on target this time, but Begovic produced a brilliant reaction save to keep it out. Shortly afterward, Pedro put in another low cross for Fabregas in the six-yard box, but Steve Cook intervened twice to prevent him from scoring.

Breaking Containment

Then finally, early in the second half Chelsea made their breakthrough. The goal came off a long ball from Morata in the center circle. Simon Francis attempted to intercept the pass but failed to connect with the ball, and it fell for Hazard on the left, just outside the penalty area. Hazard stormed forward, looked up, and arrowed a shot past Begovic at the near post.

After the goal Bournemouth tried to get forward and create chances themselves, but Chelsea’s defending was much better than it had been in their previous games – maybe the players were benefiting from being rested during the midweek league cup game. On one of their counters, Jordon Ibe took a pretty good shot from just outside the D, but Rudiger got a slight touch and the ball went over the bar.

One Touch Football

As the second half wore on, Chelsea began to play some nice one-touch football. After an exchange of passes with Fabregas, Pedro got the ball in the box but his shot was straight at Begovic. In another move, Hazard held the ball up just left of goal, then slipped a through pass to Fabregas, who had run outside of him. If Fabregas kept his composure he might have scored, but he flashed his shot across goal and the opportunity was wasted.

Eddie Howe had substituted Jermaine Defoe for Ibe at halftime, and halfway through the second period Afobe was taken off as well. Yet as the match wound down Bournemouth became more threatening – they had a glorious chance to equalize in injury time: Ibe centered the ball for Andy Surman, and he passed to Smith in the box, who then laid it back for Steve Cook. Cook curled a shot in but fortunately for Chelsea it was straight at Courtois, and he saved and held it. Although Bournemouth had tried seven shots in the game, this was their first and only shot on target.

At Long Last, A Clean Sheet

And so the game ended in a narrow away win, and with the three points Chelsea returned to fourth place in the EPL table. They’d also succeeded in keeping their first clean sheet in the seven games since beating Stoke City back in September.

Final Score Bournemouth 0 – 1 Chelsea

Would you like to write for London is Blue? Click on the “contact us” tab located on the top menu, fill out the form, and we can get started!

Thumbnail image courtesy of: Metro

By |

These are emails exchanged between a fan of the pod and one of our hosts. Enjoy these unfiltered thoughts from two fans.

Hey Brandon,

I hope all is well, at least as well as it could be after today’s shit show.  The thing that stood out to me most, was how Cesc is not a serviceable player as a holding midfielder, unless we got to 3,5,2 with Bakayoko-Cesc-Kante, Cesc looked slow and out of sorts.  I don’t want to bash him, it just isn’t the position for him as he isn’t good enough defensively.
Lampard called out the board that we need more signings, I don’t see anyway we can be successful on any of the 4 fronts without another holding midfielder and a wing back.  Do you guys think we will make deadline day signings like last year (Alonso/Luiz?)
Not sure about getting VVD from Southampton, but I think we will get Drinkwater for better or worse and I am hoping we get a serviceable wingback (just not Candreva in a swap for Christensen!)
Anyway looking forward to the pod, sure you will discuss the harshness of the ref, 3 yellows and a red… which I’m not sure about straight red.  Hopefully my question about signing will make it to the pod if you get a chance, really curious about your guys take.
Later

Hey Erik!

Can’t remember if I replied to your last email about the summer update, so apologies if not. We all took a little break from the Pod in June to recharge for the upcoming season – hopefully you understand!

I personally didn’t watch the game as I’m currently responding on my phone from a beach at a cabin in rural Minnesota 🙃 but watched Twitter enough to feel like I have a decent idea on how things went.

Even without this match we all know Cesc can’t play in a 2-man midfield. We lose too much of what he’s good at and force him to defend an uncomfortable amount over 90 minutes. Another true box-to-box or holding mid is 100% required.

Wing backs, wingback, wing backs. Has to be the number one priority even over a CM. Zero depth in that position is a recipe for disaster. If Sandro and Candreva don’t come in sooner than later, I fully expect at least one wingback we’ve never heard of (a la Alonso last season) to arrive on deadline day for £25-30 million. Only way Christensen leaves is if we pick up VVD and I don’t think that’s needed at this point, but he wouldn’t hurt us, that’s for sure.

Obviously we’ve been talking about signings all summer during the transfer window so I’m sure it’ll come up again.

KTBFFH,
Brandon

Hey Brandon,

Very wise of you not to watch the game today, as we just haven’t played up to our capabilities the last two matches at Wembley.  Today’s performance have me concerned about the game against Burnley and especially against Tottenham on 8/20.  It is clear the only defensive mid we have right now is Kante (with the sales of Chalobah and Matic) until Bakayoko is healthy.  This may sound crazy, I would like to play Luiz as a holding midfielder next to Kante, and we give Christensen a chance on defense.  More recently we have seen it done with Zouma, but years ago Luiz played holding mid under Rafa and it was the best he looked at Chelsea until Conte took over.  He is able to spring players (notably Hazard and Mata) with long balls and was able to make smart interceptions – cover a lot of ground defensively.  Again, is it risky to pull him from the role of leading our defense?  Yes, but we have no one else to play with Kante, Cesc cannot handle the defensive responsibility (it stunts his playmaking ability and defense has never been his forte), so either Bakayoko is ready, we purchase Drinkwater or someone capable of playing as a true defensive mid or I say we insert Luiz.  Here is a video of him in that role in 2012:
Sadly I don’t think we will get Sandro… which means as far as I am concerned we should never loan or sell a player to Juve again.  I would like to sign Candreva, he is a bit up there in age and cost will be an issue for the board.  I would really prefer we get Bertrand, proper Chels and boosts our English player total, plus he is younger so I would be willing to pay more.

By |

By, Ugo Nwogwugwu

Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea (Arsenal win the penalty shootout 4-1)

In the weeks leading up to the 2017 Community Shield clash between Arsenal and Chelsea, the media focus had not been on the clubs’ pre-season preparations, but on one of the craziest transfer windows in football history. Both this fixture’s competitors broke their transfer records this window, to make strikers Alexander Lacazette (£52m) and Alvaro Morata (£58m potentially going up to 70m) the most expensive Arsenal and Chelsea players ever.

Both clubs had also experienced problems holding on to key players. Chelsea top scorer Diego Costa and midfield linchpin Nemanja Matic were out of the squad, one waiting to be sold the other transferred to a direct rival. The club had also sold and loaned out eighteen other squad and youth players, but with only four replacements signed by kick off for this game. Arsenal had their own problems getting top players Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil to commit to new contracts.

Arsenal started without Sanchez, Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey for the Community Shield, while Chelsea were without Eden Hazard and Tiemoue Bakayoko, recovering from injury and surgery respectively. Arsene Wenger picked new man Lacazette to start up top, but Chelsea manager Antonio Conte continued to show an ability to make the hard choices, leaving Alvaro Morata on the bench for the first significant tie of the season.

Arsenal Team

Cech, Bellerin, Holding, Mertesacker (Kolasinac), Monreal, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Elneny, Xhaka, Welbeck, Iwobi (Walcott), Lacazette (Giroud)

Subs Ospina, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Nelson, Walcott, Giroud

Chelsea Team

Courtois, Moses, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill, Alonso (Rudiger), Fabregas, Kante, Willian (Musonda), Pedro, Batshuayi (Morata)

Subs Caballero, Christensen, Rudiger, Boga, Scott, Musonda, Morata

Big Moments

Arsenal tested Chelsea’s defence quite a few times early on in the game. New man Lacazette narrowly missed a low Iwobi pass just across the face of goal. Danny Welbeck headed another great cross straight at Chelsea keeper Courtois. Cesar Azpilicueta got caught in possession by Welbeck, who then went down under pressure from the full back, earning Azpilicueta a yellow card on thirteen minutes. Bellerin was also booked shortly after for a late, studs up challenge on Marcos Alonso.

Chelsea weathered the storm though, and began to make a few opportunities themselves – Pedro, Batshuayi and Willian getting into good positions but being crowded out by Arsenal’s defence, not quite getting their shots off. Arsenal then hit back on the counter, creating their best chance of the first half. Bellerin found Welbeck out on the left with a cross-field pass. Welbeck advanced and should have cut in and taken a shot himself, but unselfishly laid up the ball for Lacazette, who curled a shot round Cahill and Courtois, but only struck the post.

During a Chelsea corner about halfway through the opening period, Gary Cahill unintentionally caught Mertesacker in the face with an elbow. After some treatment for a bad cut above his eye, Mertesacker came off the pitch for new signing Sead Kolasinac.

On 35 minutes Chelsea almost caught the Arsenal defence off guard, Willian finding “lone ranger” Pedro unmarked out wide on the left. Rather than squaring for Batshuayi though, Pedro decided to try for goal himself, but only forced a save from Petr Cech. In the next exchange Willian intercepted the ball twice in Arsenal’s last third but got booked for simulation after appearing to trip over his own feet in the box.

After one final counterattack from Arsenal, Iwobi’s shot well saved and held by Courtois, both teams went in goalless at the break. It had been a good first half of football, but both sides were quite clearly suffering the absence of their best players. Overall, Arsenal had edged the first half of play, mostly negating Chelsea’s efforts by crowding the box when out of possession, then breaking forward at speed.

Arsenal 0 – 1 Chelsea

Knowing Antonio Conte though, the Chelsea players would come out of the break with a flea in their ear. And so it was that they blazed into the lead just 49 seconds after the restart. Sead Kolasinac had put the ball out, and Arsenal thought they had cleared the resulting corner. The ball fell to Gary Cahill however, who headed it back into the box. Victor Moses then got to the ball first, beating Arsenal’s offside trap, and rounding former teammate Cech to make it 1 – 0.

Just two minutes later, Chelsea threatened again off another corner. Fabregas put the ball over Cech from the by-line, but there were no Chelsea players at the far post to finish. Arsenal cleared to Batshuayi, but was obstructed by Welbeck and could only hook a weak shot straight at the keeper.

On fifty-five minutes the medical team were called on again, this time after a worrying clash of heads between Chelsea defenders Cahill and Luiz, off a Granit Xhaka corner. Both players were cleared to play a couple of minutes later though. Soon afterwards, Courtois made his first major save of the second half. Mohammed Elneny crossed from the right for Welbeck, but the ball curled dangerously inward towards the net. The Chelsea keeper had to make an acrobatic save to knock it over the bar. On sixty minutes, Elneny was involved again. This time he threaded a through ball past Chelsea’s defenders to Lacazette, but nothing came of his effort as the French striker was offside.

As play went back and forth, both Rob Holding and David Luiz did well to cut out crosses from Willian and Welbeck at either end. Azpilicueta also intercepted to divert another Arsenal cross towards Courtois, and the Belgian keeper had to make a hurried clearance to prevent Welbeck from taking advantage.

With twenty-five minutes of normal time left, Arsenal made a double substitution, Giroud and Walcott coming on for Lacazette and Iwobi respectively. Lacazette had played well to that point, but frankly Arsenal’s play had been crying out for Giroud’s height and finishing. Eight minutes later, Alvaro Morata made his competitive Chelsea debut, replacing Michy Batshuayi as central striker.

Arsenal continued to press hard, with Walcott making an early cross in from the right. The ball evaded Welbeck and almost made it all the way across to a waiting Giroud, but Moses cut it out to prevent a certain goal. Xhaka also forced another superb Courtois save with a thirty-yard howitzer. Chelsea got forward themselves on the break, Willian haring down the middle of the pitch, before making an outside-foot curler of a cross to Morata wide right. The ball was just slightly ahead of the Spanish striker though, and he could not keep his volley down and on target.

On 78 minutes Conte made another change, Antonio Rudiger on for Marcos Alonso. Rudiger slotted in at right center back, with Azpilicueta taking over from Alonso at left wing-back.

Arsenal 1 – 1 Chelsea

It looked like the game was winding down to a straightforward Chelsea 1 – 0 win, when Pedro made a late challenge from behind on Elneny, making contact with the back of the Arsenal player’s leg. The referee chose to show a red rather than a yellow, and Chelsea were down to ten men. As if that wasn’t enough drama though, Chelsea’s defence went completely to sleep on the resulting free kick. Granit Xhaka crossed for Kolasinac, who lost Rudiger on the right, then raced through to head in an 82nd minute equalizer.

Shortly afterwards, Hector Bellerin escaped being sent off as well. He had been dispossessed by Azpilicueta, before hauling the Chelsea left back down to prevent a counter. Up to that point the refereeing from Bobby Madley had been tough but fair, but it was difficult to understand how Bellerin was not sent off. Especially as the Pedro tackle got the strictest interpretation, and Azpilicueta was booked for a much lighter pull-back on Welbeck earlier in the game. Even with ten men though, Chelsea still managed to create one more good opportunity, from a Fabregas free kick in injury time, but Morata’s header was wrongly ruled offside.

And so it went to penalties. Arsenal took their penalties coolly and well, Walcott, Monreal and Oxlade-Chamberlain all placing their goals perfectly. Chelsea struggled badly though. Team captain Gary Cahill scored their first penalty, but Thibaut Courtois blazed over, and Morata sent his own attempt wide. Arsenal were 3 – 1 up and only needed one more goal to win it. The decider fell to Olivier Giroud, who made no mistake, scoring to his right as Courtois went in the opposite direction.

 

Thumbnail image courtesy of: Barrington Coombs/EMPICS Sport

 

Would you like to be a contributor for the London is Blue (LIB) team? Click on the “Be A Contributor” link contained in the menu bar, fill out a short form, and we can get started!