Pass & Move – El Cashico #1
It’s the newest and most expensive rivalry in English football. The two best teams of last season. A game that is beginning to reach all the hype that it’s worth, albeit one that tends to end in a draw. Tends to.
Despite being defending champions, Chelsea showed up at The Emirates in a bit of a mess. They’d lost the Community Shield and drawn to Swansea in sloppy circumstances. Then Jose Mourinho went and hogged all the headlines with his public spat with his own medical staff. Not at all ideal circumstances for a game like this but then Jose knows how to spark a siege mentality like nobody else. They hate us. They wish us harm. Each and every one of them is out to get us. Well, we don’t give in so easily…
As for City, if there was any disturbance of their equilibrium before then it seems pretty sweet now after just one game. A 3-0 win vs West Brom including a vintage Yaya Toure performance and a (small) contract extension for Manny Pellegrini preceding it.
City made just one change to the side that comprehensively dismantled West Brom… and that was the return of Sergio Aguero for Wilfried Bony. Meanwhile Chelsea made a couple of enforced alterations to the steadiest starting XI in the Premier League, Courtois suspended so Begovic starts and Ramires gets the go for the injured Oscar. Nothing sneaky and tactical from Mourinho, no Zouma in midfield or anything like that.
A theory before we begin: How much of Mourinho’s recent public frustrations are actually to do with their lack of transfer business? It was an idea already floated around before and then Jose made some demanding claims in his presser:
“If we have one new player or a couple of new players, [it is] welcome. Yes, it’s a possibility. The market is open and you know that a defender we are going to do for sure.”
That defender is almost certainly John Stones. He also added that Chelsea have the moral and economic right to spend big on players because of how well the team has done in selling them. Case and point: £50m for David Luiz, in case anyone’s forgotten.
But they need it too. I mean, compare the two benches. That Chelsea one is weaker than a Falcao shot on goal, and I’m not convinced that Jose’s very happy with having to pick both Ramires and Willian together in this game. He’s probably made his bed with Falcao as a backup striker but another midfielder and a winger wouldn’t go astray. In the very least so that he has some options for team selection on an afternoon such as this one.
To the main event now and it only took 20 seconds before Asmir Begovic made the first save of the game. David Silva rolled past Fabregas in his own half and threaded a needle pass onto the run of Aguero, who couldn’t sneak the ball past the on-rushing keeper. Jesus Navas then shot wide on the follow up. Not much of a reassurance of John Terry and Gary Cahill’s pace, they found themselves staggered and almost paid for it. But a gorgeous pass it was. Absolute class from David Silva, who at his best (like against West Brom) is one of the most fluent players in the world.
Branislav Ivanovic got skinned by Jefferson Montero last week, a rare game in which he wasn’t completely dominant. But if he struggled against Montero then Raheem Sterling is only a better version of that particular Colombian. He won a good challenge against him the first chance he got but not before Sterling made a bit of ground down the wing, looking threatening with his pace. Sterling, to his credit, was full of movement, drifting around and looking for the ball. He doesn’t act as quickly as his teammates when he gets it at his feet, often halting progress with a few step-overs and hesitations, but that’s a hangover of his Liverpool situation. In their second direct battle, Ivanovic somehow dodged a free kick as he obstructed Sterling’s kick-and-dash beyond him.
In midseason form, Sergio Aguero might have had a hat-trick within 25 minutes. He drew a couple of smart saves out of Begovic diving low to his left, while a sharp cross from Kolarov produced probably the best chance, but Aguero overreached for the ball and it bounced off his protruding shin and back past the near post.
Defensively you can spot the similarities between these two, in this game and overall. However the midfield was where this game was being won. Chelsea had Fabregas next to Matic with Willian in front of them and Hazard and Ramires to either side. City had Toure and Fernandinho behind Silva, but they’d almost stagger into three rows without the ball. Fernandinho drops deepest, sitting on the defensive line, while Yaya covers the middle and Silva wanders with purpose ahead of them (“Not all those who wander are lost” – JRR Tolkien). It means very little width is covered by the trio but they’re allowed to do that by the fact that they were getting much more defensive work from their wingers than Chelsea were. Sterling and Navas may not be the best off the ball (Navas is alright) but the mere fact that they were committing their bodies to the cause, making the effort to get back, made all the difference. Ramires did his bit on Sterling and Kolarov but he was reluctant to follow Sterling as he went searching infield. It was that movement and energy that set the teams apart quite considerably in the first half especially.
Aside from a hopeful yet impassioned penalty shout from Diego Costa, Chelsea barely offered a threat. A nice run by Willian, a couple set pieces, some interplay between Hazard and Fabregas, a deep shot from Ivanovic… all coming to nothing. Hazard was completely absent for the first 10 minutes, no tardy note or anything.
And then, deservedly, the opening goal did come. It actually started from Diego Costa running out of space on the edge of the City penalty box. He lost it, Yaya brought it forward. Great first time ball form Aguero coming back, smart stuff from Yaya on attack too. A flowing counter attack, not a bursting one at pace but one in which every step seemed mapped out for them. There was always a free man or three. Eventually Yaya and Sergio linked up and once Aguero had cut back onto his left, beating Cahill far too easily, it was game over as far as this attack was concerned. He’d had his sighters and he wasn’t missing from there.
Obviously Hazard and Fabregas can create goals from nothing. They can turn straw into gold. On one occasion late in the first half they linked together beautifully, a crisp one-two and Hazard cut it back to Ramires. Aguero would have shot first time in that situation, he’d already done so a couple similar times. Yet Ramires tried to turn and lost out to Mangala. Even Diego Costa was hesitant near goal. Haz & Fab can’t do it all themselves. The loss of Oscar, who’s the best attacker of the Willian/Ramires/Himself trio, was a fair complaint.
By the time the half-time whistle finally arrived, Chelsea were clinging on to that 1-0 deficit. Mangala had headed inches wide from a free kick, both Gary Cahill and Diego Costa had needed patching up from the (new look) medical staff. They were left defending in the most painfully coincidental poeticism, with nine men on the park as City countered. Costa’s complaints were legit as he copped a heavy elbow from Fernandino in an aerial challenge. ‘Dinho got a yellow, which was probably fair. Being Diego Costa though, he was furious and carried that fury down the tunnel, having to be restrained by teammates. CFC’s doctors got a massive ovation from the Manchester crowd when they entered the field of play. Good banter.
So what did Jefe Jose do to change the course of the game? Well he straight away went and brought on Kurt Zouma, but not to help the midfield, instead to replace captain John Terry. There was no word initially as to whether it was an injury or tactical (Terry’s lack of pace had been exposed by Aguero but only once or twice), however it’s as good a sign as any that the John Stones transfer will be pushed through. If Jose’s making half time subs in his defence, there are problems.
And problems too for the edge of that defence, Raheem Sterling running at Ivanovic for round three early in the second stanza and drawing a foul (and a yellow for Branny) right on the perimeter of the penalty area. A minute later (after Gary Cahill nearly unwittingly deflected a clearance towards his own net off of Diego Costa from said FK) Ramires thought he’d equaliser but the flag was up and everyone on the field and in the crowd seemed to realise before he did. Baiting the crowd for a goal they already know isn’t gonna be given… not good banter.
What Chelsea did start to do well was disrupt the game. Foul counts rose and they tended to be against City. Not suggesting that they were diving around like ducks in water, rather that they upped the physicality to a level that City weren’t as comfortable with, and that drew some mistakes and some cards. Plus it slowed the game down and set pieces seemed to be Chelsea’s best avenue of keeping possession for any length of time on attack. A guy like Diego Costa is a master at walking the line between ‘Your Free Kick/My Free Kick’ and he showed all his devious skills in a tussle with Eli Mangala about 8 mins into the half. The stuttered game frustrated the crowd and the MCFC players and all of a sudden a few opportunities began presenting themselves to the Blues. One Branislav Ivanovic cross was just a touch away from an equaliser, evading everyone as it flew behind the defence and out of reach.
Blunting the game wasn’t enough though. They needed to score. And to this point, even as they clawed themselves up, they were still getting beat away by the forces of Toure and Fernandinho. So in the 64th minute, on came Cuadrado for Ramires, presumably to add more width and definitely a bit more energy. City responded by brining on Samir Nasri for Navas.
Sergio Aguero caused problems all game with his evasiveness and his eagerness to attack the goal but at the other end Diego Costa was still too hesitant. Chelsea had one great move in the 70th (made possible by Fernandinho being down on the ground, The Shield noticeably missing) where he seemed to have the kind of chance to pull the trigger that Aguero would never turn down, regardless of the fact it was on his left of from a semi-tight angle. Yet Costa came back inside his marker (Sagna) and passed it to Hazard, who had three defenders in front of him and his rushed shot was parried away by Joe Hart. A chorus of Blue Moon erupted.
Sterling vs Ivanovic IV: Bubba skins him down the side and pulls the ball back from the goal line, though can’t pick out an ally.
12 minutes to go, both teams showing their hands. Sterling is replaced by defender Martin Demichelis, Willian is replaced by Radamel Falcao (to a unanimous boo from the home crowd). 11 minutes and 15 seconds to go, Vincent Kompany rises above Ivanovic to double the lead from a corner.
(Nobody on the bloody posts!)
On came Bony for Aguero, out went the game plan for Chelsea. Numbers streaming forward, they had to find something. Just get the ball into the box. But that left them open at the back and with five minutes to play, it was 3-0. Fernandinho finished it off after Chelsea couldn’t clear. Ivanovic was robbed by Silva and ‘Dinho slammed his shot into the side of the net. Brutal.
Costa hit the post with about 20 seconds to play, it meant little.
City have now firmly established themselves as the team to beat, the favourites, the undisputed leaders of the pack. They may have padded their lead late in the game but make no mistake it could have been 3-0 by half time. Chelsea did put up a fight in the second half but there were few clear chances and as Kun Aguero said afterwards, once they’d taken the lead it was all very tranquillo. (Which means ‘calm’, for those like Vincent Kompany who don’t speak Spanish).
Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero were brilliant. David Silva had a very good game, Sterling was effective. But none of them were quite as effective as The Shield.
Man of the Match: Fernandinho (Manchester City)
The Good
Manchester United’s Defence – Look, the attack is definitely a work in progress, but two clean sheets in a row is a long way from where they once were, begging David De Gea to save them. In the last four Premier League matches DDG has missed, United have kept 4 clean sheets. Granted, De Gea never had Chris Smalling and Matteo Darmain with back to back 9/10 performances.
Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City) – This friggin’ guy’s playing like Ronaldo out there. His opposite winger Marc Albrighton’s not been too shabby either, take a look at the table and Leicester are two from two and sitting in the Champions League spots.
Ross Barkley's Range - This lad. He scores some GOALS. Love the way he's started the season.
The Bad
Hotspur Without Harry – It’s not often that subbing off a striker causes a defensive collapse, but it happened to Spurs against Stoke. 2-0 with around 25 to play, off comes Harry Kane (“tiredness” the cause, so says Pochy, fair enough) and that change seems to have signalled a change in the Spurs mentality. Instead of trying to kill the game off, it became about killing the game. They sat deeper, played with less energy and generally just got more negative. Kane wasn’t all that great himself, he probably shoulda scored to make it 3-0, but without their talisman Spurs were lost. They ended up drawing 2-2, a 78th min penalty to Marko Arnautovic and an 83rd minute header from Mame Biram Diouf. Tottenham need another forward, both Charlie Austin and Saido Berahino make sense.
Southampton’s Midfield – We knew the loss of Morgan Schneiderlin was gonna be tough to overcome. But they handpicked his replacement and everything. The problem is that Jordy Clasie’s been injured and without him they’re missing a lot. Already they’ve conceded more goals (3) from counter attacks than they did all last season (2). Counter attack goals are rarely from long balls, they’re almost always down to the midfield being out of place. Schneiderlin used to eat those things up.
Sunderland – Oooh, boy. Bet Dick Advocaat is rethinking that retirement U-Turn right about now. They are baaaad.
The Ugly
Goalies Going Forward and Getting Sent Off – As Adrian managed for West Ham, inserting his sprigs deep into Jamie Vardy’s chest in stoppage time.
Fan Bias – Hahaha. Preeetty sure if you scroll up the page you’ll see Ramires’ torso is behind the last defender and therefore he’s offside. The rule is that any part of the body other than the arms (so, any part you can use) cannot be behind any such part of the second to last defender (including the keeper). It’s black and white, really. But this, from the CFC official website, is definitely Blue:
