Pass & Move – What’s Wrong With Chelsea?
"We created lots of chances but we had a couple of players who were not in the game. At this level, when opponents are good and well-organised, with good spirit and nothing to lose, you need people to perform. I cannot say I had 11 players performing at the same time. Two or three of them were far from good and I blame myself for keeping one of them on for 90 minutes." - Jose Mourinho
So, who was it? Who were the disappointing players that ended up getting an undeserved 90 minutes for the defending champs as they fell 2-1 to Crystal Palace?
Jose Mourinho is a master of deflection. Whenever his teams lose, he’s straight out in the media saying something controversial that switches the conversation from the result and the performance to some other triviality. Yet here he is, far from shielding his players, instead slamming them. There is trouble in the ranks, it seems.
And it’s hard to say where that all stems from. Held by Swansea, beaten by City and barely getting past West Brom. These are not the champs we remember – last season they didn’t lose a league game ‘til early December. But the lively debut of Pedro (as well as the all-caps, neon-light statement that his signing made) and the fact that they were able to cling on to those valuable three points, those things will have had most people expecting a healthy rebound against Crystal Palace. Mourinho doesn’t lose at Stamford Bridge, after all.
Just the one change for Chelsea. Ivanovic held his spot at the back, Cahill came in for the suspended John Terry is all. For Palace, Alan Pardew went with a fairly attacking team, giving Puncheon and Zaha runs on the wing, with Bakary Sako playing in behind Connor Wickham. Wickham was the only change from their previous game (a 2-1 win over Aston Villa).
It was against this opposition that Chelsea clinched the title last season but Palace had no feelings of inadequacy here. They were immediately forward with a couple of corners to their name long before Diego Costa ever saw the ball. Tellingly it all came down stand-in captain Branislav Ivanovic’s flank.
Because of CP’s pace among their three attacking midfielders (Punheon/Sako/Zaha), they could afford to play fairly deep without possession. Pretty compact too, setting a shield around their area and refusing any penetration. Wickham doesn’t offer bundles of speed up top but he’s a clever and powerful player. Plus he has a wicked work rate and you could see from the start that he was making a deliberate effort to try and rush his opposite number 21: Nemanja Matic.
So it took 19 minutes for Chelsea to fashion a decent chance. It was Pedro, cutting inside and curling one off the left peg and beyond the far post. There were no floodgates after that. The odd set-piece was dominated by the defensive side while each team was happy to pass the ball around at the back, neither too worried about pressing high enough to stop it. Obviously Chelsea were more comfortable at it, Palace tended to end up punting one long after a few passes, though they grew into it. In fact by the half hour mark it was the Eagles holding the ball with more ease.
Long balls and switches of play don’t usually lend themselves to possession footy but Palace were able to make it work with the speed they had to run into space and the quality of the passing. Chelsea, meanwhile, struggled to find that kind of range. Far too often they sprayed passes beyond players. Fabregas, Willian, Pedro and Ivanovic all culprits. As for their crossing game, well, Scott Dann and Damien Delaney were pretty outstanding.
Yohan Cabaye could’ve stunned Chelsea in the first half if only he’d finished this chance. Wilfried Zaha had been able to stumble his way inside the box, Ivanovic keeping his feet out of it, and had found Cabaye on the end of a smart dash forward but his shot was straight at Courtois.
Still, it’s wrong to suggest that Crystal Palace were in control of that first half. Chelsea had far more possession, completed far more passes and generally controlled the tempo. That the tempo was really slow, well they always play slow. On one occasion Fabregas, Hazard and Willian all declined the chance to hit one from the edge of the box in the same move only for Gary Cahill to decide he’d take that hit and he sent it high into the overcast London sky.
Chelsea’s best chances came within a few minutes of each other. A Diego Costa shot was parried well by Alex McCarthy only to fall into the path of Cesc Fabregas, yet Fab’s effort was saved too on the follow up. Then Nemanja Matic made a mazy run past a couple defenders only to gently push a shot off his weaker right foot, the like that McCarthy could swallow in his sleep. Although Chelsea had two-thirds of the ball by the break, only 21% of the game was played in Palace’s defensive third.
Ten minutes into the second half and we had a much quicker game. Palace found ways to stretch the Chelsea defence by committing a couple players wide to an attack and getting Azpilicueta playing between them, only for that attack to break down and lead to Willian charging the other way. Cabaye followed him superbly (don’t doubt the effort), that attack ending with a bobble off Costa’s leg. The stretched game was probably in Palace’s favour though it did make things risky if they threw dudes into attacks and turned it over cheaply. So in came Yannick Bolasie for Wilfried Zaha. Slightly more pace at the expense of a little strength but with better retention.
As the game hit the hour mark, the champs appeared to be tightening the screws. 0-0 at home with 30 mins left, that situation’s always gonna have them as favourites. Diego Costa and Eden Hazard started bringing some urgency to their attack, Hazard taking players on and Costa dropping into space and getting those breaks going himself.
Then this happened:
Within a minute, Willian had been subbed off for Radamel Falcao. Within three minutes, Kenedy was on for Azpilicueta. Usually Azpi is one of the Blues’ best performers. Such a consistent fullback, despite playing on the left as a preferred right back, always full of energy to track his way up and down that sideline. Yet this goal came because of that very same energy.
That’s Azpilicueta, getting a little too enthusiastic chasing one guy which turned into chasing another guy and then turned into sprinting all the way towards the keeper while everyone else sat around halfway. From left back. Yup.
There really wasn’t any reason why it had to be him chasing that far and there wasn’t anything much to gain from it. McCarthy pumped it long (to where Azpi woulda been) and Matic’s header wasn’t a clean one. Puncheon picked it up and he and Wickham had the freedom of that flank. Zouma cleared Wickham’s cross but it was recovered by James McArthur. Azpi only got back in the defensive line as Bolasie was running in behind it on the other side. That’s him sliding into the initial block, which Sako had no troubles finishing on the second effort. 1-0 to Palace.
Kenedy is a young Brazilian striker, he ended up at left back in the idea that he’d offer a bit more enterprise. He did, looking energetic even if nothing much came of it. If Bolasie had been able to poke in a lovely ball across the goal from Sako, though (after Kenedy failed to clear a bouncing ball), then his introduction would have looked a disaster.
Hazard blazed one over. Reuben Loftus-Cheek came on for Matic. Sako blazed one over at the other end. Chelsea had ceded control of the midfield and they were vulnerable down either side. Yet they managed to find a brilliant equaliser as Pedro curled in a gorgeous ball and Falcao’s diving header snuck inside the near post. A lapse by the otherwise flawless McCarthy, a rare bit of game-breaking genius from the home side. Two new signings behind it, too.
The clock read 78:42 as Falcao equalised. It read 80:30 when Joel Ward nodded in the winner.
It started deep in their own territory as Puncheon pickpocketed Hazard. Defence became attack, carefully flowing onwards. Bolasie got the ball on the left, he shimmied and faked. The he whipped in a brutal cross, which was tipped back in by Sako at the far post and there was Joel Ward to dispatch it into the embracing net. Kenedy caught playing way too far inside his man (Sako), the defensive line dragged towards their right by Zouma being the man on Bolasie and Ivanovic tucking inside.
A couple of CPFC subs took the sting out of the game after that. Chelsea had five minutes of injury time to find another goal but it never came and Palace weren’t about to spoil a wonderful performance with any hint of a defensive lapse. A diving block by Scott Dann late on showed every indication you needed as to the commitment of the two sides. Jose Mourinho losing – incredibly – just his second home game in the Premier League (in his 100th game at Stamford Bridge).
"The reality is we had a bad start, four points from four matches is a very bad start." – Jose Mourinho.
He ain’t wrong.
Who were the guys who Jose wished he’d subbed off, though? Well, Matic, Azpilicueta and Willian all got the hook. Branislav Ivanovic and Cesc Fabregas must not have been far behind. Matic’s drop in form is a real thing, but it’s also tied to the amount of work he has to do covering for Fabregas at the base of midfield. Fab’s simply not pulling weight there and it’s hard enough to get away with that when you’re playing well, let alone when you’re missing passes on attack too. Cesc completed the most of them, as per usual, but only at 76.9% - Matic and McArthur were both over 90%, while Cabaye was at 87.9% & Puncheon at 80.4%.
The trick is what can Jose do about it? Playing Fabregas in the no. 10 role is the obvious except that he may not trust anyone else to play next to Matic anymore than he does Fab. He may also not have a choice anymore. Loftus-Cheek didn’t get too much time but he looked solid and he showed he’s got an eye for a pass.
And you really wonder if the idea of Azpilicueta swapping to the right (new-boy Baba Rahman at LB) with Ivanovic dropping to the bench after the international break might not be the best option. Ivanovic has been the best RB in the Premier League for a few seasons now yet he’s started this one with heavy legs (he’s gotta be low on fitness judging by the eye test) and is getting skinned every week by quick wingers. Jefferson Moreno, Raheem Sterling, Wilfried Zaha, Yannick Bolasie. This can’t continue for Chelsea.
There are renewed rumours about Paul Pogba and the John Stones thing isn’t going away. Mourinho said himself, though, that this isn’t something a panic buy will fix. There are fundamental things not happening for Chelsea. They’re playing too slow, they’re short on energy, they’re making silly mistakes at the back and their best players aren’t carrying them like they ought to.
But on the positive side, their centre back pairing of Kurt Zouma and Gary Cahill was really good, despite the mess on either side of them.
Credit to Crystal Palace, they were massive. Physical, organised and quick on the break. There’s a reason that Mourinho’s only ever lost twice at the Bridge and so to come away with a win which… well, it’s hard to say a team deserved it with 34% possession but Chelsea certainly didn’t either. Either way, they definitely earned it. Great performance and quality from Pards too. This will not be their last win against a top four team this season.
Man of the Match: Bakary Sako, with honourable mentions to Jason Puncheon and Scott Dann. Alan Pardew talked that latter pair up for England duties this week. Not such a crazy thought after a game like that.
The Good
Bafetimbi Gomis (Swansea) – Four goals in four games, one in each of them to start the season. Gomis is a physical specimen of a striker but, just like Wilfried Bony before him, he’s capable of some lovely skill -> there was a flick-roll of a pass in the first half that shoulda set up a goal for Gylfi Sigurdsson. 9 goals in 10 Premier League games now, he’s the form striker in England.
West Ham vs Better Teams – After one of the all-time terrible defensive performances last week at home to Bournemouth, here come West Ham with a 3-0 win at Anfield, a ground they hadn’t won at for 52 years. The Hammers have also lost to Leicester and beaten Arsenal at the Emirates. There’s something about them where they can’t seem to control a game. They’re lacking in strikers at the moment and their midfield is a couple steps below what they want it to be (a few days left to sort that out) but this is a team that knows how to grind. When they can simplify the game to the point of sitting in and hitting hard on the break then that suits them to a tee.
Callum Wilson (Bournemouth) – Oohwee!
The Bad
Tottenham’s Creativity – Or lack thereof. Another week and another game where they couldn’t find the punch that they had last season. For the first time, Harry Kane really looked low on confidence and you remember that he’s still a really young striker. He wasted one golden chance in particular. Then again, a striker like Kane can only as good as the service he gets and having Chadli, Mason and Dembele behind him isn’t ideal. All three are better suited to deeper roles. Still, help is on the way and Son Heung-min sounds like a mouth-watering addition. So long as he’s not the only one. Christian Eriksen should be back after the break too. Plus, to be fair, they have three points but they really should have more. Unlucky to lose to Man Utd, blew leads against Stoke and Leicester and had the chances to beat Everton. They could have ten points and be sitting second. It’s a funny game, right?
Theo Walcott’s Audition – With a couple changes for Arsenal against Newcastle, Theo Walcott had the chance to stake his claim as a starting striker. He didn’t. Walcott barely got on the ball and the one decent chance he got he spurned. In a weird way, playing against ten men actually kinda spoiled the game for Walcott as Newcastle played for the draw, leaving zero holes at the back for him to run in and out and around of. But the best strikers can make things happen even on the bad days. Walcott was nowhere to be seen.
Everyone Else – That’s after Manchester City compounded a weekend in which Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all lost by beating Watford with relative ease, still not having conceded a goal, and then announcing the club record signing of Kevin De Bruyne. Will he live up to the hype? It was only a couple years ago that he was a bust at Chelsea but after a monster season at Wolfsburg there are reasons to think he’s matured enough to become the player it was once hoped he could be.
The Ugly
Red Cards – Six of them in this week’s fixtures. Aleksandar Mitrovic, Coutinho, Mark Noble, Ibrahim Afellay, Charlie Adam and Steven Whittaker all seeing red. Two of those lads were from Stoke, who played with nine men from the 31st minute onwards against West Brom, eventually falling 1-0. Red cards change everything. One team gets defensive and the other gets complacent. You never wanna see the red one out in the ref’s hand unless it’s genuinely deserved. At least half of those six have every reason to be aggrieved at their dismissals.
Dejan Lovren (Liverpool) – Ah, just when he’d been playing so well that the critics had started to pipe down… he goes and does stuff like this and he’s the butt of the joke once more.
Tim Sherwood (Aston Villa) – Add another name to the ‘To See’ list on the Villa physio room door. Their manager, Tactics Tim, was so incensed when Carles Gil was denied a penalty (and booked for diving) that he took a swing at the water bottles nearby… and pulled his hamstring.
“I was going to kick the water bottles forward but there were too many people so I thought I’d be polite and back-heel them and that has done my hamstring bad. I didn’t do my hamstring when I played but I’ve done it now as a manager!”
