Chelsea Match Review I Tottenham vs Chelsea I League Cup I 9/1/2019

Chelsea Match Review
Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspurs I League Cup Semi Final First Leg I 9/1/2019

Final Score: Tottenham 1- 0 Chelsea

Match Overview

Just three days after our expected win against Championship side Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, the Blues head to the Wembley Stadium for a much tougher test in our semi-final first leg clash against Spurs.

Amid a wave of transfer speculations and a spate of injuries towards the end of the Christmas period, this allowed a number of previously unutilised players to gain matches, particularly young Callum Hudson-Odoi. Instead of the largely B team that played against Nottingham Forest, Sarri opted to field in a strong XI. Dave, Kepa, Hazard, Willian, Kante, Jorginho and Alonso all came back to the starting line-up. The only new faces in the A team are Christensen and CHO, who deservedly are playing at a high level.

Like most of Sarri’s teams the team played with a lot of possession. And just like most of the criticism towards the Blues pattern of play, the Blues could not create clear-cut goalscoring chances and capitalise from their superior possession. In the end the match ended 1-0 in Spurs favour, but not with a lot of drama.

Match Highlight

Sarri employed his favoured 4-3-3 but in this game, Morata was dropped due to a slight hamstring injury and his place, Hazard led the line in a false nine position. The team generally found it easy to retain possession and Spurs were left trying out long balls. Nevertheless with the physicality of Harry Kane and the speed of Son as well as the passing range of Erikson from deep, the Spurs team were still able to inflict devastating damage whenever they have the ball. And through those means, they scored their first goal, albeit controversially.

A long ball over the Chelsea defence saw Kane racing through on goal one on one with Kepa. Kepa dove in, missed the ball and supposedly clipped Kane’s feet. There was contact, albeit slight, to which Kepa vehemently denied, hence a penalty was warranted. But the more controversial decision was whether Kane was offside or not. Shown live on what the VAR referee was seeing, it looked as if Kane was onside, played in by Dave who looked like he was almost on the same line as Kane when the cross was floated in. But Sarri later mentioned that on another camera, Kane was offside and that the referee was wrong in using the technology appropriately. Kane then duly converted the penalty to make it 1-0.

Harry Kane 26’                   Chelsea 0-1 Tottenham

The match then proceeded with largely the same stories as the last 25mins until halftime.

First Half:                             Chelsea 0-1 Tottenham

In the second half, Chelsea started brightly, trying to carve out the Tottenham defence. But there were simply no clear-cut chances and the opportunity could not come. Perhaps the closest Chelsea eventually got to scoring was a result of a corner where Christensen faced an open goal with he ball at his feet, only for him to ski his shot wide as he failed to lift his boot to shoot properly. He is a defender after all, so no apologies there, although Blues are reminded that John Terry did score belters when given the chance. Sarri attempted to freshen the squad by introducing Pedro, Kovacic and Giroud but in the end, the match still ended, 1-0.

Final Score:         Cheslea 0-1 Tottenham

Man Of The Match

It is hard to pick a Chelsea man-of-the-match following a non-outstanding match for all the players on the field. I would say Kepa, Hazard and CHO should share the MOTM accolade as they had moments that put them ahead of their other team members.

Kepa made a lot of saves against the heavy shots from Kane. Hazard was at his usual dribbling effectiveness and CHO offered a little more magic and danger down the right. But ultimately, they didn’t really stand out in their performance.

Player Ratings
-          Goalkeeper
Kepa Arrizabalaga, 6

Made a couple of brilliant saves, which seems not too dangerous but other keepers may find it hard to keep out. Conceded that penalty, although to no fault of his own as the entire defence was caught unaware and Sarri employed a very high line. Maybe could have came out earlier, but perhaps that may not have succeeded too.

-          Defenders
Cesar Azpilicueta, 6.5

Regular strong performance. Can’t really criticise nor compliment.

Andreas Christensen, 6

This was where David Luiz passing and vision may have come in handy. Instead, Christensen dealt mostly simple passes around the back. Kane gave him a hard time. He also missed that ghastly chance to score.

Antonio Rudiger, 6

Combative, yet probably not physical enough to deal with the likes of Kane. But generally solid and the goal was to no fault his.

Marcos Alonso, 6

Time and time again, Alonso delivers a rather normal performance for a team like Chelsea. He isn’t really good at dribbling nor fast, but he is confident, that’s for sure. He likes to be involved in attack, but teams are looking to him as a weak link in the team.

-          Midfielders
N’golo Kante, 6.5

He was combative throughout, winning balls and snuffing out challenges, which eventually caused Spurs to start using long balls. He was also fast and in the first half, had a couple of shots on target.

Ross Barkley, 6

Couldn’t deliver much in his position. Good at dribbling, but his shots just didn’t come off.

Jorginho, 6

Uneventful game. Had almost no influence in both attack and defence.

-          Forwards
Willian, 6.5

All dribble, no end product. A familiar story now.

Eden Hazard, 6.5

Similarly, a lot of dribbles. I actually saw Willian and Hazard making good runs when the other has the ball but they chose not to pass or cross through. Is there a grudge between them or are they just very individualistic?

Callum Hudson-Odoi, 6.5

In sparkling form, albeit could have made better decisions during the match with his link-up play with surrounding players. Probably need match experience to benefit in the long-term.

-          Substitutes
Pedro, 6

Came on as fresh legs for Willian. While he was dynamic, he was not able to cause the intended impact.

Giroud, NIL

Played for too little to rate.

Mateo Kovacic, NIL

Played for too little to rate.

All the best, Blues, for the second leg of the EFL Cup at the Bridge.