I have heard a lot of negativity from opposing and even some Chelsea fans about how we set up yesterday and I can understand it but a lot of things contributed to how we played last night.
First and foremost we must remember that this is an Atletico side which hasn’t lost in the UCL this season and were riding high in La Liga unlike Chelsea who now have to depend on other results in the EPL. With our loss against Sunderland, it was back to basics for Chelsea, defend first and score later.
The game plan with Lampard, Luiz and Mikel was to absorb whatever pressure the Atletico midfield had to offer while Willian and Ramires’ job was to limit the forays of Atletico’s wing backs and wingers thus reducing the workload on our full backs (Cole and Azpi). It worked perfectly.
Now here’s the part where it goes sour. Cech’s injury in the 1st half means that we had to “waste” a sub. With Oscar, Schurrle and Ba on the bench it was pretty obvious that the 2nd half should have been one where we would attack with the introduction of both Oscar and Schurrle adding more bite to the attack. With Schwarzer in for Cech, we had just 2 subs and no chance for a change in plan.
John Terry got injured and had to be replaced by Schurrle(another sub wasted) meaning that Luiz moved back to defence. Now take note, none of the substitutions made by Chelsea were tactical, rather they were subs forced on us by injuries. Mourinho even had to stick with a yellow carded Lampard who was close to being shown a red card for 90mins.
Now let’s put two and two together. Without injuries to Cech and Terry, Oscar and Schurrle could have entered the fray for players like Lampard and Ramires/Willian in the 2nd half. And a final change of Ba for Torres could have ensued. To play like we did even after losing key players spoke a lot about our tactical discipline. This is my honest opinion of the events that transpired last night.
But let me make this clear I don’t care how we play to get to the finals. The UCL is our realistic chance of a trophy and I’ll take what I can get especially since this is a building season for the team. We’ve played beautifully against big teams this season too so there’s no cause for alarm if we bring our “bus” or “tank” for some games. A friend said to me “What if lampard got carded on purpose?” To what purpose some might say; at the risk of sounding presumptuous, I’ll say to make sure he doesn’t miss the final and offer leadership just incase Terry isn’t fit by then. Hopefully we’ll be in the finals. KTTBFFH
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With both Terry, Lampard and Cech out for the next game – who’ll be the captain? Cole? Luiz? Cahill?
We don’t know if Azpilicueta will move back to left back yet. So if Cole plays left back then he’ll be captain. But if we we play Iva and Azpi then Iva will be the captain
I’m happy with the reasons as to why we played in the way we did.
I’m glad I was able to explain it
Some fans or journos think that chelsea only play dull football even with so much talent but i believe that winning is more important than how you achieve as long as it is within the laws of the game. So we need to back chelsea/mourinho .. Im sure in return leg chelsea will put full pressure on atletico and they won’t know what hit them.. Come on chelsea!!
Winning is the name of the game. Spot on bro
@ taheensen,spot on.every team & coach has a way 2 win,so am hapy that jose & cfc has got a way 2 get results.even real madrid did it against bayern yesterday.up jose.
@ tehseen,spot on.every team & coach has a way 2 win,so am hapy that jose & cfc has got a way 2 get results.even real madrid did it against bayern yesterday.up jose.
Let’s just get ATM outta the way and the finals is ours for the taking
dat is a nice piece and i absolutely believe in wht you hve written.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. Not everyone has the ability to read a game. Some of us are just watchers. Lol
You got it, the injury made it worst that we couldn’t change our game plan. i believe mou had a game plan for atlectico bt we stuck to a plan based on the injuries.
i believe my beautiful chelsea will make it a better way of jubilating for me on may1st my birthday by beating atlectico and qualify for the final in lisbon.
Amen and happy birthday in advance. Hope to get my share of the cake.
Exactly, I told other footy fans this, hopefully we’ll see the other side of Chelsea at the Bridge. Also Liverpool will be another surprise for the neutrals.
Our greatest strenght has always been in making something out of nothing. Success in the face of adversity.
Match vs liverpool. Schwarzer. cole, ivanovic, cahill, azpilicueta. Mikel, matic. Salah, lampard, schurrle. Ba.
Jose is dynamic he changes according to whom is he gohng to face,you will be an hypocqite if dont praise him, up JOSE
As per Jose being dynamic, if he were he would unlocked defences of the mediocre teams that sit deep against us.
I bet Jose only practice positional strategies in defence and breaking on the counter against possession based teams, just a guess. Either way, The squad @ Jose disposal is expected to play a more intricate pace based football- Like a Madrid or a Dortmund to me but Jose prefers them to conform to his already found out style of sitting deep and hitting teams on d counter and when it is vice versa- his teams lack the idea to break down teams with the expection of individual brilliance from the likes of Hazard and Oscar. Our play is too predictable and slow when we v been given the initiative to come @ a team- If Jose can balance or marry his strategy and best obvious strategy a team consisting of Eden, Oscar, Willian, Schurrle, Salah shd b playing den our team can beat anyone. Till then we can only hope- that a trophyless season wouldn’t bring about a managerial change- No manager in the Roman’s Era has survived a trophyless season.