The last international break of the footballing season brought about huge shocks as the final set of slots for the Qatar World Cup were decided with big names missing out on the mundial.
Players of various national teams returned to their respective clubs and Chelsea weren’t left out. Brentford came visiting and with the bees in a relatively confident mood after a win before the break coupled with the return to form of sensational Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen, a stern test awaited Tuchel and his charges before the midweek super clash against Spanish heavyweight, Real Madrid in the champions league.
Brentford started as the better of the two teams with the team led by Thomas Frank pressing really high against Chelsea’s back-four and preventing a smooth transition into the midfield and attack.
The first half of the match saw both teams have a good go at each other and Chelsea were equally as lucky as Brentford not to have conceded in the first half as chances appeared aplenty for both sides with the bees registering the most clear-cut of them all. Ivan Toney was a major culprit for missing two very good chances to put his team ahead in the game first after Mendy’s poor pass out straight at him and the other after ghosting behind Rudiger and Alonso for a free header at goal.
The second half of the match was a totally different affair from the first half as Chelsea came out flying and got a perfect reward for a much more impressive performance in the early period of the second half as Tony Rudiger powered home from over 39 yards out to set Stamford Bridge on “fire”. The “brilliant” bees (Brentford) didn’t let the goal break their confidence instead stunned the home crowd with a quick response as Vitaly Janelt struck back exactly 100 seconds after Chelsea’s first.
Brentford drew strength from their leveler and took the lead with another break away from Chelsea’s corner with Eriksen profiting from another Bryan Mbeumo pass before brilliantly lifting the ball over Mendy to silence the Stamford Bridge crowd. Thomas Frank’s men didn’t end there and they went in search of a third and got their reward with Janelt once again finding space in the box after a brilliant deep run to beat Mendy with a chipped effort.
Chelsea toiled and Kai Harvertz missed some decent and good chances to turn the game on its head before Brentford put a final nail on the coffin with Yoane Wissa scoring with his second touch after coming on.
The game was very much similar to last season’s fixture against West Brom, that also being after March’s international break.
Here are 5 lessons learned as Tuchel’s boys fall prey to the international break once again;
Timo Werner is a misfit :
After Chelsea got their transfer banned lifted, Chelsea splashed in excess of £50 million pounds for the signature of German attacker, Timo Werner with fans hoping to get the same player that lit up the Bundesliga with his blistering pace and goal scoring prowess.
Werner has struggled for major parts of his time at Chelsea but these past months has seen the attacker bereft of any idea when in possession of the ball in attacking areas. In the match against Brentford, Werner had a clear chance of running across defender Roerslev into the box but the former Leipzig man instead took the ball down the line before loosing out to the Danish defender due to a slight physical contact and that attacking action came to nought.
In recent games for Chelsea, Werner has often been too predictable and very weak in 50/50 challenges and it was no surprise his number was held up for the first set of changes as Chelsea chased the game. While away with the German national team, Werner was quoted in an interview to have suggested that Germany’s game approach did seem to favor him much more than the structure adopted at Chelsea. Werner has to do more!
Rudiger’s persistence pays off :
Before the kick-off at the bridge, a stat was supplied stating Chelsea were the team with the most goals scored from outside the box with 10 efforts finding the back of the net.
Tuchel was made aware of the stat and his surprise didn’t come as a surprise to many fans alike with it being presumed that Chelsea lacks players with the ability to shoot from outside the area. Rudiger has been one player consistently trying his luck from distance and his day finally arrived with his thunderbolt scrapping the upright before nestling into the back of the net to give Chelsea the lead.
Distance shooting is one sure way of getting a goal if fortuitous enough to find the target either via a deflection or a direct strike at goal and Rudiger’s concentrated effort of shooting at goal from distance finally paid off big but sadly couldn’t generate the points as he would have liked. Rudiger’s general strong play once was evident and Thomas Frank did console the player stating post-match that it was a shame to see the German defender end up on the loosing side after 90 minutes.
Kante struggling in the league :
Aside games in the champions league, N’golo Kante has often been at the periphery of games.
Against Brentford here at the Bridge, that was also the case as much of the defensive work was left for Ruben Loftus-Cheek with Kante asked to do the box-box role against the bees.
Kante did show up in promising positions in and around the Brentford penalty area but the lack of a killer’s instinct in his game proved evident once more. Kante slowing down is expected with too many niggling injuries and age catching up with the France World Cup winner.
Kante is expected to be back to his best when Real Madrid come visiting and that should spell doom for the Spanish giants.
Shaky Mendy :
After his heroics for his country (Senegal) in the World Cup qualification play-off against Egypt, Edou Mendy returned to surrey and the celebration that followed his country’s qualification seemed to have had its toll on him.
Mendy was otherwise shaky against Brentford here and could have had a direct hand in conceding a goal after his stray pass found Ivan Toney just at the edge of the box before the Brentford striker fluffed his lines with a poorly attempted chip over the Chelsea goalie.
Tuchel also admitted to Mendy’s unusual performance and stated that the break might have been the reason for the rather poor performance of the goalkeeper.
Harvertz’ non-stop running :
I am quite sure many fans would have berated Kai Harvertz for the chances he missed in the encounter against Brentford but his hard work and intensity leaves no question.
Kai’s improvement has been drastic but his numbers relating to goals hasn’t been the only area to take note of, but his intensity and application has got to be appreciated even more.
Tuchel’s fluid attack line can barely function without Kai and much of Chelsea’s play in between the lines owes much to Kai’s application and brilliant positioning and movement across the front line.
Against Brentford, Kai found himself in decent positions and had he had his finishing touch, Chelsea could have savaged a draw at the Bridge but it’s understandable that Kai experiences games like this where everything he touches doesn’t come good. Havertz remains a key player heading into the next crucial matches.
Player ratings:
Mendy 5/10, Azpilicueta 7/10, Silva 6/10, Rudiger 8/10, Alonso 4/10, RLC 6/10, Kante 5/10, Mount 5/10, Ziyech 6/10, Kai 7/10, Werner 3/10.
Subs: Kovaciç 5/10, Lukaku 4/10, James 5/10
Man of the Match: Rudiger 8/10
Next up is the UCL quarter final tie against Real Madrid on Wednesday, 8pm UK Time.
