Match Summary:
Another hurtle has been suffered in the last home match of the season against a mediocre opponent in the form of relegation threatened Norwich City. The small teams have become inexplicable jinx for Blues which has been witnessed yet another time. Mourinho who did not anticipate any last moment Title swings appeared to be relaxed. But the Stamford Bridge home crowds desired some goals for their delightment as to mark the last but one league match.
First Half
The Canaries who headed to the match with the aim of getting something out of it to salvage their EPL sustenance replicated Park the Bus tactics. It went onto frustrate Blues whose attacking trio of Schurrle, Willian and Salah exchanged the ball continually. The German winger scuppered a reasonable goal chance by shooting at the safe hands of John Ruddy after Ba laid it in his path. It took the 9th minute for Norwich to play three passes on the move but never looked shaky. Merely two minutes later Chelsea were exposed as desperate sliding tackles by Cahill and Terry felled Martin Olsson who was supplied the ball by Johnson. The consequent penalty calls sought by Norwich was however waved off. Cole supplied a long pass resembling his attacking team mates but Ba could not intercept well enough to score. The stagnant half of the first 45 minutes passed with Chelsea’s fruitless search for a goal as Norwich would see the ball in their own half. It was marked by Terry contriving to head the ball at Ruddy with a goal chance wasted. Another genuine chance was created by Schurrle from the left but the German’s shot after clever dribbling run past many players ricochetted off Rudy’s left post. After this 32nd minute ambition Schurrle tried a low shot after a good work this time from the left but Rudy could save it. In the 37th minute Cole was presented with an inviting shot from the middle of D-Box but fizzled it very high. For the away side Johnson picked up a ball at 20 yards from Schwarzer and curled a shot which was somehow blocked by Terry who threw his body to defend. The save spared the Stamford Bridge crowds from the shock of a Norwich lead. At the final minute of regular time Lampard delivered a free kick which Terry headed to Rudy again.
Second Half
It started with Lampard and Salah exiting to accommodate Luiz and Hazard Chelsea played with the same rigidity as in the previous half. The 48th minute could have seen the home crowds stand on their feet had Luiz not hit the bar. Hazard was instrumental by forwarding a pass to Ivanovic and the Serbian back passed to Luiz who was dismayed by the bar. Hazard injected offense to Chelsea by giving Whittaker torrid moments to deal with. In the 54th Schurrle was fouled by Tettey in the Norwich D-Box but a valid clear penalty was dismissed by referre. Three minutes later Hazard was fouled in the same region of the field but his landing on Bennet surprisingly saw the Belgian being shown a yellow card. However the match spanned the remaining half with the ball continually sticking to Blues feet with no apparent fruition scopes. The home crowd wanted to be entertained with some goals in the ultimately goalless encounter.
Match Statistic:
Chelsea Formation (4-2-3-1): Schwarzer; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole; Lampard, Matic; Salah, Willian, Schurrle; Ba.
Booked Ivanovic 57
Sustitutes– Hilario, Kalas, D Luiz↑ Lampard↓, Van Ginkel, Hazard↑ Salah↓, Torres↑ Matic↓, Eto’o.
Norwich Formation (4-1-4-1): Ruddy; Martin, R Bennett, Turner, Whittaker; Tettey; Snodgrass, Johnson, Howson, Olsson; Elmander.
Booked Bennett 59, Turner 86, Olsson 89.
Substitutes– Bunn, Bassong, Van Wolfswinkel, Fer, Hooper, E Bennett, Redmond↑Elmander↓.
Leave your comments below. Follow me on Twitter @Anns_Sikander.
#KTBFFH #CTID #Proudblue
Hazard the only positive as Chelsea’s season ends with a whimper.
Neri, u like reading frm goal.com. Copy and paste.
Poor match. We lost everything this season. Mourinho says it was better than last year. Personally I prefer winning a trophy although a lesser one. But it’s just my opinion. Let’s support the guys for FA Youth Cup Final.
Didnt watch the 2nd half cos it was as drab as hell…yet to see any improvement in this mou’s team..i think benitez did a better job in his own transition period, he worked with less squad yet we qualified for ucl n won the europa…and we a hv a mou that bought up to four players, played the worst footie, couldnt win a trophy this season…the bitter truth is, Mou failed woefully this season simple….
I’m with you brother. You said it all. Mou has nothing to offer. He stifles the inventiveness of his creative players.
jose has faild us….wen he sold mata we tht he had beta plans….ths z nt th chelsea we knw.
Jose did not fail you clear your minds 🙂
This season was a failure, transitional or not. But not true soccer analyst can blame it on mou. Mou’s soccer was not always the best but to say benitez did a better job? Maybe, maybe not. I remember last season losing the confed cup to corinthians. Newcastle beating us. A league one side brentford almost beating us. Reading coming back from 2-0 to 2-2. Qpr beating us and so on and so forth. Let’s just look forward to the future. We cannot run away from chelsea. We are chelsea and we have one blue blood. There is sth I always say: the only person I trust in cheelsea football club is abrahamovic. He always does what is best for chelsea. And he loves attacking football. So if mou doesn’t deliver attacking football soon, yu can bet abrahamovic is already drafting his sackk letter. Put ur trust in roman, he knows what to do. If he can sack di matteo after winning uefa cos he wasn’t pleased with the way we won it then he can sack ANY coach that doesnnt deliver attacking footie. But for now, let’s give mou a chance. If our footie sucks next season and we don’t win a trophy, I will be the first on this site to abuse his sorry ass. But for now like thiery henry said : GET BEHIND YOUR TEAM. There is a lot to look forward to: costa, lukaku, hazard again, courtois. Ub blues. Ktbffh
Nice reply (Y)
Jose hasn’t failed yet. I don’t think Chelsea miss Mata. lets wait and see what the “Special One” got for us next season
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