Chelsea going into the game vs Newcastle at home knew that the league leaders Arsenal were given a footballing lesson at Anfield in the early kick off. Chelsea knew that a win today and if the result at Carrow Road (City away to Norwich) goes in our favor, we might be top of the league at end of the day. Jose fielded a strong side once again, Captain John Terry missed the game due to the injury he picked in training. Lampard got back into the team, Luiz slotted in at the back. Oscar returned to the lineup making the attacking trio of Hazard – Oscar – Willian being led by Eto’o.
Chelsea started the game in confident fashion and took the game to Newcastle, who themselves were not willing to sit back. But once Chelsea got into the groove it was problems for Newcastle. 2 world class goals from Eden Hazard gave Chelsea the lead at the break and in the 2nd half it was more of the same. A penalty won by Eto’o was converted by Hazard that gave him a well deserved Hattrick.
A solid defensive display and some magic upfront gave Chelsea all three points which took Chelsea to the top of the BPL standings, with City drawing away to Norwich Chelsea have now got a 1 point lead at the top over Arsenal and that’s how it is going to remain until the next gameweek.
What We Learned:
The Magician from Belgium: Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard scored his first BPL hattrick and became the youngest Chelsea player to do so. This season only 4 hattricks have been scored in the BPL two of which coming from Chelsea players (Eto’o and Hazard), the other two coming from Suarez and Adam Johnson.
Throughout the match the commentators were in awe of the man who at the tender age of 23 has got the world at his feet. Some of the touches made by Hazard were simply brilliant and that led to him being compared to the Legendary Gianfranco Zola. Surely he has a long way to go if he wants to be compared to the little magician but he is not doing his chances any harm.
It’s not just his attacking but the overall game play that has taken Chelsea to a whole new level. He is fast becoming the heart and soul of this Chelsea team and with him in such top form Chelsea has got a fantastic chance of doing well in Europe and the remainder of the league season.
Matic yet again had a fantastic game:
With everyone talking about Hazard today, Nemanja Matic’s performance today has gone almost unnoticed but the Big Serb once again had a fantastic game. It’s his assurance in the pivot is giving confidence to our fullback the confidence to move forward.
Matic vs Newcastle: 10 tackles, 2 interceptions, 5 clearances, 4 aerial duels won.
In the 301 mins he has played for Chelsea after his return from Benfica, Chelsea are yet to concede a goal. A testimony to the fact that he indeed is adding a lot to the team defensively. It can do a house of good to our chances, as the saying goes Offense wins you games but Defenses win you the Championships.
It’s not just the starting XI but the depth of the squad:
Chelsea doesn’t just have a great starting XI but quality is there all over the squad. When you have got players like Salah and Schurrle coming on then it’s pretty obvious that there is enough quality on the bench to turn the games around.
Salah had a decent outing showing his pace which will be ideal for us and the brand of football we are willing to play i.e. quick counter attacking football.
Eto’o is improving as a striker:
Eto’o had a decent outing today his role in the 2nd goal was pivotal, that lovely 1-2 with Hazard to set Eden to score his 2nd was sublime. He also got the crucial penalty although it wasn’t much down to him but Yanga Mbiwa’s moment of madness.
It’s good to see our strikers being involved with our attack and it seems Eto’o and Eden are developing a decent understanding with eachother. More goals to follow in the coming games we hope.
City slip up, so did Arsenal. A Title Charge?
My thoughts after the final whistle at Carrow Road were that have we rattled City a bit too much? They were unstoppable two games back and now they have all of a sudden gone two games without scoring a goal, yes Aguero is missed but they still have enough firepower to go past teams like Norwich.
Arsenal today were taught a lesson by a masterclass from Liverpool, some great counter attacking football caught Arsenal off guard. Both these teams have got very difficult games against FC Barcelona and FC Bayern Munich which might cause them problems in the league, with every game a becoming a must win Chelsea may have an upper hand on the two title rivals.
It’s still a long way to go between now and the end of the season but Mourinho is the master of the mind games and arguably the best tactician in the game so it won’t be easy for Man City or Arsenal to beat us to the summit.
Salah can play as a striker(my opinion)
he can but is main position is wing is has 95 pace in fifa 14
Fifa 14? Hahaha
Fantastic ! Fantastic ! Fantastic ! We played reali well…hazard,oscar nd willian ar awesome mehn(includin all d other players)…d questn nd wat i’m tinkin iz dat can we play well without hazard ???
dis ll definitely boost our confidence, and we ll take it games after games and see hw fa we can go.
I stil think lacking a top class striker will cost us, the same reason why jose is not confident of winning the league and is down playing our chances.
he knows we can win the league, he is just keeping the pressure on him and off the players because our players are young and inexperienced. All our players cant handle the pressure. He is also putting more pressure on Man City. Genius from Jose.
Reblogged this on fahmicfc360's Blog.
Other than these points mentioned above I’d like to say something else which shows class amongst our players…
1.lamps gives the ball to hazard to take the penalty…. Kept his own records at bay and encouraged this kid….
2.usually cech used to kick the ball from the goal kick either to the left flank (to hazard) or to the centre (eto & will) but rarely to the right… But when salah made his debut cech encouraged him by passing the ball directly to him…
So as a Chelsea family member “humanity and class” are the added points which “we learned ” yesterday…hail blue
U’re right man ! Thumbs up
Excellent points. Truly Agree
Thank you
What i learnt is Matic is what we needed all these yr’s. wat a dm. i will lyk matic-Rami pivot play nd see hw it goes too.u are ryt at @anonymous thumbsup ma.
sayin etto had a decent game is unfair….. Its only that he is not gettin goals for himself but etoo brings other players into the game…. He is not selfish in front of goal like oscar, schurle willian n hazard….. He lays passes to teamates wc is something torres cant do….. He have a better understanding with hazard and hazard have the confidance to pass him e ball than what he does with torres…. In my opnion etoo is a better option ryt now coz if he aint gettin goals hez playing for the team…. Torres cant hold up play like etto does…. It was very ecouraging to see all the players bringing salah into the game…. He blew a chance for a debut goal by himself.. He was more of a targetman for all e passes…. Kbffh….
I agree, Unfortunately not so fast as few years ago but still a top class player! Well done Samu!
where are the twats that said- mou out, rafa in???
Hazard was phenomenal. Quite a delight to watch, what about Matic and Ramires in the pivot hope to see that combination. We are top of the league what is more important than this.
What a win again, hope this great run continues on! Another player to watch is willian, his pace was fantastic, dribbling was superb, defending was top class. And the entire team was great, Eden Hazaaaard is fabulous. To me Gianfranco zola is my all time favourite player and yesterday when many experts and commentators compared eden to great ZOLA, it was very good to hear! Finally BLUE IS THE COLOUR!!!
Every players are fantastic. Am impressed by January signing Matic and Salah. Matic passing looks like Ozil and his areal ability is fantastic and he can play in both as AM and DM. Similarly am impressed by Salah speedy playing, what a fast player we bought for our courattak playing style. Am confident in Jose to change Salah to a killer gay by improving some techniques. His speed is very important to kill game while a team is in difficuty of winning game. Up blue!!!
Messi (Magician) 10 + CR (General) 7 = Eden Hazard (Magician General) 17!!!
wat i learnt is matic has the pivot role
@Jonny.tank u my brother.dis is a big question jose must answer.dis has bothered me 4 sometime.i wil like jose 2 start witout hazard on tuesday lets see how our team wil fare.let jose try dis attackn trio so dat if it works den we wil know dat we arent over relyn on hazard
willian\oscar\salah.