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| What We Learned From The Manchester City Match : 25.11.2012 |
After 92 minutes of play, the highly anticipated match between Rafa’s Chelsea and Mancini’s City ended 0-0.
Scorers :
None
What We Learned :
1. Under Rafa, we’re solid defensively.
2. Torres and Luiz becoming more visible.
3. Not much will change under Benitez.
4. Chelsea aren’t out of the EPL race.
1. Under Rafa, we’re solid defensively : Benitez did something AVB and Di Matteo couldn’t do, he held one of the clubs in the PL to a cleansheet. Under Di Matteo, we conceded 10 goals against the other Top 6 clubs (Liverpool – 1, Spurs – 2, Arsenal – 1, City – 3 and United – 3). Under Rafa Benitez, we’ve conceded 0 against City (who Di Matteo conceded 3 in the Community Shield). David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic held the City strikers up well and didn’t allow them many clear-cut chances.
2. Torres and Luiz becoming more visible : Under Di Matteo, David Luiz and Fernando Torres were very inconsistent and anonymous as of late and mostly throughout this last season with Roberto Di Matteo. Torres had a chance and was hustling/working hard to get Chelsea in front and although, it didn’t happen Chelsea fans can certainly appreciate Torres’ efforts, today. As for Luiz, he wasn’t the clumsy Luiz we’ve been used to, he showed a good bit of composure and didn’t do a poor job against City’s big names. I still prefer Gary Cahill over David Luiz.
3. Not much will change under Benitez : Rafael Benitez fielded a similar squad to what Di Matteo fielded this season.
Very similar side to what we’ve seen under Di Matteo (without Terry/Lampard). This just shows us that Rafa Benitez won’t change much in terms of the starting XI and tactics, so far. Whether we see a change against Fulham (home) and West Ham (away) this week, that we shall see.
4. Chelsea aren’t out of the EPL race :
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| EPL Table (as of now) courtesy of premierleague.com |
That’s how the table currently stands and we’re 4th place and 5 points off 1st place. It’s not where we were before the Swansea match, but certainly it’s better than where we’ve been under Villas-Boas and Di Matteo (last season). We’re not out and there’s 25 matches left to be played and anything can happen (proven last season).
Ervin
