Holders Chelsea ended Manchester United’s hopes of a first FA Cup win since 2004 and a first double in 14 years as Demba Ba’s spectacular strike secured a quarter-final replay victory at Stamford Bridge. An amazing performance from the blues sees us proceed into the semi-final of the FA cup. A stunning strike from Demba turned our frowns from Saturday into pure delight. Shortly after the goal we witnessed one of the greatest saves of the season when Cech heroically managed to deny Hernandez’s amazing header.
What We Learned:
1. Clinical Ba should start in crucial games.
2. Magical Mata-Hazard are keys to Chelsea’s flow, rhythm and good football.
3. Cech is our #1 and as good as Courtois is, he would have to wait for atleast 2/3 more seasons.
4. Ramires-Mikel combination works
5. Azpilicueta is class
6. Mata can prove to be the difference even when its not his day.
7. Why on earth aren’t we challenging for the title?
1. Clinical Ba should get the starts in crucial games.
Demba Ba had an amazing game and scored a beautiful goal. His holding play, movements, runs and instincts were spot on. He created alot of opportunities for Mata, Hazard and Oscar as well by creating alot of space. Had just one chance in the first half with a strong shot which forced De Gea to save with his feet. However, he scored the winner with a sublime finish, taking Mata’s pass, beating Ferdinand and poking past a helpless De Gea on the volley.
He proved that Rafa should give him the nod in important games over the 50 million pound man Fernando Torres.
2. Magical Mata-Hazard are keys to Chelsea’s flow, rhythm and good football.
Whenever we don’t have either Mata or Hazard (especially Mata), we looked a bit disorganized and stagnant. These 2 definetly add that extra dimension to the team and winning without them at times looks really hard. Mata found little space to work his magic in the first half but it was a different story after the break as he ran the show for the Blues. A brilliant dinked pass set up Ba for the winning goal and he forced De Gea into a good save at his near post shortly afterwards. Hazard was industrious and lively in the first half and always looked to drive forward and was Chelsea’s most dangerous player early on.
3. Cech is our #1 and as good as Courtois is, he would have to wait for atleast 2/3 more seasons.
Thibut Courtois has been in an amazing form for the Madrid club all season long and looks to be like a perfect replacement for Cech in the coming future. He had an amazing game yesterday against Valencia as he literally earned Atletico Madrid a point with his world class saves. Cech has been doing an amazing job for us as well. He is not only one of the best keepers in the world at the moment but is also a leader in the dressing room. Today, he made an amazing couple of saves that kept us alive and earned us a spot in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City. He has been proving time and time again that he has no desire to let go off the number 1 jersey as he continues to put up phenomenal performances in the blue of Chelsea. Courtois WOULD have to wait for sure before he gets the number 1 nod at Stamford Bridge.
4. Ramires-Mikel combination works
From our last What We Learned,
Lampard : Lampard was kept largely off the ball by a dominant Saints midfield. Found a bit more space after the break but still a below-par showing.
Mikel : Allowed Davis and others too much space in the middle in the first half. Replaced by Ramires in the second half.
This combination simply doesn’t work, I can’t stress it enough.
The Mikel-Ramires combination more than seems to works for us whenever Rafa decides to play them. They provide a good balance of attack and defense not making us that vulnerable at the back or making us too slow going forward. These 2 worked our comeback at Old Trafford and they certainly did an amazing job in the middle of the pitch for us today. Mikel did little wrong, made some important challenges and kept Chelsea ticking over nicely in the middle of the pitch.
5. Azpilicueta is class
Now this is one lad who just keeps getting better week in and week out. Another impressive showing from the Spaniard. Was rarely flustered and looked solid all afternoon. He went forward, came back, did all that was expected of him and didn’t get frustrated at all. He is definitely going to be one of the best right backs in Chelsea history in the coming years.
6. Mata can prove to be the difference even when its not his day.
Today, Mata didn’t seem to be having the best of his days but he yet proved to be the difference between Manchester United and us. He provided an assist to Demba Ba which won us the game. If this magician was having his best day, we could have been 2/3-0 up. At times, things just weren’t going right for him today but at the end of the day he still proved to be the difference. Thats his class.
7. Why on earth aren’t we challenging for the title?
Looking at impressive performances like this one and the one away to Manchester United I always wonder why on earth aren’t we challenging for the title. But as we all know there are lot of factors like the sacking of Di Matteo, Rafa, lack of squad depth, only 2 strikers, etc. One thing is for sure; Under a stable management and an experienced manager like Jose Mourinho, this team would be challenging for everything there is to fight for all over the world.
Other points:
1. Ashley Cole will be missed as he has been ruled out for “2 weeks”.
2. Ryan Bertrand is decent back-up material.
I hope you guys enjoyed the article. Since Ervin couldn’t cover it today because of personal reasons, I did . Do let me know what you guys think of our 1-0 victory over Manchester United and the points I mentioned. Is the FA Cup ours? Ba? Mata? Ashley Cole?…. KTBFFH!
