A result neither team particularly wanted, but an entertaining game nonetheless as Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur drew 2-2 at Stamford Bridge.
Scorers :
Stats :
What We Learned :
1. Rafa’s substitutions – WTF?!
2. Wastefulness costing us
3. David Luiz raising eyebrows about double pivot position
4. Oscar deserves credit for recent performances
5. 3rd place is ours to lose
1. Rafa’s substitutions – WTF?!:
I am a fan of Rafael Benitez (as you all know), but his substitutions at Chelsea have always boggled my mind. I just don’t understand what he’s going for with the subs – freshness or skill/talent or time-wasting? Today, it seemed to be swapping tiredness for freshness. Hazard came off (had a knock and wasn’t fit) which was a good decision, but Victor Moses?! On the left?! Poor decision, should of brought on Ba and paired him with Torres. The one that confuses me the most is Benayoun coming on for Oscar. Few things wrong with that :
1) Oscar was playing amazing.
2) Benayoun is NOT a game changer – far from it.
3) Better options available – Lampard and Ba (mostly Ba).
That being said, I just don’t understand what Rafa is thinking when making changes. It didn’t cost us the game, but it cost us a chance at securing our win.
2. Wastefulness costing us:
Now this was the game-changer. We had so many great chances and blew them. 2 in particular, to be exact.
1) Hazard – 2nd half. Was found exquisitely by Oscar and cut back in with 2 Chelsea players waiting and Spurs on the brink of losing, for sure. Hazard did well to cut back in, but then blasted it over the bar instead of picking out Ramires at the back post or going for finesse on the ground.
2) Ramires – 2nd half. A rather unfortunate event, but one that cost us. Hazard with a magical heel-flick to Mata who was through on goal only to be defied by Kyle Walker (who has pace), but Mata staves off his pressure to find Ramires waiting to pounce. However, the pitch was very slippery and frustrating for many people (players, fans, etc.) and Ramires took a tumble and smashed his face into the ground while hurting his ankle. Luckily for us, he stayed on. However, this was a chance wasted.
2 glorious chances to make it 3-1 and secure the win (basically) for us. We wasted other good chances, including Mata putting 2 slightly over the bar in the 1st half. We created chances, which is good, but we wasted them, which is bad.
3. David Luiz raising eyebrows about double pivot position:
Many Chelsea fans cream over the thought of Luiz being in the midfield. He’s played there a few times this season and impressed, but this performances raising my eyebrows. I was never a fan of him playing in the midfield, but it has been a good decision at times this season. Today, far from it. While Goal.com, SkySports, etc. claim that Luiz was good/decent today, I completely disagree. I have many points to debunk their argument, but there is one that sticks out the most – Spurs’ 2nd goal. Look at the replay of Gylfi’s goal for Spurs, look where Luiz is. Rewind about 30 seconds prior to the chance, look where Luiz is. He completely blew it – nowhere to be found when it mattered the most. He did do well at times in the game, but when it mattered the most, he wasn’t there. Whether you see this as a problem or not, is up to you. However, for me, it’s a problem as he wasn’t the best in midfield when at Benfica (often drawing criticism from fans and coaches) and he’s not the best option for midfield at Chelsea either.
4. Oscar deserves credit for recent performances:
Oscar has been magnificent as of late. Over the last 5 or so matches, to be exact. He was very inconsistent earlier in the season and was struggling to find his feet in England, but recently, he’s been fantastic. Scoring goals, providing assists, getting in the right positions, etc. Oscar has been doing what we wanted him to do when we signed him and that’s play the number 1a0 role incognito. Mata does the most visible number 10 work, while Hazard does the winger work, but Oscar does a little bit of both (mostly number 10 role). Oscar will do what Mata does at times and do what Hazard does at times while being undercover (for lack of a better word). When teams least expect him, he appears. Teams worry about Hazard and Mata, but Oscar’s role is both of their’s combined in a secretive way. He doesn’t get the exposure Eden and Juan do, but when looking at the game and focusing on him, you can easily tell.
5. 3rd place is ours to lose:
Do I have to explain this point?
Chelsea :
Aston Villa
Everton
Win v Villa OR Everton secures 4th.
4 points in those two games can secure 3rd (depending on our goal difference compared to Arsenal’s).
6 points can for sure.
We’re the team to beat for 3rd. That simple. 2 points above Arsenal and 3 above Spurs.
Other Points:
1. John Terry needed in defense
2. Cesar “Dave” Azpilicueta proving a gem of a signing
If you have any questions or comments, you can leave them below or contact me via Twitter (username below). Thanks for reading!
Time and again I have said that he is better at CB than at CDM. In fact he could better at a CM role where def duties are not much. He has done a decent job so far but I still think he can be a world class CB.
Man I really like your summaries of the games! Well done!
thanks
Benitez is not a quarlify coach with his substution we nearly lose our wining game
I agree with u
Luiz was nt in the rite position at the needed time always going 4ward which is nt the duty of a DM… Lampard shuld have been brought on 4 unfit ramires… And why on earth did dat guy(benitez) sub opposition threat hazard … Then later brought in a useless benayoun who cnt even make any change to the game…. Torres was nowhr to be found …. Ba shuld have started ahead of him…. Benitez need to stop taking off hazard.. It kills d attack
U mofo i bet u dont understand any thingAbt Chelseas style of play. Torress had a good game with a brilliant asist..as far as playing ba is concerned u cant expect him to start 2 games in a row and den agn he will hav to play against aston villa cz torres is to be rested for da europa league
..
Rafas subs are the worse on premier league replacing torres with ba would have been better but nao hazard for moses no oscar for benayoun that again no
i thought it was only me who saw that Luiz had a bad game, i can say Rafa was spot on with the starting line up but got the subs absolutely wrong and on the case of Terry it was a good thing to leave him out as we were dealing with a team which thrives on pace and thats why azipilicueta did a great job because they could not beat him for pace, he is also a gem, Oscar is proving to be worth his money and am sure he will come even better in his second season, i will was biting my finger nails when i saw Yussi coming on……. i was telling my mates that then you ask us why we hate RAFA!!
A few years ago I’d have to pay someone for this inormoatifn.
Don’t hate Rafa guys, he’ s doing a good job, many fans boos him every match, not easy to work in these conditions. Ok for substitutions yesterday he made mistakes but look at the bench: Moses, Lampard, Ba, Ake, Benayoun and JT. Who is able to change the match? Players are tired, 66th game for them. I think Lampard will play vs AV or Benfica next week. Mr Benitez is trying to ration out the energies of the team.
As for Luiz, absolutely agree. He’s better at CB than at CDM.
if you ask me, first sub should be terry for mata
second ba for torres.
with 5 at the back and a solid defence, not to mention quick wingers in hazard and oscar who can pass to ba who can easily bully vertonghen and dawson. they were done for. torres did very well yesterday and i wont take away any credit from him but i felt that ba could have done better with his strength
Luiz played well, it was difficulty for him to be there everytime when spurs counter attacks coz of their speed i think he played good,his long passes were perfect n remember spurs played well esp. adebayor, so 3rd goal would be good for us but we couldnt score
I Will never be a fan of Rafa nd have never been,for me Rafa is the most useless nd foolish coach I’ve ever seing in my life,he lacks evrytin as coach,nd Im 100% in support of wht u said abt Luiz,for God sake Luiz is not a midfilder,he is a complete defender,we have Lampard,Mikel nd Romieu who can play very well in that position,nd I understand why that fat big fool always keeping Terry on the bench,we need Terry in our defence in every match pls!!!
True apart from the United game Rafa substitution leaves much to be desired, i don’t understand why Benayoun is above Marin is the pecking order, should have brought in Terry for the defence and Ba to give the Spurs defenders something to worry about when they push forward. We will get 3rd spot though KTBFFH
can remember this issue about substitute wasted us last season and lead to the sacking of AVB.. let swallow the pride and agree that boas was good but his approach in the substitute had a problem… can remember him benching Torres and playing Drogba when he is not on form.. can also remember him substituting Drogba when struggling to get a goal and bringing in Torres who was on form.. his substitute were unpredictable.. the same case with Benitez, he somehow poor in decision making in substitution… was waiting for Ba to come in alongside with Lampard if he had to rest two players and in my side i could have rested Hazard(because of his healthy status) and atleast Mata to keep his form for he has no substitute unlike resting Oscar who we can substitute with either of Moses, Torres, Ba, Lampard according to the set of the game but for Mata so far we dont have his equivalent…..
anyway the game was fantastic and i enjoyed it
may be you forgot to mention of our attacks of late and the way the whole squad have adapted to each other and more so the mazcar
Cesar was an inspired signing. A downright steal for 7 million pounds.
Subs by rafa are mind boggling:- true bt again we need sum quality on bench nxt season. I m personally amazed why we evn hav benayoun i wld hav rather prefered to watch malouda play through out da year we almost destroyed his carrer makin him play wth jr. He ws twice as good as benayoun. I personally feel we shld go newcastle way buying many cheap bt quality players who wldntt mind if dey dnt start every game bt wld be great wen cme on as subs
WHAT WE LEARNED: Benitez never fails to prove he is an idiot.
in a match tagged as a ‘season defining game’, he nailed the starting 11 and our style of play was a joy to watch; oscar had a woow game, but his saying his substitutions was questionable.
i expected a torres ba sub or a mata lamps, but the FWS brought in the israeli lesbian benayoun whose impact in the game i still dont understand. i woulda accepted a draw before the game but considering the way we played esp MAZACAR, we shoulda killed the game but the cxnt benitez threw away the game with his subs.The only explanation for subbing hazard better be injury wise else he confirmed to everyone he really is a fool. benayoun above marin?? sighhhh why wont we hate him??!
All i ask of him is to guide our last three game of the season safely to a champs qualification and an europa league trophy then he can get the fxck outta chelsea with his CV.
i await the return of the special one! KTBFFH!!!
Mother fucker don’t be a racist! You are a disgrace to the Chelsea funs. Fuck u and every thing you stand for asshole! How can Israeli lesbian? I don’t like Benayoun as a player, but it doesn’t mean I should be a racist!
Fully agree, but please watch your mouth mate. Thanks for understanding.
We shld get baq essien frm madrid something i hav been sayin fr long he has better passin den mikel and better n defense as well he played ad a defender fr a team like real rather den buyin we cn recall him
We shld get baq essien frm madrid something i hav been sayin fr long he has better passin den mikel and better n defense as well he played ad a defender fr a team like real rather den buyin we cn recall him