TOTL. Thank you Chelsea. Thank you Poch and thank you Nicholas Jackson.
When I saw that team sheet I realized two things. The first is that Chelski really does hate Sp*rs. And secondly, that Poch loves Arteta. What a shambles their team selection was.
Where to start this one. After Trossard, yet again, gave is the lead after 4 minutes, you thought the score line could end up like this. But there was a long period leading into the second half where you feared we’d regret all those missed changes. I forgot of course that Jackson is there main striking theat. How abysmal is this guy, thankfully. He is, hands-down, the worst striker I can remember since the wonderful Soldado at Sp*rs. Of course, with that tackle on Tomi, Jackson should have been sent off. He is a shambles of a player and perfectly suited to Chelsea.
With Tomi back in and Partey in the base midfield role Rice was able to shift out to the left. That provided a better balance such that not everything was down the right hand side. However, most of the chances were generated by the triangle of Saka, White and the masterful Odegaard. Today he ruled this match. He exuded joy. He feed passes and split their defense of some many occasions.
Going in only one-up at half time was frustrating. We won the ball high up the pitch – well, often Cheski generously just gave it to us – and we’d find ways to squander the chances. We dominated them and created so many chances I lost count. There was Have-that choosing to pass not shoot, Rice and Odegaard shooting. It was an endless stream. And sometimes their goalie would make a great save. You always worry that you’ll regret these missed opportunities. And there were periods where they would counterattack. And thankfully they (i.e. the aforementioned Mr. Jackson) found way to miss their chances as well.
You feared this might turn into a replay of the Wolves match. You figured they could not be as bad in the second half. They weren’t; they were actually worse. But the nerves started to enter the atmosphere. Anxiety crept in. It was not helped by some sloppy play. And Partey was guilty of numerous sloppy passes and lingering on the ball too long. Yet we also saw times where his simple link up play helped propel the team forward. For example his role in setting up that first goal.
Fortunately, we were able to sneak a Ben White goal to open up this game. Thoroughly deserved and resulting from one of our numerous corners. But nicely finished. And game over. You knew Chelski could not possibly recover. They have no leadership nor backbone. The anxiety dissipated. And our game continue to flow around them.
The third goal though was just majestic. The obvious foul by Gabriel was not called and then Odegaard feed the most exquisite pass through to Have-that. This time he drove directly to goal, brushing off the challenge of their £60m hairy fullback to thump the ball in for our third. That was a picturesque goal. Classic Odegaard and reminiscent of Ozil. The perfectly weighted pass. And the perfect finish.
And then it just because an onslaught. Again, from our right, Odegaard and Saka set up Have-that to get his brace to be swiftly followed by White. It became a procession that allowed us to make all the substitutions we needed ahead of Sunday. It was good to see Jorginho back out there in place of Partey. But you could see the difference when Jesus replaced Have-that. As often said, Jesus can do everything but score.
We even got a chance to see Zinny get some minutes and for Martinelli to again show how he’s lost his scoring touch. And a miracle happened, we finally saw Saka substituted. Even if it took until the 82nd minute. This was a much improved performance from him today. He was involved in nearly all our good moves. But he needs time to recover. Let’s see if those 15 minutes help him on Sunday.
Though he did not score, Rice again just crushed their midfield and dominated the play. He liberates Odegaard and pushes himself into many more attacking positions. He’s not quite developed the composure needed to score more goals but that will come with experience. Our midfield today was most likely that Edu and Arteta imagined when the signed Rice. And even though Partey has regressed you can see what the attraction when they brought in Rice.
Then you only have so amusingly look across the pitch at their £200m counterparts – Enzo and Caicedo – to appreciate how easy it is to make the wrong choices. And that’s not even consider the money they sunk into Mudryk. We were so fortunate that Chelski were brainless enough to save us from that one. We certainly dodged a bullet there. In fact with both him and Caicedo.
Consider this, we definitely got the better parts of Brighton. We have Trossard and White for about £70m whereas they have the Hairy left-back and Caicedo for £150m. Three goals versus one yellow-card. It’s hard to know where to start with the amount of money Todd Boehly has squandered way. It’s beyond arrogance to think that by acquiring (supposed) young talent, not even being aware that football is a team game and ignoring the need for senior, on-the-pitch guidance/experience, they could assemble a team like this. But it makes me happy none-the-less. In my dark moments I merely have to think about Nicholas Jackson and all is right with the world. I know supporters of this lot (sorry AJ); you have my long-term sympathies. How you must pine for the days or Roman.
Another clean sheet. I think that’s world-record for us. Or something like that. Score more goals and let in less than anyone. Pretty impressive. But not as impressive as the way we command the pitch, dictate the rhythm and control the game with our high press. We really are a joy to watch – aside from that period in the middle when the anxiety sets in. But surely, after watching us against Bayern, teams should figure that if they can starve our access to Odegaard they could (potentially) shut us down. Instead they let him have the freedom of the park.
So onto Sunday while still TOTL. We just need Everton to dig in now. And, we can rely on Forest to adopt a them against the world attitude. Hopefully they can channel their misplaced anger into a similar performance as they had against Liverpool at home last year. I doubt it. But they can at least make City suffer a little.
We need some luck. We need both of them to drop some points. It’s not much to ask. Just a little generosity ahead of our Sunday encounter with those wankers. As consummate failures they will be entirely motivated by their desire to try and help us fail. We, on the other hand, post Champions league and the Brexit of every other team (aside from Villa) can also put another nail in their aspirations to be in the Champions league next year now that there are only four places.
This is the game of the season for us. This is our most tricky remaining fixture. So, it’s good we were able to make wholesale substitutions today. And we actually have a four day gap which will seem like a long-term holiday for most of the players. But I am looking forward to watching Rice destroy them and for Odegaard to carve them open. And I suspect we’ll see Jorginho return. I don’t know if I can take Partey lingering on the ball for too long. This will be an intense match with a frantic atmosphere. But we go into this match perfectly set-up, two wins on the bounce and still TOTL.
-LB7