Chelsea 0-2 Southampton: How can you be so good to so bad within days?
That’s the question each one of us are asking today having witnessed another defeat at home, more dropped points and another missed oppor...
https://www.chelseadaft.org/2019/12/chelsea-0-2-southampton-how-can-you-be.html
That’s the question each one of us are asking today having witnessed another defeat at home, more dropped points and another missed opportunity against Southampton. I am really at a loss to try and explain why there was such a difference between the last two games.
We must take time out to congratulate Southampton who came to Stamford Bridge with a game plan and executed it perfectly. Let’s not forget, this a team and a manager who were thumped by NINE goals against Leicester the other week. They have re-grouped, got themselves focused and you must applaud them for what they have achieved since that point, four wins in six games now. They came here to defend in numbers and play counter-attacking football. It worked and congratulations to them.
As for Chelsea? Where do you start?
Our home form is now a major concern but what is the reason? Is it the pressures of delivering performances and results amongst their own supporters? If that is the case, then how do you explain the performance at Tottenham? Do we have a problem with our mentality in that we get ourselves up for the big games but not the ones where on paper, we should be favourites for three points? At home so far this season Chelsea have dropped points against Leicester, Sheffield United, Liverpool, West Ham, Bournemouth and now Southampton. In the Leicester and Sheffield United games that we have taken a single point whilst losing the others.
You have to say that in principle, your home form should be the strongest whereas you look to nick points away from home but this season it’s the other way around. As I said above, is it the pressures of performing at Stamford Bridge in front of our own fans the issue or is it something else? Could squad rotation be a problem with some players coming in having had a real lack of actual game-time?
Look at Callum Hudson-Odoi yesterday for example. Someone we all love and want to do well for us, but he has hardly featured so far this season for one reason or another and looked two yards off the pace of the game. He struggled to really get involved to make an impact that we all know he is more than capable of as he lacks match fitness which is all-important.
Then again, what is Frank Lampard supposed to do with his team selections during the busy Christmas and New Year period? It’s almost impossible to ask the same eleven play in every single game because of the demands of our game and the pace/power of the Premier League. Not to forget you must take into consideration suspensions and injuries which could occur.
I think that is our biggest problem for Frank Lampard now. I think he knows what his strongest eleven is (before the return of Ruben Loftus-Cheek), what his strongest formation is, but has maybe only had the chance to play that way against Tottenham last week. That team had everything and complimented each other in every single way from work rate, intensity, fluidity and balance. It was the complete and unexpected performance based on our current form to which we had hoped that we would kick on from there yesterday, but it never happened.
As Frank Lampard said post-match yesterday, “It’s all well and good going to Tottenham and delivering the level of performance we did in that game, but we must be able to deliver the same again in different ways and in different games – that’s the challenge” – He is spot on in my view.
Chelsea travel to Arsenal on Sunday afternoon and we hope that we can deliver the same level of performance as we did against Tottenham. However, putting that game to one side, it’s what we can do against Burnley who are the next team to come to Stamford Bridge that is even more important.
One thing is clear, Frank Lampard, Jody Morris and Joe Edwards will work harder than ever with the players to turn this run of poor form at home around sooner rather than later to make Stamford Bridge the fortress it used to be and should be again.
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