The Man in The Shed

10^th May – Not again

Another home game, another absence – sadly. Instead of being parked in my usual seat in The Shed here I was at the home of the world marbles championships (link), a pub in Crawley, watching on the big screen. With a 7am flight to catch the day after the game I was staying close to Gatwick airport.

So was this really Eden‘s last home game in blue ? Would his last ever game for Chelsea be in Baku ?

The away support was again impressive. Plenty of flags and plenty of noise.

No great surprises in our starting eleven although I was perhaps surprised to see the “old” short making a re-appearance. The officials were in a very fetching red.

The game was pretty even in the first fifteen minutes although another good save from Kepa kept the scores level. We were at least working their keeper too. A Willian free kick was headed on by Luiz but cleared off the line. Close, but no cigar. Never mind it didn’t take long for our next chance and well-crafted it was with Loftus-Cheek calmly side-footing into the net – one nil. Yet another assist from Hazard.

The tempo remained unchanged from both teams but no further goals.  Half time – could we add more in the second half ?

The second half began with Frankfurt in the ascendancy. First a penalty shout not given and then a good move by them and a calm finish. All square. But where was David Luiz ? He seemed not to track the goal scorer.

Chelsea momentum picked up. A Giroud shot curled the wrong was and out. Kovacic was getting stuck in but committed a bad foul – lucky to only get a yellow. Another quarterback pass from Luiz to Wiliian but the shot was tame.

End to end now. Christensen goes down and cannot continue. No Cahill, it’s Zappacosta and Dave goes to centre back. Zappa has a shot which the keeper fumbles but gets away with it. That was our first serious attempt of the half.

Dave then commits two bad fouls in quick succession. The first was a booking – he must have been on his last chance by now.

Five minutes of additional time but neither side were able to break the deadlock. Extra time !

Barkley (on for Loftus-Cheek) was using his extra energy as extra time began. We seemed to be creating the best chances too with Barkley and Dave shooting wide of the target. Then a breakaway gave us five against three but somehow we messed it up.

It was not all one way though with both Luiz and Zappa clearing off the line. It could still have gone either way.

Half time in extra time.

Tired minds and bodies were evident now. Thoughts on penalties perhaps ? Both Emerson and Zappa had shots saved – we were still fighting to win it. Dave headed it out of the keeper’s hands and into the goal but it was rightly disallowed.

Time up – here we were again in the lottery that is penalties.

It really tests a fan’s nerve, let alone the players and staff. Every superstition going shows its face to try and get that win. Frankfurt were going first.

Of course we had to go behind in the shootout. Barkley converted but Dave’s effort, whilst close to the corner, was saved by their keeper. Before I knew it we were three one down as “fan favourite” Jorginho trotted up. With his now customary hop, skip and jump he converted.

Then we finally got a break. Kepa decided to stand his ground in the centre of the goal and the shot hit him and somehow did not go through his legs.

©BBC

Luiz converts and we were back at three all ! One kick each left.

Kepa then exceled again with a great save. Hazard stepped up and I knew it was going in. Their keeper went the wrong way and it was four three and we were in the final.

Frankfurt could easily have pinched that, such were the fine margins. Their fans continued to enthusiastically cheer their team despite their failure. All credit to them.

So two more games left in the season with a friendly in the USA in between.