The Man in The Shed

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27th November – Must not lose

Whilst most of the other English teams seemed to be making light of qualifying for the knockout stage of the Champions League it was proving somewhat more of a challenge for Chelsea after losing our opening game. Much of the pre match talk was about the need to avoid defeat in Valencia with the hope that the final game against Lille should be a certain home win.

Of course playing for a draw is rarely a wise tactic and with our defensive frailties then realistically we needed to score a goal or two.

It was perhaps surprising to see that Lampard had made changes to what had been a fairly stable back line. You could argue that James for Emerson was fairly safe but Tomori stepping down to the bench for Christensen was unexpected to my thinking. Mount remained on the bench with a cautious Kanté / Jorginho / Kovacic midfield yet again. Barkley had managed to flirt with the tabloids once more on a night out so didn’t even make the travelling squad. As a second offense in three months would the manager start to lose faith ?

We certainly started the game on the front foot. You could see why Lampard had started James as he produced several threatening crosses in the first 15 minutes. More worryingly was an early booking for Jorginho.

The game was very open. Valencia created two easy chances but they somehow managed to miss them both. It took more than 35 minutes for Chelsea to create serious efforts but their keeper was equal to the threat.

A third great Valencia chance was converted – it was becoming very easy to open up our defence. We needed to get to half time without further mishap but within two minutes came an equaliser – and Kovacic was the scorer ! What a perfect time to score your first Chelsea goal.

It should have been his second a couple of minutes later but the keeper saved well. We ended the half strongly.

Fifteen minutes to grab a quick cup of tea and calm down after a sometimes frantic half of football. The game was far too open for my liking. Great for the neutrals perhaps.

So in recap – we should have been 3-1 down; as soon as we lost possession our defence looked porous and the referee had become very fussy with every use of an arm by a Chelsea player (as part of protecting the ball) ; he had whistled for a foul and the Valencia player was rolling around on the turf. On the positive side James was looking good and the team looked like it was capable of scoring again.

After ending the half in agony it was no surprise to see Abraham replaced by Batshuayi. Of course Valencia was one of many sides that our Belgian striker had turned out for so he should have known a bit about their defenders.

Another fast start in the second half by Chelsea but the theatrics from Valencia continued. A cross into the box was headed by Zouma and Pulisic toe poked the ball into the net. Offside said the linesman, the first TV replay suggested offside but after about 5 minutes VAR came back and said goal !

Knowing they really needed to win the game the Valencia response was to increase the attacking intent further. Dave picked up a booked for another seemingly innocuous raised arm in a tackle but this drew a yellow card. Another “simple” chance for Valencia was wasted and then a 50-50 clash in our box and the referee points to the spot. Replays suggested it was harsh but the decision was not overruled by VAR. Penalty saved by Kepa !

More chances were conceded; we needed to change something to tighten up. Emerson replaced Jorginho and we switched to five at the back. The adjustment didn’t seem to have an effect as Valencia continued to create chances. Dave put his body on the line to block then out of nothing a mis-hit cross sails over Kepa and in off the post. My first thought was a Kepa howler but replays suggested that might have been harsh.

So from possibly taking all three points could we now hang on ? Still the team refused to try to kill the game. A header was cleared off the line by Valencia and then a Batshuayi shot was deflected by a defender but somehow the keeper changed direction to block it.

Seven minutes of added time (courtesy of VAR). It is still wide open and end to end. Valencia missed another sitter and then it was over.

How we drew that was beyond me – we should have lost by a mile.

So another VAR decision in our favour and another one against us. Irresistible attacking play and sometimes chaotic defending. This was more like the Sarri-ball we were promised at the start of last season.

I went off for a lay down and with my fingers crossed that a home win against Lille would be enough to progress to the next stage of the competition.