The Man in The Shed
10th December – Lille
Well I have to say that if you’d have asked me after the
home loss to Valencia if I would accept the chance to progress in the Champions
League by winning the final group game I would have bitten your arm off !
It was a foul evening in London with rain and strong winds.
Not the ideal conditions for a game of football but my lofty view meant that I
was largely protected from the worst of it.
No real surprises on the Chelsea teamsheet other than the
return of Barkley to the bench. With nothing to play for it was no surprise to
see a very second string Lille eleven meaning a start for former Chelsea
striker Loic Rémy.
Credit to the away fans then for turning up in large numbers
despite only having pride to play for. They were doing their best to
impersonate Man City fans in the early stages of the game with noise, bouncing
up and down facing away from the pitch.
The weather really was doing its worst and just over ten
minutes in, it was absolutely throwing it down. It was at this point I realised
that there was no sign of any ballboys / girls. Did 21st century
health and safety mean they weren’t allowed out in the rain any more ?
It had been all Chelsea during the first quarter of the game
so it was no surprise when good work down the right side by Pulisic and Willian
set up Abraham for a simple tap-in. We were off and running !
It was all one way traffic. The inevitable question this
season was could we turn the superiority into goals ? Yes – 34 minutes in and
another corner was headed in by Azpilicueta. Perhaps the pressure from James to
replace him was spurring him on to make a concerted effort to make an impact in
the penalty area at corners. We definitely need to score more goals from
corners, that’s for sure.
By half time the weather had eased off thank goodness. The
team had shown good attacking play and good intensity throughout. Rüdiger was
looking solid at the back. OK, so we were playing the Lille second string but
concentration was good. The away fans were great for the first 20 minutes too.
Chelsea started the second half well and should have scored
immediately – both Pulisic and Willian having shots on target and saved.
The positive play lifted the crowd which seemed to need the
team to lift them rather than the other way around tonight.
Pulisic was substituted just after the hour. He looked good
again tonight. Fast and with quick feet – I am loath to say it but he really
could develop into a player of the stature of Hazard over time.
After looking very much the second string for over an hour
of course Lille then decided to score. Suddenly they were alive and Kepa had to
make a save to prevent an equaliser. Now I was checking my phone for the latest
score in the other group game; and Ajax were losing at home to Valencia so we
needed to win.
Somehow we scraped through despite dominating. Second place
to Valencia with Ajax failing to qualify !
Conclusions from tonight – Kanté was looking back to his
best after several niggly injuries; Rüdiger looks a leader but Hudson-Odoi
seems really out of sorts.
Now back to the league !
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