On the face of it, with the other results which all went in our favour this weekend barring Moneychester City, a draw against the eventual champions isn’t the worst result in the world. However, as I find myself composing my thoughts the morning after the game, I can’t help but be somewhat frustrated with the result.
It’s the context you see, rather than the result which on the balance of play over the 90 minutes, neither side probably deserved to win. But as I’d said in my blog yesterday, beating Chelski would have been more symbolic of progress at the club, rather than open any doors of a potential title win.
That mother-funkin’ context is what is driving my frustration this morning.
The game itself had just the one surprise thrust upon it in terms of team news, with Bellerin coming in for Debuchy which again, you probably have to say was the right call as the Spaniard was able to get forward more. Who knows, perhaps Debuchy wouldn’t have had the pace to get back from Oscar’s lobbed effort in the first half, so ultimately and with hindsight firmly in mind, Arsène made the right call with team selection.
And so, you’d have to begrudgingly say, did Chelski. They set up not to concede and they got exactly what they came for. They had a spell in the second half where they came on to us a bit more, but you could tell that there was less desire to put too many bodies forward, something I couldn’t really understand given our lack of pace in the counter. There were a few instances yesterday that I thought we didn’t capitalise on. They happened mainly in the second half and it was only really when Chelski were drawn out. But we couldn’t find that final ball and on a couple of occasions it was wasteful and not even resulting in any kind of chance. I know Theo has hardly played and when he did he has looked distinctly anonymous, but somebody like that could have been perfect for yesterday’s game when Chelski started to push more bodies forward. He occupies wide positions and as good as Rambo was yesterday – and I do think he had a good game – he does have a tendency to drift in field and that does leave us narrow at times. Özil had a decent game but on a couple of occasions he cropped up on our right hand side and you could tell he was looking for that forward wide man to slip the ball in to, but Rambo had come in field and so the German had to check and then come in field. It’s the little things that make the difference in these games, you know? Those fine margins and yesterday it felt like both teams were playing the percentages, not wanting to expose themselves too much, which probably resulted in the bitty game that we got.
I thought Alexis struggled a bit yesterday. His turnovers in possession are well documented, but for some reason it felt to my eyes as if this was enhanced because chances were always going to be at a premium, so when he did get the ball in a promising position, when the move broke down it was frustrating.
Frustration. That was the overriding word of the day, wasn’t it, but mainly because we have another season in which we’ve failed to beat that disgusting excuse for a football club. The record we have against that lot is one you’d expect to see from a team yo-yoing between the Premier League and the Championship, not one that has consistently finished in the top positions since Chelski hit ‘reboot’ on their own history 11 years ago. It does feel like this record is going to go on forever. That’s what makes this all the more annoying.
But hey, let’s end this blog on a high, because we’re still on course for an improved league position and the chance of picking up an FA Cup. If we were to finish second and win the cup then you’d have to say it puts us in a great position to have a proper go next year. And guess what? You only have to play Chelski twice a season, so we can still win the league next year without having to score against those scummers anyway!
Catch you tomorrow.
Many fans are disappointed with a draw but it beats a loss any day. We still have another chance to wipe the grin of Mourinho’s face if we win the FA Cup and meet Chelsea in The Charity Shield. What a great start to the season that would be if we were to beat that lot.