Chelsea 2-2 West Brom; Andre Marriner makes a nuisance of himself, Chelsea lucky to get a point at home

Chelsea got away with a late penalty to earn a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, and extend the record of Mourinho to 66 games. Andre Marriner was in the mix of heated arguments from both sets of players for his dismal refereeing throughout the match. In the end, it was his decision that turned the match in favor of Chelsea and gave them an unlikely point against a resilient Steve Clarke’s side.

Starting Lineups

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) : Cech – Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta – Ramires Lampard – Willian, Oscar, Hazard – Eto’o

West Brom (4-2-3-1) : Myhill – Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell – Yacob, Mulumbu – Amalfitano, Sessengnon, Brunt – Long

Juan Mata was not given a start in yet another league game, but Willian came in for Andre Schurrle. Ashley Cole was dropped for the second game running, with Azpilicueta starting at leftback position for the 3rd time. David Luiz was again benched, Cahill preferred to partner Terry in defense.

This game will be the talking point for a long time, or atleast until another blatant refereeing decision comes by. Apart from the controverisal moments which are a source of food for the usual tabloids, there were some interesting things to take away from the performances of both the teams. Lets first look at Mr. Marriner’s outstanding performance and get that over with.

Why are such referees still allowed to officiate in top flight?

It is a valid question, if ones takes into account the continuing trend of controversy Andre Marriner has managed to stir during the past few seasons. His decisions have always been on the wrong side of critical and have attracted widespread disbelief, not only from the fans but from managers and pundits as well. Still, such people manage to get games in top flight. Yesterday’s match at Stamford Bridge will be in the news for the wrong reasons and a lot of that credit goes to Mr. Marriner.

Olsson and McAuley arguing with Marriner.

While there were a few questionable decisions over the course of the match, the ones that made a direct impact get highlighted. The first one is the foul on Ivanovic by Claudio Yacob. West Brom got the ball after that incident and managed to score from the resulting attack. Ivanovic took the ball away from Yacob in West Brom’s half and tried to wriggle away but Yacob was seen catching Ivanovic by his hip and restricting him from getting to the ball. The ref waved away the Chelsea protests and Sessengnon scored from a 4 v 3 situation, Cech should have done better to prevent the goal.

Yacob impeded Ivanovic

That goal prompted Chelsea to go all out against West Brom and in the most unlikliest of scenarios, Chelsea got awarded a late penalty after Ramires went down in the box. Judging from the replays, it appeared to be a harsh decision from the ref, and Ramires had made most of the contact between him and Reid by going down easily. The Brazilian was instantly on almost all of football world’s lips, and was branded a diver. This diving phenomenon is becoming more and more promient in modern football, as officials find it increasingly difficult to take the right decision. In the present case, it would be hugely inappropriate to criticize Ramires or brand him a diver. From the following GIF, it can clearly be seen that Ramires barged into Reid, but went down only after he lost his balance. Going down easily and diving are two very different things, and Ramires had quite a lot of contact with Reid before he went down in the box.

Ramires Penalty Decision.

Chelsea’s defensive issues give Mourinho a headache

Moving on to the better side of things, the current situation brewing with the defense of Chelsea is a point of major concern for Jose Mourinho. Looking at all the goals that they have conceded, 14 in 18 games, a pattern emerges, and that is not good news for the Blues. The Chelsea defense has come a long way from the title winning year of 2005, when they conceded a record 14 goals in the whole season in the league. While much of that record run can be attributed to a certain Makalele, the duo of Terry and Carvalho was equally important. Terry still retains his spot after almost 9 years, and is going through a superb rediscovery phase himself. But it is the other positions alongside Terry which have been mediocre since the title winning year under Ancelotti.

Gary Cahill is a decent defender, but not world class, and David Luiz brings a lot of unwanted things with his exciting matchday package. Ivanovic has been forcibly put into a confusion by the constant manager changes, as he was played in 2 positions with no particular stability over the years. Mourinho now prefers him at fullback rather than in the center. Ashley Cole too has gotten old, and the midweek-weekend schedule is taking a toll on him. Chelsea have few young players coming up the ranks, but none have been tested at the big stage.

Shane Long rises to score the equalizer

The basic thing a manager expects from his defenders is to clear the ball from dangerous positions and offer good heading and marking capabilities. The positioning aspect comes second to this. Shane Long’s equalizing goal is a clear example of Chelsea not performing this basic duty properly. Of the 14 goals that they conceded this season, 5 goals have come from headers and set piece situations, which Chelsea failed to defend. In stark contrast, all of the other goals have been from counter attacking situations, barring the Ribery goal in the Super Cup.

Chelsea lose their defensive shape after they lose the ball from one of their own attacks. The resulting counters has yielded 10 goals for various teams. The out of position full backs and a not-so-defensive minded midfield players are the other factors. But the basic requirement of aerial superiority still remains unfulfilled. 56% average Aerial success gives weight to this argument, and losing out to a much shorter Shane Long casts serious doubt in anyone’s mind.

Lack of Width in play and Height among players make Chelsea toothless.

Premier League is all about physicality and intensity. Though, there has been a significant change in the approach of many teams over the past decade, the crux of physical play is still a key factor when it comes to games against smaller opponents. West Brom are well stocked with three sturdy center-halves in McAuley, Olsson and Popov. They are among the tallest in the premier league. Chelsea, on the other hand doesn’t have a tall player in the attacking department, only exception being Ba. This completely swings the aerial battle in favor of West Brom.

Crosses: ChelseaSource: www.squawka.com

Clearances: West BromSource: www.squawka.com

The number of crosses that Chelsea put into the visitor’s D and the number of successful ones speak volumes about the dominance Olsson and McAuley have shown. Chelsea had 41 crosses into the box of which only 4 were successful. It was more of West Brom clearing the ball than Chelsea putting in bad crosses. 50, was the number of clearances Albion managed to rack up in 90 minutes. Chelsea lacked that focal point up front and the action areas chart of Samuel Eto’o confirms this. There was hardly any body in the box to challenge Olsson and McAuley during open play and Chelsea’s passing was sideways for most of the time around the West Brom box.

Action Areas: Samuel Eto’oSource: www.squawka.com

Action Heat Map: IvanovicSource: www.squawka.com

Chelsea also lacked width in their play. The only wide player they had over the whole 90 minutes was rightback Ivanovic. The action heat map shows how much time the Serbian spent in the opponent half. Chelsea on the whole might have had lion’s share of possession and twice the number of passes as West Brom, but they never had an outlet on the wings other than Ivanovic. Both Willian and Hazard were positioned more centrally and this played into the hands of already deep West Brom defense and midfield. ‘Width in play’ retains its meaning only if the players(wingers) hugging the touchline are perceived as an outlet and tend to stretch the opponent defense. Counter attacks require width to get everyone into play as the attack progresses, but Chelsea always had bodies stacked in central areas, making it easy for West Brom to defend. This contributed to the toothlessness in attack.

Structured approach key for West Brom, Long impresses

We have already emphasized some of the defensive contributions of Albion players in various stages of play. In Steve Clarke, the Baggies have a coach who is a master of defensive structures and discipline. In fact, That was his role under Mourinho at Chelsea and later at Liverpool. He was responsible for setting up the defensive instructions to the teams back then. Now, at West Brom, he has brought about a revolution with his principles. Adding to his tactics in defense, he has managed to develop his team in every department, making them a dangerous counter attacking team.

Goal Attempts: ChelseaSource: www.squawka.com

Their victory at Old Trafford, draws against Arsenal and now Chelsea will have earned them valuable points, but the Baggies have struggled against the non-top 6 teams. Last season, they had Lukaku who could win matches for them. This time around much onus is placed on Shane Long to perform at a high level. The Irish forward has been a tough nut to crack for Chelsea in previous encounters, and he justified that claim with a good all-round performance. The constant hassling of Terry and Cahill, winning headers against players taller than him and also contributing in defensive phases of play helped West Brom to stay confident of a win until the end.

Long Balls: Chelsea (62 completed out of 88)Source: www.squawka.com

The tactic used by most of the teams playing against Chelsea is the negation of midfield influence. Ramires and Lampard is not an ideal midfield combination on any given day, but Mourinho doesn’t have much choice for these positions. The trend in the past few Chelsea matches has been the ineffectiveness of this duo, or rather how they are being made ineffective by opponents. Long and Sessengnon were instructed to mark Ramires and Lampard, and if possible press Terry and Cahill. This cut the passing supply into the middle of the pitch as there was no space for players to run into. Since West Brom played a very low block, Ramires and Lampard did have a good amount of time on the ball, but they were forced to opt for the long balls more often than usual. Chelsea played an unbelievable 88 long balls in the whole match, but it was not of much use as they lacked height in attack.

Conclusion

It might have been a different result had Andre Marriner not given the soft penalty, but neither was the second goal of West Brom valid as the subsequent attack should not have taken place primarily. Chelsea had loads of possession(69%), West Brom allowed it, but the Blues were not effective in creating clear cut chances. They couldn’t breakdown a rigid Albion defense. A draw is probably a fair result taking into account all the events .

Mourinho will still be angry with his players, but he might have handed them a morale boost by admitting to favor the penalty decision. Juan Mata’s impressive cameo will give the Portuguese serious doubts over his favoritism of Oscar, but for now, the focus shifts to the match at Old Trafford tonight and then a long international break.

PS: This has come to light a bit late. Boaz Myhill appeared to have kicked Ivanovic in the aftermath of the 96th minute penalty by Hazard. The incident went unnoticed by the officials, but is making rounds among the media. What action The FA takes on this particular development after their recent ruling on Sascha Riether remains to be seen.