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It was a disastrous start to the new year for the European Champions as they succumbed to defeat against a relegation threatened QPR side. Even more pathetic is the fact that they lost at home, The Stamford Bridge. The Rs never really troubled Chelsea the whole match but Shaun Wright-Phillips’s goal was the difference as the winger returned to haunt his old club. Benitez’s side couldn’t capitalize on their chances as they lost to a lower QPR side. Here are some of the factors that cost Chelsea the vital three points that they needed to boost their title bid.
Benitez frustrated with the defeat
Coming in to the match, Chelsea had a four match winning streak in all competitions, also scoring sixteen times in the process. There was no surprise as Benitez decided to rotate the squad. Turnbull replaced the injured Cech between the sticks. Marin made his first PL start for Chelsea as he took Hazard’s position on the left wing. Moses, Bertrand, Oscar all started leaving a star studded bench prior to the match. It was a wise decision to rotate the squad, however the team would have been better had Hazard started. He was rested just two games back when Chelsea travelled to Norwich. He came in as a second half substitute against Norwich. Marko Marin was decent with his passing but seriously missed the flair that Hazard has. However, Marin curved in some beautiful corners.
The young Chelsea attack was expected to be very fast during attacks but they never really were. They lacked the pace in the pass and movement that was expected from them. They still had a good game and had lot of shots on target but none could penetrate the resilient QPR defence and stubborn Julio Cesar. Marin bent in some good and accurate corners but none found the back of the net. Ivanovic was close to scoring two times with his powerful headers but both the times his header was just above the cross bar. Chelsea hit the target eleven times but failed to find the net every time. Benitez left the ground frustrated yet again as they started the new year in a disastrous fashion. He blamed fatigue for their loss.
However QPR players had also played the busy schedule that Chelsea faced.
He was quoted as saying
“We were playing well and had confidence that we could carry on performing well,” he said.
“We changed some players but, in fairness, only Marko Marin wasn’t playing regularly. You could see that some players were a little bit tired.
“They sat deep; we were not precise in possession.
“We were not passing the ball with accuracy and with the high tempo that we were expecting. At the end, we made a mistake and gave them a chance. Too many things all at once were not working for us.”
If you pick one man who made a big difference, it must be Julio Cesar. He had one of his best games for the Rs against Chelsea. As said earlier, Chelsea had eleven shots on target but none of them found the back of the net. QPR defenders had one of their great games. Julio Cesar especially made a lot of good saves which denied Chelsea the goals and points that they were looking for. There was one save that is worth taking note of. Luiz shot the ball on target, it was deflected by M’Bia and landed right at the foot of Torres. Torres had his go on target only for Cesar to make an excellent save. That was enough to round off the impressive show by Cesar.
Players appreciating SWRwho returned to haunt Chelsea.
Cech got injured in the match against Everton and was replaced by Turnbull at half time in that match. Till now, nothing has been disclosed about the seriousness of the injury. In this match against QPR, former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Ross Turnbull took his place infront of the post. Though he had a decent match, Chelsea missed the distribution of passes that Cech is really good at. Turnbull failed to provide any spectacular long balls for the fast attackers. The pace of the game was not as high as expected. Though he gave his best to stop the shot by SWR, he couldn’t avoid the goal. I personally feel that Cech could have given more. That wasn’t an unstoppable shot.
All in all it was a bad day at the office for the Chelsea team as a whole. As Benitez said, too many things all at once were not working for them. As far as QPR are concerned, they got their second win of the season and are off to a flying start to the new year. Will this be the twist in the tale of relegation battle? Let us wait and watch.
