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In a really disappointing game up at St James’ Park, Chelsea lost 2-0 to a spirited Newcastle side and on this occasion it was one flick and trick too many as for as Chelsea are concerned.
Juan Mata and David Luiz were recalled to the side that beat Man City with Andre Schurrle and Gary Cahill missing out after impressive performances against Arsenal midweek.
Too many times throughout the game, Chelsea worked the ball into good positions but made nothing of them! John Terry rattled the crossbar with a header from a corner in the first half and Samuel Eto’o forced a fine reflex save from Krul in goal late on but Chelsea offered little else which is really, really disappointing.
We dominated the game in the first half as Newcastle found themselves virtually camped in their own half. Chelsea pressed high once again and forced our opponents into plenty of mistakes, winning the ball in their half and surging forward on the counter attack.
Eden Hazard had another game to forget for me. Again, in good positions in the box he looked for yet another pass or a flick and we wasted good moments. He fired wide when he should have done better at 1-0 later on which didn’t help either!
To their credit and especially after the disappointing performance last week, Newcastle played better in the second half and played us on the counter attack and created much better chances. Petr Cech was forced into making at least three or four other saves in addition to picking the ball up out of the net!
When you look at the chances created overall, Newcastle deserved the three points without question and good luck to them!
As for Chelsea? The game highlighted for me how we had been playing in the Premier League over the last two seasons. Whether or not it’s down to the team selection or the choices made by our players in those attacking situations, it never really seemed to be our day.
A pass not played quick enough, giving silly passes away, playing ridiculous flicks rather than putting our foot on the ball and making sure of possession or just not looking like we were going to score, Jose Mourinho will know that this is a missed opportunity for his side!
Maybe, this will be the kick up the arse and reminder to all of us to not take things for granted and to ensure everyone works hard, game by game to grind out a win and if possible the performances to match.
It’s all well and good having the majority of possession, you need to ensure you produce an end result to match. Newcastle were the team to do it today not Chelsea and it’s cost us an important three points!
Let’s hope we can get back on track against Schalke this week!
Carefree & KTBFFH!
