Stoke City 3-2 Chelsea: Five talking points

Lucky Ryan Shawcross

The Stoke captain rode his luck to the fullest extent as two of his fouls escaped the eyes of the referee Jonathan Moss. The first incident was his nudge on Demba Ba that caught the Senegalese’s thigh and sent him tumbling. A long ball had picked out Ba, only for him to be sent down tumbling by Shawcross inside the Stoke box, a foul worthy of a yellow being inside the box. Ba was incredulous and raised his hands in dismay as the referee waved play on.

The second incident was when Shawcross stuck out an arm to prevent Samuel Eto’o from reaching for a loose ball and an onrushing Asmir Begovic could collect it easily. This could have definitely earned him a second “hypothetical” yellow, thus resulting in him being sent off and Stoke being a man down for the rest of the game. Another contentious decision by the referee was Jonathan Walters’ two-handed shove on John Terry right next to the assistant that resulted in a yellow. On another night that would have been a sending off, unquestionably. Not to forget Walters’ shove on Azpilicueta that resulted in Walters setting up Stephen Ireland for Stoke’s second goal. One Jonathan’s profligacy, another Jonathan the beneficiary.

Chelsea’s defensive frailties

Chelsea have conceded three goals for two games in a row, something uncharacteristic of Mourinho managed side. Sunderland managed to score three goals, albeit in a losing effort but Stoke managed to translate the three goals to a winning margin. Though Stoke’s second goal was a result of some botched-up refereeing, Chelsea were to blame for Stoke’s third as Samuel Eto’o was careless in possession and Chelsea’s backline were caught out of position.

During the first half, Chelsea’s centre-backs were solid in defense, averting any apparent Stoke danger and especially giving no aerial room for Peter Crouch. But in the second half the Chelsea backline was all over the place and Stoke took due advantage of this chaos at the back. Certainly not a memorable 33rd birthday for Chelsea skipper John Terry.

Mourinho’s substitutions

“Way to go, mate!” That’s what Mourinho seems to be telling Mark Hughes

Known for his shrewd and astute substitutions, the Mourinho on Saturday was unlike the Mourinho that the world was accustomed to seeing and has come to expect. Andre Schurrle was Chelsea’s best player on the pitch for over an hour and if Chelsea were to score it was likely to be him, but was surprisingly withdrawn in favor of Samuel Eto’o who failed to have an impact on the match.

This was very surprising when taking into consideration that this was Eto’o’s first game from injury after being stretchered off during the Champions League defeat to Basel. His counterpart for the night though, was bang on with his substitutions. Charlie Adam, who was forced off due to injury was replaced by Stephen Ireland who had a huge impact on the game, scoring a goal and threatening on many other occasions. But he saved his best for last as he brought on Oussama Assaidi in the late stages of the game and the Moroccan scored a spectacular goal to condemn Mourninho to a defeat at the Britannia.

Another questionable tactic deployed by Mourinho throughout the season has been his constant tampering of the line-up that he fields for matches. This has been detrimental to Chelsea’s rhythm of play though Mourinho claims that with the demanding schedule drawn up for his side through the course of the season, he has no other choice than to use the full strength of his squad.