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Jose Mourinho described Chelsea's performance against Swansea as the "perfect game" and although the second half was a dull affair; Chelsea's first half performance literally blew Swansea away. Mourinho was spot on - it was perfect!
Our first half performance was up there with the best I think I have ever seen. Make no mistake, Chelsea were sensational.
Of course, Swansea made defensive errors and mistakes that were punished but if you also consider that Willian hit the post twice in addition to the four goals, Chelsea were rampant.
Some of the football we played was exquisite. There was even a period in the first half that Swansea could not get near us; they were literally chasing shadows!
0-1 Chelsea (Oscar):
Chelsea were everything you want them to be in that first half. You want them to start the game well and they did - Oscar latching on to a mis-placed pass to strike the ball into the bottom corner from 25 yards after just 50 seconds.
You then want them to dominate the ball and get their passing game going and they did. You want them to create chances in the final third and they did in abundance with our second goal for Diego Costa and demonstration of sublime first touch pass and move all started by Cesc Fabregas.
0-2 Chelsea (Costa):
Fabregas picks the ball up 35 yards from goal and plays a ball into Willian and then he is off on his bike. Willian flicks the ball first time sideways to Oscar and with his back to goal, Oscar sees Fabregas' run off the ball and flicks the ball first time to the Spaniard.
Fabregas takes one touch, spots the fact that Costa has pulled away into space from his marker and Fabregas plays the ball to Costa wide open on the edge of the box. Costa turns and fires the ball into the corner giving the keeper no chance to make it 2-0 after twenty minutes.
0-3 Chelsea (Costa):
Another defensive mistake and you hope that Chelsea can capitalise and punish it and Costa does exactly that. The Swansea defender is oblivious to Costa lurking around the box and faced with a Chelsea attacker closing him down in the right back position, he chooses to play a back pass to the Keeper but Costa is onto it like a flash. He has time and space to take a touch, set himself and to slot the ball past the keeper at his near post to make it 0-3 Chelsea.
0-4 Chelsea (Oscar):
Despite being three goals ahead with just over thirty minutes played, you can see the manager on the sidelines encouraging the team to work hard to close Swansea down when they have the ball and Willian answers his manager. He wins the ball just inside Chelsea's half and breaks forward beyond the Swansea midfield.
As he approaches the box, he flicks the ball wide right to Costa who has made a run across the back four. Hazard is blocked off as he moves through the middle and takes a tumble. However, Oscar is making a late Lampard-Esque run into the box and Costa spots it; Costa pulls the ball back square into the middle of the box and Oscar hits the ball first time high into the top corner to make it 0-4 on thirty-five minutes!
Crisp, precise passing coupled with defensive errors have punished Swansea and Chelsea have demonstrated a real clinical, killer instinct and have put the game to bed already!
Chelsea pull Swansea apart time and time again and Willian is TWICE denied by the woodwork and without being biased here; Chelsea could have gone in at the break at least SIX goals up! It was one up there with the best first half performances I have ever seen from anyone!
The second half started for Chelsea with no changes which was surprising bearing in mind we face Liverpool this week in the League Cup Semi Final first leg at Anfield. I would have liked to see Hazard and Willian make way for Salah and Schurrle to give them both a decent amount of time on the pitch with Ramires on for Fabregas. The Fabregas and Willian changes for Ramires and Schurrle do happen but too late in the game.
0-5 Chelsea (Schurrle):
After a pretty dull affair in the second half with the game being over at half time, Chelsea managed to score their fifth of the afternoon after another great passing move. Branislav Ivanovic started the move down our right-hand side and after playing the ball wide, he carried on his run into the box, beating the defender to a pass inside, looks up and squares the ball across the six yard box for Schurrle to tap home to make it 0-5!
Despite the second half, let's not take anything away from the performance in that first half. Yes, much can be made of the defensive errors that the home side made but I would like to focus on the fact that we took our chances (for the most part) when presented with them.
Our pass and move was fantastic and we really tore the home team apart at will. To hold onto possession of the ball for around three minutes without losing it in any game is impressive but to do it at the Liberty is something to be proud of.
This was on paper a real dodgy game for Chelsea and a potential banana skin. Much had been made of our poor away record of late and Chelsea answered those doubters with an emphatic display that could only make plenty of people sit up and finally take notice!
Can we play you every week!
