In a one-sided slapfest, Spurs crushed Chelsea 3-1 at Wembley.
Chelsea never really came to play, but Spurs most assuredly did. They hammered the Blues from start to finish, ended Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the season and leapfrogged their London rivals into third place. Who were the winners and losers?
Winner: Christian Eriksen
You could forgive Spurs fans if they’re getting a bit edgy over Christian Eriksen’s failure to sign a new Spurs deal. Mauricio Pochettino can speak as confidently as he likes on the Dane’s renewal, but until that photo goes up with Poch, like a proud teacher at a graduation, draping his arm around Eriksen then Spurs fans won’t rest easy.
The performance against Spurs was a perfect example of just why the Spurs fans feel this way, because they know that Christian Eriksen is an absolute magician. A true gift of a footballer. The Dane ran the show as Chelsea came to town; his passing was penetrative and precise, cutting Chelsea to ribbons.
His cross for Chelsea’s first goal was a thing of beauty, curved like the surface of the Earth, leaving Dele Alli with a simple finish to guide the ball into the back of the net. After that he continued to make a mockery of the Blues with his passing,
Loser: David Luiz
Everyone laughed when Chelsea re-signed David Luiz from PSG. Then he was brilliant for the Blues in their 3-4-2-1 as they romped to the title and everyone had to eat humble pie. Then Antonio Conte froze him out for a year and everyone started feeling kinda of sorry for him.
But then this season Maurizio Sarri put him into a back four and the Brazilian has been absolutely brilliant. He’s made a mockery of his critics with his passing and solid defending. Well, until today. Against Spurs, David Luiz became the player that he is at his worst (and his critics say that he is all the time).
David Luiz was responsible in some way for all three Spurs goals. Whether that be through a reckless tackle attempt, a non-existent block attempt or a weak and tepid attempt to tackle a man on the move.
Winner: Dele Alli
Dele Alli hadn’t scored a Premier League goal since the opening game of the season, but in his sixth game against Chelsea the England interanational bagged his second goal of the season and fifth goal against the Blues in particular.
Dele was one of the key men to end Chelsea’s winning run in 2017, doing so from an Eriksen cross. So it’s fitting that Chelsea’s unbeaten run is ended in 2018 by Dele, from an Eriksen cross. The way the Englishman rose to meet the header and power it home was delightful. It was the early goal Spurs’ football deserved and set the tone for the night. And then Dele continued to play brilliantly for the rest of the game.
Loser: Alvaro Morata
Álvaro Morata has been flagged offside more times (18) than any other player in the Premier League this season.
Three more added today.
pic.twitter.com/ZEWmmx5vwT
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) November 24, 2018
Is Alvaro Morata up to the challenge of being a starting striker for a club with seriously title ambitions? Well, on this evidence, the answer is probably no. Morata was hideous against Spurs, and it couldn’t be blamed on a lack of service.
No, Morata was constantly being fed the ball by Chelsea’s creative players – it’s just that the Spaniard couldn’t seem to stay onside for love nor money that kept ruining Chelsea attacks. Despite having the beating of both Spurs defenders for pace, Morata kept on running early and getting flagged. And the perfect cap to Morata’s night was that Olivier Giroud came off the bench to score Chelsea’s only goal of the game.
Winner: Moussa Sissoko
Hands up who thought Moussa Sissoko could do a good impersonation of Moussa Dembélé circa 2016 in a game as big as this one? Everyone whose hands are up that aren’t related to Sissoko are liars. And yet, that’s just what Sissoko did.
The Frenchman was incredible against Chelsea, providing all the dynamism and movement on the ball that Sissoko used to be able to. It was quite common in the game to see Sissoko carry the ball through midfield with absurd ease; not to mention him hounding Chelsea’s midfielders and preventing them from getting a grip on the game. It was a masterful display and Pochettino will be hoping it can reoccur.
Loser: Maurizio Sarri
Sarri went 12 games unbeaten at the start of the Premier League, and that’s seriously impressive. Yet even so there were always little chips in the armour that could possibly have cracked when put under enough pressure. Well, Spurs applied the pressure and crack they did.
Jorginho’s defensive weakness has never not been obvious, but Chelsea have controlled games so much it’s rarely been an issue. Yet here against Spurs when they couldn’t control the game, suddenly Jorginho’s weakness was a massive problem. Similarly N’Golo Kanté’s uncomfortable performances in his new box-to-box role have been easy to ignore because Chelsea have won anyway. But here when Sarri needed his best defensive midfielder to step up and deliver, Kanté couldn’t.
And then there was the spacing in attack. Which all season long has been below par, but good enough to take down their opponents. Tonight, when Chelsea’s midfield couldn’t get it going, their attacks woeful spacing proved to be an obstacle to their team’s ability to display their Sarrismo t0 the highest level. Obviously Chelsea will get better the more time they spend with Maurizio Sarri, but tonight the Italian took a big beating and suffered his first league loss as Blues boss.
Winner: Heung-min Son
Son should have had a hat-trick, to be honest. Maybe even a four goal haul. In truth his display was mostly frustrating even as it was generally good. His driving and thrusting display helped him elude Chelsea’s defence, but his finishing was so poor.
Then, with just under 10 minutes played in the second half, Son picked up a hopeful pass down the line on the right. Jorginho moved to close, but Son blew by him as though he wasn’t even there. David Luiz came over, but Son just slipped inside him with ruthless ease. The Korean looked up, saw Kepa advancing slowly, and then slapped the ball into the side of the net to kill Chelsea off for good.
Well in, my Son!
The post Spurs 3-1 Chelsea: the major winners and losers as Pochettino humiliates Sarri in the London derby appeared first on Squawka News.
From Squawka NewsSquawka News https://ift.tt/2r5nUOF
No comments:
Post a Comment