It has begun. The 38 week long race for the coveted Premier League trophy is back- and back with a bang. There were many surprises, such as Manchester United’s loss at home to Swansea for the first time on day, Everton drawing a newly promoted team 2-2, Eric Dier’s last minute goal for Spurs against West Ham, etc. Although many shocking events occurred on opening weekend, to many, one of the most shocking was the style of play of J0se Mourinho’s Chelsea team. So what lessons did the Stamford Bridge faithful learn after watching Chelsea annihilate Burnley?
Cech is no longer Mourinho’s number 1
The Special One decided to start the game with the same back four of last season with Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, John Terry (Captain), and Cesar Azpilicueta (Dave). The only change in his defense was world-class youngster Thibaut Courtois for the legendary Petr Cech. Cech has been the shot stopper at SW6 for most of the Roman Abramovich era since transferring from Rennes to Chelsea. He is a classy goalkeeper and has won everything possible since joining the Blues. He is also the vice-captain behind Terry. Cech’s only downside is his age. While Cech can still pull out an amazing save out of his backpocket, he is still shaky in the air, especially from set pieces, and can sometimes surprise us with a bad decision. Courtois is the opposite. On Monday, Courtois won 100% of all aerial duels he was involved in and had some pretty decent distribution. He even created a goalscoring chance for Drogba near the end of the game.
Filipe Luis has to fight for his spot
Everybody knows that Mourinho is not the type of manager to let you know that your spot is secure 100%, even for players like Eden Hazard and John Terry. If the ‘Special One’ thinks that a certain player just isn’t getting the job done then on the bench he goes. That goes for the new players as well. Filipe Luis has to fight for a starting berth. For any other team that would be a fairly easy job, but with a team which is renowned for its defensive abilities it is a bit tougher than one might think. After the team sheet was released many people were shocked that Mourinho decided to stay with the same back four as last season after having brought in La Liga champion Filipe Luis. Luis seemed to be the perfect fullback for Mourinho but his mediocre preseason denied him a place in the starting XI. Luis now knows that he has to work hard and prove to Mourinho that his transfer was actually necessary.
Diego Costa seems to be the striker Chelsea needed
It only took Costa 17 minutes to score on his PL debut; it took Fernando Torres 732 minutes to achieve that. Furthermore, it took Chelsea’s strikers until New Year’s Day to score a Premier League goal away from home last season. Half the season went by last season without an away goal being scored by the Pensioners strikeforce! On his PL debut Costa managed to score an away goal. Also, Costa worked tirelessly all game to fulfill his requirements. He intercepted a back-pass and then got tackled by the ‘keeper and should have been awarded a penalty, instead he got a yellow for simulation. Terrible decision. He was clinical and a hassle for defenders for the whole ninety minutes. In Costa Chelsea finally have a striker capable of doing the only job required of him; scoring goals.
Cesc Fabregas is possibly the transfer of the summer
Fabregas was the man of the match against Burnley for a number of reasons. He had two assists, created three chances, won 60% of his tackles, made three interceptions, two clearances, three blocks, and completed 88% of his passes. His best play was the sublime pass to assist Schurrle’s simple yet elegant tap-in goal. Funny thing is he was not even playing as a number 10 but instead in a deeper role. The “Pirlo role” one might say; a deep-lying playmaker. His ability to make passes only a few others in the world can see is astonishing and his experience is a plus. Fabregas also adds another dimension to Chelsea’s attack Fabregas. Much like Yaya Toure has Fernandinho anchoring for him, Fabregas has Nemanja Matic, a much better player than Fernandinho. The match vs Burnley ended with the Blues having over 60% possession, a major change from last season and Fabregas is one of the reasons why. The London based team still attacks on the counter and with speed, but when they are not attacking they are instead maintaining possession, just waiting for holes to open up so that they can penetrate them and create opportunities to score. The reason Fabregas is the transfer of the summer is because he is what Chelsea needed the most, Barcelona did not necessarily need Suarez, nor do Real Madrid need Rodriguez or Kroos. Arsenal do need Sanchez, they need a striker or deep-lying playmaker like Fabregas.
All in all Chelsea played like a completely different team against Burnley, a newly promoted team. Many thought that the Blues would struggle to break them down, like they often did against teams in the bottom half of the table last season. Instead Chelsea came out to win and create chances and didn’t get frustrated if they could not score. If Chelsea continue to play like they did against Burnley then it is likely that more silverware is coming to Stamford Bridge.
All stats via http://epl.squawka.com/burnley-vs-chelsea/18-08-2014/english-barclays-premier-league/matches
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