Welcome to Chelsea – the most confusing club in English football
Chelsea are brilliant, terrible, fantastic and self-destructive in equal measure.
For a club that has won multiple Champions Leagues and Premier Leagues – in the recent past, as well – this is perhaps their most impressive feat. How a consistent contender has stooped to this level in a couple of years is incredible.
Doubts about the club’s vision under BlueCo and Todd Boehly’s ownership won’t disappear until they return to that former standard. Judging by the Blues’ body of work since their takeover, this might not be for a while.
Why Chelsea went in this direction remains unclear, and the confusion about their project has spilled over onto the pitch.
The Blues reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup with a thrilling 4-2 victory at home to Leicester City on Sunday afternoon, but it was not a straightforward task for Mauricio Pochettino’s side despite their dominance.
It was another manic day at Stamford Bridge / Mike Hewitt/GettyImages
Chelsea raced into the lead through Marc Cucurella, who rounded off a swift attack which saw Nicolas Jackson frighten the pants off of Leicester’s retreating defenders before crossing for the Spaniard to tap in at the far post.
When Raheem Sterling was hauled down by Abdul Fatawu inside the 18-yard box, it looked for all the world that Chelsea would stroll to victory. But Sterling – for some reason instead of the usual Cole Palmer – rolled the penalty down the middle and goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk denied him.
That brought the agitation out at Stamford Bridge, that tetchy feeling that has existed and grown in this part of west London in recent times. Sterling set up Palmer for Chelsea’s second before the break but they were now in an irksome mood. It didn’t help that goalkeeper Robert Sanchez – given a rare chance to impress to win back his starting role – was a bag of nerves even when he was never faced with any real danger across the 90 minutes.
Chelsea’s two-goal lead at half-time should have seen them to a comfortable victory, but this young and developing side still haven’t figured out how to keep their composure for a full 90 minutes. This time, it was one of their more senior players in Axel Disasi who was at fault, scoring a calamitous own goal trying to pass back to Sanchez and not realising his goalkeeper was way off his line.
That’s been a consistent problem with this Chelsea team. No matter how great they can be, they’ll always find a way to gift their opposition a route into the contest.
Stamford Bridge was now not just agitated, but furious. The 6,000 travelling Leicester fans shouted ‘shoot’ at Disasi every time he was on the ball, and he crumbled on each occasion, his error still clearly at the forefront of his thinking.
When Stephy Mavididi cut in from the left and wrapped the ball around Disasi like a training cone and into Sanchez’s top corner, the palpable angst turned into tangible fury. Chelsea supporters close to the dugout shouted obscenities towards Pochettino and his players, notably Sterling, who skied a free-kick into the upper tier of the Matthew Harding end just after Leicester were reduced to ten men and the tie seemed to be edging back the hosts’ way.
Pochettino’s decision to bring off Mykhailo Mudryk first and not Sterling further stoked the fire. “You don’t know what you’re doing!” was chanted across the three stands containing home fans. To the Argentine’s credit, he did then hook the England winger and his substitutes – Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke – scored the stoppage-time goals that sent Chelsea to Wembley.
This 90 minutes in particular was the perfect encapsulation of who Chelsea are right now. They are dashing and electric, exciting and watchable, but they will always be underpinned by their immaturity and emotion, their muddled search for cohesion. There has never been a project in football as paradoxical as theirs.
Pochettino hasn’t done a spectacular job in his first year in charge to this point, but few other coaches would find it easier in these circumstances. Perhaps the chaos of the journey is what should be embraced rather than believing in the promise of eventual glory – only one of these things is guaranteed with this Chelsea.
Source: 90mins
