Chelsea
Starting XI:
Cech (c); Ivan, Cahill, D Luiz, Cole; Mik, Meir; Mata, Hazard, Bert;
Torres.
Formation: 4-2-3-1
First Half:
Commentator “thing about Chelsea is they only
put one person in the box when Lampd's not playing”
Good play between Bertrand and Mata
Bertrand trying the early ball but Torres
outnumbered
Chelsea is dominating possession
Newcastle dangerous in the counter attack but
haven't had the chance
10 Min
Cahill-Luiz pair looks solid so far
Hazard has been working his usual magic
centrally, Mata alright on the wing
18 min: Torres with lay-off to Bertrand nearly
a goal
20 min
Player tracking
21 min: Torres wins a PK
22 min: GOAL Hazard; scores
CFC 1-0 Newcastle
Hazard's first goal for Chelsea
Commentator says Hazard is the first player who
isn't Drogba or Lampard to score a PK (outside of a shout-out) since
Ballack in 2008
30 min
Torres not showing the drive to beat the last
defender; Seems more content to lay it off
38 min: Chelsea with 60% possession so far; 88%
passing to Newcastle's 83%
40 min
4 added minutes
45+3 min: GOAL Torres from out of box to the
top right; Hazard assist
CFC 2-0 Newcastle
HALF TIME:
- Hazard is best man on the pitch again with 96% passing, 1 shot, 1 assist
- Torres counters his yellow with an extra time goal
- Hazard-Torres our best 10-9 partnership at the moment
- Chelsea beginning to form a trend of good passing, less pressure on the defense
- Mikel with 100% on aerials won, 100% pass accuracy which means what is sometimes a weak DM area is somewhat secure
- Interesting point floating around Twitter: Torres fouled, Hazard scores PK then Hazard assists and Torres scores
Second Half:
Chelsea are winning the midfield battle; more
passing, more aerials won
50 min
52 min: Ben Arfa gets his first shot off but
not even on target; one of only 3 shots Newcastle has had
Complacency beginning to show as per usual;
possession is more equal
60 min
Cheeky attempted pass by Torres as his
confidence is looking to return
67 min: Ramires IN Mata OUT
70 min
Much calmer second half
80 min: Bertrand having a go from outside and
winning a corner
88 min: Lampard ON Meireles OFF
89 min: Luiz head collides with Ba
90 min
4 min added when play continues
Game is being closed out. No ambition left for
Newcastle
FULL TIME: CFC 2-0 Newcastle
Positives
- Hazard looks the best behind Torres in this formation
- Solid Mikel performance meant top of the box wasn't as vulnberable
- Luiz-Cahill pairing was also pretty solid; Cahill particularly put in a very good performance
- Clean sheet against a team that generally scores on a lot of teams
Negatives
- No real shining negatives this match
MOTM: Fernando Torres
- Stats:
- 67% Pass Accuracy
- 70% Aerials Won
- 45 Touches
- 1 shot (1 goal)
- 2 Dribbles Won
- Hazard could just as easily gotten this too (Barclay's MOTM). Maybe he actually should be. No actually Hazard should be but I wanted to give some credit to Torres. In my opinion, this could be marked as the start of the Torres revival. He still needs to try and beat the last defender more than he does but his assertiveness led to a penalty and a goal. Great movement.
Hazard Watch (Actual MOTM)
- Barclay's MOTM
- Stats (this match)
- 89% Pass Accuracy
- 67 touches
- 4 shots (1 goal)
- 2 Dribbles Won
- Stats (season)
- 3 Apps
- 1 Goal
- 4 Assists
