Our second chance of silverware for the season...gone. And not in a fashionable or spectacular way, but in an embarrassing 1 - 4 scoreline to Atletico Madrid. It was not a night to remember for all associated with Chelsea. We may have hoped that the QPR game comes closer so we can quickly bounce back, but well, a defeat is a defeat, and we have to face the truth, accept losses, learn from it, move on, improve.
The squad that started is as strong as it can be, in the absence of JT. And I thought we have a good chance in this. However, the first half, was horrendous. I can't imagine a worse start than this game. In just 6 minutes, we concede a goal, after several scares too (smart flick by Falcao). And then, when I thought we can pull another comeback with us pushing on, the opposition smartly implies their counter attack and managed to score another one (this time, an excellent chip by Falcao). I began to lose confidence as the game grows, with our defence continuously harassed, with low defensive organisation. Then it seemed like game over when the 3rd one went in. And again, by Falcao.
The second half was better, however it was not worth the title 'European Champions'. I watched the second half, with nearly no emotions. Not knowing what to expect and what to hope for. When the fourth goal went in, I was like, "Okay". It is seemingly embarrassing for a European Champion to concede 4 goals with nearly no fightback at all. I was so downed. We had a consolation goal in the 75th minute by Gary Cahill. Although it seemed useless, it felt better though. The game ended 1 - 4 in favour of the opposition.
I was so downed, I was so speechless, I can't even think of what had just happened. But by the end of the game, I started to realize. We weren't able to fight of tricky Spanish sides like this one. If you observe, their goals all came, nearly by trickery and counter attacks. These fast-paced counters, and tricky and skillful players are just the typical spanish side, who we always have a hard time of playing against.
The difference of this match, with the one against Barca, is that in the latter, besides us having much more luck, we played with more physicality, and honestly, we parked the bus too. With this new squad, we can't play that type of play, we have no bus to park, we only got a van. So we had to play the attacking play. However, our offensive play isn't as great as the Spanish sides' game, and with that, and our defence seemingly less organised, they keep mounting smart, fast counter-attacks, which proved to hit the net several times, dooming us to a defeat once again.
We have to play the Spanish sides with much more physicality, however we don't have much of those left in our squad. Even our goal tonight was with what physicality we have, namely our defenders. However, I believe that the offensive play we have, is enough to unsettle premier league teams' defenses, as they rarely play these type of games. So I have enough reason to believe that we can win the BPL, however retaining the UCL will be another story entirely.
It was not a great night at all. Congratulations to Atletico for being the better team all night. We had to bounce back, and since this is only our second chance of silverware, we have many many more chance to win ahead of us. Next game is against QPR, but it is quite a long wait to that game. So for now, we can only wait, accept defeat, learn from it, improve, win the next game, win the league! #CFC
Links:
http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/2906764/title/super-cup-report-chelsea-1-atletico-madrid-4
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/87440/chelsea-fc-vs-atl%C3%A9tico-de-madrid/report
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/87440/chelsea-fc-vs-atl%C3%A9tico-de-madrid/player-ratings
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