Chelsea's Loss is Thursday Night Cup's Gain

"Lost. But still winning sums up my career"

This space is usually reserved to question the tactics of the Interim One where he's made some creative decisions with the starting XI and the substitutions ... my god, the substitutions. A line up that features none other than Yossi Benayoun as the answer to the midfield dilemma would normally generate nothing but a lot of moaning. However, this was a team that ensured the tiny dynamic duo of Mata and Hazard could rest. This starting XI's only job was to not lose 2-0. But as they have done for most of the season under the Interim One's guidance, they came near as anyone could to c*cking the whole thing up.

English teams collectively decided that Champions League was overrated and Thursday Night Cup was where it was at. With three teams left to represent the best league in the world* it was all to play for. And two of those three teams certainly did. Chelsea was not one of the two. In fact, Chelsea were the only losing side last night and somehow - and by somehow I mean heading to Moscow with a sizeable lead - are the last man standing left to represent England in Europe for the second season running.

Making his 100th appearance in Europe, John Terry did not exactly cover himself in defensive glory, but with his knee held together with gaffer tape he's excused. And to be fair, he didn't give away the penalty this time. That was left to Cesar 'please stop calling him Dave' Azpilicueta. A soft penalty at best, but wasn't really the performance he would have wanted should he want the club to not look to fill his position. Or have Benitez fill that space with a Serbian that has a very sturdy base.

"For the record, this IS my happy face"

With a performance worthy of their management last night, club officials have Lampard and Luiz to thank for taking any and all attention away from the loss / progress to their 18th semi-final under Roman Abramovich's ownership. The papers ran headlines about the club being in a storm and turmoil because - wait for it - Lampard pointed at Luiz. It gets worse .... there was then a discussion of which actual words were actually exchanged. No one heard them. And of course there was the man who had to keep the two apart. What man could have been able to stop these two men? None other than the massive Yossi Benayoun. Fulfilling his entire purpose - as part-time midfielder, part-time bouncer. When asked about the 'incident' Benitez revelled in it and said he thought it was good. His claims were that the handbags heated pointing discussion was good because it helped for positioning in the second half - you know the half where Chelsea conceded three goals. 

Of course the night wasn't all about conceding goals. Chelsea managed a couple of lovely goals themselves. Moses has really found his scoring boots in Thursday night cup - so maybe we don't need to see him for anything else. But opening the scoring was Torres from an outstanding pass from Frank Lampard. If you're going to watch anything from last night - it has to be that pass followed by Adebayor's penalty. A fantastic effort from start to finish. It's not like his manager said wonderful things about him before last night's efforts ...


AVB: "Adebayor has got back in the goals in our recent games and he has shown how influential he can be. Finding the back of the net allows him to go into the game with more confidence and I always think it's self-belief from the player, rather than anything else that helps them improve."


No matter about the goals conceded, or the result itself. Chelsea are onto the semi-finals where John
Obi-Mikel will continue to be disappointed that Thursday Night Cup doesn't have better music.

Will the squad rotation work their magic for Chelsea to grind out another 1-0 over a club from Manchester in the FA Cup? Without the performance of Nani to help them out, it could prove to be a little more of a challenge. But at least Chelsea still have that masked bloke available to lead the line and keep scoring.

jb x


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