Leicester vs Chelsea: The one that saw improper footballers in action

Do not be alarmed. Chelsea have only gone and done a win. In a meaningful game no less. And just to keep it all really interesting the players were forced to play against the power of the tracksuit. It’s not quite turning things around at Camp Nou to progress in the Champions League - but it is a semi-final at Wembley. I will take it! So you lot can stop grumbling about the season and get yourselves up for it. Chelsea are 180 mins away from potentially lifting a trophy at the end of this season.

Some takeaways from Sunday’s game in varying degrees of usefulness as we look ahead to the end of the season

Tracksuits on managers are naff

I love you Antonio, but no.

This isn’t a takeaway from Sunday exclusively. This will be noted and derided every time it appears in Chelsea’s technical area. I’m not a suit wearer myself, but would assume there would be an excuse that it was cold to be out there in a suit even with Conte's little sweater vest underneath. However, there are the temperature balancing items called jackets that often work a treat. The good folks at Dolce and Gabanna could surely sort Antonio Conte out with an overcoat and cashmere scarf to keep him cosy and warm.

While Conte often cuts an intimidating figure barking orders on the threshold of the pitch, the Italian is somewhat undermined by his comfy sneaks and any elasticated gear that he was sporting. Like grandads playing shuffleboard in Miami. Chelsea have only managed to win twice with that tracksuit hopping around. Stay suited and booted, Antonio. 

Proper football men vs gloves (and tights!)

Only Olivier can wear a leotard. Phwoar

I’m not above being completely hypocritical in observation. While a manager should only ever be in a suit on match day, the players get a pass in their attire. They need to be comfortable. They have enough to think about beyond whether they can feel their toes. Who is anyone to judge if someone’s fingers don’t actually get colder than their forearms?! Those concerned with ‘proper football men’ — short sleeves and shorts only even in a blizzard — suffered a major blow on Sunday afternoon.

Not only were gloves worn by those in both long and SHORT sleeves by just about every player on the pitch, but the tights were out in full force as well. Olivier Giroud took it even further as he appeared to be wearing a full body suit under his kit. He’s French, he can get away with that, non? And as the always excellent Kelly Welles pointed out to me — we’d love to see one of those ‘proper football men’ tell Kasper Schmeichel that he’s not a proper footballer in those tights. We dare you.

Alvaro Morata does know how to score as much as whinge*

Chelsea’s spendy striker only played a whole 90 minutes without getting booked AND scoring a goal. This is progress. Since his last goal all the way back on Boxing Day Jebus it’s nearly Easter Alvaro he’s only picked up 5 yellows and a red. That’s almost Diego Costa levels of shithousery. Except for the goals. And that most of his cards were having a bit of a moan rather than top levels of dissent. But score he did. Maybe whatever mid-season existential crisis he was going through is over now and the goals will start flooding in. Fingers crossed.

Goal celebration of the season

Yaaaas queen

Calling it. Pedro karate kicking the corner flag was brilliant. Considering it’s twice as big as him, that took some effort. Although it doesn’t top Cesc Fabregas’ goal at the King Power when he ran the length of the pitch to celebrate with the travelling support. And we all know how quick he is.

When hashtags go oh so wrong

For those of you not freezing your arses off in actual Leicester and were taking in the game on telly, maybe having a peek at Twitter you’d notice that while the match day hashtag was trending, ‘corpse’ was also trending. It was no reflection on what was an exciting match. #LeiChe is the German word for corpse. Grim.

Fun with flags takes a turn

Just going to leave this here 

Chelsea supporters are well versed in the art of the club provided flag to wave about. Create some scenes for people watching in toasty pubs (can you tell I was cold?!). Leicester took a page out of their opponents book and used some monochromatic flags to create a visual sensation. I can confirm in the ground it did look pretty cool. I can also confirm that those white ones might have been a poor choice. The consensus on social media was that they mostly just looked like

KKK members watching on.

N’golo Kante is glorious

This isn’t limited to matches at the King Power. It just needs pointed out every now and again. He was clearly very up for this one. If only he could find his little shooting boots. But as he does just about everything else, everywhere else, I’ll let him off.

Pray for Tiemoue Bakayoko

I watched enough of him at Monaco to know he’s not terrible. Or maybe as a neutral the critical eye just wasn’t there. He is capable of so much more than he’s shown this season. It doesn’t help that he plays alongside the aforementioned little genius. Bakayoko is significantly younger than Nemanja Matic 2.0 was - so there’s time. Maybe he needs some quality time in Portugal to sort it all out.

Roll on the Southampton double which sandwiches my birthday nicely. I will accept a win in both as a gift from Chelsea. But that gets NONE of you out of sending me pressies ;) **

jb xx

*OK maybe not quite as much, but we’re getting there

** No really. Send presents ;)