St James’ Park has not been a happy hunting ground for Chelsea. In large part due to Jose Mourinho’s shocking record there, but managers that followed in his footsteps seemed to carry on that tradition. But Maurizio Sarri is not a man to follow convention or tradition. Chelsea only did a win at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon - their first there in SEVEN years.
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| He's Back! |
Willian and Ross Barkley were dropped from the win against Arsenal for Eden Hazard and Mateo Kovacic. Potentially a bit harsh on Barkley who’s been solid but not yet reached the next level. While Kovacic’ cameo against the North London side impressed just about everyone. Although he was not afforded the same space on Sunday as he had been last week.
Sarri wasn’t the only manager making changes to his lineup. Rafa Benitez hands were tied with Kenedy — although after his shock outing last week it was probably best for Newcastle and the Brazilian. Gloomily looking on from the stands were both Jonjo Shelvey and captain Jamaal Lascelles, who are arguably their two best players. The word on both was that they were injured.
While the injury may be true in Shelvey’s case it most certainly wasn’t for the centre back. Reports suggest that Lascelles had a rift with Benitez — and who could blame him. But it now appears that Lascelles had a dustup with Gordon Ramsay impersonator Matt Ritchie. From the way he was attacking a brilliant Belgian half his size, I’d put my money on the almost-England international to have won that on the training ground. Even if he was left out of the starting lineup for his efforts.
Newcastle’s game plan was a simple but effective one. Avoid touching the ball if at all possible. Every single outfield player will be in a defensive position. The classic 10-0 formation. And kick Eden Hazard as hard as you can if you’re within touching distance. Because the referee certainly won’t do his job an intervene in any way. But in the off chance he had thought about taking a card out of his pocket as a deterrent, Benitez ensured that fouling Hazard was on a rotation policy and everyone would get their chance.
Fair play to Newcastle, by and large things went to plan and they were minutes away from getting a draw. Work with what you’ve got and all that. But a ridiculous challenge in the box was the beginning of the end. According to ‘authorities’ on Twitter it was not a penalty because Fabian Schar got the ball. Completely ignoring the scissor kick that followed. If he hadn’t lifted his back leg to chop down Alonso it might have been a very different story. But with Hazard on the pitch you don’t want to be giving away penalties.
Eden Hazard’s goal as his 70th in the Premier League. Only Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba have scored more Premier League goals for Chelsea. Pretty good company to be in. Hazard did not just score the opener and take a kicking. He was the driving force behind the assault in the final third, giving another man of the match performance. Sarri’s best bit of business this season was hanging on to the little talisman.
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| The face when Morata leaves you hanging |
Not to undervalue Sarri’s deputy from Napoli. Jorginho completed nearly 30 more passes than the ENTIRE Newcastle side combined. Granted Newcastle wanted nothing to do with possession or connecting with the ball in any meaningful way. As every week passes, it becomes more evident why Pep Guardiola was so desperate to sign him. Imagine Jorginho in the current City side?! yikes
Minutes after scoring the long awaited opener, disaster struck. DeAndre Yedlin elbowed Olivier Giroud’s handsome face. Jealousy obviously. And as everyone expected a foul to be called by the onlooking linesman, they all just stood and watched Joselu scored an 83rd minute equaliser. David Luiz looked most culpable but he had to have assumed play would stop for the every obvious assault on Giroud’s face.
Special mention to Yedlin's performance. In the span of about three minutes he elbow Giroud in the face, set up Joselu's equaliser and then went and scored the winner after some ridiculous skill from Marcos Alonso. You can take the player out of Tottenham...
Favourite moment of the day goes to Ruben Loftus-Cheek. He’s back in the match day squad which is great. And like every great teammate on the bench you always show your appreciation to players who’ve been subbed off. Alvaro Morata sulked his way next to RLC who looked pleased to see him and held his hand aloft for a high five, only to be left hanging. The brief look of devastation and embarrassment on Loftus-Cheek’s face was both awkward and amusing. Not to worry though, he styled it out.
Roll on the mighty cherries as Chelsea look to make it four wins out of four.
jb xx
You are a beautiful woman.
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