Blogger: #14
Bob finally decided he'd give it up. After years and years of pointless attempts, he was now convinced flinging shit at the sun was as fruitful as...well, err....flinging shit at the sun. Bob decides to tell Mary, his wife about his decision.
Bob: "Mary, I can't do it anymore, I'm not going to fling shit at the sun anymore."
Mary: "Oh Bob, I'm so glad, now we can finally flush it down the drain like normal people! I always told you you can't throw shit that far, you finally listened!".
Bob: "Well, no, that's not it. I realised all the shit that got there jsut got burnt away. 10 years of effort down the drain."
Mary shot herself, her loss is felt by all of us to this day.
The point I'm trying to make here is that when analyzing a situation, you have to take distance from the result. Arsene Wenger (you just knew I'd bring in an Arsenal reference, didn't you?) agrees with me here. For the guardians of the loony bin, Bob still remains the one that got away, despite him reaching the sane conclusion. Tottenham 1-1 Chelsea might evoke images of an evenly fought contest, but honestly, Spurs would be looking back wondering how they didn't win.
The game started off on a slightly turgid note. Both teams were wary, sizing each other up. The contest slowly tilted in Tottenham's favour and Gylfi Sigurdsson capped off a fine move, slotting it past Petr Cech to give Spurs the lead in the 19th minute. It was a fine example of a midfielder getting himself into the box. Apart from Frank Lampard, who's getting on in years (also, provided a sublime through ball for Hazard who couldn't control it), Chelsea don't really have that sort of player. Mata, Oscar, Hazard and the rest all prefer being the creator.
As easy as that. The pressure didn't let up. Chelsea's midfield duo of Lampard and Mikel were simply not mobile enough and were being pegged back by the Spurs pairing of Paulinho and Dembele. The Belgian is, in my opinion, the best central midfielder in London, and he effortlessly glided past the Chelsea players opening up space for his teammates time and again. Paulinho, like Sigurdsson, isn't shy of getting himself to the box, and struck the post at the stroke of half time after a lovely back heel by Walker to Townsend, who set up the shot. Speaking of Townsend, he really was quite impressive, though that dive didn't fool anybody. Knitting all this together was the excellent Christian Eriksen. The Dane looks a steal at around 11 million pounds, and was central to all of Tottenham's impetus (Bale who?). Around the half hour mark, Chelsea slowly started to get a bit of a footing in the game. It wasn't so much a fightback as a stemming of the flow. Halftime couldn't come soon enough for the Blues, and they were lucky to be only a goal down (to be fair Spurs didn't have too many clear cut chances).
At half time, Chelsea brought off Mikel and moved Ramires to the middle, bringing Mata on. This had a noticeable impact on proceedings. Ramires looks like one of those famished blokes who plays the protagonist on those "Each Share Will Result in One of these Guys getting Fed" pictures on Facebook, but he has got bundles of energy. His drive in the middle of the pitch helped Chelsea combat the Paulinho-Dembele axis.
Another key factor was Chelsea's two time player of the season, Juan Mata. He came on and ticked things over nicely. This was in stark contrast to his rival for the coveted no.10 spot, Oscar. Mata completed 17 of his 20 passes including 7 of 10 in the final third. Oscar, despite playing for a longer period, only completed 15 of 22 passes, with a paltry 2 completed out of 7 in the final third. The third factor for Chelsea making the 2nd half more even was the Fernando Torres show (yes, him). His contribution included, but was not limited to
1. Ghosting past a Spurs defender (don't remember who) before fizzing in a cross that Oscar almost got on the end of.
2. Turning Dawson like a pencil in a sharpener (sorry), before having his shot saved by Lloris.
3. Clawing Vertonghen's face for which he arguably should have received his marching orders.
4. Getting shoved by Vertonghen for which he most certainly ought to have been booked. (He Vertonghen, not Torres).
5. Playing Schurrle in with a perfectly weighted pass.
6. Getting sent off for no reason whatsoever.
Despite all this, Chelsea conceded some dangerous chances to Spurs in the 2nd half. In fact, Spurs played more passes in the 2nd half in the attacking third (61 successful out of 79), than in the first (30 out of 50 successful). There was only a 20 minute spell between the 45th and 65th minutes that Chelsea pegged Tottenham back (Only 5 successful passes of 14 in the attacking third). This coincided with points 1,2,3 and 4 of Torres' highlight reel. In short, though the second half was a more even contest, Tottenham still retained the edge and would look back at this result with some disappointment.
This was a closely fought battle to claim the title of the second best team in London (ARSENAL TOP OF THE LEAGUE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) and one whose result I derive great pleasure from.
You don't? Let me know in the comments section.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
#14
Bob finally decided he'd give it up. After years and years of pointless attempts, he was now convinced flinging shit at the sun was as fruitful as...well, err....flinging shit at the sun. Bob decides to tell Mary, his wife about his decision.
Bob: "Mary, I can't do it anymore, I'm not going to fling shit at the sun anymore."
Mary: "Oh Bob, I'm so glad, now we can finally flush it down the drain like normal people! I always told you you can't throw shit that far, you finally listened!".
Bob: "Well, no, that's not it. I realised all the shit that got there jsut got burnt away. 10 years of effort down the drain."
Mary shot herself, her loss is felt by all of us to this day.
The point I'm trying to make here is that when analyzing a situation, you have to take distance from the result. Arsene Wenger (you just knew I'd bring in an Arsenal reference, didn't you?) agrees with me here. For the guardians of the loony bin, Bob still remains the one that got away, despite him reaching the sane conclusion. Tottenham 1-1 Chelsea might evoke images of an evenly fought contest, but honestly, Spurs would be looking back wondering how they didn't win.
The game started off on a slightly turgid note. Both teams were wary, sizing each other up. The contest slowly tilted in Tottenham's favour and Gylfi Sigurdsson capped off a fine move, slotting it past Petr Cech to give Spurs the lead in the 19th minute. It was a fine example of a midfielder getting himself into the box. Apart from Frank Lampard, who's getting on in years (also, provided a sublime through ball for Hazard who couldn't control it), Chelsea don't really have that sort of player. Mata, Oscar, Hazard and the rest all prefer being the creator.
 |
| Sigurdsson plays the ball to Dembele before embarking on the run that led to the goal. He's out wide on the left, near the halfway line. |
 |
| Dembele lays it off to Eriksen, who surges forward before crossing it to Soldado who lays it off. Sigurdsson has now made his way to the edge of the box. He evades Terry's challenge (he really shoud have done better), before scoring. |
 |
| Heat maps of Paulinho, Dembele, Lampard, Mikel after the first half. |
 |
| Mikel's 1st half defensive performance vs Ramires' 2nd half performance. |
1. Ghosting past a Spurs defender (don't remember who) before fizzing in a cross that Oscar almost got on the end of.
2. Turning Dawson like a pencil in a sharpener (sorry), before having his shot saved by Lloris.
3. Clawing Vertonghen's face for which he arguably should have received his marching orders.
4. Getting shoved by Vertonghen for which he most certainly ought to have been booked. (He Vertonghen, not Torres).
5. Playing Schurrle in with a perfectly weighted pass.
6. Getting sent off for no reason whatsoever.
Despite all this, Chelsea conceded some dangerous chances to Spurs in the 2nd half. In fact, Spurs played more passes in the 2nd half in the attacking third (61 successful out of 79), than in the first (30 out of 50 successful). There was only a 20 minute spell between the 45th and 65th minutes that Chelsea pegged Tottenham back (Only 5 successful passes of 14 in the attacking third). This coincided with points 1,2,3 and 4 of Torres' highlight reel. In short, though the second half was a more even contest, Tottenham still retained the edge and would look back at this result with some disappointment.
This was a closely fought battle to claim the title of the second best team in London (ARSENAL TOP OF THE LEAGUE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) and one whose result I derive great pleasure from.
You don't? Let me know in the comments section.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
#14
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