French newspaper L’Equipe were not impressed with Chelsea FC‘s tactics after the Blues earned a 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday. L’Equipe, along with several other newspapers, called the Blues “lucky” for coming away from the match with an away goal and not losing. They hailed Thibaut Courtois for his wonderful performance in front of goal but blasted the rest of the team.
More from The Pride of London
- Bournemouth 0-0 Chelsea player ratings: Abysmal, reckless, wasteful
- Bournemouth 0-0 Chelsea: 3 Blues talking points
- Bournemouth vs Chelsea: 1 Blue Mauricio Pochettino should drop
- Bournemouth vs Chelsea: 3 Blues who must start
- Predicted Chelsea lineup vs Bournemouth: Palmer starts in 4-2-3-1
L’Equipe, as quoted by Sky Sports, said of Chelsea: “Arriving mainly to defend, with Ramires and ]Nemanja] Matic front of the defence, Chelsea got more than they hoped for by scoring an away goal. Dominating the game, the Parisians created many opportunities, but came up against an excellent Courtois.”
At first glance, the stats are damning for the Blues as PSG dominated the game in most facets. PSG managed 14 shots with seven of them on target and Chelsea only had two shots, with one on target. The one on target was of course the only one that went in courtesy of Branislav Ivanovic. As for possession, it was only 54%-46% in favor of the Parisians so it was not all that one-sided.
As we all know, stats do not tell the whole story. The Blues, just like most teams approaching a first leg away tie to a tough team, opted for a more defensive approach in the match. Chelsea was content to sit back and defend rather than go all-out and risk exposing the defense to PSG’s potent attack.
Les Bleus possess a very dangerous attack with superstars like Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the line. Not only are both players technically sound, they are also lethal in the air and can hurt defenses in a number of ways. It would have been very foolish for Chelsea to open themselves up to attack and exposing themselves to counter attacks. The pressure was on PSG to chase and score a goal, not on Chelsea.
More from Champions League
- Chelsea 0-2 Real Madrid: 3 Blues positives and negatives
- Chelsea vs Real Madrid: 3 Blancos the Blues must stop
- Why you can’t count out Chelsea in the UCL against Real Madrid just yet
- Real Madrid 2-0 Chelsea: 3 Positives and 3 negatives
- Real Madrid 2-0 Chelsea: 3 lessons learned in UCL quarterfinal loss
We have seen that sometimes this strategy of playing it tight in the first leg can backfire as it did last year against Atletico Madrid. It can also be very effective if things play out as expected and they often do for Jose Mourinho when his players are in form.
The Blues will now welcome a PSG side that needs a goal to advance and will be open to lethal counter attacks from the likes of Eden Hazard and Willian. The job is nowhere near being done for the Blues but with an away goal in their pocket they certainly have the upper hand.
Photos by @cfcunoffical. On Twitter and at CFCUnofficial.com