Chelsea FC vs Southampton FC: Post-Match Reflections…
Tired Midfield
By CFC Unofficial (Debs) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons The central midfield pairing of Fabregas and Matic had been lauded as the best in the EPL earlier in the season as Fabregas’ creativity and passing matched Matic’s positional awareness and tackling ability almost to perfection. But since the turn of the year, Fabregas has become a shadow of the player that started the season (which has been a worrying trend from his time at Barcelona, with his much publicized loss of form in the second half of every season). He lost possession probably more than any other Chelsea FC player on the pitch as Southampton’s midfielders took advantage of his uncertainty and casual demeanor when in possession.
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He also misplaced a lot of passes and was by-passed too easily on several occasions, contributing nothing in defense and failing to create any real chance of note. At one point, after being played through on goal by Hazard and with just the goal keeper to beat, he managed to stumble over the ball and meekly lost possession in the process.
Matic was also not at his best, misplacing passes as well and failing to move the ball quickly enough to initiate attacks. Things got even worse after he was unfairly booked for fouling Mane inside the box when he actually got the ball first.
He spent his remaining time on the pitch committing un-necessary fouls and was lucky not to have been sent off after a cynical foul on Mane. It is a massive indictment on his performance that Chelsea stepped up after he was substituted (to prevent another booking and a red card) for Ramires in the 54th minute.
Oscar was completely anonymous in the first half, putting up another lethargic performance which has become a recent trend. He touched the ball just 7 times that I can remember during that time, failing to make any meaningful contribution.
He did get more involved in the second half, making his trade mark late runs into the box, but was unfortunately found wanting with his finishing, missing Chelsea’s best chances in the second half, a one-on-one chance with Forster from an exquisite Hazard through-ball and a free header from point-blank range from Willian’s cross, both of which he managed to play straight at Forster.
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