Chelsea FC 0-1 Arsenal: FA Community Shield Reflections
Final Thoughts
Wenger (and Arsenal supporters) will be delighted with Sunday’s victory, which ensured that the Frenchman has finally got one over Mourinho for the first time in 14 attempts. But one fact still remains…he is yet to defeat Mourinho in a competitive fixture!
The FA’s decision to amend the rules of the Community Shield in 2009 ensured that the game became simply a glorified friendly match. With bookings having no effect on players being available for the opening league game as well as the use of 6 of 7 allowed substitutes, the Community Shield has effectively become another run-out, which may have prompted Mourinho’s decision to take Terry off and later bring in Kurt Zouma to replace Azpilicueta at left-back.
The boss may feel that Hazard is only second to Lionel Messi among the world’s best players, but Sunday’s performance has given the haters the ammunition to ridicule Jose’s assertions. The 24-year old Belgian managed to sky the ball when well placed to score from a Fabregas pass and was largely anonymous for the duration of the game, making no impact whatsoever.
While I would like to believe that this was a ploy by Mourinho to help the lad get game time without stretching him too much, I can’t help but feel that the pressure of holding the team up on his own is finally getting to him.
Mourinho should scrap his decision to field Fabregas in an advanced midfield role behind the striker once and for all. Fabregas thrives on space and enjoys the freedom to pick his passes with little or no pressure, which an advanced midfield position will not afford him, especially against packed defences.
He also isn’t the most mobile of players and doesn’t enjoy being the first line of defence, neither is he all that adept at exploiting shooting opportunities due to his tendency to take weak shots at goal. Mourinho may have to revert to a 4-3-3 formation or trust that Oscar would be able to re-enact the form that made the boss confident enough to sell Juan Mata.
With Mourinho reiterating the club’s stance on transfers, it seems that the Blues may have decided that Sunday’s defeat was a one-off that will be easily remedied once the EPL kicks off next weekend. Let’s hope Jose has something up his sleeves that would help the club remain competitive enough come August 8 and beyond.
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