By unCFCTV on vimeo.
Chelsea FC lost once again on Saturday afternoon as Stoke City managed to grab a 1-0 victory at the Britannia. This marks the the second time that the Blues have been beaten by Stoke so far this season, after they were knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Mark Hughes’s men earlier in the season.
The West Londoners were without their manager during the contest as Jose Mourinho served a one-game stadium ban. This was handed to him after a verbal exchange with referee Jon Moss in the West Ham match two weeks ago. First team coaches Rui Faria and Steve Holland took charge of the side.
Unfortunately, whatever plan that the boss had put in place was not effective as Stoke dragged themselves over the line. A Marko Arnautovic goal was all that was needed to hand the Potters the three points and allow them to hop a couple of positions northwards in the Premier League table.
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Several Blues fans found the team’s performance encouraging, while an equal amount found it extremely disappointing. Chelsea dominated proceedings and bombarded the Stoke defence. Pedro hit the woodwork and Loic Remy fell over when bearing down on a open goal.
Furthermore, the officiating was (as usual) also called into the question after a few hearty challenges went unpunished by referee Anthony Taylor. Incidents involving Ryan Shawcross and Charlie Adam were of particular note, with murmurs that Chelsea players such as Diego Costa would have seen red for similar offences.
However, the fact of the matter is that the Blues once again could not get the job done. This defeat means that the club have now lost seven out of their 12 Premier League games and sit a mere three points above the relegation zone.
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Saturday’s loss was also Chelsea’s third consecutive negative result in the league, having fallen at the feet of Liverpool and West Ham in the two games previous.
Domestic football now takes another break as international football returns to destroy the weekends of millions of people around the world. From the club’s point of view though, this may be an opportune time for Mourinho and his coaching staff to evaluate the current situation and set out a plan going forward.
Having said that, Blues fans expressed similar sentiments prior to the last two international breaks and nothing positive came out of either occasion.
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Meanwhile, the more cynical among us will point out that the length of time until the next fixture presents a perfect opportunity to bring in a new manager…
Shut up Aj.