Chelsea FC Defeat Norwich City: Key Takeaways
Nervous Defending
While Norwich failed to offer much in terms of attacking threat, the few times they managed to get close to Chelsea’s goal, my heart was in my mouth.
On two occasions, they almost managed to take advantage of the acres of space left by Kenedy down their right flank. And they later had their best chance of the game after Branislav Ivanovic predictably made another one of his hands-behind-the-back attempt to block a cross, only to see the ball played square and low to an unmarked Dieumerci Mbokani close to the penalty spot.
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Fortunately, the striker failed to make proper contact with the ball, allowing it to roll to the back post where Sebastian Bassong would have scored were it not for Terry’s swift reaction to block the attempted shot.
And again after the goal, the Blues had to withstand a flurry of long balls late in the game as the Canaries tried to take advantage of the strength and aerial threat of Cameron Jerome, who came on to replace Mbokani. This occurred largely due to the Blues’ now frequent habit of sitting back after scoring, which may have ended up costing the team if they had managed to score much earlier in the game, as with games against West Ham, Liverpool and Southampton. The Blues clearly still have a lot of work to do defensively, especially with the players protecting the back four.
Ivanovic had a markedly better performance on his return from injury, although largely due to the fact that his flank wasn’t targeted as much as usual; Norwich tried to take more advantage of the defensive inexperience of Kenedy at left back.
But again, the Serbian failed to hit a Blue shirt with any of his attempted crosses when he found himself in the opposition third of the pitch, which is another disappointing aspect to his game.
Next: Ruben Loftus-Cheek