The Pride of London
Fansided

Chelsea FC At The Emirates: 4 Post-Match Musings

By Ejoh Celestine

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 24: Captains Theo Walcott of Arsenal and John Terry of Chelsea with the match officials before the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on January 24, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 24: Captains Theo Walcott of Arsenal and John Terry of Chelsea with the match officials before the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on January 24, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 24: John Terry of Chelsea speaks with his team-mates during the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on January 24, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 24: John Terry of Chelsea speaks with his team-mates during the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on January 24, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

2. Responsibility

The Blues drew with Everton last weekend due to one simple fact…players failing to take responsibility! Kevin Mirallas may have scored a sublime goal, but the fact that he was allowed to drift away easily by his marker (who incidentally was John Terry) gave him the space to turn and shoot inside the 18-yard-box under no pressure. And the final goal was due to slack marking by both Mikel and Kurt Zouma who lost their players in the second cross.

And on Sunday’s game, Mikel lost Theo Walcott on two occasions and was saved by the linesman’s flag before again losing Flamini late in the second half which almost led to an equalising goal for Arsenal. Also, both Terry and Zouma failed to track the movement of the Frenchman twice in the first half and had their blushes spared by poor finishing on both occasions.

John Terry has been lauded for his leadership qualities on the pitch, but in recent games (even the 2-2 draw with West Brom), the Blues have conceded some really disappointing goals either due to players failing to take the responsibility of marking the players closest to them or simply as a result of lack of concentration. The 35-year-old captain must take some responsibility for that.

Also, it seems that Hiddink has taken to using zonal marking to deal with set pieces, which may probably be one of the reasons while the Blues have had some problems dealing with balls played into the box. But whatever the case may be, Hiddink and the coaching staff may have to find a way to sort out this problem if the Blues want to really improve from their recent string of draws. After all, the Blues are not always going to have the luxury of getting opposition players sent off in every game!

Next: 3. Red Hot Costa

Home/Premier League