Chelsea edge past Watford: Hot takes
Chelsea edged past Watford on Saturday afternoon. As the dust starts to settle after the final whistle, here are some hot takes to get the discussion started.
It was a lacklustre display from Chelsea on Saturday afternoon. This may be a new era with Antonio Conte at the helm and they may have beaten Watford 2-1, but it still reeks of the 2015/16 campaign. Here are some hot takes from the contest.
Diego Costa is a ticking time-bomb
Diego Costa spent the majority of the first half faffing around on the wing. As the sole striker on the pitch, it severely hampered the Blues. Irritatingly, this was the same issue that plagued his performances last season. He just hasn’t learnt.
The second half then displayed the other side of his game. Oh no, not the good part when he gets a hat-trick. The striker was booked for dissent after Watford took the lead. He then dived outside the penalty area in an incident that could have easily resulted in a second caution.
Yes he scored the winner and for many that is more than enough. But my good god this man is a liability.
New manager, same problems
This may be the start of a new era at Stamford Bridge, but the Watford performance did nothing to support this conjecture. Chelsea dominated the ball yet did nothing with it. After a soulless first period, Conte refused to make any substitutes. This is kind of understandable.
However, he then failed to change things up until after the 70th minute, some 15 or so minutes after Watford had scored. Twitter was stuffed with veiled abuse directed towards Conte (including ourselves) and rightly so.
However, the key is that Chelsea overturned the deficit. That sort of comeback is something that you would not expect from the team last season. Chelsea can’t rely on late resurgence each game, though, the fundamental problems must be fixed to prevent them from being in such a position to begin with.
Nemanja Matic is not useful up the field
A bizarre decision this afternoon was to use Nemanja Matic in a somewhat forward position. The Serbian was often seen bumbling around the box doing absolutely nothing of any worth. It was almost as if he was purposely deployed to confuse the hell out of anyone, both on and off the pitch.
The comedy value of seeing Matic fall over his own legs trying to get a disappointing shot away slightly compensated for his display overall.
Blues need two strikers
Chelsea scored the winning goal against West Ham when they had two strikers on the field. Chelsea scored two goals to win the game against Watford with two strikers on the field.
Coincidence? I think not.
Conte has promised tactical excitement and variation. However, he has been reluctant to use two strikers. Part of this might be due to the personnel he currently has at his disposal, but the fact is that Chelsea look infinitely more threatening with two frontmen. Michy Batshuayi is good enough to start.
What are your hot takes? Sound off in the comments below!