Chelsea left Tottenham with little else besides possession in dominant FA Cup win
By George Perry
Chelsea’s win over Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-final laid bare the disutility of possession as a telling statistic. Spurs owned the ball 63% of the tie, and had little to show for it.
Teams and fans deal with defeat in different ways. Jose Mourinho takes a proactive approach, laying out his excuses ahead of time. This way he not only softens the blow of a loss, but also gives the appearance of overcoming adversity if he wins. Tottenham did not lay any such groundwork, leaving their partisans grasping after falling Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final.
Hotspur-turned-pundit Jermaine Jenas struggled to comprehend the magnitude and style of Tottenham’s defeat. Jenas could not reconcile Spurs’ dominant possession with their 4-2 loss. Even after being reminded that possession does not win games, he would not acknowledge Chelsea’s dominance in nearly every other statistic.
Frank Lampard sat next to the flummoxed Jenas, and taught him a valuable lesson from his many championships with the Blues.
"You don’t need to play well to win finals, you definitely don’t. And when you’re under pressure you need to defend."
Tottenham have allowed only 22 goals in the Premier League this season, the fewest of any club. However, they shipped four goals to Chelsea – the most of any opponent this season. Chelsea had 30 tackles to Tottenham’s 13. N’Golo Kante led all players with eight tackles. Moussa Dembele and Harry Kane – a midfielder and striker, respectively – led Spurs with three tackles each. Tottenham’s three defenders combined for two tackles. Chelsea’s back-line produced ten.
Tottenham were dispossessed of the ball nearly twice as often as Chelsea. Dele Alli led this stat, turning over the ball six times.
Tottenham held the ball longer and in more advanced positions than the Blues. Their heatmap shows prolonged periods of possession in three distinct areas just inside their offensive half. However, they spent about as much time in Chelsea’s box as Chelsea spent in theirs.
Chelsea neutralized Spurs’ offence, rendering them impotent in possession. Against a team like Tottenham, that would normally only be enough to squeeze out a draw. Antonio Conte’s side used their midfield nous to propel their counters, giving their possession a strong dose of momentum. This enabled them to score twice as many goals on nearly half the possession as Tottenham.
Lampard, having trolled Tottenham fans outside Wembley by flashing “4-2” with his fingers, landed the final blow against Jenas. “I’d be upset because when you think you’d played pretty well and you get beaten 4-2, yeah, that’s when you get upset.”
Next: Chelsea vs. Southampton: Predicted XI for quick return to Premier League action
All stats from whoscored.com.