Chelsea’s second-half suffering extended into the Europa League, as the Blues put the damper on what should have been a rollicking night at Stamford Bridge. The root of their second-half issues is solely within the team.
A Pedro brace, another Olivier Giroud goal in Europe and the greatest own goal of the season (perhaps decade) which doubled as the best interaction between ball-post-face since Michy Batshuayi at the World Cup should have been enough for Chelsea fans to stream out of Stamford Bridge with nothing but good feelings and optimism on Thursday night. If only they had left after the first half.
Slavia Praha put the pressure on Chelsea from the opening kickoff, not willing to go out sheepishly even if their style of play made them extremely vulnerable. They paid the price for their spirit in the first half, but their gumption gave them a fighting chance in the second.
Well, maybe it was up to them. Chelsea certainly had a hand in Slavia Praha’s second-half surge. Much like in their previous game against Liverpool, the Blues conceded two goals between the 51′ and 54′
When I wrote my article earlier in the week about Chelsea’s goal timing and how they concede twice as many goals in the 15 minutes after the restart as any other 15 minute block, I offered two (three, if you include the banter) possible explanations. I put the most emphasis on the idea that the opponents come into the game with a pretty solid idea of what Chelsea would do, adjust as they can over the course of the first half and then use halftime to precisely target their gameplan towards the weaknesses they saw Chelsea manifest.
I had a doubt about this then, and I’m even more doubtful now. That explanation assumes Chelsea do something unexpected in the first half, something the opponent could not plan for but could address during the break.
But we know Chelsea don’t do anything different from game to game. They don’t even do enough differently for a manager to want to use the first half to validate his strategy before making his key adjustments during the break. Every club – from Liverpool to Slavia Praha – needs nothing more than video, not actual time on the pitch, to know precisely what the Blues are going to do.
This, then, raises the question of why would a manager need to wait for the second half to hone in on Chelsea. Any manager who could make that change at halftime would be more than capable of preparing his team to execute a counter-Sarriball plan from the opening whistle.
The root of Chelsea’s issues, then, has to be in the Blues’ locker room.
Maurizio Sarri, in his semi-self-aware way, seems to understand his role. He joked in his post-match press conference that he might start staying away from the team during halftime. Since we know he has yet to motivate his squad, perhaps this is not a bad idea.
He also said more seriously the team might have started thinking they were through to the semifinals too early, and therefore let down mentally in the second half. This, though, is just another side of the motivation question. Motivation is not just “rah rah who are we fighting for.” It’s the professionalism that drives a player to focus and give his all for 90 minutes, and who knows nothing is over until it’s all over.
Slavia Praha’s second half goals took advantage of Chelsea’s inattention, the sort that could stem from various forms of complacency. Both were long-range strikes that caught Kepa Arrizabalaga flat-footed and took advantage of Chelsea leaving spaces and shooting lanes from outside the box. Emerson Palmieri was particularly at fault for not closing down Petr Sevcik on Slavia Praha’s third goal, a lesson you would think all Blues would have learned from Mohamed Salah’s goal on Sunday.
Despite the disorganized play in the second half, Chelsea never looked in real danger of falling out of the tie. But like so many other games this season, they undercut any confidence anyone may have had in this squad. They left the impression they were lucky to emerge with a result, giving a certain segment of the fans an excuse to say “Well at least they won” while burying their heads in the sand over the many issues still afflicting this team.
Chelsea survived against Slavia Praha for the same reason they have survived against so many Premier League clubs: overwhelming quality of the individual players. Usually it takes the form of a late Eden Hazard goal, but in this case, it was a series of goals from World Cup winners Pedro and Olivier Giroud.
Chelsea’s next Europa League opponent, Eintracht Frankfurt, has the individual talent and squad organization to take Chelsea out of the game and keep them there long enough to make them pay for their second-half slump. Maurizio Sarri took several months to figure out that he is more than a part of the problem. How long until he figures out what to do about it?
Judging by his ongoing struggles to do something as simple as motivate his squad, probably longer than he will be around.