![]() The Chelsea right back managed to take out two defenders with a neat turn and cross for the Brazilian-born striker, who was making his home debut. Schmeichel then got a decisive touch to a lovely Fabregas chip on 57 minutes but Costa finally made the breakthrough, when Oscar played a lovely through ball for Ivanovic on 63 minutes. Grateful: Costa (left), who put Chelsea ahead, is congratulated by manager Jose Mourinho as he is substituted for Drogba after 80 minutes Dean Hammond was the most dominant presence in the midfield in the first half while Riyad Mahrez was always lively and indeed produced the first shot on target of the game on 35 minutes, which Thibaut Courtois got down well to save. It wasn’t simply that Leicester set up well and frustrated Chelsea. It’s important not to lose points against teams that normally you would beat.’ ‘I wasn’t annoyed but I told them that if you have the same feeling I have we’re not in trouble, we will change. ‘At half time we had to be a little bit emotional with them and make them realise we were at risk,’ said Mourinho. ‘I think the weather makes players lazy, lose a bit of tension and sharpness in the body and after that you pass slow you move slow and you don’t react to the second balls and by the time you wake up it’s half time But in the second half everything improved and they showed that they wanted it. But I was unsuccessful in that because the team was lazy in the first half, which I didn’t like. This week I trained at 3 o’clock because I was expecting this, as it’s not the best weather to play football, because you get a bit lazy. ‘Our first half showed clearly that we have to improve. ‘We have lots of work to do,’ said Mourinho afterwards. Judging by his team’s response in the second half, their manager had let them know quite how bad it was, though somewhat bizarrely the coach seemed to think the weather - cool and breezy for the time of year - was partly to blame. Mourinho disappeared down the tunnel a good three minutes before half time to prepare his team talk. They were truly abject in the first half, languid and one paced, lacking both tempo and creativity, just as they had been for many games last season. Yet though all ended happily, Chelsea laboured incredibly to get ahead in the first place. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |