Chelsea have fallen behind in all four games we’ve played this season. Twice we were saved by VAR (against Crystal Palace and Fulham); the other two times, we were able to turn things around. Unfortunately, unlike against West Ham, we were not able to make that second half turnaround count last night, dropping two points in stoppage time.
Coming in, we knew that Brentford practically score in only two ways: counters and set pieces. They got one each way last night, the former via a fortunate deflection,
the latter via some disappointing, frustrating defending in the final minutes of the game. If there ever was a time to not do that…
Enzo Maresca wasn’t particularly pleased with that part, but was happy with the second half response overall.
“It was a tough game. First half, we struggle to find solution — we struggle to find the space — because they were defending very good, well-organized. I think, second half, we were much, much better. But yeah, it’s a shame, because we concede just in 93, 94 minutes.
“And we could manage a little bit better that moment […] we could keep a little bit better the ball, even if we score [at] 86, 87 [minutes], and with 6 minutes extra time, we need to manage better that moment.“
“[…] Against this kind of team, you have to be able to avoid transition and to avoid the set pieces. They score from transition, and from set pieces. It’s something that, as I said, I think we deal quite well during the game, but then at the end we concede that goal, and it’s a shame.“
-Enzo Maresca; source: Chelsea TV via Reddit
Maresca opted for a rotated lineup that raised a few eyebrows, and undid much of that rotation with a triple change at half-time and then another sub just ten minutes into the second half.
The head coach pointed to our upcoming schedule (stretch of four away games in ten days) and the impact of the international break on some players who were limited or were not able to play as reasons behind those decisions — decisions that were just minutes away from paying off.
“We planned 45 minutes for Wes [Fofana], because it was a long time out. We plan not all the game for Jorrel [Hato] because we said already many times — when you arrive from another country, you need time to adapt. Facundo [Buonanotte] joined us two weeks ago. Physicality is also not 100%.
“But we need to manage different situations — like Estêvão that was out, João Pedro also was not 100%, but he did the effort to play for part of the game. […] Before the game, asked me, that he was not fit 100%, better doesn’t play. And so if I was thinking [only] about Bayern Munich, Joao [would’ve been] on the bench. But Joao play because the focus was about tonight.
“For sure, when you have so many games, you have to plan different options. For example, Reece James played two games with international team. So, play tonight, and thinking on Wednesday. So it’s not — our focus was about tonight, and the reason why is because if this season we play Champions League, it’s because we did well in the Premier League, and if we want to play again Champions League next season, we need to do well in the Premier League.”
It’s certainly not ideal to be losing points that were in the bag. It’s also not exactly ideal that the rotated lineup wasn’t quite getting it done. We can’t just play the same 11-12 guys every time!
But it’s still early in the season and the fight we’ve shown to respond and come back form slow starts has been commendable — and should serve us well going forward.
