It was a game of two halves, if there ever was one, last night’s win in the third round of the League Cup, with an entirely listless Chelsea down 1-0 at the half, 2-0 immediately after the half, then storming back to take the lead, 3-2, and ultimately winning 6-3.
But it wasn’t just cliche this time, that we got two completely different 45-minutes performances from the team. There was a quadruple change at the half, with Xabi Alonso putting on the proverbial cavalry as Jamie Gittens, Malo Gusto, Estêvão,
and 16-year-old Reggie Watson made way.
The gulf in performance between the two halves was hard to ignore even in the delightful glow of a six-goal second half, and it dominated Alonso’s post-match thoughts.
“For sure, the first half, things were not going the way we wanted [so] we have to take the decisions at half time, and we have seen a second half with quality, tempo, and we need to analyse, but happy with that we are going through, happy with the reaction, but as well analytic about what you have done. [And] the impact was good from the players that came on.”
We may not have European football on the calendar, but we can’t just rely on the same 11-12 players the whole season. While there will always be some dropoff from starters to backups, ideally, it won’t be as big as we witnessed last night.
“It’s difficult to compete at this level, so it’s my responsibility [and] I will have a deeper assessment about how I can help players that they are not playing that much, to have a better impact, to have a better feeling, and today, it was difficult for them. Maybe I made it too difficult because it’s a strong side. […] I have to take the right decisions for them to show their best levels. So it’s something that I will analyse and learn from today.”
-Xabi Alonso; source: Football.London
Work to do for the fringe players and backups then.
The good news is that we advanced anyway. It’s always easier to address issues while you’re winning.
