The narrative was primed and ready to heap upon us frustration and disappointment. Lunchtime kick-off on the Saturday after an international break; teams from opposite ends of the table with the underdogs
at home; key players rested or rotated (or injured); relatively long travel amid a congested fixture list (Chelsea took the charter plane, a rarity for domestic trips); and certainly non-ideal conditions (cold, windy, rainy).
And then Chelsea started the game like we’ve read this script many times already, memorized it to the last word, and resigned ourselves to the fate preordained. The narrative was in our heads, possibly rent free, with Enzo Maresca mentioning many of these factors in the build-up already, then also talking post-match about how the pitch felt small … even though it’s technically bigger than Stamford Bridge and the stands are just as close to it.
“This type of pitch [it] looks small, not because [it wasn’t] very good, the pitch was perfect. I mean the dimension, it’s difficult.”
But a couple star turns from not necessarily expected sources — most notably from Andrey Santos in the heart of midfield, in the “Caicedo-role” — solid defending throughout, and a few moments of absolute quality were enough to defeat the narrative, and emerge boringly triumphant. Perfect!
Enzo Maresca was certainly happy to have collected all three points, pushing us up to second in the table. His choices paid off, from the starting lineup, to the mid-game adjustments, to the substitutions, most notably taking Reece James off at the half in a planned change.
“It was a tough game for many reasons. Again, after the international break, 12 o’clock in the morning, Burnley away, this type of pitch. Also, we need to manage players, so it was a very tricky game, and the way the players compete, again, another clean sheet. [We] expected a Burnley back five, and they were back four, so after 20 minutes we needed to change the plan, and the players adapt. […] Overall, I think we deserve to win the game and we are happy.”
“[Individually,] Andrey’s position is [his natural] position that he played today. It was very good, I think also Jamie Gittens was very good, so it’s important to have all of them on board. [And] yes, the idea was especially to manage Reece [James], this is the reason why he played 45 minutes, was planned. […] It’s not easy, because me personally, I would like Reece to continue, but we need to protect Reece.”
“[We] are confident, we are doing well. Today we could have done many, many things better, for sure, no doubt, but at the end it was important to win the game. But we are confident and we are ready to prepare Tuesday and Sunday.”
-Enzo Maresca; source: Football.London
It’s Barcelona on Tuesday and league-leaders Arsenal away on Sunday. Potentially season-defining week ahead.
