CFC Matchday: Straight from SW6

[Steve@Chelsea]

Prem - Round 1
Newcastle United 3 - 3 Chelsea

On a first read through it felt like an even'ish game we edged, but looking at the stats with a 16-31 shot count and reading it for a 2nd time we can count ourselves unlucky not to walk away with three points. Newcastle are a good team though, we battled them many times last season in league and cups so a point on the road isn't to be sniffed at. Gordon scored on his debut for the club but the next league game will be his last for Chelsea as he will be leaving to join co-title favourites Manchester City, with Rovella coming into Stamford Bridge in return which fills the DM gap for the Spice Boys.

Prem - Round 2
Chelsea 1 - 2 Manchester City

Falling 2-0 behind before halftime against one of the league’s powerhouses is always a tough position to recover from. Despite pulling one back through Leao, Man City ultimately walked away with all three points. The stats suggest we had the better of the game, with a 13-11 advantage in shots and 21-15 in 'chances'. However, the only stat that truly matters is the scoreline, and City came out on top. If we’re serious about being in the hunt, we need to start picking up points in these big matches. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t do that today.

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[Steve@Chelsea]

The season continued for Chelsea, as the best club in London looked to kick on in the league and in the Champions League. The below report will take in rounds 3 to 12 in the Prem, the 3rd round of the FA Cup as Chelsea travelled to Spurs, and the first 3 games in their Champions League group. Enjoy.

Prem - Round 3
Leeds 2 - 2 Chelsea

We're on a mini run of bad luck at the moment, an 11-16 shot count here verses a weaker team on the development path should have yielded the Spice Boys the full three points.

Instead we will need to accept a draw, that feels like a loss a little bit.

So far this season we have earned 2 points from 3 games, when our XP should be at least 7, maybe even 9. A combined total shout count of 60-38 shows that we are just experiencing some negative variance which is to be expected, if you understand math. Out keeper has made 12 saves so far this season but conceeded 7 goals. A really poor ratio which demonstrates this 'bad luck'. But if needs be we will kiss someone’s feet, the Blarney Stone, and maybe even a leprechaun’s hat if it means getting some positive luck on our side as we need to put the Chelsea machine into gear and get the season going.

Prem - Round 4
Chelsea 3 - 0 Blackburn Rovers

Comfortable win over my hometown club. We predicted that the Rovers random would be 442D (as it often seems to be!), and went for the more shots and hope opton. We managed to break the seal with two early goals. The random doesn't change tactic because it's dumb so it lead to a boring game. Doku added his 2nd goal for a 3rd late on and we pick up three points to bring us our first win of the season.

Prem - Round 5
Cardiff 2 - 4 Chelsea

Could have been a banana skin slip waiting to happen away to Cardiff. But despte falling behind early in the game we soon pulled 1-3 ahead with goals from Leao, Firminio and Doku and decided to get some minutes into the subs. This could have cost us as Cardiff pulled it back to 2-3 but thankfully the next goal was to the Spice Boys as one of the subs Zefi made it safe with a late goal. A good solid three points here in a game in which Lamptey made his return to Chelsea despite having been sold in the bonanza. Seemingly Talbot must have regrettted selling the ball playing defender.

Champions League - Group A/Round 1
Spurs 3 - 2 Chelsea

We took the lead early on through Doku having gambled on the old E away. The game ebbed back and forth 1-2, 3-2 to Spurs and was heading towards being a classic when unfortunately Lamptey got sent off for us on 38 minutes. Playing with 10 men away to the Prem Champions wasn't ideal. Funnily enough, there was no further goals and Chelsea still had a equal share of the stats despite being down to 10 men. We can count ourselves unlucky, as with 11 on the pitch I'd fancy ourselves to get back into it especially that early on. The red card killed the game and the ref should be having serious questions asked of him, as a 2nd yellow card for an alledged 'holding foul' is extremely harsh, and probably qute frankly corrupt.

Prem - Round 6
Chelsea 2 - 1 Wolves

Although Ray has been quiet lately, taking a short break from the Discord Disco before recently returning - we knew Ray is a good manager and wouldn’t be on autopilot – we expected him to try and counter us in some form. We set up anticipating a possible N, which did arrive during the match but not from the start, as Wolves played on the counter against our initial passing style.

We weren’t unhappy with this, as we’re confident in our P and A against most teams C, and that proved to be the case today. Doku opened the scoring on 25 minutes, before Wolves switched to the N at -1. We added a second goal through golden oldie KDB, and at +2, we decided to give the squad players some minutes. This nearly cost us, as the away side pulled one back in the 80th minute. However, it felt like if there was to be another goal, it would go the way of the Spice Boys. In the end, nothing else happened, and we secured the three points to leap up the table into 4th spot. GG Ray.

Prem - Round 7
Leicester City 1 - 1 Chelsea

A frustrating draw on the road when we dominated the game - notching up a 12-21 shot count. Leao got the opener for us, before the Foxes pulled it back on 9 minutes and then to much suprise, no more goals. Despite all the attempts on goal, only 8 made it on target from the 21 which is a much below par roll of the RNG dice. Had a few of these bad luck rounds already so far this season, but let's look at the positives. We picked up a point, only drop 1 place to 5th and generally keep pace with everyone else. Once we do start to click we will be decimating teams, so let's look forward to that as bad times don't last, but bad guys do.

Champions League - Group A/Round 2
Chelsea 1 - 1 Inter Milan

We countered the best side in Milan for most of the game and together with HA, all things on the balance of most probabilities, should point towards a win for the sugar, sweet and all thing's nice Spice Boys. Not the case though. Once again we took the lead through Leao, who laughed off a transfer speculation about a move to the bot league of EFL1 and La Viola, by scoring and then doing the touch of death, kissing the Chelsea badge. I guess we will see on that one. Inter though are a good team, we edged them last season in the Champions League semi finals so we know they are no mugs and they came back to level things up. The game finished a draw and looking over the stats, it appears that the key metric was the amount of tackles made in the game. Chelsea made only 2 tackles, while Inter made a whopping 11 tackles which seriously reduced the amount of shots the best team in London could get off. A draw wasn't the worst result against Inter, but at home and after losing the first game away to Spurs we really needed a win here. It's going to be tough to get out of this group but we will give it a good shot.

Prem - Round 8
Chelsea 6 - 1 Sheffield United

Kinda expected a big win here given how Dave has had Sheff U playing this season. They are obviously looking to develop their team and have accepted relegation, so fair play. We had a job to do though, and we delivered putting the away side to the sword. Three points on the board and we climb into 4th spot above Villa who lost at home. Man City looking impressive so far at the top of the table undefeated in the league.

Prem - Round 9
Burnley 1 - 0 Chelsea

A game that I thought we should win as we are a better team, and if we don't win it - then we can pretty much write off a title challenge. To be in the hunt for titles you need to win games like this and so far this season we haven't been doing so. Burnley on the day, got their tactics right and deserved the win as much as it grates me to say it, but at least we beat a real life Dingle Bastard in Ray who has just outed himself, earlier in the season. Although, I think I already knew that, but we can take solace in that fact as we lost to the in game Dingles fair and square today.

FA Cup - Round 3
Spurs 0 - 2 Chelsea

We recently lost to Spurs away in the league so I did fear the worst when we drew our London rivals out the hat. We appeared to have much the best of the stats and actions in the game though, probably assisted by Spurs getting Vrsaljko sent off just after half time. Both sides played cauctiously and the game was taken to extra time. We threw on super sub Tadic for the extra 30 minutes and although he didn't get registered any goals or passes or anything, I like to think that he increased our team output being the lucky charm that he is, and allowed Firminio and Doku to add the goals in extra time that sealed our passage into the FA Cup Quarter Finals.

Prem - Round 10
Chelsea 1 - 0 Bristol City

When a win feels like a loss! I meant to play E in this one as I fully expected a the counter from Bristol but I must take full responsability for a balls up with my sheet in the conditionals which meant we switched to A in minute 1 and got countered for most the game. It looked like the game would finish a bore 0-0 draw, but Bristol suddenly switched away from the counter very late in the game which gave us an opportunity and Firminio scored to basically steal us a win here. But I'm kicking myself at the potential loss of a bigger win and lost abs. C'est la vie.

Prem - Round 11
Chelsea 1 - 0 Tottenham

One of them games were both managers obviously scout, and play the scisors, paper, stones routine. Tottenham shifted to an A away from home which normally walks right into our A, but they would predict that perhaps I think they would go C, and therefore would play E. I see their thinking. But we shifted in a different direction and played the Passing style of play, so I was happy to see the P v A initial starting tactics. A tight game ensused in which both teams had a man sent off, and we won with a KDB goal. Despite dominating the possession, we only managed 10 shots. Whenever we get a low amount of shots it always feels like a loss, never mind the result.

Champions League - Group A/Round 3
Barcelona 1 - 3 Chelsea
The battle of the so called 'pensioners'. Sometimes HA & TA amounts for shit verses a better team. We expected the C from Barca but played to our strengths anyway as we needed a win, with the group situation. Looks like Spurs are high and flying and it could be between Inter and Chelsea for the next spot, but I suppose you still can't count out Barca, albeit unlikely.

Prem - Round 12
Aston Villa 1 - 2 Chelsea

Was unsure who would be in the opposition dug out so was difficult to sheet for this one with the job being decided on the same day as the match. I expected a very close game and that's what we got with it being 31-30 on 'chances'. Goals from Firminio and Leao got us the win in what was very much a 50/50 game. We go up into 3rd on goal difference, still some way behind top placed Man City who just seem to grind out these 1-0 type wins. Couple of players rated up on 2nds including Leao and Lacroix which is always good news, but today marked the final game for Doku in his short Chelsea career as a transfer has been done with PSG that will see Fati and cash come in the other direction as the club continues to build and grind out value were they can with these savagely high wages to pay for.

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