I hate to say I told you so. Before I delve into what actually happened yesterday let me preface by saying it all could have been avoided had we signed the players we needed to.
Why?
Conte would have been happy.
This would have translated to the players who in turn would have been happy.
It would have taken away the sense of nervousnessness in the opening moments, driven home by Captain Fantastic taking matters into his own hands and driving forward. It was only going to end one way, with him losing the ball, it did and he dove in. It wasn’t a red but we weren’t going to get any decisions from Pawson.
If we had this positive aura around the club instead of the tetchy, negative one, yesterday wouldn’t have unfolded as it did.
The Opening
We started ok. We looked nervous, Burnley were pressing but after the opening five minutes we were starting to find a bit of joy, playing triangles out of defence and exploiting a clear space on the right hand side which Azpi was making the most of. Twice he was free, only once did one of his crosses come to anything, a near miss by Willian. It was becoming more promising as the game wore on.
The Collapse
Then it happened. Gary Cahill, not good with the ball at his feet, decided to drive that point home with a mazy dribble forward. He lost sight of the ball and dove in to a challenge to try and win it back. Were his studs up? Yeah. Was it dangerous? Kind of. Was it a red? Not for me. Early in this season we have been on the receiving end of some harsh refereeing, i can take this as long as it is dished out the other end. Now that I am going to be watching every Chelsea game start to finish for this lovely website, I’ll be able to check back.
Anyway, we collapsed. The ice cream van came and so I missed minutes 15-22, managing to rejoin the game just in time for Vokes to score the opener. We threatened to lose our heads with Fabregas getting yellow carded for “doing a Rooney”. Silly, but understandable from a player who wants to win and sees his chances of winning lessened by poor officiating. Two more goals followed in quick succession shortly before half time, both due to poor defending. I don’t blame individual defenders for these as it is hard to defend with ten men when the passion is so high, people get caught out position and it’s understandable, especially players playing in new positions. So off to half time we went. Conte had barely moved and we were 3-0 down to Sean Bloody Dyche.
The Comeback
The second half opened and it was a bit cagey. Burnley’s natural lack of ability cost them them the chance to go for the jugular and they looked happy to sit on their lead. We were struggling to get hold of the ball, with Batshuayi in particular having a woeful game. Eight times I counted in the first half where the ball bounced off him. Not good enough and it was a mercy when Morata was summoned on the hour mark.
With the game petering a little bit but Chelsea certainly the aggressor, Willian found a bit of space on the right and whipped a fantastic ball into the middle, Morata met it unmarked and guided a lovely header into the bottom corner. The comeback was one. The increase in anticipation around the stadium was felt as Chelsea drove on, peppering the Burnley goal with balls into the box, pot shots and corners, struggling to find that next goal.
The impressive Andreas Christensen was unlucky to have a goal disallowed due to the over eager Alvaro Morata touching the ball as it crossed the line. If the ball was going in anyway, why not let it stand? Seems a bit of a nitpicky rule, if it is one. Anyway, then the ref decided he wasn’t going to stand for this comeback and took advantage of Fabregas winning both ball and man and sent the Spaniard off. He was furious and Chelsea seemed beaten.
Up stepped Morata again, a delicious flick over the Burnley defence, with his head no less, led to Luiz crashing one through Tom Heatons legs. So it was 3-2. Hilariously, Craig Pawson must have sensed the comeback and gave Burnley a free kick right on the edge of the box due to Sam Vokes pushing David Luiz. He gave it against Antonio Rudiger which was even weirder, the German tried to keep his balance unsuccessfully and falling on top of an already prone Vokes. By any stretch, a ridiculous decision. The fantastic left foot of Robbie Brady stepped up and crashed it against the post. Burnley tried to see out a silly four minutes but lost the ball with ninety seconds to go. Chelsea lumped the ball into the box, it fell for Alonso who was free, he drove it into the six yards area but. We had nine players. They had twelve. They had the numbers to clear it, and clear it they did, coming away with a scarcely deserved win.
The Review
Never before have I seen a worse refereeing decision at Stamford Bridge. Ovrebo was bad but for an all round, all game performance, this was the one. The king of all bad performances. Notable also was Michu Batshuayi, who was almost as bad at playing football as Pawson was at officiating it. Rudiger and Christensen looked good, Luiz was a warrior, Willian effervescent and Morata looked fantastic. There are reasons to be positive but we need some damn players.
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