Chelsea
Hawthorns Humiliation
Berahino Scores
By Gary Watton
May 19 2015
This was an evening when anything that could go wrong did just about go wrong. The Blues were missing Oscar, Ramires, and Zouma, they were reduced to ten men, and they conceded a penalty, while a decent left-footed strike from Remy came off the post, with the goalkeeper well beaten, and this just about summed up a miserable night at the office for the English champions.
Of course Jose Mourinho, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, partially blamed our rival title contenders for allowing their own meek challenge for the Premiership to peter out weeks, and even months ago, thereby leaving the Blues with little motivation or sense of urgency. However, this is a flimsy excuse, to put it mildly. In truth, both clubs respected this apparent non-event by fielding really strong teams for the occasion. This seemed to be a signal of intent, and Chelsea both with the full complement of eleven men and even with ten men attacked with real purpose and were not going through any end-of-season motions from what I could see.
The trouble was that the gifted Berahino scored an early goal, with a peach of a strike from twenty yards, and this time there would be no heroic comeback, as executed at Leicester a few weeks ago. If one was being a bit harsh, one could accuse Cahill of not being close enough to young Berahino and thereby allowing him a little window of opportunity to get a shot away, and the Baggies' prodigy duly obliged. All that was left was for big Courtois to make a spectacular dive whilst the ball flew past him and into the corner of the net.
Thereafter, Eden Hazard continued to buzz and work his magic, but the hosts were not to be denied. Unfortunately, their cause was given a helpful boost courtesy of what Mourinho rightly called "a bizarre red card". The returning Costa [who actually played most of the match with a smile on his face] got involved in the inevitable handbags with McAuley, and while a melee of players plus referee were negotiating an armistice, Cesc Fabregas mischievously kicked the ball over to the scrum of assembled players and almost decapitated one of the home team players. What Cesc did was not malicious but instead was an act of sheer stupidity, as befitting a naughty schoolboy. However, drama queen Darren Fletcher accelerated towards the Spanish maestro with a misplaced bout of fury that seemed to persuade the silly referee, Mike Jones, that Fabregas should be removed from the proceedings. It was all much ado about nothing. Hopefully, Fletcher will look back at his own behaviour during replays and feel embarrassed about his over-reaction. If he doesn't feel red-faced about his antics, the rest of us will feel red-faced on his behalf. If Ivanovic or Terry [no strangers to hyper reactions that influence officials] had acted like Fletcher, their behaviour would have been the subject of a two-hour debate on Blokesport or Radio Five Dead. Of course, Chelsea misbehaviour is much more juicy and newsworthy than that of a West Brom has-been.
So it came to pass that Chelsea had to struggle on thereafter with one less man. The Blues continued manfully to throw men forward, but a lack of numbers may have assisted West Brom in carving out two further goals early in the second half. First Berahino was found with an exquisite through ball, prompting John Terry to foul him as he closed in on goal. It was a clear penalty, although Berahino's subsequent spot kick was less convincing, but still just about escaped the attentions of Courtois. Then, on the hour mark, Chelsea resistance was well and truly broken when a speculative effort from Chris Brunt made its way in at the near post as Courtois, possibly unsighted when the strike was made, failed miserably to deal with this near-post strike. I cannot help but feel that the big Belgian is ordinarily an excellent goalkeeper, but he is still a work in progress and maybe not deserving of any 'best goalkeeper in the world' accolade just yet.
All that was left was for Jose to give the hopeless Cuadrado and young Ake and Brown a chance to stretch their legs. We were expecting a number of younger players to be blooded for this occasion, but instead they were held back on the bench, presumably to be brought on when we had fashioned a two-goal lead. However, even for Mourinho, not everything goes to plan.
All that remains is for Chelsea to put one over on our bogey team, Sunderland, which just might result in them being shunted down to the Championship. To see the Geordies or the Mackems join toxic QPR in the lower league would be the icing on the cake of a marvellous domestic season for London's finest club. Bravo!
West Bromwich Albion 3 CHELSEA 0; half time: 1-0. Monday 18th May 2015.
CHELSEA team: Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Filipe Luis, Matic, Loftus-Cheek, Fabregas, Remy, Costa, Hazard. Used substitutes: Cuadrado; Ake; Brown.
CHELSEA LEADING SCORERS:
Costa - 20 goals
Hazard - 19 goals
Terry - 8 goals
Drogba, Oscar, and Remy - 7 goals
Ivanovic - 6 goals
Fabregas and Schurrle - 5 goals
Ramires and Willian - 4 goals
Cahill and Matic - 3 goals
Zouma - 2 goals
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19/05/2015 14:10
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