Chelsea showed us their very worst and very best in two very different halves of football against Crystal Palace.
After saying the 3-1 win at Aston Villa last week could be a turning point for Chelsea under Mauricio Pochettino, it would have been typical of them to follow that result by failing to win against a side they have beaten 13 times in a row, that happen to be on the brink of sacking their manager, all while being without their two best players.
Chelsea ended up winning 3-1 against Crystal Palace on Monday evening but they did not make it easy for themselves after a sterile first-half performance.
Pochettino’s side went into half-time with 79% possession, seven touches in Crystal Palace’s box, 340 more successful passes than their hosts, but only one shot, which was not on target. It was the most passes made (420) by a team without registering a shot on target in a Premier League half in over 20 years. Proper Chels, that.
That statistic sums up much of the Blues’ 2023/24 campaign It was all bark, no bite, no tempo, knocking the ball around needlessly, failing to threaten. It was pretty much a training exercise.
We have often bemoaned the lack of philosophy under Pochettino and the opening 45 minutes showed there has been a philosophy this whole time; it just happened to be quite sh*t.
Struggling against the weaker sides in the division and looking dangerous against the better sides has become a theme this season for Chelsea but the second half on Monday night shows that the Blues have it in them to win games in which they are the favourites – which we have not seen nearly enough from a squad that cost more than £1billion to assemble.
The way Chelsea had operated in the opening 45 minutes made it look like Jefferson Lerma’s first-half screamer would be the only goal of the night. That was not the case after three goals in a single half came via a few tactical tweaks and a simple half-time message from Pochettino: stop messing about and take some risks.
You have to take risks to reap the rewards and a risk for a Chelsea player is going forward instead of sideways. That helped an anonymous Cole Palmer grow into the game, it helped Malo Gusto have his best match for the Blues, and it saw goals come from a midfield that has been so ineffective in the final third this season.
Conor Gallagher was typically the man of the match against Crystal Palace – for whom the England international was able to grow as a player on loan. When things are not going your way, a former player will score their first two league goals of the season against you. That’s just how football works.
Gallagher’s equaliser was expertly taken at an awkward height. It was the first time all night that Chelsea tried to force the issue and Moises Caicedo’s pre-assist pass for Gusto felt like the first time a visiting player attempted a through ball all night.
After the goal to make it 1-1, Chelsea kept pushing and probing in what was a brilliant 45 minutes from them.
Gusto was proving himself to be an outstanding outlet, which was helped by the immaturity of Matheus Franca, while Enzo Fernandez was displaying his superb passing range when the French right-back was in space.
The tempo increased and did not fall away until the full-time whistle. Palmer was on it and created Gallagher’s second goal, finding his England team-mate on the edge of the box. The finish was excellent and Chelsea made sure of the three points with a Fernandez nail in the coffin three minutes later, courtesy of another Palmer assist.
When coming up against the weaker sides in the Premier League between now and the end of the season, we will need to see Monday’s second half across the entire match. When Chelsea play at a high tempo and take risks on the ball, they ask questions of their opposition’s defence and show they can be ruthless.
While there has not been a familiar feel at Stamford Bridge over the last 18 months, there is also not a familiar feel to Selhurst Park and Crystal Palace.
Obviously, there was no Eberechi Eze or Michael Olise on Monday and Palace are a team that more often than not lean on the individual ability of their forward players, but the atmosphere was not there until the 85th minute and Matheus Franca struggled under the pressure of being that guy – while wearing Wilfried Zaha’s shirt number. Zaha was that guy for years and if Monday’s match is anything to go by, Franca has a long way to go.
Monday night’s match might be the last time we see Roy Hodgson manage a Premier League match and while Pochettino seemed to be staring down the barrel earlier this month, he has quickly changed the narrative like he changed Chelsea’s approach at half time against Palace. It was a real Jekyll and Hyde showing, and Poch will hope Chelsea’s season can reflect that with a strong finish to 2023/24.
