Chelsea’s special touch of class
Although Jose Mourinho threw his usual smoke grenades in the build up by playing it down and implying Chelsea couldn’t keep up with City’s spending power, make no mistake, he knew how big this game was. He lives for nights like last Monday and, more often than not, comes out on top against his closest rivals.
Admittedly, Chelsea had a huge boost in the run-up when Sergio Aguero was ruled out for a number of weeks after pulling his hamstring against Spurs. Both John Terry and Gary Cahill would have been delighted to see Aguero missing out, as he is simply impossible to keep quiet. Both Negredo and Dzeko are fine strikers but they aren’t at the same level as Aguero.
The visitors then received another lift when the team sheets were swapped an hour before kick-off and there was no Fernandinho in the City line-up, with Dimechelis deputising in central midfield. This would have sent Chelsea into the game knowing they could win.
And they set the tone for their performance right from kick-off by closing City down high up the pitch. A lot of Chelsea fans were unhappy about Juan Mata’s move to Manchester United in January but Monday night’s match showed the direction in which Mourinho wants to take this side — and I’m not too sure Mata could fit into it. We have heard whispers that Mourinho wasn’t happy with Mata’s work-rate when they were out of possession and, even though I felt that was a little harsh on him, I honestly don’t think the Spaniard could replicate the phenomenal levels of athleticism and work-rate displayed by Willian, Hazard and Ramires against City.
Willian has been getting good reviews in recent weeks and I’ve been looking at him closely to see if I agree. At the Etihad, I could finally understand what the fuss was about. He is very efficient in his work and rarely loses the ball cheaply. He played quite central on the evening while Ramires was given the role on the right wing to nullify the threat of Kolorov’s surging runs from left-back — which he did, to great effect.
We also saw Matic starting for the first time and he showed why Chelsea bit the bullet and went back to pay well over what they sold him for only a couple of seasons ago. He is built for the Premier League with his strong athletic frame and, if his first full 90 minutes is anything to go by, he will be a big player for them.
But, on a night when all of Chelsea’s players played well, Edin Hazard stole the show with a superb all-round performance. He made Zabaleta, the best right-back in the league, look very ordinary by constantly running at him or bringing him inside to positions where he wasn’t comfortable. His first touch is sublime and his awareness of when to take a touch or when to play it first time is as good as I’ve seen. If he adds goals and is a little more ruthless in the final third of the pitch, where it really matters, he could put himself into the bracket of the best players in the world.
The one area where Chelsea do fall short is at centre-forward. If you had a strike force of both Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto’o as they were three or four years ago, then you would have had two of the best strikers on the planet. But the world of football moves quickly and these two are no longer the unstoppable threat they once were. I would be amazed if Chelsea don’t make a marquee signing in that position in the summer.
I can’t help liking Mourinho and could listen to his interviews, press conferences and analysis of matches all day long. He looks very much at home and content on his return to Chelsea. His appointment came at a time when both man and club needed stability and it’s now looking a perfect fit.
Despite his previous successful spell in charge at Stamford Bridge he still has hunger to succeed there and he has been ruthless at times in his decision-making for the good of the team — you only need to look at the limited appearances of Ashley Cole and even Frank Lampard in recent weeks.
Manchester City have an edge now atop of the Premier League but the performance and result against City will have given Chelsea confidence and belief they can win the title.
