Chelsea were well beaten by Brentford in tonight’s Friday Night Football, with some painful truths becoming clear.
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So far this season, Chelsea have looked dangerous in attack, but weak in defence and open in midfield.
So after a surprisingly solid first half against Brentford, we were hopeful. Had we finally found the balance?
As it turns out, no. In the second half we lost all that solidity without gaining back any of our attacking threat. In the end the 3-0 scoreline felt that much worse simply because we’d made it halfway with the scores level.
Chelsea weaknesses shown up by organised Brentford
Despite some good performances, it’s been noted widely that the early goals we’ve been able to score, while good in themselves, have given us favourable game states in the Premier League this season. Today we saw a game where the opposition didn’t concede early, and didn’t need to open up.
Brentford knew they are strong at set pieces, and we are weak. They patiently played for them, scored from a corner, then had us right where they wanted to pick us off on the break.
Alonso has three weeks now to work with at least some of his players.
In other news…
Alonso brought on Estevao – but only in the 88th minutes, a long time after Geovany Quenda got his chance as first attacking sub off the bench.
Jordan Henderson was the outstanding Chelsea player in the first half, not for doing anything flashy but just for giving this team some calm and control in midfield.
