Chelsea 2-0 Leicester City: Diego Costa scores on home debut before Eden Hazard seals the points as Jose Mourinho's men eventually down brave Foxes at Stamford Bridge
http://teqmag.blogspot.com/2014/08/chelsea-2-0-leicester-city-diego-costa.html
At times last week it seemed some were ready to award Chelsea the Premier League title on the back on a 3-1 win at Burnley.
And
though in the end they did re-discover some of that momentum on
Saturday, the over-riding lesson of their victory over Leicester was the
stark reminder that Chelsea’s season will be a degree tougher in the
long run and that they still struggle against well-organised teams.
True,
they won comfortably enough in the end with goals from Diego Costa and
Eden Hazard. And they could even afford a carnival moment towards the
end, with Didier Drogba coming on, a hero returning to his natural home,
on 79 minutes.
Joy: Diego Costa runs off in
celebration after breaking the deadlock for Chelsea against Leicester
City on his home Premier League debut in a 2-0 win
At the double: Chelsea winger Eden
Hazard made the game comfortable with a strike from the edge of the area
in the 77th-minute to break Leicester City hearts
Finish: Diego Costa slots the ball
past Kasper Schmeichel in the Leicester City goal to put Chelsea 1-0 up
after 62 minutes at Stamford Bridge
That's what money buys you: Chelsea's
£32million summer signing Diego Costa opened the scoring at Stamford
Bridge after 62 minutes on Saturday
Save! Chelsea's number one Thibaut
Courtois made a terrific save from David Nugent when Chelsea were just
1-0 up to ensure that the home side bagged the points
Triumph: Eden Hazard (centre)
celebrates with fellow goalscorer Diego Costa (left) after netting
Chelsea's second goal to seal the game against Leicester City
Yet
though all ended happily, Chelsea laboured incredibly to get ahead in
the first place. They were truly abject in the first half, languid and
one paced, lacking both tempo and creativity, just as they had been for
many games last season.
Mourinho
disappeared down the tunnel a good three minutes before half time to
prepare his team talk. Judging by his team’s response in the second
half, their manager had let them know quite how bad it was, though
somewhat bizarrely the coach seemed to think the weather - cool and
breezy for the time of year - was partly to blame.
‘We
have lots of work to do,’ said Mourinho afterwards. ‘Our first half
showed clearly that we have to improve. This week I trained at 3 o’clock
because I was expecting this, as it’s not the best weather to play
football, because you get a bit lazy. But I was unsuccessful in that
because the team was lazy in the first half, which I didn’t like. But in
the second half everything improved and they showed that they wanted
it.
‘I
think the weather makes players lazy, lose a bit of tension and
sharpness in the body and after that you pass slow you move slow and you
don’t react to the second balls and by the time you wake up it’s half
time
‘At
half time we had to be a little bit emotional with them and make them
realise we were at risk,’ said Mourinho. ‘I wasn’t annoyed but I told
them that if you have the same feeling I have we’re not in trouble, we
will change. But if you don’t we’re in trouble. I think they understood.
It’s important not to lose points against teams that normally you would
beat.’
It
wasn’t simply that Leicester set up well and frustrated Chelsea. Dean
Hammond was the most dominant presence in the midfield in the first half
while Riyad Mahrez was always lively and indeed produced the first shot
on target of the game on 35 minutes, which Thibaut Courtois got down
well to save.
‘I’m
proud but disappointed,’ said Leicester manager Nigel Pearson
afterwards. ‘I’m disappointed we weren’t able to to convert an
encouraging performance into a reward with points. The good thing is we
created chances throughout the game. We played well but as always it
will be about how efficient we are in both penalty areas.’
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