The Clash Of The Title Challengers

I received a message on a social networking app (Whatsapp) hours before the kick off showing the starting line up of Chelsea. It was no line up actually. The message contained images of 11 buses, meaning it was expected that Chelsea were going to “park the bus” at the Etihad. It was understandable, keeping in mind that they did deploy that tactic against United. But it wasn’t to be on Monday, when, you would think, it was most needed.

Manchester City were forced to make changes while Chelsea, you would imagine, made the changes they wanted to. Demichelis came in for the injured Fernandinho, while Dzeko replaced the prolific Aguero. The former change, was a big question mark at the beginning of the game in terms of quality, as it isn’t his natural or shall we say his favorite position. Nastasic partnered City skipper Kompany in defence and the rest of the starting eleven was what most expected.

Jose lending a helping hand

Chelsea got Matic in for Lampard in a 4-2-3-1, with Luiz alongside. Hazard, who is undoubtedly one of Jose’s untouchables, played on the left with Willian and Ramires completing the three behind Eto’o. It was the classic Jose setup. Solid. Powerful. Mourinho said the team was set up in a way that they would attack when they have the ball and defend when they don’t have it.

It was a shaky start by the away side. Almost gifted the hosts a goal. It was the kind of situation that brought back memories of Nastasic gifting Torres the winner in the reverse fixture. But that was almost everything that Chelsea did wrong in the whole game. City controlled possession (65 % in the whole game) but couldn’t finish their moves off. Toure took a number of shots from in and around the box. But he hardly troubled Cech. Before Chelsea took the lead, City easily could have been two or three up. But it was Chelsea’s right back who got his name on the scoresheet. A typical Chelsea move, with Hazard leading the counter. City had men back but they couldn’t do anything about the goal. Ivanovic played Hazard through down the right and he pulled it back for Ramires whose shot was blocked. It broke to Ivanovic who scored with his left foot for the first time in the Premier League. Despite going a goal down, City played the same free flowing football that they did before conceding. Silva came the closest with a chance that he should have done better with. He was five yards from goal and he somehow managed to put it wide.

The second half saw Chelsea rattle the woodwork twice. Once, by Man Of The Match Nemanja Matic who did a very good job in keeping Toure quiet for a major part of the game. Then it was Gary Cahill, who was ever so unlucky to see his header come off the post. And boy was he exceptional when City poured men forward and got balls into the box late in the game. But courtesy of Cahill and former England captain John Terry, they never got the equalizer. Jovetic came in for Negredo just before the hour mark. He forced Cech into a good save when he shot from well outside the box. The keeper had it covered all the way. City kept trying but Jose had his defense well drilled.

Kolorav was the brightest player on the pitch for City. Even though he got booked, he was the one player who was a constant threat down City’s left flank. The absence of Aguero was felt as City lacked the movement up front and the cutting edge that the Argentine naturally provides. It was all in all an average performance from possibly the most ordinary City side that Pelligrini has had to field.

For Chelsea it went exactly as planned. Matic said in his post match interview that they worked hard all week for this match. And it paid off. A better effort in the final third and Chelsea could have come away with the kind of win that City are used to having at home.

So the immovable object stood. And the unstoppable force couldn’t move it.

Once again Jose showed exactly why he is “The Special One”. And by the end of the match he became “The Happy One”. He defeated what arguably is the strongest side in the League. He got another one over Manuel Pelligrini. But still, he doesn’t see his team as title contenders. Or maybe he doesn’t want the pressure to get to his “young eggs”. Whatever is the truth, only Jose knows.