A Blue Up North reviews our comfortable win in the FA Cup.
This weekend sees the 5th round of this season’s FA Cup and on Friday evening Chelsea hosted Championship side Hull City at Stamford Bridge. The Blues have only failed to progress from this stage of the competition once in their previous 10 attempts and had beaten The Tigers on their last 6 meetings in all competitions.
With Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Spanish giants Barcelona kicking off a tough run of matches for Antonio Conte’s side, the Italian rang the changes to his starting line up. Willy Caballero, Gary Cahill, Ethan Ampadu, Danny Drinkwater and Willian were all recalled whilst January signing Emerson got his first run out in a blue shirt. And the manager will be very satisfied with what he saw. The attitude and application shown by his players, combined with the individual and team skills were precisely what was required.
Hull City are going through another tough season. After being relegated at the end of their last campaign, they have found life difficult in England’s second tier. Nigel Adkins took over the manager’s role in early December and after a run of only 2 victories in their last 11 league matches they lie just above the relegation zone in 21st place.
Adkins has tightened up their leaky defence but he went into the match at The Bridge without a trio of defensive options in the loanees from Chelsea, whilst experienced midfielder Seb Larsson was suspended. Fortunately ex-Tottenham stalwart Michael Dawson had recovered from injury and was able to reclaim his spot in defence, but the whole Hull team were completely outclassed by their hosts.
Under the ownership of Assem Allam, the club have steadily been selling their best players and the remaining squad tried their best, but their play was riddled with errors. It only took 2 minutes for such an error to be thoroughly punished. Kevin Stewart lost possession deep in his own half, only for Giroud to feed Willian, who created a yard of space and fired in a nerve settling opening goal.
Pedro, Willian again and Giroud with his first Chelsea goal put the match way beyond Hull’s reaches by half time. This commanding position allowed young Callum Hudson-Odoi to be given a full 45 minute runout. It was a second half where the hosts showed less intensity while the visitors tried their best to get a bit of respectability to the scoreline, but even a spot kick from 12 yards would not be kind to them.
It was only a week ago that most in the media were speculating who was about to replace Antonio Conte, but now the Chelsea manager will feel far more contented with his plight. A second comfortable win, with a second clean sheet, progress in to the next round, key players rested before facing tougher opponents and squad players performing well enough to give the manager some hard decisions with regards to starting line ups.
Caballero once again proved his worth to the squad with keeping out all that The Tigers could fire at his goal, including an excellent penalty save. Ampadu belies his young age, especially in a role that usually improves with experience. His self belief generates a level of calmness that allows him to focus on the art of defending. 100% pass accuracy, 4 tackles won, 3 interceptions and 4 clearances is a very impressive set of match statistics that even John Terry would have been proud of achieving.
Davide Zappacosta was a handful on The Blues’s right flank and was regularly supporting the attackers. Emerson gradually got more in to the match and culminated with an impressive attacking run to the byline which created his assist for Giroud’s goal. Hudson-Odoi and second half substitute Kyle Scott both displayed the skill set and the application required for such young players to push the regulars for playing time. Giroud again led the line very well and thoroughly deserved his goal. The Frenchman is clearly enjoying his time with his new club and new teammates.
However it was the sublime Willian who stole the show. The Brazilian was able to create the space which allowed his immense talents to shine. His 2 goals could so easily have been converted into his first hat trick but his runs, his trickery and his finishing would have been a handful for Barcelona’s finest never mind Hull’s.
So The Tigers return to concentrate on their battle to stave off relegation while The Blues march on in to the quarter finals.
Written by Jon Ellis. Follow him on Twitter @ClitheroeBlue
