Chelsea Season 2016/17 Review

Chelsea Season 2016/17 Review

Antonio Conte may not have dominated the headlines like Jose Mourinho or Pep Guardiola, but there was only one winner in the battle of the Premier League super managers. The Italian pulled Chelsea through a difficult start to the season and they never looked back.
The switch to a 3-4-3 formation was so successful it inspired the rest of the Premier League do to the same, and Conte also brought the best out of individual players. Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso shone as wing-backs, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa were reinvigorated, while N'Golo Kante was every bit as good as he was at Leicester.
Resounding victories over Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City were obvious highlights, but perhaps the most impressive aspect of Chelsea's success was their sheer relentlessness. They didn't drop points in consecutive games from September onwards. Once they got going, the title never really looked in doubt.

Managerial review
It's an 11/10! Conte has been absolutely brilliant. It will be different next season but what he has come in and done from 50 points to 90-odd points is phenomenal.

Player of the year: Eden Hazard
I know N'Golo Kante has won the PFA and Sports Writers awards, but I am a great lover of people who make things happen on the pitch and Hazard does that. He is in a different league to the rest in my opinion.

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Premier League Match Report - Manchester United 2 Chelsea 0

Manchester United 2 Chelsea 0

Goals early in the first and second halves proved the Blues undoing at Old Trafford.
Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera were the Manchester United goalscorers and the result reflected the attacking balance of a game in which Chelsea’s usual potency was on the whole diminished.
There was hope the home side, having played in Europe on Thursday, might become more vulnerable late in the game with Chelsea improving on our first-half showing, but by then with their two-goal advantage they were able to keep men back. The game came to a close without the returning David De Gea having to face a shot on target.
Our Premier League lead is reduced to four points ahead of the pause for FA Cup semi-final action next weekend.
When the team sheets were handed in there was one enforced change to the Chelsea line-up from the one last weekend at Bournemouth. Thibaut Courtois was unavailable with an ankle injury so Asmir Begovic came in for his first Premier League action of the season, and there was one further change that then had to be made. Marcos Alonso was unable to complete the warm-up which meant a late introduction to the side for Kurt Zouma with Cesar Azpilicueta pushed out wide.

Jose Mourinho, in the midst a Europa League tie, mixed his selection up more. He recalled De Gea among four changes and named Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the Man United bench.

Jesse Lingard was paired with Marcus Rashford in the Red Devils’ attack and it was through the latter that they took the early lead – with just seven minutes gone. A key to the goal was a well-weighted long counter-attacking pass by Herrera which allowed Rashford to run in behind David Luiz, but the Blues can feel unfortunate that an initial Herrera handball which cut out a Chelsea pass and ended an attack was not spotted. Rashford stayed ahead of the Chelsea defence and finished with a shot across the advancing Begovic.

Given the surprise disruption of the Alonso injury, it was a start the Blues definitely could have done without. We had conceded for the first time against the Red Devils this season and in doing so had lifted the Old Trafford crowd. A tough afternoon was on the cards.
On 12 minutes a ball was crossed high by Victor Moses into the Man United area which resulted in a De Gea catch and a coming together between Diego Costa and Eric Bailly. The referee had words although it was a collision with the post that was the main cause of the defender's pain.
Ashley Young went close to a second goal for the home side before it was Diego Costa’s turn to be felled, in his case by a challenge from behind by Marcos Rojo.
Begovic made a save from a Rashford ball squared across goal which came in between two Chelsea attempts to counter-attack. The second of those was halted abruptly by a Fellaini foul on the advancing David Luiz. The Blues were still looking for a proper foothold in the game when Young shot wide for a second time with half-an-hour almost played.
Diego Costa was carded for catching Paul Pogba late. Man United were perhaps fortunate not to pick up a yellow themselves when Hazard was fouled by Herrera. It did give us the chance for a free-kick deep into the United area but the ref spotted a Blues infringement. The game was frustratingly stop-start.

Matters did go Chelsea’s way when after Moses slipped when dealing with Rashford, a cross which hit the head of Gary Cahill looped safely onto the top of our net. The Manchester rain had fallen heavily during the day and Azpilicueta slipped as well soon after when about to cross.
As first-half stoppage time began, Diego Costa from distance lashed wide after the Blues moved the ball at speed, but Man United playing a 3-5-2 shape were not truly tested at the back in the first 45 minutes. Going forward they had their moments but when Young lashed the last chance of the first period over the bar, we knew we would at least start the second half only one goal behind.

However the hammer blow of the second goal came only four minutes after the restart. Chelsea had half-cleared the danger a couple of times through David Luiz and Kante but Herrera’s shot from the edge of the area deflected off the leg of Zouma and left Begovic helpless as it flew past.
Two-nil down away from home against a top-six side. Something different was needed so Antonio Conte called for Cesc Fabregas and took Moses off. We went to a 4-3-3 shape.
Fabregas’s sharp-thinking almost made it happen before long but his quickly taken free-kick towards Diego Costa dropped kindly for De Gea. Azpilicueta tried to pick out Pedro in space but the Spaniard stretching at the far post could not quite reach it for a shot on goal. He later cut inside with the ball and had a shot deflected over for a corner which led to a big scramble, but again the loose ball did not fall our way.

At the other end, the lively Rashford followed up an early effort over the bar by Lingard with a shot into the side-netting. Rashford later broke forward and managed to hold off the attentions of David Luiz and Zouma to draw a save from Begovic.
Herrera did pick up a booking for a foul on Hazard but time was fast running out for Chelsea. The game was inside the final 20 minutes. Rojo also saw yellow for pulling back Diego Costa but although the Blues had the ball in the United half for plenty of the closing minutes, there was no way through. Fabregas joined the booked players late on.
This is our first defeat outside London this season and our first against Man United in 13 meetings.

Chelsea (3-4-3): Begovic; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill (c); Moses (Fabregas 54), Kante, Matic (Willian 67), Zouma (Loftus-Cheek 83) Pedro, Diego Costa, Hazard.
Unused subs Eduardo, Terry, Ake, Batshuayi.
Booked Diego Costa 33, Cahill 47, Fabregas 90.

Man United (3-5-2): De Gea; Bailly, Rojo, Darmian; Valencia, Fellaini, Herrera, Pogba, Young (c) (Fosu-Mensah 90+3), Rashford (Ibrahimovic 83), Lingard (Carrick 60).
Unused subs Romero, Blind, Shaw, Mkhitaryan.
Scorers Rashford 7. Herrera 49.
Booked Herrera 73, Rojo 75

Referee Robert Madley
Crowd 75,272

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Premier League Match Report - Chelsea 4 Manchester United 0

Chelsea 4 Manchester United 0

The Blues recorded a third straight victory, and another clean sheet, with a devastating performance against Jose Mourinho's Manchester United to move up to fourth in the Premier League table on goal difference.
Pedro opened the scoring inside the first minute and stand-in skipper Gary Cahill extended our advantage midway through the first half. Eden Hazard made it 3-0 after the break before N'Golo Kante completed the scoring with his first goal for the club, latching on to a Pedro flick and finishing marvellously.
It was a totally dominant Chelsea display and on the rare occasions Thibaut Courtois was called into action he responded every time, making crucial first-half saves from Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford and then denying Jesse Lingard and Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the break.
Conte opted against making any changes to the side which beat Leicester last weekend, with Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz and Cahill continuing at the heart of the defence. Pedro made his 50^th appearance for the Blues while Diego Costa, who scored his seventh goal of the season last weekend, led the line. Former Chelsea midfielder Juan Mata started on the bench for the visitors.
Before kick-off, a special banner in memory of Matthew Harding was unfurled in the lower tier of the stand named after our former vice-chairman on the 20^th anniversary of his passing.

The importance of starting big matches in a positive manner cannot be understated but few could have predicted how quickly the Blues would have flown out of the blocks, with the hosts taking the lead inside the opening 30 seconds.
As the ball was worked out to the left-hand side from kick-off, Marcos Alonso played a speculative ball forward into the United half and, sensing some hesitancy between Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling, Pedro raced in behind and got there first. David De Gea advanced off his line but Pedro took it beyond his compatriot with one touch and rolled the ball into the empty net, sending the home supporters delirious.

It was the fastest Premier League goal of the season so far and the Spaniard’s of the campaign. What a time to get it.

United were quickly on the front foot as they looked to hit back. David Luiz did brilliantly to cut out a teasing Rashford delivery and from another cross by the same player Ibrahimovic headed over the bar.
Hazard then flashed a strike just past the post from a Pedro cross as the game, in its early stages, produced far more in terms of goalscoring opportunities than many had anticipated.
It was developing into an entertaining contest and with 20 minutes on the clock it was 2-0 to the Blues. Victor Moses, Kante and Hazard linked up well to force a corner and when the Belgian’s delivery was flicked on at the near post, the ball bounced up off Herrera and landed at the feet of Cahill who made no mistake from close range.

Both Pedro and Hazard then saw dangerous crosses pushed away by De Gea while at the other end Courtois produced two brilliant saves in quick succession to deny Herrera and Rashford.
Diego Costa almost added a third for the Blues on the stroke of the break from an intelligent David Luiz free-kick but his shot was charged down by Bailly.
The visitors made one change at the break as Mata replaced the largely ineffective Marouane Fellaini, meaning Paul Pogba dropped into a deeper position alongside Herrera.
Bailly was fortunate to escape punishment when he cynically brought down Hazard as the Chelsea winger attempted to exchange passes with Diego Costa on the edge of the United box.
Hazard then went close as the Blues broke at pace but after being played in by an incisive Moses pass his effort was well blocked by the covering Chris Smalling.
Unsurprisingly United were beginning to see a lot of the ball and Courtois produced a fine save to thwart Lingard who went for goal from long range.
It was starting to look as though the next goal would be hugely significant and it went our way just after the hour mark.
Kante fed Matic deep inside the United half and the Serbian picked out the run of Hazard, who had drifted into the box, with a wonderful first-time pass and the winger did the rest, cutting inside Smalling and curling a brilliant strike into the far corner.

Nine minutes later, a wonderful afternoon took an even better turn when Kante scored his first Chelsea goal to make it 4-0, and it was a strike of the highest quality as the midfielder latched on to a sublime Pedro flick, dropped his shoulder to ease past Smalling and finished with all the composure of a clinical striker.
The fans celebrated wildly, Conte leapt into the arms of his coaching staff and every player ran to jump on Kante.
Nathaniel Chalobah was introduced for Pedro immediately after the goal and he was soon followed by Willian and Michy Batshuayi, who replaced Hazard and Diego Costa respectively.
Courtois made another brilliant stop to push away an Ibrahimovic drive as the visitors desperately looked for a route back into the game but, in truth, the second-half goals by Hazard and Kante had all but killed the game off.
How fitting, on the 20th anniversary of Harding's passing, the Blues produced our best performance of the season.
Substance, style and a clinical edge. He would have been proud.

Chelsea (3-4-3): Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill (c); Moses, Kante, Matic, Alonso; Pedro (Chalobah 71), Diego Costa (Batshuayi 77), Hazard (Willian 77).
Unused subs: Begovic, Aina, Terry, Oscar.
Scorers Pedro 1, Cahill 20, Hazard 61, Kante 70
Booked Pedro 1, David Luiz 40, Alonso 65

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Valencia, Smalling (c), Bailly, Blind; Herrera, Fellaini (Mata h/t); Rashford, Pogba, Lingard (Martial 65); Ibrahimovic.
Unused subs: Romero, Rojo, Darmian, Carrick, Young.
Booked Bailly 29, Pogba 74

Referee Martin Atkinson
Crowd 41,424

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