The Blues lacked the nouse and canniness to put a tricky second half to bed against Brentford. They won’t always get away with it
STAMFORD BRIDGE — “There are no pictures on the scorecard,” a wise golfer often says, usually to reassure a partner that their score, no matter the grit or fortune of its making, will simply appear as a number in the final reckoning.
You might say the same of Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Brentford, which in the most superficial of terms was a victory that moved them to within two points of the Premier League’s summit. But dig any deeper, and there are signs that their title challenge will need some refining as the season starts to turn for home.
Marc Cucurella’s day was a classic hero-to-zero performance, scoring Chelsea’s opener just two minutes before the break when it looked as though Brentford might frustrate the Blues for a whole half, and then earning a suspension by receiving two stoppage-time yellow cards, the second after full-time.
He would have been a contender for Player of the Match up until those final hair-brained minutes, when he was booked for rashly flying into a challenge on Fabio Carvalho, then infuriated Brentford by manufacturing a free-kick – collapsing holding his face – and finally got into a post-final whistle shoving match with Kevin Schade to earn his second caution.
“Personal opinion, I think Cucurella is a top player. I think he’s doing very, very well. [But] I don’t like when players go to the ground and take [hands] to the face when they aren’t hit in the face,” said Brentford boss Thomas Frank.
“I don’t want my players to do it. And I will be happy to say to Cucurella, because I respect him massively. But hey, it’s his choice.”
Chelsea are not ready, Enzo Maresca keeps insisting, to be title challengers. And he was honest enough to admit that they had proved as much against Brentford.
“No matter how many games we’re going to win, I think we are not ready to compete for the title. A team knows how to compete to win title is not going to concede the goal that we concede,” Maresca said, referring to Brian Mbuemo’s effort that tore the game open again and halved Chelsea’s lead with seven add minutes remaining.
It had come from a Chelsea throw-in deep in the Brentford half. Cucurella gave it to Moises Caicedo infield, surrounded by three players. He was robbed and seconds later the ball was in the net and the Bees were racing back to the halfway line, desperate for a great escape.
Like it or not, Chelsea are in the title race – “They are second, yes?”, as Frank pointed out – virtue of trailing league leaders Liverpool by just two points, albeit the Reds have a game in hand. And if they are to persist in running Arne Slot’s side close, they are going to have to wisen up – and fast.
To their credit, they did not panic when Brentford set up with a back five and sat incredibly deep for the first 45 minutes, allowing precious little space for the fast-breaking wingers Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke, although both made plenty of trouble from a standing start. Mark Flekken made a string of saves to keep the Bees level but there was a danger that the home side might start to feel frustrated. Cole Palmer was afforded little space in a congested centre and Nicolas Jackson could not get in behind. Cucurella’s header ensured half-time was a much more pleasant affair, and it seemed certain Chelsea, the Premier League’s top-scorers, would press on to comfortable victory over the worst away side in the division.
However, the comfort did not come. Jackson turned a sitter from six yards over the bar, Sancho rounded the keeper but could not find a finish or a cross and Palmer became increasingly peripheral. Brentford meanwhile grew into the game, started to switch on their pressing and when Thomas Frank threw on Fabio Carvalho, Kristoffer Ajer and Schade, all three were involved immediately in the visitors’ best move. Carvalho’s effort though hit the underside of the bar and bounced clear.
“What’s changed is Brentford are starting to win 50:50s,” said Stuart Pearce on Talksport’s radio commentary, a man who may never have lost one in his life. And it’s true that Chelsea lacked edge. In a game where they needed to put their foot on the throat, they took their eye off the ball, and were lucky not to be punished.
Why? The absence of Romeo Lavia, a minor injury, was notable, with Caicedo struggling to provide the same level of shielding from Brentford’s counter-attacking threat, while right-back Malo Gusto was repeatedly on Maresca’s lips in the technical area, the tone increasingly frustrated. And Tosin Adarabioyo, the only starter who had made the gruelling trip to Astana on Thursday, was distinctly off the pace. The Blues landed back from Kazakhstan at around 6am on Friday, and perhaps that was starting to weigh on the 27-year-old.
But really Chelsea, who were missing seven first-teamers through injury or suspension, lacked nouse in that second half. For a team with plenty of experience, they did not have the canniness to navigate that awkward second half, despite Nicolas Jackson’s breakaway goal eventually doubling their advantage.
Ironically, they needed more players like the now-suspended Cucurella. Had he not been the only one gulling the referee and wasting time by winding up Brentford players, he might not have got booked twice and they might have successfully run down more of the clock.
Their next Premier League appointment is at Sean Dyche’s Everton, who will provide a similarly resolute opposition to Brentford’s first-half efforts. Chelsea will need to show they are starting to learn the lesson.