Chelsea made 248 passes in their latest fixture against Championship’s Charlton Athletic. Chelsea’s FA Cup fixture was Liam Rosenior’s debut match for the Blues, and he has done the job perfectly. In the last game their new coach has changed the tactics a bit and formed a new pivot duo; surprisingly, it worked for them. The fans loved the scenario as Liam Rosenior led Chelsea to their first win of the year. Fans believe that the real competition is coming for the new coach. It would be exciting to see how the coach manages the team in that situation.
In his pre-match press conference, the Blues boss urged fans to judge him on performances and results and got off to a good start with victory at The Valley. It was going to take a moment of magic to make the breakthrough, and that’s exactly what happened in the fourth minute of first-half injury time. A Moises Caicedo cross was cleared kindly into Jorrel Hato’s path, and his ferocious shot on a tight angle arrowed past the goalkeeper. Chelsea added another five minutes after the break. Facundo Buonanotte sent in a wicked free kick, which Tosin Adarabioyo nodded home. But Charlton were not about to make life easy for Chelsea or Rosenior and halved the deficit soon after, sending the fans into raptures. It came from a corner, with Lloyd Jones’ header rebounding into Miles Leaburn’s path. The Addicks academy graduate then fired home from close range. With the last kick of the game, Fernandez powered his penalty into the back of the net to book Chelsea’s place in Monday’s fourth-round draw. Despite a spirited performance from Charlton, their dismal run in the third round of the competition goes on, now exiting at this stage for a sixth successive season.
Chelsea Pivot Duo completed 284 passes
Chelsea tried out a few new things tactically in Saturday’s FA Cup win over Charlton, including a Moises Caicedo and Andrey Santos double pivot. We’ve all been keen to see more of that setup this season, with that releasing Enzo Fernandez to play further forward and Cole Palmer on the wing. We saw it for just 20 minutes against Fulham, before Marc Cucurella’s red meant Santos was taken off. On the evidence of Sunday, it can give us a very stable base. Caicedo took the most touches in the game, with 154. He made 139 passes. Santos had 132 touches and 120 passes, all according to Fotmob. They had 12 defensive contributions between them, shutting down Charlton repeatedly on the counter. Of course this is against lower league opposition. But there’s no reason to not try it again when Caicedo is back from his next ban. It helps us compete physically, without requiring us to use Reece James in midfield. This could be the first real tactical breakthrough of the Liam Rosenior era. Everyone predicted a new lease of life for Santos at Chelsea because of his existing success under Rosenior.
Fan’s reaction
The Chelsea fans are excited about the Rosenior era. Many fans instantly became a fan of the new pivot duo of Caicedo and Andrey Santos of Chelsea. The duo have completed a great number of passes between them. Many fans believe that Liam Rosenior has the potential to change Chelsea’s form and once again make them the giants of Europe. Social media is full of debates over Rosenior’s first win in his debut.
Author’s insight
From the author’s point of view, Chelsea fans seem to like the new pivot pair. If this pivot works out in the big games, Reece James might have to switch his role to right back.
As featured on Chelseanews.com