Chelsea managed to win their first League match for more than a month on Saturday afternoon, and secured a 2-0 victory in Liam Rosenior’s first Premier League game – but they did get lucky.
On another day, Brentford could have scored three or four. It was almost as if Keith Andrews’ side were the home team and Chelsea were the team on their travels, yet the Blues managed to secure a 2-0 win.
Goals from Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer proved to be enough for Chelsea despite the Bees having the best chances. Kevin Schade, Igor Thiago, and plenty of other Brentford stars should have found the net.
START, BENCH, SELL: Marc Cucurella, Reece James and Malo Gusto
Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella coming on for Malo Gusto
Photo by Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Which order are you going with? 🤔
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A lot of improvement is required even if Rosenior will be delighted to just get results at the moment, with Enzo Maresca’s replacement thrown in at the deep end. Alan Shearer believes one player was to blame.
Shearer thinks Marc Cucurella to blame for Brentford dominance
Brentford found massive gaps in the middle of the park and while Chelsea got their press right, with the Blues scoring both of their goals after winning the ball back, the midfield left massive gaps throughout.
Marc Cucurella of Chelsea walks to the tunnel after being shown a red card
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Often, Marc Cucurella would bomb forward, as Jorrel Hato did from left-back against Charlton. But it left a gap and Enzo Fernandez often covered for the £63m signing. That left holes in the middle of the park.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football, Shearer believes Cucurella was out of position and it allowed Brentford to dominate: “Here were lots of papers being passed onto the pitch to tell players to do this, do that.
“Fernandez was taking up Cucurella’s space and that’s why they were wide open. Improvements will have to be made and get away with it,” Shearer continued on what he noticed about Chelsea on Saturday.
What Marc Cucurella’s managers have said about him
“He has been phenomenal. Since I came to the club, his level has been high, not only his defending but also as part of our play with the ball.”
Enzo Maresca
“He’s a great professional, a really mature player…”
Luis de la Fuente
“He just came into the team at Brighton, he solved some problems for us in terms of balance on that left side, but his personality is infectious. He is a real good character around the team, he has got fantastic intensity.”
Graham Potter
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But Chelsea did earn praise from Alan Shearer for one thing
One thing that Brentford have been good at this season is their ability to score goals from set-pieces and long throw-ins. But Chelsea held firm to earn a first clean sheet in their last eight games, league and cup.
Shearer was impressed with the set-piece defending: “What they [Chelsea] did really well, is defend set-pieces and long throw-ins. They looked in really good shape to defend those, they did that really well,”
It was an improvement even from the first two games under Rosenior in which Chelsea conceded a goal against Charlton from a corner, and then another corner against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup defeat.
Next up for Chelsea is Pafos in the Champions League, which will be Rosenior’s first game in the league. Cole Palmer is likely to be a doubt, while illness is likely to remain a problem at Chelsea currently.
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