Chelsea cruise past Fulham with big Havertz, Mount, and Mendy performances - Talking Points
Si's Chelsea vs Fulham observations and verdict!
It was a rather odd game, and although it felt very open and end to end at times, it had a feel of Chelsea never really leaving third gear to win this one, and they cruised it in the end.
The way Chelsea won this game, was very much like the way Kai Havertz plays football - Calm and effortless.
The first half as I said was a little weird, Fulham pressed us high and the game was open. Edouard Mendy made three massive saves to keep us in front.
Thomas Tuchel started with a new formation tonight, then switched it back to normal at half time. He could clearly see we were a bit light and open in the midfield.
Billy Gilmour was playing as a lone defensive midfielder in the first half in a formation that looked most like a 3-1-4-2, with Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech playing as two 8s just in front of him.
This was far from a disaster for me, but Tuchel was clearly unhappy with it. On the positive it got Havertz playing alongside Werner, and they both benefitted from that, with Werner assisting one goal and Havertz scoring both.
Then in the Second half we reverted to the more familiar 3-4-2-1 with Mount dropping in the pivot with Gilmour. We looked a little more assured admittedly, but then our attack and especially Hakim Ziyech seemed to suffer a little.
Ziyech was doing well in a deeper 8 role, but he soon started to struggle again when pushed forward into the 10 role, or an inside forward role, however you wish to call it.
But we scored two great goals. The touch and pass from Mason Mount for our opener was just sublime and can only be described as world class.
As was Ben Chilwell’s long switch pass to Havertz, who then showed great footwork and found Werner, who slotted him in with a great pass to put us 2-0 up and put the game to bed.
There was no real danger for us after we got the second goal and the game was won for me.
Some other observations I made was Gilmour - I think he initially looked rusty, naturally, but it didn’t take him long to settle into the game and put in a good performance.
Thiago Silva and Andreas Christensen are just consistently very good right now, and Kurt Zouma did well coming back in.
I was surprised to see the formation switch and starting line up, but absolute credit to Tuchel for having full trust in the likes of Gilmour and to have the balls to try a new formation that he clearly had faith in.
Reece James was an absolute beast, and I felt like we needed his strength tonight against a physical and fast team. He rarely puts a foot wrong and has really grown into a superb player this season.
Ben Chilwell was class again, and Mason Mount was Mason Mount…. Just unreal.
Werner I think wasn’t bad at all, and he made some good attacking contributions. But he did start the game off frustrating me slightly with his touch being off once again and he was a bit weak on the ball. But I’m certainly not going to criticise anyone too much after a 2-0 win, and this was a professional, solid, and tidy performance on the whole from all of the players tonight.
It was so important to grab the three points tonight against a potential banana skin, so that’s certainly put me in a great mood!
Y’all go off an enjoy your bank holiday weekend now (those in the UK anyway), there is a feel good spirit around this club right now and I’m here for it!
Speak soon guys!
Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport)