Atrás
Like most Chelsea fans, Jason Cundy is still not over the Blues’ 2-0 Premier League defeat to Tottenham on Saturday. Spurs arrived at Stamford Bridge as huge underdogs, given their league position and their terrible record in the fixture, but they outclassed Xabi Alonso’s side for 90 minutes.
Chelsea were missing Emiliano Martinez and Joao Pedro, but that was no excuse for their shocking performance in a London derby. They were shaky in defence and created next to nothing going forward, while Cole Palmer’s red card summed up a disastrous day.
Cundy has often ridiculed Jamie O’Hara on talkSPORT because of Tottenham’s recent struggles and Chelsea’s dominance in this fixture, with the Blues having won the previous six meetings. However, O’Hara had the last laugh after Spurs played Chelsea off the pitch in a comfortable 2-0 victory.
TalkingPoints
How should Xabi Alonso address Chelsea’s discipline problems after Cole Palmer’s red card vs Tottenham? Morgan Rogers could have been sent off too – Gary Neville thought so
As many supporters have said, Chelsea’s first-half performance can be somewhat excused, as Xabi Alonso had to try something different without Joao Pedro in the starting XI. However, after being fortunate to reach half-time at 0-0, Alonso needed to make changes to turn things around.
The Spaniard had plenty of options on the bench, whether it was bringing on Danny Welbeck up front, Estevao Willian on the wing, Romero Lavia in central midfield or Marco Palestra at wing-back. Alonso waited until the 65th minute to replace Jorrel Hato with Palestra and did not bring on an attacker until Estevao replaced Geovany Quenda in the 73rd minute.
Jason Cundy was stunned by Alonso’s patience with the starting XI after their poor first-half performance. He told Jamie O’Hara on talkSPORT: “I came away from there yesterday, and I’m like, ‘I think there’s something there we should be concerned about.’
“Why didn’t he change it? Why are we going man for man? Tactically — I can’t believe I’m going to say this — De Zerbi got it right, and I can’t believe Xabi Alonso didn’t change it. I’m still in shock.
“At half-time, that’s where you earn your money. So I’m thinking, he’s going to change it. Personnel or a tweak to the system, something has to change. Nothing changed.”
O’Hara shared an interesting theory about why Chelsea were so disappointing against Tottenham, despite usually having the upper hand in this fixture. The former Spurs midfielder accused Alonso’s side of being so “arrogant” that they expected to win comfortably.
“Do you know what it was? Arrogant Chelsea thought they could just rock up and be like, ‘it’s just Spurs. They don’t win here; they never get a result.’ It’s a new team, new philosophy, new gaffer, new players, new regime. That was it.”
O’Hara’s accusation might not be wide of the mark, as Chelsea’s tactics suggested they underestimated Spurs. The Blues were willing to let Tottenham have the ball, expecting to force them into mistakes high up the pitch, but aside from a few occasions, Spurs played around their press expertly.