| Match report
Injury-hit Tottenham failed at
the last hurdle against a full strength Chelsea side, who won this
League Cup semi-final second leg, but only on penalties after
Fernando Llorente levelled the aggregate score in the second half.
It was a spirited display by Spurs, but Chelsea were the stronger
side and it was only their inability to turn chances into goal that
prevented them winning the game in normal time, with our side
playing a strange game in the first half that almost invited the
home side onto us ... not a tactic we can play successfully that
often.
As it was, the tie went
straight to penalties - no extra time nowadays. It was always
going to be difficult, with three of the players we would have
chosen to take them not on the pitch. Kane and dele injured
and Llorente substituted. Dier's penalty would have been
perfect of it had been two yards lower, but Lucas's was poor and
Chelsea were through. With all out players, I would have
fancied us to get to the final, but Manchester City await after
winning their semi 10-0 on aggregate, albeit against Burton Albion,
but they will be favourites to retain the trophy.
For the first ten minutes,
the teams were getting a feel for the football with Spurs being
looser in possession that almost let Hazard through and then Pedro
had space on the left but Alderweireld blocked his shot. Chelsea
started making the most of any contact when Luiz went down
dramatically under challenge from Dier. There didn’t seem a lot in
it, but there was a lengthy spell of on pitch treatment before he
limped off. Next off it was Jorginho who went down as Dier came into
tackle. 25 yards out on the right corner of the box, but
Rudiger was pulling Vertonghen down and it was a Spurs free-kick.
Hazard was next, running at Toby and going down easy. So, a free
kick from the same distance out, but on the other side of the pitch.
This time two Spurs players were pulled down but
Atkinson gave nothing, as the ball popped about before being put
wide by a Chelsea boot. Spurs were defending deep, but looked
to break and when they did, Llorente held the ball up and that
allowed Chelsea to get numbers back behind the ball. Spurs did break
well with Llorente turning it on to Eriksen and then winning a
corner and then another, but they didn’t really get decent supply
into the box.
A cross by Hazard from the
left was blocked by Alderweireld, thinking someone was coming in
behind him, but the corner was cleared, although it went to Kante
outside the box, with it flying between Ben Davies’ legs, Moussa
Sissoko’s legs and then Paulo Gazzaniga’s legs before handing
Chelsea the goal that levelled the aggregate score. It had stemmed
from Llorente laying the ball behind Lamela as Spurs looked to form
an attack and suddenly, it meant that we had to score at least one
to get through in the remaining 63 minutes, unless we were going to
rely on penalties !
Vertonghen was then
pressured into giving away a corner and that was cleared, but in the
second phase, Ben Davies tackled Luiz, who made a point of falling
into him. It left Davies floored and he had to be replaced by Danny
Rose. A cross by Hazard from the left, low into the near post, found
Giroud, but the ball stuck under his feet and Gazzaniga picked it up
to avert any further danger. Sours were under almost constant
pressure, as they had no out ball. Perhaps they didn’t feel
confident in playing it up to Llorente, but it meant a lot of
possession for Chelsea in out half.
That pressure told in the
38th minute, when another soft free-kick was given when Barkley went
down and took it quickly. The ball went out to Azpilicueta on their
right and his low cross was turned home by Hazard from 12 yards out.
The Chelsea right back was
whingeing about a contact with Winks, which was nothing more than
Harry trying to pull out, but by laying on the floor shouting about
it, Atkinson was swayed to give him a free-kick. Somehow he wasn’t
when Toby lost the ball near halfway out on our right and Hazard was
away. Alderweireld got back and put in a tackle from behind on his
Belgian national team-mate and it looked for all the world a
free-kick at the very least, but nothing was given !!
There was another Chelsea
break that saw Pedro set up Kante with a shot from the right-hand
corner of the area, but he showed his true ability by scuffing it
right across the face of goal for a throw-in. It was the last thing
to happen before the interval and there was an eerie quiet over the
Spurs end, as Chelsea had dominated the half and Spurs had been
playing a defensive game that they were not really equipped to do.
An early second half corner was
given to Chelsea and although Gazzaniga punched it out, Jorginho
volleyed it back at goal, but straight at Paulo. Almost immediately,
Spurs moved the ball well with some one touch stuff and from a
corner, Eriksen scooped the ball into a busy penalty box, Dier
headed out to Toby on the edge of the box and his volley flew over
the bar. 49 50 Just when it looked like Fernando’s lack of mobility
might be a hindrance to Spurs, he made a move on Emerson and Luiz to
dive between them and head Rose’s excellent cross into the ground
past Arizzabalaga. It brought the aggregate score back to 2-2 and
put Tottenham back in the match with a classic piece of
centre-forward play that wasn’t in keeping with what he had shown in
the previous 48 minutes.
Pedro was put through soon
after the goal and bearing down on goal from the right, but fired it
straight at Gazzaniga, who got down low at his near post. Atkinson
once again bottled it when he only gave Kante a yellow card
following an over-physical challenge off the pitch on Rose. I am
sure if it had been the other way round, it would have been a
different colour … even if it did go to VAR. It was indicative that
Chelsea were rattled and Spurs needed to play on that, but a couple
od lucky breaks handed Hazard the chance from the left, but he
sliced his 18 yard shot wide to the right of Gazzaniga’s goal.
Lamela was given offside,
when he looked at least level and then Emerson dived near the box as
Sissoko challenged, with no free-kick given and nothing given for
diving either. In the 63rd minute, Gazzaniga played the ball out to
the right to Eriksen, whose first time cross was over Jorginho’s
head and Llorente ran onto it unmarked and tried a first time
volley, but it skidded off his boot and went wide.
Chelsea were looking to take the lead on aggregate again. Hazard
broke into the box and he was tackled by Vertonghen, which took the
ball to Pedro and Jan was there again to block his shot, before
Giroud tried a delicate shot, but it was straight down Paulo’s
throat. Chelsea got their fourth booking of the night, when
Azpilicueta took out Rose and then argued about it, with Lucas Moura
replacing Llorente shortly after to add some pace to the Tottenham
attack. He had a chance to score, when Gazzaniga’a long kick out
picked out Lucas on the left and his shot hit the side-netting
rather than the target when he was in the clear.
Whatever the result at the end, what Spurs didn’t need was more
injuries and Sanchez had to come on for Sissoko, when he kicked
Aurier as the right back cleared the ball, making it the last
substitute Spurs could use. Azpilicueta screamed like a child when
Lamela put out an arm to hold him off and once more the dramatic won
the day. Perhaps it was because he was captain that he got away with
dissent at every decision given against his side. As the game
towards the end, Chelsea were given a stream of soft free-kicks, but
when Emerson went under Aurier without challenging for a header, he
walked away without a card to his name.
Into injury time, Spurs had a good attack, but giving the ball away,
Chelsea moved it left to allow Emerson’s cross to Giroud in front of
goal, but he glanced his header wide. So, penalties it was.
Eriksen was first up and put it low to the keeper’s right with him
stuck to his line. Willian sent Gazzaniga the wrong way, then
Lamela stepped up to the spot and put it wide enough of Kepa’s dive
to the left to find the corner of the net. Azpilicueta sent Paulo
the wrong way to make it 2-2 and Dier put his penalty over the bar.
Jorginho did a hop, skip and jump to roll it in on the right past
Gazzaniga’s dive to his left to make it 3-2 to Chelsea. Lucas hit a
weak penalty to the keeper’s left at a good height and it was pushed
aside, leaving David Luiz to take a penalty that went under
Gazzaniga’s dive to send them into the final.
Disappointing, but with the resources available, it was probably the
best we might have expected realistically. Another semi and
another defeat and maybe one day, we will have a fit side who can
play to our potential and not have any bad breaks against us.
There's still the FA Cup and
that's at the weekend with Palace at Selhurst Park. Hope
springs eternal despite all the naysayers having their opinion on
sodial media and national sports radio.
Mal Travers
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