The Festive Period

“There are towns and villages in Brazil that have no church, but not a one lacks a soccer field.” Eduardo Galeano, Soccer in Sun and Shadow

This time of year is a football (soccer, for my American readers) fan’s dream. The matches come thick and fast as they say -- probably too fast for the players’ liking -- but it’s a delight for fans. My beloved Chelsea continued their bizarre home form on Boxing Day, falling to a Southampton team they should have defeated. The match itself was eerily similar to recent matches against West Ham and Bournemouth, both losses. Those clubs arrived at Stamford Bridge desperate for points, and Chelsea obliged. In all three matches, Chelsea started ponderously and played with a cloak of futility. Against Southampton, Chelsea might have played for two or three hours and never troubled the opposition keeper. Our attack sputters in the final third, as if our forwards, Willian, young Tammy Abraham, and Callum Hudson-Odoi, run out of notions when they reach the edge of the penalty box. The American Christian Pulisic is capable of injecting a spark of creativity, but he can also go AWOL at times. Frank Lampard scowls in his technical area, but he seems powerless to get more from his players. 

Chelsea are in a transition year, so expectations must be muted. Our youngsters -- Mason Mount, Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, Hudson-Odoi, Reece James, and Pulisic -- have each shown flashes of their potential and from time to time the ability to link up and play appealing football. But consistency and Frank Lampard’s squad are not well acquainted. A good performance, like the away win at Spurs, is followed by a dud against Southampton. It’s baffling. 

As a Chelsea fan I’m not supposed to say anything positive about Liverpool. I’m supposed to despise the Scousers at every turn, but the fact is, as a football fan, I enjoy watching Liverpool play. Jurgen Klopp has developed a style that suits the players at his disposal, and watching Liverpool play is a pleasure. The Reds are not just quick physically, they are quick mentally. They see space and exploit it without hesitation. They move forward with a relentless energy. The Liverpool fullbacks, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, are often other-worldly in their ability to get up the pitch, creating width, and delivering pinpoint crosses to the front three of Firmino, Salah and Mane. Where Chelsea dwell on the ball, play it backwards to their goalkeeper, pass side to side, Liverpool plays one or two passes to get up the pitch and into attacking position. It’s slick and fluid, with the front three interchanging. Liverpool also have the best defender in the world at this moment, Virgil van Dijk, the rock at the back. There’s a reason Klopp’s side is running away with the Premier League. I thought Leicester might give Liverpool a game, maybe spring Jamie Vardy for an early goal, but it wasn’t to be. Liverpool dominated their nearest title rivals and left the King Power Stadium with a 4-0 victory. 

In about five minutes of play, Alexander-Arnold delivered more dangerous balls into the Leicester penalty area than Chelsea’s mediocre fullbacks, Cesar Azpilicueta and Emerson Palmieri, did over ninety minutes. When Chelsea have a corner kick they invariably fail to get the ball past the first defender. It’s very frustrating for the supporters. Even with good business in the January transfer market, I don’t think Chelsea should expect to finish higher than sixth or seventh this season. The gap between potential and results is too wide. Chelsea lack players with high footballing IQ’s, who sense where the space will be and run into it, who make the right forward runs at the right moment, who can make something happen when the team is chasing a game or under pressure. Chelsea have too many deficiencies at the moment. 

But it’s football and fans always hope. And, as Vicente Calderon famously said, “Soccer keeps people from thinking about more dangerous things.”