Apart from that, I watched the summaries of PL J20 this evening and I have just watched the Luton Town-Chelsea one, interesting. The Hatters remained on 2 victories and Chelsea on 4 away defeats, which had not happened since 2000.
“A game of two halves” as they say. I really liked the crazy side of the match.
In summary, good first half for the Blues, two superb goals. The first on a tense shot from the bluffing Cole Palmer (following a gift from the Hatter defense) and the second after a magnificent collective action concluded by a nice goal from Madueke (die pass from Palmer).
Good work from the two young Chelsea full-backs, Malo Gusto on the right, who is having a very decent season (in a difficult Chelsea context), and Levi Colwill on the left. But apart from 2-3 thirty-somethings, the whole team is young anyway. The starting XI against Palace last Wednesday had an average age of 23 years and 21 days, the youngest XI fielded in the PL since May 2017 (Thiago Silva did not play, which significantly lowered the average). However, we are far from the PL record: 20 years and 181 days, Middlesbrough in 2006, against Fulham.
Strawberry Luton, valiant but overwhelmed Hatters. At 3-0 for Chelsea (70th), goal from the inevitable Cole Palmer, not bad against the run of play at this stage of the match, we say to ourselves that Luton is going to take a big break.
Then, the attacking trio Chong-Ogbene-Morris that the Luton manager brought in in the second half (he took too long for Ma) sounded the revolt.
Regular shelling of the Hatters on the Blues goal, a little strangely given their offensive timidity for more than an hour. Chelsea endure, as if paralyzed, and will do very well with this 3-2.
Luton could even have, and should, have won. Two goals scored, another narrowly refused, two smashed uprights (including a mine from Ross Barkley), a shower of crosses and headers more or less on target (36 crosses on the Luton side! Most of them at the end therefore).
A word about Cole Palmer. 2 goals, 1 assist dice. His first is a tense, forceful strike. The second is registered with finesse, after having eliminated two players in a close quarters. Great technical background, the young Mancunian, easily man of the match.
It’s one of the big revelations of the season, with, among others, Lewis Miley from Newcastle, “the new Steven Gerrard” as they call him on Tyneside… OK, whatev(s) as my students say to all the time (approx. “I don’t care/if it makes them happy”. Term adopted by the OED in 2019 lien. Apocope of “whatever”). Afterwards, there’s no denying it, the kid is only 17 ½ years old but he’s impressive (PSG knows something about that). Recently scored his first professional goal against Fulham lien
Cole Palmer also back after a suspension. These suspensions are a bit like the cursed thread of the season for Chelsea, 61 yellows already (on this, they are first, with Sheffield United). Poch really needs to tighten the screw, because between the points lost for absence of players due to suspensions and the busy infirmary, they will have difficulty hanging on to the C4. And given their current situation, that’s what they should be aiming for, that would already be quite an accomplishment.
2024-01-01 23:26:23
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