It was far from the prettiest and most definitely far from our best, but Chelsea got the job done against Brentford on Saturday, picking up the full three points for just the second time in our last ten Premier League matches.
Taking advantage of a couple mistakes from the visitors, we rode our luck at both ends of the pitch, scoring twice (once from the penalty spot) and keeping a rare clean sheet as well. João Pedro’s excellent finish after a fortuitous bounce put us ahead in the first half and Cole Palmer made sure of the outcome from the spot after Liam Delap pounced on a miscontrol from the Brentford goalkeeper in the second. Brentford had twice as many shots and three times as many touches in the opposition box as Chelsea, but they could not find a goal. And at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the scoreboard.
It may not have gone as he had drawn it up, but head coach Liam Rosenior was certainly happy with the result. After all, as he has made it quite clear, he’s here to win, first and foremost, so any game that turns out to be a win for us is a good thing.
“They’re a good team. Very good team. Very well organised. Very good without the ball. Really understand where they need to be with the ball. Very well organised on set plays. It was going to be a real test for us and sometimes you have to win the game in different ways.
“So for me, it’s about winning. I’ve said that since I’ve come in. We didn’t play the free-flowing football that I want us to in the end, but we got the job done and that’s a really, really pleasing result for the players to give them and myself more confidence moving forward.”
Chelsea have been dealing with an illness going around the squad — Estêvão was the latest to get struck down in the lead-up to the game — but the players battled through that, as well as all the grappling by the Bees on set pieces, and that pleased the head coach.
“By hook or by crook, I felt that attitude, the energy levels, value in the basics of football. […] What pleased me the most, which is summed up in the two goals, the players’ willingness to battle, to fight, to block shots, to make headers and tackles. That’s the reason we got the clean sheet and actually it was that attitude that got us the two goals that win us the game.”
-Liam Rosenior; source: Football.London
Attitude and intensity. Rosenior’s trying to sharpen the team’s mentality, improve our consistency, and make playing at Stamford Bridge a scary proposition for any visiting team.
Job done!