Chelsea’s failure to qualify for European football last season (that sounds marginally better than saying we finished 12th) had many consequences. One of the less thought about ones was our entry into the 2nd round of the League Cup for just the second time in the last 20 years. But alas, there I was walking up the banks of the River Thames on a mild Wednesday evening braced for an encounter for our South West rivals, AFC Wimbledon.
This is actually the second time I’ve seen us matched with them, a true collectors item of an away day back in our 2014/15 season pre-season saw us face them at Kingsmeadow. 2-0 down and in all kinds of trouble against an AFC Wimbledon side which was contained none other than Adebayo Akinfenwa, it was up to Mohamed Salah and a John Terry brace to rescue the game.
Last season’s cup draws were an absolute disaster. Seriously. What are the odds of being pitted against treble winners Manchester City twice away from home? No surprises for who the winner was on both occasions. With us not being in Europe this season, it should mean that our midweek home matches are few and far between so I was intent on making the most of the occasion.
On Wednesday morning, I woke up to the devastating news that my friend Alfie was due for a late finish at work and would be unable to attend the game. Naturally, I spent the next few hours desperately searching for a replacement and my friend Ben agreed to come. Fittingly, it was Ben who had come with me all those years ago when we played Wimbledon in 2014.
With Wimbledon being so close, an SW postcode too, they’d decided to take their maximum allocation. Unfortunately, being a season ticket holder in the Shed End this meant that I was uprooted from my usual spot. Wanting to trying something different, I opted to sit in the West Lower knowing that the game was in all likelihood not going to be the greatest spectacle. I decided to get to the ground a little earlier than usual and was pleasantly surprised by the price of beer in the ground being a mere £4 thanks to an earlybird offer. I mulled over the matchday programme whilst reducing the urge to gag every time I took a sip of Singha lager.
One big surprise to come out of yesterday was our links to Manchester City’s Cole Palmer. I have to confess, prior to six months or so ago I hadn’t seen a huge amount of him but having seen some of his recent performances for City as well as England’s under 21s, I was pretty excited at the thought of him potentially joining Chelsea. He now looks set to join us, and whilst we do have a fair bit of depth on the wing when you account for loans, I’m really excited and equally hopeful that we can finally get revenge on City for letting them get ahold of Kevin De Bruyne all those years ago.
Prior to the game, Poch had promised a mix of youth and experience in our Starting XI and it was nice to see him deliver on just that and equally promising to see Conor Gallagher rewarded with the captains armband. Despite this, I’m still seeing numerous articles linking him away from the club in the next couple of days. Todd Boehly, if you are somehow reading this, for the love of god do not sell Conor Gallagher in exchange for two more Brazilian teenagers.
The atmosphere in the ground was unsurprisingly pretty muted. For Wimbledon, it was their big day out. For the Chelsea home end, it was a much younger crowd than usual with families taking the club up on their cheaper tickets which is obviously great to see. Whilst it did have an adverse effect on the atmosphere, it’s the second round of the cup, so who really cares.
When I saw their penalty incident at the time, I thought it seemed a pretty stonewall penalty. Having watched a replay of it now, I can see that’s not the case. It’s actually a very dominant piece of keeping and quite how the referee came to the conclusion that it was a penalty, having had the perfect view of the incident, is shocking. Worse still, it bore strikingly similar resemblance to an incident involving André Onana a couple of weeks back in which a penalty was not award to Wolves despite Onana getting nowhere near the ball. All in all, a standard display of English refereeing incompetency. The penalty was well taken in fairness.
Chukwunonso Tristan, more commonly known as “Noni”, put in one of his best performances in a Chelsea shirt as he continues to regain fitness. Every time he got the ball he looked dangerous and was excellent in winning a penalty in the closing stages of the half and converted it excellently. He’s going to have a lot of competition in his position soon, but to me he seems like the sort of person who will deal with it well and I hope it helps him kick on as a player.
Diego Moreira, making just his third ever professional appearance, had a tough first half and it was not surprising to see him withdrawn at half time. That being said, I’d like to see how any winger looks for us when they’ve got Marc Cucurella supporting them behind. He was terrible, once again and I got horrible flashbacks of Mykhailo Mudryk at West Ham away last season. In a very similar scenario, he was almost totally ignored by the Spaniard in attack and effectively hung out to dry. Worse still, this appearance ensures that Cucurella is cup-tied in the competition which has thrown his loan move to Manchester United in serious doubt. You literally couldn’t write it.
The introduction of Enzo Fernández at half time felt both as harsh on AFC Wimbledon as it was entirely necessary. Poch has said that he’s targeting victory in the League Cup, the FA Cup and the Premier League this season and what better way to help with that than bringing on one of the best midfielders in the world against League Two opposition. After his penalty miss the other week at West Ham, it was great to finally see him get his first Chelsea goal after a mistake from the Wimbledon keeper. I said it last week, but I think Enzo looks pretty dangerous going forward so I’m excited to see if he can add more goals to his game.
Whilst the final scoreline was only 2-1, and Wimbledon did put up a good performance, Chelsea’s finishing did let us down again and again. It’s been a common theme in recent years and it’s one that really does now need to be addressed. Conor, Madueke and Enzo all had further chances to score and if we’re to go to the next level as a team this is the primary thing stopping us at the moment. Considering we didn’t even win a domestic cup tie last season, I’m taking the result as a positive.
Post-game, desperately wanting to avoid the queues at Fulham Broadway station, we ventured to the pub. Sitting with our beers, we had the added bonus of being presented with the draw for the next round of the cup. Premier League team after Premier League team passed us by until it was our turn to be drawn from the hat, at home too. With fists drumming the tables we watched in eager anticipation as none other than Brighton and Hove Albion were selected as our opposition. Typical. Brighton have looked pretty good this year when I’ve watched them, albeit susceptible at the back so it should make for a cracking cup tie.
The games keep coming thick and fast and there’s time for one more expedition to Stamford Bridge with an international break now looming over us. See you on Saturday for Nottingham Forest at home.
The Shed Diaries 