MOTD: Chelsea 2-1 QPR – Three Thoughts

By on November 1, 2014

Only an Eden Hazard penalty following a stupid, and slightly soft call, but nonetheless stupid, challenge from Eduardo Vargas, gave Chelsea the three points, and while it was a tighter result and match than Chelsea would have liked, the result was by no means a hard one for The Blues. On the whole, they had a bad game but enough class to see them through to next weekend still atop the Premier League. Here are my three thoughts on the 90 minutes and beyond.

Controversial Mourinho comments cover up defensive errors
It’s such a classic Jose Mourinho-tactic that in some ways it’s amazing that it actually worked. Covering up deep analysis of Chelsea’s performance, and in particular defensive errors, by simply feeding controversial comments to the press is quite an old-school tactic. The cover up in question is Mourinho’s comments trashing Chelsea’s home fans, with the Portuguese manager saying Stamford Bridge was like an “empty stadium”, but those do not erase, only hide, the fact that Chelsea’s defensive has now given up two leads in their last two games. They allowed Manchester United to grab a late late equalizer last Monday, and today they let Queens Park Rangers back into the match when they were seemingly on the route to a classic, or used-to-be-classic, Mourinho win.

Chelsea were caught out on the break by QPR 1-0 up, and not only allowed the visitors to send a low cross into the box but then send the rebound in as well. Branislav Ivanovic was clearly caught ball watching among errors, while Charlie Austin, the goalscorer, was allowed the space to send a peachy little back-flick into the back of the net. Clearly, Mourinho is avoiding the topic in the press but certainly it is something he will be addressing in the dressing room and on the training ground. In fact, Mourinho commented after the match: “My team did not play well, or well enough.” Today, it was Chelsea’s attack that won them the game, though using the out-scoring tactic isn’t necessarily that hard for a team containing Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, and Cesc Fabregas.

Mourinho made the right decision by not taking any chances
If there, on the face of it, would be a time for Mourinho to rest a few of his key players – it’s not like Chelsea are a thin squad – it would probably be against a QPR side in nineteenth place. Mourinho ended up playing what is considered his best lineup, with Fabregas, Nemanja Matic, Hazard, and even Diego Costa, who is barely back from injury, all featuring. In hindsight it seems a good move as it ended up being a closer match than Chelsea would have liked, yet Mourinho was certainly doing his job by doing so in foresight. QPR gave Liverpool quite a struggle two weeks ago and only lost out on a point via a ninety-fifth minute own goal, and last weekend beat Aston Villa 2-0. It was playing it safe, but probably the right move by Mourinho.

Obviously, he can’t play his best team every week, however – sometime soon he’ll have to change it up, with a match against Liverpool squished in-between two midweek Champions League matches coming up. His unwillingness, or at least it looks that way, to trust his substitutes (two of his subs against Manchester United last weekend came in stoppage time) may be his biggest flaw.

Charlie Austin’s form should begin to draw eyes from the big boys
Charlie Austin’s goalscoring form this season mirrors that of much of the rest of his career in his slow rise to the Premier League, but considering that is hardly poor by any means should mean he could potentially be starting to draw eyes from the big boys. The Englishman has scored five goals in nine games so far this season, including one tonight. Not only was his goal a peach, but an incredible opportunist goal, much like his two against Villa last weekend. He is already 25 but it may not be to late for him to make a name for himself in the Premier League.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.