Chelsea hack through Forest & gift Postecoglu the axe

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Chelsea went into the international break seeking rest and recuperation and emerged to face Forest without a first choice midfield pivot and 5th choice CB in the heart of defence.

Garnacho and Lavia arrived in this game with less than 90 league minutes in their legs and struggled to match Forest’s ebullient intensity in the search for a first win in eight games under Ange. Malo Gusto was forced to confront familiar nightmares in central midfield, and a poor 87 minute outing was only made worse by a second yellow, making it 4 reds for Chelsea in six games (five if you count Enzo Maresca’s vs Liverpool.)

Joao Pedro meanwhile continued his aimless traipsing for answers as the #9 - Forest’s back 3 turning minor headaches into migraines. The result was an error laden first-half which saw Blues leap from 4th place to joint 1st with Everton for errors leading to shots, committing 3 in the first half alone.

Maresca’s touchline ban may have kept him from his technical area, but he rose seconds before the first-half whistle, eager to correct his mistakes. One of the Italian manager’s major criticisms in his first tenure was that he waited too long to course-correct. Here, he responded with 3 changes at half-time.

“We expected them with a back four,” said Maresca, “Joao Pedro against a back four is better.” It was intriguing why there was reason to believe Ange would change the back 3 he had used in two games before this one, particularly as it had held up well for a half against Newcastle. It offered plenty of stubborn resistance & threat on the break, as close to the old Forest Ange got.

On came Marc Guiu to give Forest’s 3M backline an issue. The Catalan forward made an instant impact - on Neto’s cross, his movement towards the near post attracted Murillo & Sangare, allowing Josh Acheampong a free header to open the scoring. There were other bright sparks, a delicate touch to control a pass speared towards him followed by a switch wide to Neto and a run to push the backline deeper. There was an attempt to head the ball in at the far post that was glanced wide. This was Guiu reiterating he was a departure from most La Masia or Catalan nines - closer to a bull than a fox. Joao Pedro dropped to the #10 slot from where his influence took an uptick, leading to his first shot from inside the box in more than a month.

Cobham did the rest. No one more than Acheampong would have known that he has been only called upon and not chosen from the start to make a difference by his manager. In the heart of the defence, next to another Cobham export, there was equal parts fortune and equal parts industry to help Chelsea keep their first away cleansheet in the league this season, their last one coming against Forest on the last day of the season.

Matt Law revealed earlier this week that Reece James was dealing with an ongoing issue which led to his withdrawal from the England side. Knowing his exceedingly high standards, he probably would have been a little embarrassed to claim an assist for Neto’s goal, but he did go one better to coolly slot in the third on his 200rd game for the club. It still is quite hard to fathom that 8 league games into the season he has already surpassed his minutes tally from the entirety of the 23/24 season. While that evokes delight tempered by anxiety, easing him past the 1500 minute mark unscathed would be little short of a small miracle.

Maresca revealed post-game that Wes and Enzo were both not risked due to minor issues, but that could well change in a must-win game against Ajax. In the end, rests for Enzo, only a half for Caicedo and just 12 minutes for Estevao & walking away with 3 points in a potential banana skin does suggest Chelsea go against the Dutch side in good shape. There is still work to do before shaking off the reputation of being a team of two halves. Chelsea cannot claim to be the better side here and luck is a tempestuous companion.