London is Blue Dispatch #076

Chelsea vs Shamrock Review: Earned, not Given - Chelsea's two-XIs experiment passes group stage test with flying colours

Author

Sam GR
December 19, 2024

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On an evening where rolls of toilet-paper rained down from the stands, a now tried-and-tested amalgam of Cobham’s magic dust and a bevy of impact players continued the Blues’ near mockery of the UEFA Conference League. With 26 goals in the group stage, they’ve now surpassed the number of goals the highest scoring team in the Conference League managed in all of last season. Five of them quite quickly cracked away a vibrant Shamrock team and their sprightly fans.

A few hours before the game, a poignant video of Enzo Maresca welcoming Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong to the first team made the rounds on social media. Earned, not given, said the caption. Both certainly deserved their starts after sacrificing hamstrings in Almaty’s numbing cold just about a week ago, neither looked out of place in a team with Chelsea first-teamers and against senior opposition.

Marc Guiu was out in Kazakhstan too, and he went one better than his brace to score a first senior hattrick. That goal made him the UEFA Conference League top scorer, the youngest Chelsea player to scorer a hattrick for the club and the 20th highest scorer in Conference League history. The first came from pure instinct, anticipating Tyrique’s pressure on Pohls yielding some reward before bravely prodding it in and clattering against the base of the post.

The second was even better, a magnificent example of textbook center-forward play. The 18-year-old Spaniard telegraphed the back-pass earlier than Cleary even thought about it, sprinted to recover it and slotted it home from a tight angle with his weaker foot. A header sealed the third, and a fifth in two games.

Poom’s equalizer was the zenith of Shamrock’s prowess on the day, and wisdom dictates one shouldn’t peak early. Sloppy back passes were pounced upon by the Blues and turned into big chances. By the second half, Shamrock players were struggling to stretch for passes. Like Astana, their league season ended sometime ago (2nd of November) and as the game progressed the Irish league runners-up looked jaded by the second. In the ended they left Stamford Bridge without creating a single big chance and generating just 0.21 xG, falling out of the automatic qualification spots and into the playoff ones.

At the back it was relatively comfortable for a re-jigged back 4 with Renato Veiga starting at CB. He and Acheampong combined completed more passes than Shamrock did for the entire 90. In midfield, Dewsbury-Hall grabbed another goal before hobbling off with a knock; Cesare Casadei returned after a one-game suspension and had a decent outing. Christopher Nkunku was unable to expand his lead at the top of the Chelsea scorers list this season, but popped up with two assists and played the full 90. A bittersweet evening for the Frenchman, who will perhaps continue to wonder what it’ll take to sneak into Maresca’s PL XI.

Harrison Murray-Campbell’s debut was the cherry on top of an already generously iced cake. The 18-year-old Englishman became the 9th played aged 19 or under to earn a European debut under Maresca, one more than eight that debuted for the club in the last decade. Like all of the Blues’ UECL ties, this one too was more of a light sparring contest rather than a serious title bout. Everton on the weekend will offer a significantly tougher challenge, but it is undeniable that Maresca’s rotated side plays like their positions are earned, not given. Six out of six wins, a record-breaking attack, safe passage into the knockouts and some healthy confidence building – the UECL group stage has been quite the boon for a young, stacked squad.

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