CHELSEA-TOTTENHAM 2–0
Scores by Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson secured Chelsea victory in the London match against Tottenham.
The former headed the home team into the lead with a perfect header in the first half. Despite the good performance in putting the ball in the goal, the Viaplay experts were shaking their heads at how the Tottenham team appeared in their own penalty area on the back goal.
Nils Johan Semb reacted strongly to the lack of marking and Tottenham players who almost exclusively followed the ball, without having an eye for the Chelsea players inside their own field.
– This is as fast as it gets. They have conceded two set-piece goals against Arsenal and they have conceded a lot of set-pieces. It’s almost like I can’t believe what I’m seeing. There is no worse way to defend yourself on a set piece, says Semb during the half-time summary.
The former national team manager is supported by colleague Jan Åge Fjørtoft, who for his part believed that Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglu cannot go into the dressing room and slaughter his own players despite the lack of marking games. In Fjørtoft’s opinion, the Tottenham manager is said to have stated that he “doesn’t care about set pieces” after the Arsenal match.
– It is almost unbelievable that a team that wants to play in the Champions League is so bad at maths, and so bad at working with set pieces. It’s almost hard to believe what you see after they conceded two goals against Arsenal, says Fjørtoft.
Semb goes on to say that he thinks the team works too poorly with set-pieces, but believes that this cannot excuse the lack of marking during the match and that the approach to defending their own goal seemed virtually absent.
Barely 20 minutes from time, Cole Palmer hammered a free-kick onto the crossbar, but once again a Chelsea player was first to the loose ball inside the box. Nicolas Jackson headed the rebound into the goal and increased the lead for the blue-clad.
After Thursday’s loss, Tottenham have 60 points after 34 games played. Aston Villa in the lead in the final Champions League spot have 67 with one more game to play as the season draws to a close.
Chelsea is in 8th place with 51 points.