I went and ran my mouth the other day about how Chelsea was tough and they had leadership and that I didn’t think they would go undefeated, but that they were stalwarts that were NOT to be messed with. So what do they do right after I say that? They lose! To a club with a losing record! What happened? Panic, Panic!!!
I don’t think it’s really time to press the panic button, but it may be time for a little regrouping in the Chelsea locker room. With Goalie Petr Cech being red-carded early it would be easy to lay the blame on him, but he must already feel bad enough for making a stupid play and adversely effecting the team.
You could easily lay the blame on Cheslea’s offense which secured only 2 shots on goal out of 16 overall. Then again we could shine the spotlight on the Chelsea defense which allowed 10 shots on goal out of 16. In any event, Chelsea did not respond well to adversity or the attacking Wigan offense.
If we add to this abysmal performance the 3 yellow cards collected by Chelsea (out of frustration no doubt) we have to call on the core of the team to rally the troops. At the half I would expect that some kind of rousing call to arms would be made by the veterans on the Chelsea squad to not lay down for this Wigan club. If that call came it was not answered.
As much as Chelsea played badly Wigan played very well. We always have to make sure we give credit to the winner. Wigan attacked and kept Chelsea on its heels all day. Even though Wigan only held the 47% of the time they were offsides 5 times (not a happy point for the coaching staff I’m sure) but this is highly encouraging to the fan who’s watching. If you’re offsides 5 times in a match you must REALLY be going at the other team. Hard. (They scored their 3rd goal in injury time!)
The moral to this story is: Don’t sleep on a team that starts slow. Wigan has shown that they have great offensive potential. If they continue to attack they might grow weary near the end of the season, but every team in the league will get everything they’ve got.
I think Chelsea looked past Wigan to Liverpool on the 4th. Sometimes I don’t understand why teams don’t stay focused on the task at hand. Let’s hope this looking ahead for Chelsea was worth it when they tangle with Liverpool on the 4th. Who knows, by then the Saudis might have closed a deal to by a share of Liverpool by then. That’ll make an interesting story!
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