Jonathan Liew on Pulisic
Lampard wants more firepower
And with that, I’m done. It’s been super. Here’s a Champions League roundup for you …
And some Jürgen Klopp quotes … Bye!
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Lampard says he doesn’t mind who they draw in the next round (the draw will take place on Monday, 16 December, at 11am GMT, diary fans):
I don’t mind the idea of having a bigger team. That’s the Champions League, if you’re going to win it you may have to take on big teams. The young team we’ve got here, what a challenge. At the minute I’m just delighted that we go through in a tough group. I think it shows when Ajax don’t make it through it shows you it was a tough group. We should just be happy now that we’re through it and whoever comes we have to give it our lot.
Lampard also talks about the youth of his side, and the work he’s doing on the training ground to iron out their juvenile kinks:
Today was a strong side of how much work we have to do. Because it should have been a game that was finished much earlier than it was, and we gave ourselves a tough time. It’s been a little bit the story of our season at times, and that’s the biggest thing for me we need to improve.
Frank Lampard stops by for a chat:
It did get a bit twitchy, and I think that’s on us slightly because if we’re going to have such control and domination of a game, and attempts on goal, we need to take more of them. We need a chance conversion that’s better than that and finish the game completely. At 2-0 I always felt it wasn’t quite done. We were aware of the Valencia score, and it made for a nervy 10 minutes when it didn’t need to be. I was really happy with the first half. I was interested to see our attitude and how we approached the game, the tempo of the game, and I thought it was all there. We maybe could have scored more goals but we completely dominated, we showed real good intention in our play and at half-time it feels very comfortable, and it’s just a case then of can we push on and finish this game quickly in the second half, and we didn’t manage to quite do that.
Here’s Jacob Steinberg’s match report from Stamford Bridge:
For Frank Lampard, it was not an occasion to fret about permutations. Chelsea did not have to worry about what was happening between Ajax and Valencia in Amsterdam and, after a series of wild encounters in this evenly matched group, they welcomed the rarity of a European night free of anything resembling dramatic tension – at least until Lille belatedly stirred and spent the final 10 minutes threatening to grab the equaliser that would have dumped Lampard’s side into the Europa League.
The focus will turn to whether Chelsea possesses the talent to make an impact in the knockout stages. In that regard the doubters will linger on the way the game became frantic and chaotic after Loïc Rémy halved the deficit deep into a sleepy second half.
Much more here:
Cesar Azpilicueta is right miffed about Chelsea’s defensive frailty:
It feels so good [to be through]. It has been happening lately where we play much better than to be 2-1, suffering in the last minutes because obviously we need to win. I hope we can the games early and we can enjoy more. Tonight it was important to show a reaction from Saturday’s game, and we started very well but in the second half we didn’t show our rhythm. But we can still score more goals, we didn’t and in the end we had to suffer.
We’re conceding a lot of goals. Tonight they arrived once they scored one goal and it’s frustrating, because as I said before we’re playing much better than to be 2-1, suffering in the last seconds when one silly goal can send us to the Europa League. It’s frustrating and hopefully we can sort this as soon as possible because we can be better. The Champions League is where Chelsea belongs. We knew it was a tough group, Ajax are out of the competition and we had to fight, we had to recover from the first loss against Valencia at home. We did well but now we put it on one side. We know we are going to be in there, in the draw for the last 16. We have to be focused in the Premier League and the FA Cup.
In the round of 16 Chelsea cannot play Valencia, who also progress from Group H, or either of the English group winners, Manchester City and Liverpool, and will thus face one of Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Barcelona or RB Leipzig.
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Final score: Ajax 0-1 Valencia
It’s also all over in Amsterdam, where Ajax, last season’s semi-finalists mind you, have been dumped out of the competition!
Final score: Chelsea 2-1 Lille
90+6 mins: It’s all over! Chelsea win, and march into the knockout stages!
90+4 mins: Kante gets down the right and does well to exchange passes with a teammate before turning back and tapping to Willian, who does some timewasting near the corner flag.
90+3 mins: Two minutes of stoppage time to go in Amsterdam, and Valencia’s Gabriel Paulista has just been sent off. On the plus side, the brouhaha has taken about three minutes.
90+2 mins: Chance for Lille! Remy runs down the left, and two of his teammates bust a gut to offer him passing options. Instead of teeing one of them up for a tap-in, he decides to ignores them both and do a hopelessly terrible, slow shot straight at Kepa.
90+2 mins: They are also playing five minutes of stoppage time in Amsterdam, where Ajax continue to trail 1-0 and are now flinging everything forward. They appear to be playing with a flat front five.
90+1 mins: Stoppage time has begun. It will end in about five minutes.
90 mins: Lille have the ball in defence, and seem strangely disinclined to take it upfield.
88 mins: Oooof! Azpilicueta wins a header inside the Lille penalty area and nods the ball to Batshuayi, who tees himself up, spins and blasts a left-footed shot just over the bar!
88 mins: Willian tees up Batshuayi, who spins and blasts a left-footer straight into a defender. A reminder that one more Lille goal would knock Chelsea out of this competition.
87 mins: Chelsea pass the ball about a bit, taking the sting out of the Lille recovery. Azpilicueta eventually slides a nice pass along the edge of the Lille penalty area, which none of his team-mates had anticipated.
85 mins: The Lille fans are in full voice, scarves aloft, as their team continue to have the better of the 15 minutes of this game they actually turned up for. Fair dos.
82 mins: Chelsea’s final change sees Mason Mount replace Kovacic, while Lille bring Renato Sanches on for Araujo.
80 mins: Lille have suddenly woken up and realised there’s a football match on! Yazici pummels a left-footed shot wide from 20 yards.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Lille (Remy, 78 mins)
Remy has certainly touched the ball now! He plays his part in the build-up, and the ball is eventually worked to Jonathan Bamba, who pulls back from the byline on the left and finds Remy, who has occupied what is known in the trade as a pocket of space, and crashes a first-time, left-foot shot off the underside of the bar and in!
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75 mins: Araújo embarks on a dangerous run into Chelsea’s penalty area, eventually halted when Zouma gets tired of running after him and instead dispossesses him with a perfect sliding challenge.
73 mins: Leo César makes his first save, from Kovacic’s tame curling effort. The Brazilian joined Lille from Rio Ave in the summer, and this is his competitive debut.
71 mins: Abraham’s race is run, Michy Batshuayi replacing him. Mike Maignan, the Lille goalkeeper, is also on his way off, who has been struggling with a potentially Zouma-related injury. Leo César comes on.
69 mins: Valencia continue to lead 1-0 at Ajax. Hakim Ziyech has recently missed a wonderful chance, and Klaas Jan Huntelaar is now on.
68 mins: Another touch for Remy, in his own half. It might be his last, with Lille readying Victor Osimhen for action.
67 mins: Zouma is deliberately blocked by Xeka, who earns himself a booking.
66 mins: Before it’s taken, Lille bring Jonathan Bamba on for Maia. The corner is slightly better than their last one, but still a way away from being good.
65 mins: Azpilicueta hits a clearance into Rudiger. The ball rebounds out of play, and Lille have another corner!
63 mins: Another kick for Kepa, who passes the ball to Zouma. Oooh, and there’s a touch for Remy! It’s entirely inconsequential, but it’s definitely a touch.
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62 mins: Chelsea make their first substitution, taking off Christian Pulisic and bringing on Callum Hudson-Odoi. The home fans give both departing and arriving players a standing ovation.
60 mins: Lille win a corner! Yazici takes it, and it’s completely rubbish.
59 mins: The suddenly overworked Kepa just had to kick the ball again.
58 mins: Nearly a third for Chelsea. From a right-wing cross Abraham can’t quite conjure a clear shooting chance so passes back to Azpilicueta, who doesn’t have a clear shooting chance because Abraham’s in his way.
56 mins: In perhaps Lille’s finest attacking moment of the match, Araujo runs down the right, cuts onto his left foot and then crosses straight out of play. From nowhere, Kepa suddenly has a goal kick to take.
54 mins: Chelsea slice Lille open down the right again. Kante and Azpilicueta are literally rampaging at times.
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52 mins: “I know Lille haven’t offered much going forward, but my goodness do Chelsea look more secure with Rudiger back in defence,” writes Lee Madden. “He’s just brings experience and confidence to the back line.” I don’t disagree, but this really isn’t the game to judge the Chelsea backline. I’m not certain that Loic Remy has touched the ball yet.
49 mins: From the free-kick Willian’s shot curls towards the bottom corner, but not with enough power to beat Maignan.
48 mins: Kovacic’s nice pass finds Pulisic running infield from the left, who gets a tug on the shoulder from the already-booked Celic and goes down. It’s a free kick, but not another booking.
46 mins: Save! And another! The first shot of the half takes 40 seconds to arrive, when Pulisic’s low effort is pushed away by Maignan. It goes to Willian, whose blasted effort is also stopped!
46 mins: Finally the dwindler, Xeka, turns up, and the second half can begin.
Chelsea’s players are back on the pitch, while Lille’s gather in the tunnel, presumably waiting for some dressing-room dwindler.
Half time: Chelsea 2-0 Lille
So far, this looks like precisely the kind of routine victory that would have been Chelsea’s best-case scenario. Meanwhile in Amsterdam, it’s Ajax 0-1 Valencia. As it stands, the Spaniards top the group on 11 points, Chelsea are second also with 11 points, and Ajax are on their way out with 10.
45+2 mins: Into stoppage time. There’s almost two minutes of it, which is entirely taken up by Maignan’s recovery from that Zouma collision. Eventually the free kick is taken long, and the referee immediately blows his whistle.
45 mins: Kante plays a couple of one-twos and sprints 60 yards down the right wing, eventually winning a corner. From the set piece the ball is eventually crossed, Maignan and Zouma both go for it and the Chelsea defender lands on top of the Lille goalkeeper. It’s an entirely innocent challenge, but with a painful conclusion. For some reason Zouma’s booked for it.
42 mins: Lille make a complete hash of an unchallenged goalkeeping clearance, which Pied on the left miscontrols, and when he then falls over Chelsea have a throw.
40 mins: A yellow card! Celik gets it, for his tardy tackle on Kovacic.
39 mins: I’m wondering how many touches Kepa’s had. There’s certainly been one goal-kick, but I’m not sure he’s even had any back-passes to worry about.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Lille (Azpilicueta, 35 mins)
Another one! Chelsea win a corner on the right, and the delivery is perfect from Pulisic. Azpilicueta runs from beyond the far post to meet it at the near, and is completely unmarked to pummel his header in from the edge of the six-yard box.
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33 mins: A nice turn from Soumare in midfield, but he loses the ball (there was a bit of a trip in there) and a few moments later Chelsea nearly score a second after Pulisic sprints into the area and pulls back towards Abraham, but a defender sticks his boot in the way.
30 mins: Emerson has another shot, from a foot or two outside the penalty area. It’s straight at Maignan, who catches.
28 mins: It’s been much more even since the goal, which is to say that rather than one team doing all the attacking, neither team is doing much attacking.
25 mins: Valencia have just taken the lead in Holland through Rodrigo, which means that they now top the as-they-stand table, with Ajax on their way out.
24 mins: As I type that Lille have their first shot. It’s from Pied, about 40 yards out and about that far off target.
23 mins: A quarter of the game has been played, and Chelsea have had 70% of possession, 100% of the shots (eight, of which three on target) and 100% of the corners (two).
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21 mins: Ajax and Valencia are still drawing 0-0, incidentally.
A big, big goal for Chelsea! 🔵
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 10, 2019
Tammy Abraham makes no mistake to set the Blues on their way... pic.twitter.com/v78SYFQ5Cv
21 mins: As it stands, then, Chelsea are top of Group H, ahead of Ajax because of their superior head-to-head record.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Lille (Abraham, 19 mins)
Chelsea take the lead, and it has been coming! Kante chests down to Pulisic, who carries the ball to the edge of the area before finding Willian to his right. The Brazilian bursts to the byline and pulls the ball back. It takes a handy deflection off Gabriel’s thigh and Abraham is left with a tap-in!
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17 mins: Chelsea go close again! Kante has a shot from just outside the area which hits Soumare and loops into the air, and Kante has another go as it lands, volleying just wide of the near post.
16 mins: Shot! And saved! Kante’s cross from the right skews off Abraham and runs to Emerson, at the edge of the area, whose low shot is hard enough, but close enough to Maignan for him to beat it away.
15 mins: Azpilicueta crosses from the right, but the only question posed by the centre is which defender will clear. Djalo does.
13 mins: The players are all entirely soaking.
10 mins: Shot! Nice control by Abraham, who holds up a long ball and waits for Pulisic, who carries it into the area before dragging a pretty weak left-footer wide.
9 mins: Now Willian is rolling around. Xeka was a bit late with his challenge, and landed his boot on top of Willian’s foot, so you can see why, but all this rolling about could get quite tiresome quite quickly.
8 mins: Now another Lille player is down clutching his face. This time it’s Araujo, who to be fair was inadvertently caught by Rudiger’s frailing fingers.
7 mins: Kante and Tiago Djaló battle near the left corner flag. Eventually the ball goes out for a Chelsea corner, and the Lille player throws himself to the ground and rolls about for a while with his hands clutching his head as if he’s been assaulted. It really is a completely ludicrous display, ignored by the referee.
5 mins: Chelsea push forward, but Pied eventually snaffles the ball from Willian and the move is over without the Lille area being threatened.
3 mins: Little to report, except that Yaziki just tried a flying waist-high backheel volley. He did not succeed.
1 min: Lille have kicked off!
Right, ready for action. Whatever the result of the coin toss, Lille will kick off.
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Cesar Azpilicueta is hanging about with the match officials, waiting for a Lille captain to turn up for the coin toss. The visitors are busy posing for team photos.
Out come the players! There was precious little preamble about that. No lingering footage of footballers gathering in a tunnel.
Meanwhile in Salzburg, Liverpool have won 2-0 and thus top Group E, ahead of Napoli (who thumped Genk 4-0).
Frank Lampard has a chat.
On nights like this we need to worry about how we approach the game. Everyone can see how much we want to win it. We want to get into the next stage of the Champions League, it’s the ultimate club competition, and we’ve worked hard to get into this position with it in our own hands. But it’s not the time to settle and think it’s just going to happen for us tonight. We have to work hard and earn it.
These are the nights that will define you, individually and collectively. We have to understand that, because no matter what this is going to be a tough match. The idea that Lille come here with not much on it is dangerous as much as it’s good for us. So it comes back to ourselves. Can we show our fans how much we want to get through?
I’m a bit sad not to be seeing Victor Osimhen, Lille’s 20-year-old striking sensation, scorer of their goal in the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in France back in October and of two goals (and an assist) in his last three domestic fixtures. Kurt Zouma, on the other hand, is probably OK with it.
It’s a vicious evening in London: wild, wet and windy, if not particularly cold. The conditions are the first opponents Chelsea will need to beat.
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and tonight’s protagonists will be as follows:
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Zouma, Emerson Palmieri, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Willian, Abraham, Pulisic. Subs: Christensen, Barkley, Caballero, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Batshuayi, James.
Lille: Maignan, Celik, Gabriel, Djalo, Pied, Soumare, Thiago Maia, Yazici, Xeka, Luiz Araujo, Remy. Subs: Leo, Fonte, Osimhen, Ikone, Bamba, Sanches, Bradaric.
Referee: Tasos Sidiropoulos (Greece).
I’m sure this news has gone down well in the Chelsea dressing-room: by my count Lille make seven changes to the team that beat Brest 1-0 last Friday,
Three changes, including the return of @ToniRuediger! 💪#CHELOSC pic.twitter.com/cJqKUo0r9E
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 10, 2019
Hello world!
Chelsea go into their last game in Group H in third place, and knowing that only a win will guarantee progress. Inevitably, it’s not necessarily so simple: the Blues are level on points and indeed goal difference with Valencia, but having lost at home to the Spanish side and drawn away will remain behind them on head-to-head record should they finish on the same number of points. So if Ajax win at home to Los Ches, a draw or better will do just fine for Chelsea; if the Dutch side draw then Chelsea would win the group (having a superior head-to-head record against Ajax) if they win; and if Valencia claim an away victory Chelsea would need victory in order to come second.
“We just want to win it to go through,” says Kurt Zouma. ‘It’s like a final for us, a must-win match. The results from the games before we didn’t keep a clean sheet but we have been playing well. In the game against Ajax away, we played good. The game against them at home was crazy but we came back so we showed great character. Tomorrow is a different story – if we win, we go through and that’s what we want.”
The good news is that Lille are out of contention, having only one point to their name, and are really far more concerned with Friday’s home game against Montpellier. Christophe Galtier was keeping his cards close to his chest in his press conference yesterday, insisting that his players “have to be flawless in how they engage and what they give for this game, because this competition deserves the utmost respect”, but rumour has it that significant team changes are afoot.
Welcome. Hang up your coats, find yourself a pew and sit tight - team news is coming just as soon as I get it.
