518 passes, 85% pass accuracy: Chelsea crush Cardiff City

Chelsea recovered from an early setback to overcome Cardiff City, in what proved to be a relatively comfortable game for Jose Mourinho’s men. Goals from Eden Hazard (2), Samuel Eto’o and Oscar meant that Jordon Mutch’s opener counted for nothing.

Key Stats

The key stat in the game proved to the possession figures of both sides. It underpinned the whole game and clearly outlined the mentality of the respective teams; Chelsea, with 61% of the ball, set out to dominate the game, whereas Cardiff were content to sit back and soak up the pressure in an attempt to hit the Blues on the break.

Indeed, at the end of the first-half, Chelsea had had a remarkable 77% of possession; whilst Cardiff had tried to sit back, they had been overwhelmed by the huge amounts of pressure which Jose Mourinho’s side poured onto them. The fact that Malkay Mackay’s side’s stat rose to 39% after the break shows how they tried to play a slightly more advanced style of play.

The pass completion rate of each side is also telling; whilst Chelsea had a high total of 85%, Cardiff proved wasteful in possession, as shown by their figure of just 66%. This prevented them making their rare counter-attacks count.

Man of the Match:

Eden Hazard was Chelsea’s star man in this victory. The Belgian scored twice, his second a typical finish across the goalkeeper, and, although Cardiff’s hapless David Marshall was at fault for both of them, Hazard’s assist emphasised his class. He was able to slide a delicate through ball for Samuel Eto’o to finish, giving Chelsea the lead which allowed them to accelerate away from Cardiff.

An 82% pass completion rate coupled with five chances created showed exactly why Hazard was coveted so much at the start of last season, and his busy performance was what Chelsea needed in order to recover from their shambolic start to the game.

Performance Score:

As the graph shows, Chelsea had to come from behind in order to record their fifth victory of the season, and Cardiff’s early goal put them ahead on both the scoreboard and in Performance Score.

However, Chelsea’s opening goal put them level and on top; while Cardiff held their own at the beginning of the second half thanks to a tactical change from Mackay, but they were ultimately unable to prevent a superior home team from going ahead.

Once this happened, the Welsh side were washed away, as the two teams’ respective Performance Scores demonstrate.

Key Observations

Chelsea’s centre-backs were crucial in their control of the game. David Luiz and John Terry played very advanced roles, allowing the Brazilian in particular to demonstrate his creative tendencies and supply his team-mates all over the pitch with the ball in attacking positions. The graph below shows Luiz’s range of passing, and the fact that he spent more time in the middle third of the pitch than Chelsea’s own emphasises the advanced role which he played today.

However, this advanced role was also critical in terms of Chelsea’s defence. As Cardiff played so deeply in the first-half, Luiz and Terry’s positioning meant that any counter-attacks which the away side tried to launch were quickly stifled; they were able to latch on to any loose balls and neutralise any threats. As well as this, their position high up the pitch limited the amount of time and space any counter-attacking Cardiff players had, therefore substantially reducing the threat which it posed to Petr Cech‘s goal.

In the second-half, Cardiff pushed higher up the pitch than they had in the first 45 minutes. This restricted the ease with which Chelsea could dominate possession, therefore limiting the threat which the Blues posed them due to the more confined space which they were forced to operate within.

This, coupled with the introduction of Kim Bo-Kyung, had the added effect of making Cardiff sharper in attack; as they pushed higher up, more goalscoring opportunities became available.

Indeed, this change in mentality worried Jose Mourinho enough to switch to a back three for a brief period in the second-half. This tactical reaction from the Portuguese made Hazard and Willian makeshift wing-backs and allowed Chelsea to overrun their opponents in the middle, as demonstrated by the goal which put the Blues ahead.

Hazard, in his position on the left, was able to slip a through ball through to an unmarked Eto’o in the penalty area, who slipped past a defender before releasing a precise strike into the bottom left-hand corner.

This inevitably caused Cardiff to become more attack-minded in their search for what seemed to be an undiscoverable equaliser. Chelsea were able to exploit the open door which this left them in typical Mourinho counter-attacking fashion.

Ultimately, Mourinho’s switch to a back three (which quickly reverted to a four once Chelsea were ahead) gave his side both the lead and the opportunity to increase it; by going ahead, Cardiff were forced to become more reckless; Chelsea ruthlessly exploited this and finished the game as comfortable victors.