Southampton 1 - 2 Chelsea : 5 Talking Points
Chelsea beat Southampton 2-1 in their EPL tieSouthampton welcomed Chelsea to the St Marys with the hope of keeping up their good form and further their campaign towards managing to secure a place in the European competitions next year.On the other end of the spectrum, Chelsea were looking to continue their revival under Guus Hiddink and push for a top table spot.Southampton took the lead through Shane Long in the first half only for Fabregas to level things up in the most innocuous of ways, late in the second half, which later saw Branislav Ivanovic head home in the 89th minute to put the Blues in the lead.Here are the talking points for the game.
#1 Chelsea start poorly, again
While Chelsea’s performances under new manager Guus Hiddink have certainly seen a massive improvement from their exploits at the start of the year under Jose Mourinho, the Blues are still far from being back to their ruthless best.
This is exemplified in their inability to conisistently start well. The game against Southampton was just another addition to the ever-growing list of games which have seen the Blues thoroughly outplayed in the first half or so before they finally get into the game as it progresses.
Luckily for them, this has failed to manifest itself into conceding goals so far, but the fact still remains is that Hiddink’s side remain precariously vulnerable when the refree’s whistle goes off at the start of the game.
The Blues looked clumsy and unimaginative during the majority of the first half and were lucky to only concede late in the half as a result of a defensive error.
If Hiddink’s side is to steadily progress to the top half of the table, then they must learn to start well, as not only does that shield against starting the game on the backfoot but also provides a great foundation to build on, such as their game against Newcastle last game week.