It will take more than a thumping FA Cup quarter-final victory over the worst team in League One to ignite Chelsea’s season as it enters the defining stretch. This was, at least, a step in the right direction. Or, perhaps, it was just good for the club to avoid any further chaos.
The occasion was framed by Liam Rosenior’s decision to ban his vice-captain, Enzo Fernández, for the game and Chelsea’s next one, which is here against Manchester City in the Premier League next Sunday. The manager felt he had to act after Fernández’s none-too-subtle message to Real Madrid during the international break. Basically, he is bang up for joining them.
It was the last thing Rosenior needed after a run of four straight defeats, the two against Paris Saint-Germain adding up to an 8-2 aggregate loss in the Champions League last 16. The others against Newcastle and Everton in the league were just as damaging as the club fights to finish in the top five. Anybody who has seen their most recent accounts knows the importance of a return to the Champions League.
There is an impossible-to-ignore undercurrent of unhappiness around Chelsea and Rosenior has felt the burn of the spotlight. Yet he was able to enjoy this procession that has kept alive the club’s hopes of silverware.
The occasion was always going to go down in Port Vale’s history, irrespective of the result. Only once previously had they played at this stage of the famous old knockout competition – in 1954 when they beat Leyton Orient before losing in the semi-finals to West Brom.
It was a break from the misery of their league campaign; Vale are rock bottom of their division, 15 points from safety and almost certain to be relegated. Their 6,000-strong band of supporters were determined to savour the day, to get behind any moment of positivity. Example – the olés they chanted during a brief period of possession in the first half.
The truth was that there was precious little for them, the die cast after 64 seconds when Jorrel Hato put Chelsea in front. It was 3-0 by the interval, João Pedro scoring the second; Cole Palmer – captain for the day – forcing an own goal for No 3. And the second half was a complete mismatch. Chelsea might have had double figures. They contented themselves with four more – a pair of headers from Tosin Adarabioyo and Andrey Santos, a tap-in from Estêvão and a penalty from the substitute Alejandro Garnacho.
The eye-popping comparisons between the clubs were numerous and it was hard to ignore the line about the value of the starting lineups in terms of fees paid. Chelsea’s cost £439.8m. Vale did not pay a penny for any of their XI. Rosenior was in no mood to take chances. He made three changes from the team he sent out at Everton. With Fernández not under consideration, Marc Cucurella and Moisés Caicedo dropped to the bench. Fernandez was spotted in a seat behind the Chelsea substitutes.
The Vale manager, Jon Brady, wanted to keep things tight in his 5-4-1 formation for as long as possible. So the early goal was a disaster and it added up to the acid test of his players’ mettle. What was soft one it was, too, Pedro Neto’s corner sparking panic and a goalmouth scramble. Hato swiped the breaking ball home.
It was easy to fear Vale’s spirit and physicality would only get them so far, with the goal for 2-0 another bad one to concede. Liam Gordon was beaten too easily on to a bouncing ball up the Chelsea inside-right by Neto, who pulled back a low cross. It was the prompt for a flash of top-level quality from João Pedro. First there was the movement and then the fake-to-shoot trick that unbalanced the Vale centre-half Kyle John. It allowed João Pedro the time to pick the finish into the corner.
Moments before Santos chipped the ball over the top towards Neto, there had been a bit of grumbling from the Chelsea fans after their team checked back rather than play forwards. In some respects, Rosenior and his team were on a hiding to nothing; their best efforts measured against the paucity of the opposition.
Chelsea did not thrill in the first half and they did not get in behind Vale very often. But they did play through them for the third goal, Malo Gusto’s lovely give-and-go with João Pedro getting him in for a shot for the far corner Joe Gauci could only parry. Palmer’s shot on the rebound went in off Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel.
The second-half was one-way traffic, Chelsea setting up camp in the Vale half. Estêvão was twice denied by the woodwork, but he got his reward towards the end after Garnacho’s shot rebounded off the post. The Vale marking for the Adarabioyo and Santos headers was nonexistent and the last word went to Garnacho after he tricked the Vale substitute Tyler Maglorie into a clumsy challenge.
Leave a Reply