Chelsea Away Lost 4 – 0
Still no Harwood-Bellis at Chelsea and no surprise that Bednarek was out injured so no option for the manager in starting Bella-Kotchap; obviously he’s not match fit (and who’s fault is that?) but he has to be an improvement on players who are not good enough technically and/or physically strong enough. Had Palmer worn his shooting boots instead of finding Ramsdale in his way or the goal not wide enough, the opening stages might have been different, but AB-K and his mates performed well enough in that period. However, one of our problems is maintaining the required level of concentration at the back and when Adarabioyo headed on, Smallbone (a Championship midfielder back trying to defend a Premier League corner) was on his heels and allowed Nkunku to nip in and squeeze the ball past Ramsdale. We might have equalised but for Jørgensen clawing out a header from Tall Paul but the floodgates had now opened at the other end. An ill-judged exchange of passes between recalled Downes (our Championship player of the year but not up to pace in the PL) and Bree (pushing his luck at centre back even in the Championship) ended up with Neto running clear and shooting inside Ramsdale’s near post with Bree slow to spot the danger. Just to remove any unlikely lingering doubts about the result, Colwill headed in a 44th minute free kick as Aribo (a Championship midfielder now forced into a top flight defensive role) failed to take control. Harwood-Bellis was deemed fit enough to play from half time so he came on for Bree but we lost another defender on the hour when Walker-Peters was injured. There was precious little prospect of a Southampton goal but at least Chelsea had stopped scoring, at least until the 78th minute when they broke from a Saints corner and at one point had six against three; the move appeared to have broken down but the players we had back were only marking space while a breathless Bella-Kotchap was still making his way back as unmarked Cucurella, the evening’s pantomime villain, scored with ease. A welcome week off now… and then Liverpool beckons… we’ll need a bricklayer rather than a goalkeeper for that one.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates for you to choose from:
2. Kyle Walker-Peters. What will we be like if he’s now out for a while?
6. Taylor Harwood-Bellis – statistically at least, conceding only one goal in 45 minutes.
37. Armel Bella-Kotchap. By far from a faultless performance but he adds an element of strength.
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