Maurizio Sarri is only just starting to shape his new Chelsea team the way that he wants it but on days like this when they just have too much quality for their opposition the Italian manager might wonder whether it even matters.
They were not always dominant but Chelsea were decisive in the game’s critical moments, put two goals up before half-time when Jorginho stroked a penalty past Ben Hamer and from there it was hard to see a way back. N’Golo Kante had scored only his third league goal of his Chelsea career earlier in the half and when later after the break Eden Hazard came on, it was just too much for Huddersfield Town.
Hamer and the substitute Adama Diakhaby were the only debutants in David Wagner’s new-look Huddersfield team. In goal for Chelsea, the £71 million man Kepa Arrizabalaga barely had a save to make and in front of him Jorginho was impressive. There was another start for Ross Barkley, although Hazard’s cameo at the end served notice as to who the main man is.
A surging run from inside his own half by the Belgian had Huddersfield back-pedalling and using Alvaro Morata as a decoy, Hazard slipped the ball right for Pedro to score the third. Huddersfield had been frenetic in their attacking and tenacious in midfield, but with very little finesse. When Chelsea’s attacking stars got to run at them the home side found themselves opened up very quickly.
LONDON, KOMPAS.com - Gelandang Chelsea , Ruben Loftus-Cheek, mengungkapkan bahwa pelatih Maurizio Sarri menerapkan kurikulum yang membuat pemain melakukan latihan dengan brutal.
Hal itu dilakukan agar pemain dengan cepat memahami taktik dan filosofi permainan baru Maurizio Sarri.
"Filosofi baru sang pelatih membuat kami benar-benar bekerja keras di atas lapangan. Dengan dua sesi latihan kami harus paham sekaligus menyempurnakan taktik," ucap Loftus-Cheek dikutip BolaSport.com dari Football London.
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"Latihan itu tentang bagaimana kami melakukan pressing serta bagaimana keinginan kami untuk bermain. Itu sangat menarik dan saya tak sabar untuk terus meningkatkan kemampuan," ucapnya menambahkan.
Sarri langsung memperlihatkan perbedaan yang nyata setelah resmi menakhodai Chelsea.
Chelsea, yang musim lalu menggunakan formasi 3-4-3, menjadi obyek perombakan Sarri dengan menginjeksi gaya permainan menyerang melalui skema 4-3-3.
Nyatanya, implementasi itu sangat bertolak belakang dengan yang diterapkan pelatih Antonio Conte pada musim lalu.
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Apabila Conte mengandalkan kecepatan duo wingback Marcos Alonso dan Victor Moses, kini Sarri dipercaya akan mengandalkan Jorginho guna membangun serangan dari lini tengah.
Imbasnya, para pemain The Blues harus bekerja keras dan dituntut untuk memahami taktik Sarri dengan instan, saat berada di tempat latihan.
Chelsea akan menjalani pekan perdana Liga Inggris kala bertandang ke markas Huddersfield Town FC di The John Smith's Stadium, Sabtu (11/8/2018) pukul 21.00 WIB. (Ahmad Tsalis Fahrurrozi)
HUDDERSFIELD – Chelsea melakoni laga perdana mereka di kompetisi Liga Inggris 2018-2019. Skuad besutan Maurizio Sarri itu akan bertandang ke John Smith Stadium yang merupakan markas kebanggaan Huddersfield Town FC. Hingga babak pertama selesai, Chelsea unggul dengan skor 2-0.
Chelsea yang berambisi meraih poin penuh pada laga perdana mereka pada gelaran Liga Inggris 2018-2019 langsung mengambil alih jalannnya permainan sejak awal babak pertama. Alvaro Morata dan rekan-rekan jelas membutuhkan kemenangan guna memantapkan langkah mereka di awal musim ini.
Usaha mereka untuk memegang kendali di awal babak pertama berbuah manis. Memasuki menit 20 mereka mulai mampu membongkar pertahanan ketat yang diterapkan para pemain Huddersfield. Pelatih mereka, Maurizio Sarri menginstruksikan anak asuhnya untuk menerapkan pertahanan garis tinggi.
Menit 34 Chelsea memecah kebuntuan lewat aksi Kante. Pemain asal Prancis itu berhasil meneruskan umpan silang dari Willian melalui sepakan voli. Bola sempat memantul ke tanah sebelum meluncur deras ke pojok kiri gawang. The Blues-julukan Chelsea – mencetak gol pertama mereka di ajang Liga Inggris musim ini.
Unggul satu gol tak membuat para penggawa Chelsea menurunkan tempo permainan. Mereka terus menebar serangan ke daerah pertahanan lawan. Hasilnya, tim London tersebut akhirnya mampu menggenapkan keunggulan mereka di menit akhir babak pertama.
Melalui pemain anyar mereka, Jorginho, Chelsea memperjauh keunggulan mereka atas sang lawan. Skor 2-0 untuk keunggulan Chelsea bertahan hingga turun minum.
Berikut Susunan Pemain Chelsea vs Huddersfield di ajang Liga Inggris 2018-2019.
Chelsea XI (4-3-3): Kepa Arrizabalaga; Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, David Luiz, Marcos Alonso; N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Ross Barkley; Pedro, Alvaro Morata, Willian.
Huddersfield Town XI (3-5-1-1): Ben Hamer; Mathias Jorgensen, Christopher Schindler, Terence Kongolo; Florent Hadergjonaj, Aaron Mooy, Jonathan Hogg, Philip Billing, Chris Lowe; Alex Pritchard; Steve Mounie.
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90+3min: FULL TIME! Chelsea win!
90min: Morata at the end of Chelsea’s latest attack, but his shot is blocked excellently for a corner.
83min: Hazard drives forward from the half-way line again, and is only stopped by a strong foul just outside the area. Hazard takes the free-kick early to try to surprise the goalkeeper, but it hits the wall.
80min: A deep cross finds Depoitre but his header is harmless and Kepa collects and quickly launches an attack. Hazard carries it upfield, beats a few and finds Pedro all alone on the right side. He makes no mistake as he chips Hamer. Moses then comes on to replace him. 3-0 CHELSEA!
77min: Nice touch from Morata but he’s all alone up front and can’t find a friendly foot.
76min: Hazard comes on for his 301st Chelsea appearance, replacing Willian.
75min: Huddersfield continue to build the pressure. An unmarked Depoitre, who scored in both games last season, fires one well over.
72min: Huddersfield making changes and pushing forward. Azpilicueta with a good block on a shot from top of the box.
68min: Loftus-Cheek is Sarri’s first sub, replacing Barkley. David Luiz then collects Chelsea’s first yellow for stopping a counter.
65min: Morata wins a free kick after holding up the ball 3-v-1. Alonso takes it as usual, but it doesn’t quite curl as much as he’d want and flies harmless over.
62min: A bit of slick passing from Chelsea finds Willian on the left. He cuts inside 1-v-1, takes the shot, but is deflected over. Willian’s corner cleared this time.
57min: Willian takes a corner and Rüdiger’s header draws an excellent save from Hamer. Willian takes the next corner and this time Alonso hits the crossbar with an overhead kick! So close!
55min: Pedro in acres of space on the right to pick out a cross; just a bit too far ahead of Morata who can’t quite reach it.
53min: Pedro has a run but doesn’t look to his right to spot Kanté in acres of space.
52min: Alonso steams up the left and lays it off to Willian. He drives the baseline but his low cross is intercepted just before it could reach Morata.
50min: More incisive early on in this half from Chelsea. Barkely bulldozes his way into the box but has to check back. Kanté has a good cross. A Pedro combination almost works out.
48min: High pressure from Morata forces a poor clearance from Hamer. At least the Chelsea striker is involved in that sense!
46min: Chelsea keeping the ball in midfield as the second half begins.
HALF-TIME: So far so good, even if Chelsea aren’t exactly fluent in Sarrismo. Good passing, could be far more incisive. Two shots on target, two goals.
45+1min: Huddersfield try to get one back, but Kepa rises highest in his box and makes a strong catch as the referee blows for half-time.
44min: Tremendous passing finds Alonso in the box, and he’s fouled by Schindler just as he’s shaping to take the shot by. Jorginho makes no mistakes from the spot. 2-0 CHELSEA!
42min: Strong response from the hosts to Chelsea taking the lead, but Chelsea dealing with it fairly comfortably. Not managing much possession however.
37min: Huddersfield hit the post from a corner, near post flick on finding a second header at the far post, but it hits the upright and bounces just out. Chelsea survive!
34min: Pedro runs through the middle to create some threat, finally, and finds Willian on the left. He beats one man and pumps a fast cross across the box, just eluding Morata’s head. But Kanté collects at the far post and has a terrible-looking shot that bounces over the goalkeeper and IN! 1-0, CHELSEA!
32min: First Chelsea corner, caught by Hamer.
31min: Azpilicueta loses the ball and Huddersfield swing in a dangerous cross with Alonso out-numbere 2-v-1. Mounie’s skimmed header takes the ball off his own teammate’s foot and Chelsea survive.
29min: More good pressing from the home side. Chelsea dropping deeper and deeper.
27min: Willian counter is nullified by an amazing sliding tackle from Kongolo.
26min: Long shot flies well high from Huddersfield, but home crowd’s getting into it, with a couple physical tussles at both ends of the pitch.
22min: Tremendous threaded ball by David Luiz to Barkley, but his first touch lets him down and Huddersfield win it back.
19min: Kepa’s clearance a bit low and is intercepted, but David Luiz cuts out the final pass on the subsequent attack. Terriers then win it back and have a shot but Kepa saves easily.
15min: Chelsea keeping the ball expertly and winning it back quickly. No real threat on the penalty box however.
12min: Chelsea play through Huddersfield’s pressure quite nicely; Willian breaks upfield finds Morata with a throughball, but his first touch goes backwards and Huddersfield clear. At the other end, Kepa is quick off his line to sweep up behind the high line.
10min: Chelsea keep the ball for 2 minutes, but going nowhere. Eventually Willian goes on a run and Alonso has a cross; easy catch for goalkeeper. Sarri going nuts on the sideline motioning for faster, more vertical passing.
7min: Huddersfield pressing with all their might, Chelsea appear to have it under control, but then they don’t and the home side establishes possession.
4min: Good pressure by Pedro and Azpilicueta on Hamer’s kick-out sets up Morata, who puts his left-footed effort wide. Turns out to have been offside anyway.
KICK-OFF: Chelsea get us under way, with a long ball up the left flank that goes out for a goal kick.
Welcome back to the Premier League. Season 2018-19 is now underway, and this is match number one of 38.
What drama, what fun, what narratives lie ahead of us?
One can only imagine.
And. Here. We. Go.
Huddersfield Town starting XI:
Hamer | Kongolo, Hogg, Billing, Mooy, Lowe, Pritchard, Mounie, Zanka, Schindler, Hadergjonaj
Substitutes from: Lossl, Smith, Diakhaby, Ramadan, Van la Parra, Depoitre, Stankovic
Chelsea starting lineup (4-3-3):
Arrizabalaga | Alonso, David Luiz, Rüdiger, Azpilicueta | Barkley, Jorginho, Kanté | Willian, Morata, Pedro
Substitutes from: Caballero, Christensen, Zappacosta, Moses, Loftus-Cheek, Hazard, Giroud
Date / Time: Saturday, August 11, 2018, 15:00 BST; 10am EDT; 7:30pm IST
Venue: John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield, England
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
On TV: none (UK); NBCSN, NBC Universo (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); elsewhere
Streaming online: NBC Sports Live, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA); Hotstar (India); talkSport 2 (UK radio); Chelsea TV (audio commentary only; int’l)
I had hope to have updated community guidelines rolled out in time for this match, but that obviously didn’t happen thanks to deadline day madness. But soon!
Until then, no links to illegal streams. And be excellent to each other.
