Graham Potter and Chelsea have to be the unluckiest side in Europe right now. Chelsea somehow was unable to score a goal past an extremely shaky Dortmund defense as they lost 1-0 in Germany, forcing them to win the tie outright in London to advance.
This Chelsea side is a really good team…that just can’t buy a goal.
If this game was played another 50 times, the Blues would win 95% of those matchups. There was nothing about this game that justified Dortmund leaving with a 1-0 victory as they were utterly torn apart by Chelsea on numerous occasions. Chelsea was dominate in the aspects of the game that matter most (ex: shots, shots on target, corners, passing accuracy, etc.), and had 10X the “grade A” chances Dortmund created.
In fact, aside from Karim Adeyemi’s magnificent full-field, solo goal (which really was a great goal), Dortmund didn’t generate a thing on Kepa Arrizabalaga’s net. The two shots on target stat proves it.
Reversely, Dortmund’s keeper, Gregor Kobel, was the only reason why Dortmund didn’t find themselves down 6-1 when the final whistle blew. Well, him and the fact that Chelsea’s forward literally couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net if their lives depended on it.
Joa Felix hit the crossbar in first half, blasted a pullback cross inside the penalty box over the bar, and had the ball bounce off his face away from goal off a corner (which happened to led to Dortmund’s goal) in the second, Hakim Ziyech saw three of his shots blocked by Dortmund defenders right in front of goal, Thiago Silva had his goal in the first half chalked off because it hit his hand, Reece James had one of his free kicks clawed out by Gober, and Kalidou Koulibaly had his shot cleared off the line by Emre Can.
Simply put, every single one of Chelsea’s players are snakebitten.
The signs of face-paced, attacking football that made Graham Potter a household name at Brighton is more evident with every Chelsea match that I watch, which makes me very worried for the English manager. Even though he’s getting through to these players and has them playing quality attacking football again, he’s just not getting the results his side deserves.
In the last eight games in all competitions for the Blues, Chelsea has only scored three goals and has been shutout five times! That’s utterly insane for one of the traditional “Big-6” clubs of England and for a team that spent north of €350M this season on players, managers, and new coaching hires.
If this Chelsea side had Erlin Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Robert Lewandowski, or even a player like Marcus Rashford (who’s in the form of his life), Inter’s Lautaro Martinez, or Christopher Nkunku (who’s going to be a Chelsea player next season), they’d be at the top of the table. This team is that good, even if the results haven’t shown it.
Thus, I’m afraid that Todd Boehly, who’s already proven he can be fickle with his managers (cough…Thomas Tuchel…cough), will get sick and tired of seeing Chelsea lose 1-0, 2-1, or draw 1-1 games and fire Potter for a big-name manager, such as Mauricio Pochettino, Zinedine Zidane, Antonio Conte (who probably won’t last at Tottenham for much longer), and Louis Van Gaal (who might be prized out of the Netherlands), etc., to “get them over the line”.
As for this tie, I’d be shocked if Chelsea don’t progress.
Dortmund’s defense of Nicklas Sule, Nico Schlotterbeck, Raphael Guerreiro, and Marius Wolf is nothing to be fearful of, while Gregor Kobel had one of the games of his life in goal. Chelsea just needs to SCORE A GOAL, and they’ll be able to sweep aside Dortmund with ease.
Graham Potter better get his side firing, or else he’s going to find himself on the Chelsea chopping block much sooner than later.
Images Source: Featured Image:
