Spaniard curtailed any hope of Swansea claiming points in encounter with Mourinho's title-chasers
Bleurgh. Certain things marred my day today, and most obviously the biggest blot on the copybook was Chico Flores receiving his marching orders in the fifteenth minute. What was he doing? He'd already received a yellow for a foul on Willian (which at the time I remember thinking - fair play I'll take that - it was cynical but stopped them breaking out) but then two minutes later he lunges at André Schurrle after already showing him down the line. Why?! It was exactly the same challenge which saw him dismissed against Crystal Palace, and I just don't understand why, after doing everything right and showing his man outside, he then feels the need to stick a leg out which is always going to be tripped over, resulting in at best a free-kick and at worst a dismissal.
The other thing which marred my day was Doombar being unavailable from the Riverside Lounge. I'd made an effort to get there before the throng, but after ten minutes of waiting I noticed it was off. Disappointed, I lumped for two pints of Guinness instead - which took a lot longer to drink and didn't leave me feeling nearly as enthused as I normally am after a Doombar double-header.
Chico's dismissal means any analysis of the game is likely to be viewed as a moot point, but one thing to mention is that before his substitution (due to Chico's red card) Pablo Hernandez looked his renewed lively self. He'd already asked numerous questions of the Chelsea defence, and he didn't look impressed to be withdrawn, though I can see the thinking behind it. It would have been a brave, brave move to remove anyone other than Pablo at that stage, and he was perhaps a victim of his position in the Swans' lineup, whereas if he'd have started out wide he may well have benefited from someone else being withdrawn.
I will briefly mention the referee - people have already remarked that Phil Dowd seemed to change his mind after initially deciding not to book Chico Flores for his second, and ultimately last, foul. To me, it looked like he just delayed before issuing the inevitable second yellow but it does seem he had waved Chico away before, after a lot of pressure from Chelsea players, he called the Spaniard over to issue him his marching orders. Whether his about turn was the result of Chelsea pressure or a word in his earpiece we can't say, but either way the delay in calling Chico over was unusual.
There's two more things I'll mention, and the second is the goal. Firstly though, I thought the atmosphere at the Liberty was outstanding. My hands are dried and cracked in a way I don't remember thing being since the days of the North Bank, and for twenty minutes after half time "Garry Monk's Barmy Army" rang true around the stadium, interspersed only by a vociferous four-bar rendition of "Hymns and Arias".
Belting stuff, and it's a real shame the Chelsea goal came, almost inevitably, directly after this boisterous show of fan power. A speculative ball forward from Matic, and Demba Ba wrong-footed Ashley Williams before firing under Vorm via the aid of a slight deflection. I still think it was soft on the part of our Dutch goalkeeper, and if he's as good as he thinks he is he needs to be stopping those.
Even so, Chelsea struggled to break us down. Ok, we could have made a change earlier in the second half, and the introduction of N'Gog seemed as much a roll of a dice as anything else - given the French forward didn't seem to occupy any fixed position after his arrival. In truth though, Chico's dismissal meant it was a fairly inconsequential affair where victory for Chelsea was almost entirely inevitable.
On to Newcastle away then, and with Jordi Amat in the back four I'm actually pretty confident we'll secure a positive result.
Nothing to do with Newcastle being in freefall, mind you...