It was difficult but not impossible. Chelsea had done that before. Remember that night? Trailing in the first leg they produced a ruthless first half performance at the Bridge in the return fixture against mighty Barcelona and when all odds were against them Captain Terry rose to the occasion giving a memorable victory. So, cutting two goal deficits was not at all impossible, whether the home side can keep Napoli’s attack at bay was the only concern. Had Walter Mazzarri’s side got one back, Chelsea would have to score at least three. Too many mathematics while the task was herculean. With odds staking up against them, Chelsea produced a heroic performance that not only threw Napoli out of the tournament, not only solved all the mathematics, but restored pride, passion and belief at the heart of the club.
Tactical battle
Under Di Matteo, Chelsea have started every game with a 4-2-3-1 formation. They started with Drogba upfront, Sturridge on the right, Ramires on the left with Mata on the hole. Napoli approached the game in their trademark 3-4-3 formation. Andrea Dossena was left on the bench, while Juan Zuniga got the nod ahead of him. Problem started when Christian Maggio got injured and Dossena came on to replace him. Mazzari had to shuffle the system – Zuniga moved to the right and Dossena in his customary left back position.
Lack of shape from both the sides
Lavezzi and Cavani played very high up the pitch while the supply line of Inler-Hamsik-Gargano played equally deeper resulting in non-constructive attacks for Napoli most of the time. They were out of shape without the ball. Lavezzi coming more and more central left the flanks wide open for Chelsea full backs to exploit.
Well, that was the plan. But, Napoli couldn’t exploit the space left by the fullbacks, partly because Hamsik dropped deep to control the game coupled with sloppy passing of Gargano and Inler which disrupted their free flowing football. Napoli couldn’t put that pressure with the ball in wide zones.
Chelsea should have exploited that weakness. However, they deployed wrong men at wrong position. Ramires, a right footed player and not a winger by any means played on the left, though it is from his cross, Chelsea got the opening goal through Didier Drogba.
Better Late than never
Di Matteo finally got the solution only in the extra time. He shifted Ramires back on the right side, putting Malouda on the left who replaced ineffective Juan Mata. Torres and Drogba played upfront in a simple, classic 4-4-2 formation.
Napoli on the other hand threw Goran Pandev in the extra time, but the same problem continued. Tired legs of Napoli were evident and the supply line to Cavani was blocked. In the mean time, Chelsea with few fresh legs looked for the killer punch. Sort of aggression and passion that was missing under Villas-Boas was re-installed when old guards of Chelsea stood up to the occasion. Ivanovic who had a torrid time in the defence grabbed the winner by hitting the final nail on Napoli’s coffin in extra time.
Poor set-piece defending
Napoli’s defending against crosses and set pieces were not only poor, but shambolic at times. John Terry scored a free header, while Drogba had no problems in heading home Ramires’ cross. Likewise, Inler should have defended better in the build up to Lampard’s penalty. Napoli are usually vulnerable to set pieces as we saw last weekend they conceded three goals against Cagliari, all coming through headers.
The side from Naples is an exciting team to watch but they operate mainly on counter-attacking football. The game plan of sitting deep and breaking couldn’t cope with constant pressure from the home side. Also, the magnitude of the match got on their nerves may be. And finally, Chelsea could use fresh legs towards the end, while Napoli had to stick with the best 11 possible throughout the match. Once their early threat got nullified it was all left to Chelsea to punish them dearly.
The return of old Didier Drogba was the most pleasing sight. It was surely one of the most entertaining nights at Stamford Bridge and may well go down as one of the best since John Terry’s header knocked Barcelona out of this competition few years back.
Follow Saikat Mandal on twitter @Saikat_SAnchor
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