Chelsea 1-1 Burnley: Liam Rosenior’s side drop more points at Stamford Bridge as discipline woes continue after ANOTHER red card
The front of Chelsea’s shirts displayed the nondescript logo of the AI firm they’ve found as a temporary sponsor and so much of this place still seems to exude impermanence and uncertainty. Liam Rosenior seemed to be sharing a dug-out seat with his assistant, Justin Walker, who stood up to vacate it each time the manager wanted to take the weight off his feet.
Burnley’s late equaliser – striker Zian Flemming left unmarked as he ran to meet James Ward Prowse’s corner – saw half-hearted boos greet the final whistle and it could have been even worse. Burnley’s Jacob Brunn Larsen was free to send a header over the bar from a second Ward Prowse corner, moments after the first.
The late heist was precisely what Scott Parker’s side had planned for and, given Chelsea’s vast dominance having taken such an early lead, succumbing to it was criminal.
The finale was not the only part of the occasion which contributed to a rather disquieting sense that Rosenior has too much public exuberance for his own good. His extended public hug for Scott Parker just before kick-off just seemed too long for the red-hot cauldron of this competition. You wondered how his advance talk of a ‘two-day tactical lead-in’ to a home game against Burnley would have played out with his squad. It clearly didn’t work.
Rosenior claps a lot while issuing instructions, though there’s not much evidence that anyone is listening. When Reece James arrived at the technical area during a second half pause in play, he was busy writing something down on a pad. By the team he looked up, the captain had gone.
The necessary message – ‘maintain intensity’ – did not need a pen and paper, yet Chelsea resorted to a game of walking football in a second half during which they didn’t manage a shot on target. Rosenior’s substitutions when Wesley Fofana was sent off left him with six defenders on the field, four of whom are usually centre halves.
Chelsea were once again punished for their wastefulness and ill-discipline at Stamford Bridge
Burnley left it late but clinging on away might have given them a vital point towards avoiding relegation at the end of the season
He defended this strategy last night, after a surrender of points mirroring the Leeds comeback here 11 days ago which will give both Liverpool and Manchester United belief that they can squeeze Chelsea out of the fifth Champions League spot.
‘An assignment was missed,’ Rosenior said. ‘Flemming is their best header of the ball. There is a player we assigned that duty to, who marked the wrong player.’
Burnley manager Scott Parker said he had been looking to how Rosenior would react to the tactical challenge of the red card. ‘You’re trying to see what the reaction is from Liam and react to that. We brought more attackers on to increase the tempo and show more intent.’
The asset Ward-Prowse represents must have formed part of Burnley’s tactical preparations, given that Chelsea rank last in the Premier League for expected set-piece goals conceded this season.
Chelsea could at least take consolation from the performance of Joao Pedro, whose goal inside four minutes – sliding in to convert Pedro Neto’s cross after a perpendicular Moses Caicedo pass had seen Burnley’s defence outpaced – made it seven goals in nine games for him.
Burnley’s Joe Worrall was the unfortunate soul assigned the job of dealing with the Brazilian for much of the time and it seemed like a kind of a haunting. Worrall, who acquitted himself well, was constantly looking around his shoulder to see where Joao Pedro.
When they went up for an aerial ball together towards the end of the first half, you expected Worrall, who has a three-inch height advantage, to win. He came off second best with a blow to the leg and limped away. Chelsea’s striker blends that kind of physicality with clever diagonal movements off the ball and a capacity to intuit where others are.
The passes he found for Cole Palmer were neat and crisp and full of a sense of the possibilities. If Palmer’s touch had not been so poor all afternoon, Chelsea might have capitalised and quickly sealed a game which for large part had seemed like a training exercise.
Wesley Fofana was the latest of Chelsea’s reckless squad to be given his marching orders
The defender was sent off in the second-half and Burnley began to smell blood in the water
Joao Pedro had opened the scoring for the hosts after just four minutes, which seemed to hint at the possibility of a rout
But instead Chelsea did little as Burnley grew in statue and look close to slipping out of contention for Champions League football
There were painfully few other shining lights as they struggled to break down a side seeking only to stay in touch and nick a late point. Pedro Neto had some moments but was rarely a danger. When Joao Pedro created a chance for him, flicking a pass with his instep from the byline, the Portuguese tried – and failed – to buy a penalty.
The arrival of Ward-Prowse turned the game. It was Fofana’s lunge at him which saw him dismissed – poor discipline given that he had already been booked for fouling Hannibal.
Rosenior said Chelsea knew that Ward-Prowse was Burnley’s only means of scoring, yet his defence twice allowed his corners to imperil them. ‘It was not good enough’, the manager reflected, though he, just as much as his players, has some answering to do.
