Match report and analysis CHE 6 BAR 0

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Match Report

As expected, Chelsea ran riot in Barnsley yesterday at Stamford Bridge during the Carabao Cup first round.

We defeated the Championship side 6-0 in what was a very entertaining affair, at least to us Chelsea fans.

Barnsley were simply not capable of handling the press from Chelsea and lots of mistakes from their part added greatly to the gigantic scoreline.

Lampard didn’t have any pity on Barnsley before the match as he put out a very experienced Chelsea side consisting of Azpilcueta, Thiago, Kovacic and Caballero in the starting lineup.

Tammy Abraham opened the scoring for Chelsea in the 19 minute after he stole possession inside the penalty box from a Barnsley defender.

Havertz then scored his first Chelsea goal in the 28th minute of the game with what was really a cool finish.

After the restart, Chelsea were simply rampant and in just 20 minutes Chelsea added three more to make it 5-0 with Kai Havertz the heart of that demolition, getting an assist for Barkley and scoring two to complete his first ever career hattrick.

Lampard then responded with substitutions as he removed hattrick hero, Kai Havertz, Thiago Silva and Tammy Abraham and replaced them with Ben Chilwel, Zouma and Giroud respectively.

Chilwel then had the opportunity to get his debut with some minutes and he made a mark by providing a sumptuous cross for Oliver Giroud to nod home and make it 6-0 at about the 84th minute.

There could have been more goals from both side but Barkley’s miss made sure the demolition didn’t get out of hand. Also Caballero put out a stunning performance from start to finish and made a number of save to ensure Barnsley didn’t get any consolation goal.

Five Talking points

1. Kai Havertz Hattrick: We expected Havertz to perform better today than he did in his last two matches but the German did more than just performed better. He showed his class in a very significant way. Personally, I wasn’t even expecting him to get more than one goal before the game but he went on and got three. I certainly underrated his desire for goals.

Fun fact: In 2020, only Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo have recorded more goals + assists in all competitions than Kai Havertz (18 goals + 8 assists).

Kai was simply world class yesterday in the no 10 role Lampard played him. His movements off the ball was top notch. Always at the right place at the right time to support Tammy Abraham who was also exceptional.

Kai also proved to be a good finisher converting all of the three clear chances he got. He’s agility and desire improved alot and his marking/tackle which led to Barkley’s goal had a lot to say about his work rate off the ball just like Mason Mount.

Kai Havertz stats vs Barnsley:

Minutes Played: 66
Goals: 3
Big Chances Created: 2
Passing Accuracy: 88.1%
Successful Tackles: 5 [One led to Barkley’s Goal]
He is now the youngest ever player to score a hattrick for Chelsea in the League Cup.

2. The Debutants: Two new players got their debut yesterday against Barnsley. Thiago Silva started the match and played for 55 minutes before he was replaced by Kurt Zouma while Ben Chilwel came in as a substitute for Kai Havertz in the 66 minute.

Thiago silva was solid throughout his time in the game. You could see experience roaring out of him as he plays and directs everyone around him on what to do. This was exactly what Chelsea was missing in that center defense and his performance, composure, leadership and passing shows that he would make any defensive partner much better.

Thiago Silva’s Chelsea debut by numbers:

100% aerial duels won (1/1)
100% tackle success (1/1)
94% pass accuracy (64/68)
0 goals conceded

As perfect as it can get

Chilwel who was brought in as a sub when the game was already 5-0 ensured he made his mark before the end of the game also by providing an assist for fellow substitute Olivier Giroud to make the scoreline 6-0.

3. Tammy Abraham’s Performance: When Tammy Abraham was substituted in the second half for Giroud, he was frustrated but he shouldn’t be. He had just put forward one of the best performance I have seen from him in a long time. He was looking once again like the Tammy Abraham who scored an hattrick against Wolves.

His touches and workrate was superb but what even impressed me the most was the way he linked up perfectly with Kai Havertz.

He gave Kai Havertz the assists for his two goals in the second half and was technically involved in Havartz first goal in the first half.

He got a goal for himself and his presense was felt in almost every minute when he was in the game. It was a really top performance from the English lad.

Fun fact: Tammy Abraham has now scored 80 senior goals for club & country:

⚽️ 26 x Aston Villa
⚽️ 26 x Bristol City
⚽️ 19 x Chelsea
⚽️ 8 x Swansea
⚽️ 1 x England

4. Caballero’s save: Frank Lampard decided to use his second goal keeper, now third maybe (Caballero) against Barnsley and claimed the decision was made before the Liverpool’s game where Kepa made an awful mistake.

Caballero got his chance and took the game by the horn ensuring Barnsley were frustrated. He denied their efforts couple of times in the first half, allowing Chelsea to take advantage. Kept a cleansheet at the end to ice a wonderful performance and and unbelievable one for a 38 years old.

Fun fact: Willy Caballero made 9 saves against Barnsley, the most of any Chelsea goalkeeper in a competitive game since 2014-15.

5. The midfield trio: It was an unusual midfield trio selection yesterday by Frank Lampard. He chose a midfield of three without a major defensive midfielder.

Jorginho nor Kante weren’t in the starting lineup but Kovacic and Barkley were. The midfield yesterday consisted of Barkley, Kovacic and Kai Havertz with Kai playing the no 10 role while Barkley and Kovacic sat behind to organize play from deep.

Ofcourse the decision was possible because of the fact that Barnsely wouldn’t pose much threat to us attacking wise but the Championship side’s performance in attack were actually brilliant and Kovacic and Barkley did well to contain it.

Our midfield was very dynamic yesterday, filled with technicality and movements. Kovacic as usual was awesome and Barkley looked once again like prime Zidane. He always is against smaller opponents.

The fact is I was a little bit skeptical at first before the game if their combination would work like that but after about only 20 minutes into the game, it was crystal clear that they could handle it.

This also means that in a situation when Jorginho and Kante are out due to injury or suspension, they will be able to replace them in the holding role perfectly.

As we must have observed, Barkley hardly plays a cup game for Chelsea without getting a goal of his own and in a game like this that was filled with goals, the English midfielder dId well to grab one for himself. He could have even gotten a brace after he was pushed into the No 10 role later on in the game when Havertz was substituted but he wastefully denied himself by blasting wide.

What’s next

After the Liverpool’s loss, this game was very much needed to give playing time to some new players, test some new positions with some players and most importantly raise the spirit and morale of the whole team with a win and it worked perfectly.

Now Chelsea will travel to West Midlands on Saturday to continue their Premier League campaign away to West Brom who currently sits 20th in the Premier League table after loosing both of their first two games.

See more upcoming Chelsea fixtures in the page link below

Results & Fixtures

So guys it’s been long we have had such a performance like this. I’m guessing you have a lot in your mind.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below and don’t forget to comment about Kai’s performance