Chelsea verdict: Same old story for Thomas Tuchel as Blues fail to finish Al-Hilal off in nervy Club World Cup semi
Chelsea laboured to victory in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup to set themselves up for a maiden win in the competition on Saturday.
But it was far from all roses and chocolates for Chelsea as they stumbled their way through at Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium.
In fact, in the second half they were VERY lucky not to concede at least one goal.
They lost control and allowed Al-Hilal to get into the game, which in a way was also credit to them and the effort they put in. The Saudi champs showed a lot more confidence in the second-half.
However, Chelsea cannot hide from the elephant in the room, the Achilles Heel so obvious after most matches these days – their lack of ability to finish teams off.
At half-time it had been all Chelsea and they had chances to finish off their lowly opposition after the break, but once again chances were wasted.
Thomas Tuchel’s side lacked confidence and ideas in front of goal – and failed to put the game to bed as is FAR too often the case recently.
All fans know the drill. Chelsea are 1-0 up, the other side start creeping back into the game and grow in confidence thinking they can grab a goal back, and quite often they will do just that.
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But this time, Chelsea had a hero to thank in stopper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who firmly closed the door on the elephant in the room – for today at least.
Kepa – who must surely be labelled as the best backup keeper in world football right now – made two world-class saves from Al Hilal to keep Chelsea in the game, the second of which was one for the back pages.
If it weren’t for Kepa making these big saves, then it could have easily been a different story tonight.
Of course Chelsea’s opponents were no pushovers, but on nights like this Tuchel’s men are their own worst enemies.
They had simple chances to kill the game off but wasted them yet again.
The bottom line right now of course is Chelsea win, Chelsea advance to the final – and winning games is essentially what it’s all about.
But they certainly know how to make it hard for themselves, and they have Kepa to thank for this victory.
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