Jose Mourinho out-planned Mauricio Pochettino and Chelsea out-fought Tottenham, and the Blues are the ones celebrating a League Cup final victory.
A well-worked gameplan from Chelsea saw them emerge from Wembley victorious as the winners of the League Cup, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 and adding yet another trophy win to Jose Mourinho's resume.
The first half was predictably combative and chippy, aggressive play was the highlight rather than scintillating skill. Diego Costa was his normal controversial self, battling with Eric Dier and Nabil Bentaleb, coaxing the former in to a yellow card and working up the latter so much that he wasn't as effective as normal in midfield.
Behind the ball, the defensive trio of John Terry, Garry Cahill, and defender-turned-midfielder Kurt Zouma did a good job keeping the ever-dangerous duo of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen from being able to connect as frequently or effectively as Tottenham fans are used to seeing. Eriksen did crack the crossbar on one early free kick, but that was about the most dangerous chance Spurs would manage in the first half, as Kane found himself largely starved of service.
For the most part, Tottenham's defense was able to hold off the worst of what Chelsea had to offer, but that all changed when Kyle Walker crumpled on to the pitch late in the half. Walker appeared to have hurt his knee, and was limping heavily when he came back on to the pitch. Chelsea quickly started targeting him, and on a late corner John Terry was able to slip free of the fullback and in to space to hammer home the game's opening goal.
Walker's injury continued to play a key role in the match, as Chelsea continued to target Walker over and over again in the second half. Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Cesar Azpilicueta, Cesc Fabregas, really whoever had the ball for Chelsea would drift to their left, isolate on Walker, and run on him, knowing that he could turn effectively or keep up any more after taking his knock.
Those struggles lead directly to Chelsea's second goal, with Walker completely failing to slow down Costa's charge, and his desperate effort to block the ball wound up turning the Spain international's shot in for an own goal. It was a demoralizing moment for Spurs, and it took them awhile to really get back in to the match after giving up that second goal.
Once they did, though, their desperate push created problems for Chelsea's defense. Tottenham made three attacking substitutions that worked well and added energy and numbers to their attack, and they started getting chances galore in the last ten minutes of the match. Unfortunately, Chelsea's stifling defense kept the supporting runs of Erik Lamela and Roberto Soldado from getting to the end of Eriksen's and Kane's crosses in time, and Chelsea were able to hold Spurs at bay.
It was a well-fought match with plenty of quality on both sides, but in the end the talent and tactical planning of Jose Mourinho's Chelsea side were able to win the day and lift the League Cup. Tottenham and their fans should be proud of what they accomplished both today and in the season's run to this final. That won't be much consolation to them in the moment, but this kind of tournament run can be a good building block for Spurs to build from.
Chelsea : Petr Chech; Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Cesar Azpilicueta; Ramires, Kurt Zouma, Cesc Fabregas (Oscar 88'); Willian (Juan Cuadrado 75'), Diego Costa (Didier Drogba 90'+2), Eden Hazard
Goals: Terry 45', Walker OG 56'
Tottenham Hotspur : Hugo Lloris; Kyle Walker, Eric Dier, Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose; Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason (Erik Lamela 71'); Andros Townsend (Moussa Dembele 62'), Christian Eriksen, Nacer Chadli; Harry Kane
Goals: none
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1wAOvCS
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