First time since 2013 – Chelsea record horror stat from third terrible first half in a row | OneFootball

Half time has just arrived in the Chelsea – Copenhagen Conference League game, and it couldn’t come soon enough.

It wasn’t quite as bad as our efforts in the first leg, where we put in one of the most dreadful first half performances of the season, but it wasn’t much better.

The damning stat was that the Blues had not one shot in the first period. Their feisty opposition, on the other hand, had 4. That’s the first time Chelsea have managed that in more than 10 years.

There were groans from the crowd against Leicester in the game at the weekend as Maresca’s team put in another really laboured showing, and the coach reacted pretty sternly in his press conference after the game. He kept telling the fans that they “need to understand” that his team had had to adapt to their opposition playing a back 5 rather than a back 4, as though that was any excuse.

Can he really blame the supporters for showing some mild discontent when his team puts in anaemic attacking showings like they have in the last few games? His insistence that this is the only way he will consider playing starts to look foolish when his team can’t muster a single shot in 45 minutes against a team operating with a fraction of the budget.

Half time boot needed for passive Chelsea

A Chelsea group huddle in the Conference League. (Photo by Patrik Lundin/Getty Images)

Just like last week, we expect to see changes at half time as Maresca tries to add some bite to a passive and rather lost team. Let’s work on getting a shot away – last week it was a Reece James effort from miles out which caught the Danes cold after the break, and we need a similar spark tonight.

There’s no shortage of quality among the subs – but equally, there’s no shortage of talent on the pitch either, and that’s not working for us.