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Chelsea are in the FA Cup quarter-finals after a nervous victory over a Barnsley team that made the proceedings uncomfortable for Thomas Tuchel’s team. If the eight-time winners are hardly convinced that the end result is that they will host Sheffield United and rejoice at their chances of sealing a semi-final at Wembley.
Tuchel can be happy that his team found a way to win and the German remains undefeated as Chelsea manager. Another advantage is the way their players struggled to defend Tammy Abraham’s decisive goal in the 64th minute, with the latter making a header from under the bar as full time approached. Of his winning match, Tuchel said: “He scores a decisive goal and the stop on the line was crucial. I have to be honest, yes I am [relieved]. We can stop the analysis on what was done: Chelsea is over, period. We can clearly play better.
“We have to admit that we fight, but in the cup it is sometimes like that. I don’t want to be too harsh on guys. We are happy to be able to play Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge because it saves us a lot of travel. We will prepare for an intense match ”.
For Barnsley there will be a reflection on a classic story of what could have been. They just couldn’t capitalize on what counts, in the danger area, although Valérien Ismaël was rightly proud. “It’s exactly the game we wanted, we put in a great performance,” he said. “We could see how far we can take our principles, make Chelsea make mistakes, we did it perfectly in the first half but we had to score. Tonight we go to bed with a good feeling. “
While the Frenchman arranged his team, which ranked 13th in the championship, in a 3-4-3 formation, Tuchel only held back Andreas Christensen from Sunday’s victory at Sheffield United. After the Tykes enjoyed a first step of pressure, Chelsea began to prevail. Abraham, factor at all times, seemed to have a good cry for a penalty rejected by the referee, Martin Atkinson, who indicated that Toby Sibbick had taken the ball.
On an increasingly chipped surface, Chelsea’s collective class showed itself as Billy Gilmour, Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi began to show themselves. However, the Alex Mowatt-Callum Brittain axis was potent for Barnsley: after an earlier combination in which the latter forced Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga into a save from close range, another ball from Mowatt’s left made have his teammate run for the head. until Marcus Alonso cleared.
Ismaël’s side finished half as they started: taking a corner. If Arrizabalaga stuck to that delivery, the one taken moments before was another story. Mowatt caught it from the right and the ball was worked to Brittain through Conor Chaplin. His effort was tied to the goal before taking a detour.
In the second half, Alonso and Andreas Christenen, who received a blow to the head, were replaced by Reece James and Antonio Rüdiger. Tuchel’s instructions were obviously to inject more rhythm, N’Golo Kanté showed how with a pass that went through the undulating surface, although Gilmour could not control.
Barnsley, to his credit, did not allow Chelsea to settle down and it was a shame there were no local fans present as they would have reveled in the display of their team. On the touchline, an angry Tuchel had an invective for Abraham when his shot off goal at Gilmour meant another move by Chelsea went wrong. Better was a Hudson-Odoi run through Barnsley, but his attempt was wide.
Then, finally, the breakthrough came. Tuchel might be particularly pleased as his James introduction proved pivotal: from Gilmour’s impressive pass, the right-back’s sprint left him clear and when he hit Abraham, the forward was left with a simple shot from close range. Then later, the clearance for No. 9 came.
Abraham said, “I grew up being an advocate, so it was knee-jerk reactions: to be in the right place. Coming here is never easy. Give them credit: they are a good side. “He is correct.
