Chelsea 1-0 Juventus | 'Feel-Good' Is Here To Stay!

Few weeks back, how many would have put their money on Chelsea beating Juventus? This is two great wins in two matches for Guus. I’m not trying to trumpet for Guus. I know he’d be gone in May but the facts and results are simple.

In his first two matches, a win against Aston Villa at Villa Park and a win against Juventus, is a fantastic start. I have to give the credit to Guus because this Chelsea team, a few weeks back, did even look equipped to beat Stoke City at Stamford Bridge.

This team needed replays with Southend, conceded in every possible opportunity and most worryingly was turning into a mediocre bunch.

Guus has turned it around. He’s got Drogba playing. He’s made the team play with more purpose. That ‘game intelligence’ that was missing for months is slowly coming back. The players think like a team, there is some alignment in their thoughts.

That alignment is there because of the clarity that they have got. Of course there were some tense moments in the match and if Juve had equalised we could not have complained.

It was an evenly fought contest but it was clear that Chelsea wanted to score and then they wanted to win.

Guus’ interview after the match is very very impressive:

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I am satisfied with the narrow result but I am not satisfied over the whole game. In the first part we started very well, defensively well-organised, good pressing and we opened our attacks through the wings. We were dangerous around the first 15 minutes but after the goal we dropped back too far and made some distances between our attack, defence and midfield. Juventus could then play in between and they are very intelligent to do so. They were a little bit anxious after the goal and if we had continued in the way we were playing in the first 20 minutes, we were on the edge of scoring another goal. In the second half we had some attacks but not more than that and Juventus dominated. Although they created danger, they did make a very open chance for the equaliser but nevertheless, we did not control well in the second half.

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These are the words of a coach who wants more and demands more. I’m very happy that he is very honest in his assessment of the game.

It is a great win but is 1-0 good enough to take to Turin? If you look at how well Juve could play at Stamford Bridge, you can say that probably Juve will score at Turin. That means Chelsea absolutely needs to score at their backyard.

I think we would just do that and progress. My confidence is back. That’s because I see the confidence of the players and the manager. Hoping for a 1-1 at Turin.