Chelsea went to silly lengths to prove they can win with only ten players on the pitch, while Ally McCoist’s lazy use of a cliche has raised eyebrows at F365 HQ.
As Champions League football returned to Stamford Bridge, so did Chelsea legend Jose Mourinho, who has somehow bounced back from a poor Fenerbahce spell to land the Benfica gig. It feels like an undeserved step up and surely his final chance to show he’s not completely finished and destined for Saudi Arabia. Although we’d rather see him on punditry duty than managing in the Middle East.
Chelsea do belong in the Champions League, don’t they? Even if their recent seasons suggest otherwise, they just do. They’re one of the Premier League clubs that have built that aura. They first became a proper European heavyweight under Mourinho two decades ago, and now they’re hoping to return to the very top (no, the Club World Cup doesn’t count) under Enzo Maresca, who is under pressure in our minds, if not in the minds of the Chelsea hierarchy.
The return of Mourinho did a good job of drawing some attention away from Maresca, and The Special One was reveling in it. From playing peacemaker as Benfica fans launched cups at Enzo Fernandez to charging onto the pitch as an impromptu ballboy – via the inevitable yellow card – he was in his element.
In the actual football, a Richard Rios own goal inside 12 minutes was the difference between Chelsea and Benfica. Three points will satisfy plenty of Blues fans, but a result alone doesn’t solve everything.
After the win, TNT Sports co-commentator Ally McCoist went with the classic line: “It was all about the result. It was important Chelsea got the three points and they did that but not a lot more than that. Benfica didn’t do enough with the chances but a massive three points for Chelsea. The result was far more important than the performance.”
There is a genuine debate that the result is always more important than the performance. At the end of the day, that’s what actually matters, right? Well…yes. But also, not exactly.
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Chelsea got the ‘result’ against Lincoln in the Carabao Cup, but they were dreadful. In games you’re supposed to win, making light work of it is expected and rarely praised. Make hard work of it and supporters are quick to let the club’s admin on X know.
The Blues should be beating a Benfica side managed by a washed Mourinho. They have more quality, more expensive players, better depth, and home advantage. Yet they came into this game in a funk, losing 3-1 at home to Brighton after scraping past Lincoln, and falling 2-1 to Manchester United.
That Old Trafford defeat in particular was shambolic. An early red card exposed Maresca’s in-game management, which was among the worst you’ll see in the Premier League this season. And against Lincoln, it took a five-minute spurt to just about stagger over the line against a side two tiers below.
So it was no surprise to see Chelsea lose control again the moment they went down to ten. Against Brighton, Maresca was rumbled, just as he was against an awful United side.
The numbers against Benfica don’t flatter Maresca either. Chelsea failed to create 1.00 xG, produced the same number of big chances and shots on target as Benfica, and even conceded more corners and seven shots inside their own box. That’s not a dominant home Champions League performance.
So no, we’re honestly not convinced the result was more important than the performance, which was pretty underwhelming yet again.
And the fact that substitute Joao Pedro came on, received two yellow cards, and ensured a Chelsea player was sent off again is far from ideal. It could be an elaborate plan for Maresca to prove his Chelsea team can hold on to a win when a player down, but that’s very silly. But then, Chelsea are quite silly, aren’t they? We’re not ruling anything out.
Discipline, or a lack of it, is becoming a prominent concern for Maresca, and something he must address, considering he poops his pants every time he has to make post-red card adjustments.
At least he didn’t poop his pants when preparing for the daunting scenario of having his Chelsea future in the hands of Jose Mourinho, which might’ve been daunting once upon a time, but not so much in the big 2025.
Admittedly, we did think there was a chance. But deep down, we knew there wasn’t.
Next up for Chelsea is Premier League champions Liverpool at home. And they still won’t have Cole Palmer. Lads, if you know what’s good for you, don’t get another red card. And the result is more important than the performance against them, we reckon.
