5 Miserable Minutes

I have loyalty to two English teams, Liverpool and Brentford. Liverpool were my boyhood team, the team I have supported since I was 5 and one of the reasons I chose the city as the place to rebuild my life when such a place became necessary earlier this year. Brentford on the other hand are my main team these days. I have been going to their games since 2015 when they were in League 1 and have followed their rise to the Premier League going to as many games as possible each season.

I bring this up because when I was 10 Liverpool gave me the greatest football moment of my life with the 6 marvellous minutes in the miracle of Istanbul, the most incredible comeback in sporting history. This match was when Brentford reciprocated by giving me their own version of it, the 5 miserable minutes of north London.

The match that delivered the eponymous 5 minutes was a matter of Deja-vu for me as I have already blogged the league meeting of these two teams at this very stadium mere months ago. The teams involved are Brentford and their fellow Londoners, visitors once more, Chelsea and the stadium is the Brentford Community Stadium. The league game with those parameters was extremely hard fought and narrowly won by Chelsea by just a single goal. Will this game, in the League Cup Quarter finals, follow the same script or will here be a joker in the pack?

Well the first joker was one I expected, lots of changes from Chelsea. They are dealing with lots of injuries at the minute and when you add the challenges of Covid too that it was the smart move for them to ring the changes for this match and rest their main players for their league title tilt. To this end Lukaku, Thiago Silva, Werner, Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi and Edouard Mendy were all omitted from the matchday squad. This meant a rare start for Kepa between the sticks for Chelsea and 5 debutants in the matchday squad.

Three of those debutants made the staring 11, but they didn’t make the programme. I was scrabbling to write them down as they were announced. What was that name? Xavier Simons. At least that’s not too hard to write, but what was his number? No idea, come back to it. Wait who was that? Harvey Vale. Great another one not on the programme, but simple to write out. Again no idea of the number, come back to it. A third debutant? What was the name? Jude, easy to write. Wait a sec, Jude Soonsup-Bell. Small and quick write it down, thank goodness he’s the last one to write can come back to his number later. The debut substitutes, just get surnames and worry about the rest later.

I was able to get the numbers as the teams were displayed on the screen minutes before kick-off. It was 54 for Xavier Simons, 68 for Harvey Vale and 64 or 84 for Jude Soonsup-Bell, I was writing too quickly to be able to actually read what I’ve written. What I did understand about the debutants in the starting 11 though is that there was one for each area of the field. Simons was Right-back in the defence, Vale was in the midfield and on his debut appearance for the Blues Soonsup-Bell was given the task of standing in for Lukaku and leading the line, talk about in at the deep end. The debutants on the bench were Webster 71 and Hall 75, neither came on though so I have no idea where they play.

Brentford for their part were at almost full strength with the only notable exception to this being Toney only being named on the bench as he continues his return from a bout of Covid and Raya who is out for months to come with a long-term injury. Instead of changes Brentford went for atmosphere. They created the atmosphere pre-match with an impressive lights show.

I got to the stadium with about 10 minutes to go to kick-off and when I walked up the stairs into the stands I was walking out into a pitch black stadium. With all the postponements that were happening elsewhere in the leagues I wondered, was some huge practical joke being played on me?

I had my answer seconds later as the screen on the far side of the stadium lit up with the face of Thomas Frank who said a single word ‘Action’. This started off an incredible light show that sparked the atmosphere in the stands and had the useful side effect of helping me find my seat. Once I was settled in the seat and the light show came to an end the match was ready to go.

Despite all the Chelsea changes they were the team who started the match on top. They hogged the ball for the first 9 minutes, just wouldn’t let their hosts near it. It was just a shame for the visiting fans that Chelsea hadn’t put their shooting boots on yet. Chelsea got into so many excellent positions with intricate build-up play but then they ran out of ideas when it came to creating the chance they needed to turn dominance into goals. Their debutant striker taking time to build his way into the game.

Their fans were doing all they could to inspire them though with an impressive array of chants, from ‘one man and his dog’ to a rip-off of Liverpool’s ‘Bring on your…’ chant from their European games across the last few seasons. These chants inspired Chelsea to put the Brentford goal under siege, but they couldn’t inspire Chelsea to actually put the ball in the net because Chelsea didn’t take the shots that may have helped the ball end up there.

Brentford finally broke out of the siege in the 9th minute and it was a simple hoofed clearance that did it. That ball found Mbuemo in behind the Chelsea defence with just the keeper to beat, but instead of beating Kepa he decided to be unselfish and pass the ball to the onrushing Wissa for what would have been an easy tap-in to give the Bees the lead against the run of play. Unfortunately for the expectant home fans the pass was lacking in quality and went sailing behind Wissa. A huge waste of a simple chance for the hosts.

They would waste another simple chance just 3 minutes later. This time their breakout came down the left as Rico Henry got in behind the visiting defence. His first cross was blocked, but it bounced straight back to him so he had another go. The second cross was much more successful and landed at the feet of Mbuemo on the edge of the box and his attempt to pick out Wissa was successful as well this time. Wissa was the unsuccessful one as his header from point-blank range was kept out by a Kepa save off the line. Chelsea then tried to get an attack going on the break which was cut out by Vitaly Janelt, who went into the ref’s book for his troubles.

Then it was back to the Chelsea siege and they’d finally found their shooting boots and started creating chances that threatened the hosts goal. The first time they threatened was in the 17th minute when a pullback to the edge of the box was volleyed on the turn which sailed within a couple of feet of the post. The closest Chelsea had come so far in the game.
Then 2 minutes later they came even closer to opening their account. The cross from the Chelsea right evades all the home defenders and tempted the keeper out of position too to reach a visiting player at the back post. He decided that a looping header back across goal was the right call at that point and this gave the keeper time to recover and catch the ball on the line.

Chelsea almost gifted their hosts a goal they hadn’t earnt in the 22nd minute though when a clearance from Kepa in space in his box bounced off Mbuemo’s back and skimmed inches wide of the right-hand post. It would have been the most hilarious goal I’d ever seen at a football match, but it was not to be and Chelsea settled right back into their siege of the hosts goal.

The next Chelsea chance came in the 25th minute as they got in down the left and then the cross almost went straight into the net. Luckily for the home fans though Fernandez spotted it and got in position to stop it crossing the line. The ball bounced to the feet of a Chelsea player 10 yards from goal who could only volley it over the top.

3 minutes later Chelsea had 3 guilt edged chances blocked in a single minute as they broke upfield from a Brentford corner. The first of them was a cross that was on target and the second and third were shots from within the box that hit home players in the midriff. The Chelsea fans at the other end of the ground shouted for handball on each of these blocks, but the midriff is not the hand and the ref didn’t even consider it.

Brentford finally managed a prolonged break out in the 30’s though as Rico Henry burned past Simons at right back for Chelsea and crossed into the area which was met by Jensen at the back post and was saved at point blank range by Kepa once again. Chelsea were on top for most of the half, but spent these 10 minutes trading blows with their hosts, it was such an engrossing end to end period of the match that I even stopped making notes on it. I never do that so I’m sorry you’re missing out on the most incredible part of the match.

I got back to my notes 5 minutes before the end of the first half as a 40yard pass from Jensen picked out Rico Henry on the Bees left, the only part of the pitch that the hosts had any joy in during this half. Instead of crossing, as he usually does, Rico waltzed into the box without a visiting player laying a finger on him. It would have been a brilliant individual goal if his shot had not been straight at Kepa in the Chelsea goal who was able to palm it behind for a corner that the hosts completely wasted.

Chelsea took back control for the final few minutes of the first half and created two opportunities in the final two minutes of it. The fist of which was a deep cross from the left that evaded almost everyone in the 6 yard box and was then headed towards goal at the back post from point blank range. This time though it was the host’s keepers turn for some goal line heroics as he positioned himself perfectly to catch the ball on the line. His clearance up field however was less heroic as it went straight to a man in blue and Chelsea went right back onto the attack.

This attack was cut out on the edge of the area by a Sergi Canos foul and Chelsea had the perfect chance to end the half with the goal their dominance deserved. They put the free kick straight into the wall. It was the Chelsea players this time that shouted for a handball the ref was never giving them, whilst Mbuemo took the chance to break upfield. Marcus Alonso cleared out Mbuemo on halfway to stop this break in it’s tracks in the last act of the half and earnt himself a card in the process.

Despite Chelsea’s dominance of possession they went in at the break level with their hosts and this spurred Tuchel into action. He made a double substitution at half time and had clearly identified end product as Chelsea’s main problem ad he called time on Soonsup-Bell’s debut up front and replaced him with Pulisic. He also made a tactical change in midfield by replacing Kovacic with the much more defensively minded Jorginho in an attempt to minimise the danger caused by Brentford’s breakouts.

I also believe that Tuchel must have really laid into his players at half time because they came out for the second half with a new desire to attack with purpose. They got in behind in the first minute of the half and unleased a shot that was blocked yards from goal. Brentford used this block to go straight on the attack themselves and make an attempt to chip the keeper, but Kepa was equal too it.

It took till the 53rd minute for Chelsea to threaten again. This time they got in down the right and then Brentford almost shot themselves in the foot. The cross from the Chelsea right evaded most of the defenders and Pulisic by inches only to ricochet off Henry at the far post and towards the goal, but there again was Fernandez to scramble it behind. That’s twice off the line from each keeper, if only Fernandez could’ve made it three. That moment comes later.

First though Chelsea threaten again in the 56th minute as this time a through ball evades everyone by mere inches and sails through to Fernandez. Then Chelsea took the time to almost shoot themselves in the foot 2 minutes later when a Brentford corner was punched clear by Kepa to land at Mbuemo’s feet on the edge of the box only for a Chelsea player to skittle him and give away a tasty freekick to the hosts. They wasted this golden chance and Chelsea settled back into their siege for another 10 minutes, but without the impetus of the half time changes and team talk behind them this siege failed to truly threaten.

Perhaps this is what motivated double changes by both teams in the 66th minute. Tuchel removed the remaining debutants from action and sent on Mount and James to push his team forward and add some badly needed cutting edge to their attacks. Frank for his part decided now was the moment to go on the attack after surviving so many Chelsea sieges and thus he introduced the talismanic Toney to the fray as he continues his return from a bout with Covid last month. Frank also bought on Norgaard and removed Janelt and Wissa from action.

These changes didn’t change much in the overall patterns of the game though as it was Chelsea back on the attack again in the 68th minute. Winning a freekick on the right that was curled beautifully on target, but once again Fernandez was equal too it and punched it out. The punch lacked power though and the ball fell to a man in blue in the centre of the box, but luckily for the keeper his defenders were on hand to deflect the resulting shot wide of the posts and Chelsea wasted the corner.

This was enough to convince Frank that his previous subs weren’t enough and that more changes were needed if his team were going to have any chance of grabbing a goal and snatching victory from this game that they had simply been surviving up till now. The changes he decided on though made absolutely no sense to me. He bought on Ghoddos and Onyeka, both attacking players who may be able to sneak a goal out of nothing, but he took off Rico Henry at this point. Rico had been the only Brentford player getting any joy on the attack so far this game so to remove him from play when you’re desperately looking to create chances against a team that has been cutting off all other options to you seemed foolish to me. This change also meant that a new formation was needed as neither player entering the fray could take on the defensive duties that Rico had at right back.

This change was then followed 2 minutes later by the arrival of rain clouds over the stadium and there is no escape from the rain in the front two rows where I just happened to be sitting. This felt like a bad omen to me at the time and unfortunately I was to be proven right within minutes. Brentford had survived the Chelsea onslaught for 78 minutes and their visitors still didn’t look any closer to scoring under their own steam. The Bees just had to survive 11 more minutes and they would make it to penalties and the chance to make it to the League Cup semi-finals for the second season running. I had even managed to begin hoping that this could happen, so it was at this point that things took an extreme turn for the worse. Cue the 5 miserable minutes.

This 5 miserable minutes lasted from the 79th to 84th minute of the match and this is when Brentford took it upon themselves to destroy any chance they had of winning the match and instead hand the win to Chelsea on a silver platter. There had been many Chelsea crosses that evaded everyone in the box and Rico Henry had almost turned one of them into his own net earlier in the match only for Fernandez to bail him out. This time Brentford captain Pontus Jansson decided to show Rico how it should be done. He met a Chelsea cross the back post and shanked his clearance into his own net, 1-0 to Chelsea and they hadn’t even had to score it themselves. Crushed is too soft a word for how I felt in that moment and there was worse to come.

Exactly 5 minutes later Chelsea had a second goal and once again it was gifted to them by a Brentford mistake. This time the goal came from the penalty spot. It was a driven pass from deep on the right that caught Brentford flat footed and Chelsea had Mount running onto it unmarked as he had already left Jansson for dead as the Brentford captain failed to track his runner. Mount was easily beaten to the ball by Fernandez, but the bees keeper cleared out Mount as he went to clear the ball. It was a clear penalty and 2 mistakes from Bees’ players that lead to it. The penalty was stroked home by Jorginho to put the game to bed for the visitors and conclude the 5 miserable minutes for me.

Brentford had survived so many Chelsea attacks without looking like conceding and were minutes away from making it to penalties only to then surrender the match in 5 miserable minutes and 3 unforced errors.

They should’ve had a penalty of their own in the 87th minute when Marcus Forss, who had come on during the 5 miserable minutes, was charging into the box and got taken out by Kepa, the Chelsea keeper, with the ball having already passed him by. It was a clear penalty that the ref didn’t even look at giving. It would’ve only been a consolation for the hosts, as they didn’t threaten again before the final whistle but it was still a penalty and should have been given. The topic of refereeing consistency has been a hot topic in the Premier League in recent weeks, but it should also be talked about in regards to other competitions too.

The only thing not in doubt though is that however it came about Chelsea deserved to win the match and they could have added a goal all of their own making in the 3 added minutes at the end of the 90. Mount had worked his way into space on the left side of the box and only had the keeper to beat, but instead of shooting he passed the ball across the box to a teammate that wasn’t there.

Chelsea fans won’t mind about all that though as they won the match 2-0 at the final whistle and made it through to the Semi-finals where they will face Tottenham Hotspur. If Brentford had won this match then the Semi-final would’ve been the same one that they lost last season and a chance for revenge. As it is though Chelsea have a golden chance to make it through to the final as, on current form, they go into that Semi-final as the favourites. Good luck to them.

My next blog will also probably be another Brentford loss as they host Manchester City in their final game of the calendar year. I just hope Man City have to earn the win through some exceptional skill by one of their multitude of world class players and not from an unforced Bees error. Find out if my hope is realised in the new year as I am too busy in the next few days to write it up then.

Happy New Year to you all and may 2022 be a vast improvement on 2021.