Chelsea did secure their place in the FA Cup fifth round but it wasn’t pretty against Plymouth Argyle. Only twice in this century have the Blues failed to make the fifth round of the FA Cup. The most recent was seven years ago, when they were famously upsetted by League One Bradford, in the fourth round at Stamford Bridge. Plymouth, being a League One side themselves, were looking to emulate that upset from 2015.
An upset was on the cards when Macauley Gillesphey’s most delicate of flicks found a way past the rooted Kepa Arrizabalaga. After rattling the woodwork three times, Chelsea finally found the equaliser through captain Cesar Azpilicueta. The right-back found himself in a poacher’s position and took the chance as if he was an actual poacher. From that point on, it looked like the Blues will eventually finish the job off in the second half.
Thomas Tuchel had tested positive for covid a day before, and must have cut a frustrated figure at home watching his team struggling to break down a team two divisions below them. Despite fielding a strong side, Chelsea required extra-time to seal passage. Marcos Alonso put them in front, before Kepa saved a 117-minute spot-kick to prevent a penalty shoot-out.
Chelsea once again disappoint in attack
Despite playing two seasons in Italy, only Sergio Agüero has scored more FA Cup goals than Romelu Lukaku. But the Belgian failed to replicate that kind of form in another dismal display. His only goal since the turn of the year came against Chesterfield in the third round. He was brought in to fix the one glaring issue, that is scoring goals, but he has never stepped up when really needed to.
Tuchel put so much faith in Lukaku in the summer transfer window. He allowed both Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud to depart, hoping that those two won’t be missed in Lukaku’s presence. Instead, there are talks of bringing Abraham back to Chelsea. Tuchel needs to figure a way to get Lukaku firing again and he needs to do it real quick. Otherwise Lukaku will join a long list of strikers who failed miserably at Chelsea.
Full-backs to the rescue once again
Earlier it was Reece James and Ben Chilwell, yesterday it was Azpilicueta and Alonso. A team having goal-scoring defenders is a good sign as it increases their threat from all positions. However, in Chelsea’s case, it doesn’t add any threat, but masks the lack of threat from attackers. Like yesterday, Chelsea have relied on their defenders to do the job of attackers on more than one occasion this season.
Despite trying different tactics, formations and personnel, Tuchel has failed to get Lukaku and co. firing. Lukaku was brought so that such problems never resurface. However, he has become a serious problem now, and perhaps Tuchel’s biggest managerial challenge of his career is to get the Belgian back to his brutal best before too late.