A Night Of Woe

Not for the first time in the club's history, Chelsea followed up a momentous triumph with a serving of something considerably less savoury. Mr Conte chose to tinker with his team, and rightly so, but his patched together line up came up short against a fired up Hammers. Of course, the argument was made that we should stick to our strongest eleven, and only introduce fringe players if/when the contest was sown up in our favour. Easier said than done. The truth is that we cannot soldier on all season with the same eleven or twelve players. We can't rely upon Costa and Hazard all the time. What if Costa gets suspended? What if Hazard gets injured?  

When these eventualities come to pass, we want to be able to bring in reinforcements who have already enjoyed some semblance of game time. Expecting regular bench sitters to suddenly be thrust into first team action and hit the ground running is not as simple as it might sound. No wonder that the returning Terry was so rusty and Oscar was scarcely any better.

The truth is that with the resources at our disposal, we should be able to field a changed line up and still thrive against our east London inferiors. Instead, a team that was still brimming with internationals and would-be internationals was second best, which possibly suggests that we do not possess the strength in depth that we thought that we had. Has Oscar and Begovic started their last match for the team? Is Batshuayi better than Solanke or Tammy Abraham?

Ultimately, Conte selected a team that he was confident could deliver a positive result. Instead, his justified tinkering backfired, and it's the east end hoodlums who are progressing to the last eight. Chelsea's performance was best forgotten and certainly didn't hit the heights of Sunday past. Instead, it was the predictable terrace violence that proved more newsworthy than the efforts of the players. Here's hoping that normal service will resume at tricky old Southampton.

West Ham United 2 CHELSEA 1; half time: 1-0

CHELSEA goal scorers: Cahill

CHELSEA team: Begovic; Azpilicueta; Luiz; Terry; Kante; Cahill; Aina; Chalobah; Oscar; Willian; Batshuayi. Used substitutes: Costa; Hazard; Pedro

CHELSEA leading scorers:

Costa seven goals

Hazard four goals (including one penalty)

Batshuayi three goals

Cahill three goals

Moses three goals

Fabregas two goals

Willian two goals

Azpilicueta one goal

Kante one goal

Pedro one goal