No início da temporada, Marc Cucurella parecia prestes a deixar o Chelsea por empréstimo e relatórios recentes o vincularam novamente a uma transferência em janeiro próximo. No início deste mês, ele nem havia aparecido no Liga Premiada. But the Spanish left back continued to work hard behind the scenes and in Saturday's game against Arsenal, he was one of Chelsea’s best performers.
Defensively strong, intercepting balls in different areas of the pitch and even surging forward to press Arsenal's back line, he spurred on his team – and automatically the home crowd – with his energetic displays.
At the end of the recent transfer window, Cucurella was reportedly close to a loan-move to Manchester United, while other clubs were also mentioned as possible destinations for the former Barcelona graduate. But a move didn't materialise and on the evidence of Saturday's match, Chelsea can be pleased about that.
After the game, manager Mauricio Pochettino spoke about his plans for Cucurella this season and said: “I think it's a natural process. It is so clear when we arrived here three months ago that some players were in a position where they maybe stay or maybe go.
“I didn't know the past, I can only choose the players that we believe can perform. Marc and the club decided to stay in the last transfer window. And of course, he is training really well, that is why he is playing like [he did] today, playing really well against a very good player like [Bukayo] Saka. That is him, he deserves the credit because in the last few months he has worked very hard and he was [also] able to play on the right side.”
Outro jogador que se destacou na defesa foi Thiago Silva, cuja marcação, interceptação e bloqueio de chutes não davam a menor impressão de que ele já tem 39 anos. Mykhailo Mudryk também jogou bem, com o atacante fazendo um gol inesperado quando seu cruzamento da esquerda passou por cima de David Raya e fez o 2 a 0 logo após o intervalo.
Pochettino was pleased with the Ukraine winger's performance, but insisted he can still improve and that he is not at his best level yet. Promising words for the Chelsea faithful about a player who has now scored two in his last three Chelsea games, while he was also on target for Ukraine earlier in the week.
Quando Mudryk saiu aos 66 minutos, ele foi aplaudido de pé. Do banco, ele viu como o Arsenal voltou ao jogo, quando Declan Rice aproveitou uma bola perdida do goleiro Robert Sanchez na defesa.
“No futebol esse tipo de situação pode acontecer”, disse Pochettino. “Temos que aceitar, hoje estamos numa era do futebol onde queremos jogar na defesa. É claro que erros podem acontecer no futebol.”
Pochettino indicou que a sua equipa poderia ter sido mais clínica, talvez melhor na defesa de um resultado, em vez de tentar sempre encontrar uma solução futebolística, mas o argentino admite que faz parte de um processo de aprendizagem.
“Todas as equipes vencedoras sempre administram e conduzem os jogos onde querem e leem as situações quando é preciso ter calma, quando jogar, quando arriscar. Essas coisas chegarão com o tempo”, disse ele.
Overall, Pochettino was pleased with the performance of his team, even though it felt like two points dropped in the end. “Yes, because I feel until 77 minutes when we conceded the first goal, I think we were in control and didn't concede many chances against a team like Arsenal, [who] are an amazing team, they were fighting last season for the trophy and I think this season improved with some players also,” he said.
“Acho que estamos em um bom momento”, acrescentou. “Precisamos manter esse ímpeto depois das três vitórias antes da pausa internacional. Acho que precisamos continuar, realmente acreditamos que podemos fazer algo de bom no futuro.”
Para o Chelsea, uma tendência ascendente é visível no Liga Premiada desde o início de outubro, quando derrotaram o Fulham.
Coincidentally or not, Mudryk scored his first Chelsea goal in that match and Cucurella played his first minutes in the league this season. Since then, both have been a key part of the Blues' recent resurgence under Pochettino.
English 
Українська 
Español 
Português 
Русский 
Deutsch 
Français 