The natives are restless at Stamford Bridge.
13 points dropped from winning positions since Boxing Day. Some terrible results, anger at the owners and the sporting directors and pressure growing on the manager.
To cap it all off, with the score at 0-0 against a rotten Southampton team who were bottom of the league, the Blues were slow and passive. That was frustrating, but what took the tension up a gear was the way that Filip Jorgensen and the team were playing out from the back.
He would poke it to a defender or midfielder, they would poke it back. Nobody would move, so he would stand there, the tension rising. The nervousness radiating from the goalkeeper and the players he wanted to pass it to transmitted to the crowd, who were increasingly frustrated by the seemingly suicidal play.
Nizaar Kinsella is at the ground, and reported on it thus on Twitter:
“This is fascinating. Chelsea’s Matthew Harding End are jeering the players for their slow playing out from the back style. Goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen has been just standing on the ball for periods of 10/30 seconds on multiple occasions. That style is not this club’s culture.”
The players are just doing what they’re told, but there is some truth to the idea that it’s just so alien to what the fans are used to and what they want that it may prove to be a fool’s errand trying to make them do it.
Jorgensen keeps the fans happy with brilliant save
The good news is that Chelsea scored soon after one of those moments of tension which improved the mood as you’d expect. But that hasn’t solved the problem, just distracted from it.
Another huge moment for the Dane’s confidence came minutes later, where he made a superb save to stop a Southampton header:
You can see the save in the clip embedded here:
Filip Jorgensen pulls off a brilliant save to keep Chelsea in the lead 🧤
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/vI6PRa0JME
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 25, 2025
Let’s hope that cheers the fans up a little.
