I think it was clear to see for Chelsea fans today that, since Hiddink has taken over, small things have changed fate for those involved in Chelsea’s playing squad and confidence seems to be on the up.
For me, it comes down to how managers approach players, and it happens in any place of work. If you have a manager that shoves the blame on to his employees and don’t come to their support, would you still want to work for him? Now, I’m still against the sacking of Mourinho, but I do think he went about treatment of the players in the wrong fashion. Since Hiddink has come in, he’s put an arm around his squad so to speak to ease the tension and bring them on-side.
Take Diego Costa as a prime example for his performance today. Now, Diego didn’t have the greatest of first halves but I think that comes down to how the game was being played. It was tight and scrappy and chances were few and far between. However, the way he set up the first goal was crucial. He wouldn’t have been blamed if he took the shot, but he saw a team-mate in a better position and was unselfish, that was that. There wasn’t a player on the pitch for either side that you could say had a big say on how the first half went. So, onto the second half and here is where Diego Costa won his Man of the Match award.
Despite his assist for the goal, I still feel it was a frustrating first half for Diego, and he simply shone in the second 45 minutes. His sheer desire to hold the ball up, as well as get his head down and drive at the Eagles defence was admirable. It wasn’t so much that everything he did came to an opportunity but he was still trying to make things happen, more than he had been a few weeks ago. If you had to ask me why all of a sudden his attitude has changed, I think it’s because Hiddink’s approach to him as a player is probably far different to what Mourinho’s was. Hiddink will put his arm around his player and make him feel comfortable, when it’s like that, you’ll want to play. When the blame is being shoved on you weekly, why would you?
Now, my next point is a tad smaller. As well as Eden Hazard had started the game, I think that the introduction of Pedro changed the tempo and put Chelsea on the front foot. The Spaniard tends to play with a bit more freedom compared to our Belgian magician and that suited us because Palace would have concentrated on Hazard’s tactical ability. With Pedro, he’s a tad harder to research because he has so many different ways of being an opponent using a balance of both skill and pace, as well as awareness.
Finally, I was a big fan of the way we pressed the hosts around the pitch this wet afternoon. In the second half, we were forcing Palace into mistakes that they wouldn’t want to be making because of where they were on the pitch, because of the way the front line were pressing. Normally, we’d wait until they were around the halfway line before attempting to win the ball back, and the way we went about our business at Selhurst Park simply came off.
