In the early morning of January 10, Beijing time, the first leg of the semifinals of the English League Cup began, and the Blues Chelsea lost 0-1 to Middlesbrough, a mid-table team in the English Championship. In this battle, Myburgh folded twice in the first half, and the performance at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends was not satisfactory. Fortunately, they weren't the worst team on the pitch.
Chelsea are currently 10th in the Premier League and have a slim chance of progressing directly into next season's European competition. The FA Cup and League Cup are the best options for European competition. In this campaign, Pochettino did his best to take advantage of the away game. After the opening kick-off, the Blues were superior to the attack, but Myburgh suffered a blow in the fifth minute when main striker Rattle was forced off injured by Disasi defending while shooting. Palmer's long-range shot then went deep enough to force the goalkeeper to make a hard save. In the 20th minute, Myburgh suffered another blow when midfielder Bangura went off injured in a scramble with Mathiek. In the 31st minute, Hausen misplaced a pass and Palmer had a great chance, but his push slid past the goalkeeper.
In the 37th minute, Myburgh counterattacked with a long pass, Jones received the ball on the right and crossed to the middle, and Hackney flanked the ball into the Chelsea goal. After conceding a goal, Chelsea stepped up their attack. However, in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, Palmer once again squandered a great chance. Enzo's shot caused the goalkeeper to get out of his hands, and Palmer unbelievably fired an anti-aircraft gun in the face of a super empty goal. Two minutes later, Palmer had another good chance when he shook off his defence and fired a close-range shot, but the Myburgh goalkeeper made a brilliant save to keep the net open. In the first half, Chelsea were 1-0 down.
Chelsea continued to dominate in the second half, but Myburgh held steady and didn't give the Blues too many chances to score, keeping the score 1-0 at the end. The second leg of the clash between the two sides will take place in the early hours of 24 January, when Chelsea will play at home, and there is still hope of a comeback.
Even so, Chelsea's performance in this game was not flattering. They had 72 per cent possession and created 18 shots, five of which were on target, compared to two of Myburgh's six, but the strikers wasted chances to see Chelsea lose at the Riverside. In particular, Palmer, who is the team's joint top scorer, wasted at least three excellent scoring opportunities in this game, which can be described as a war criminal-level performance.
The biggest problem for Chelsea today is that there is still no complete tactical system, and the attack is not counted, not to mention the three-dimensionality, and there are very few eye-catching combinations. In the second half, Pochettino replaced Enzo, who played well, but let Palmer, who had physical problems, stay on the field, which was a big failure. Such performances inevitably raise questions as to how the Blues managed to reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.