Here are some numbers: 304.9 miles separates Stamford Bridge from Barrow’s stadium Holker Street; there are 64 positions in the English football pyramid between Chelsea and the Bluebirds and an astonishing £793million (estimated) difference in transfer values of the two squads.
Crucially, for Chelsea, there were five goals that separated the two sides on Tuesday night. A game Chelsea should absolutely be winning – and in style – but a tricky one nonetheless as Enzo Maresca prepared himself for a potential banana skin.
“This type of game, I’m always worried a lot because they are tricky games,” the Chelsea boss said at full-time. “Football is full of these games, where you underestimate the other team; you concede goals and you concede chances but tonight I think the performance was very good and showed how serious we are.”
A first competitive meeting in 76 years saw Chelsea come out 5-0 winners. Christopher Nkunku netted a hat-trick, Paul Farman scored an own goal via a Joao Felix free-kick that very unfortunately hit the Barrow goalkeeper on the back and Pedro Neto managed to get on the scoresheet for the first time since joining from Wolves in the summer. Below, Bobby Vincent discusses the main talking points from Stamford Bridge…
Maresca’s clear instruction to players
Prior to this game, the last Carabao Cup match Chelsea were involved in was the final against Liverpool last season. An extra-time header from Virgil van Dijk saw the Reds, who had a very young side out, come out winners at Wembley – leading to the infamous “billion pound bottlejobs” comments from Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville.
Neville ripped into the Chelsea squad and slated their mentality and personality after losing in the final. Maresca usually rebuffs any questions or comparisons to what happened under Mauricio Pochettino last season. He often points out how difficult it is to judge given he was not present.
Maresca focuses a lot on mentality, how his players are thinking before each game. He speaks about the psychological side of football a lot. And he will be doing everything he physically can to ensure his team are not called “bottlejobs” again anytime soon.
Before the match with Barrow, the Italian warned his young, second-string side about being complacent. He wanted the team, that was completely changed from the XI that beat West Ham United at the weekend, to present themselves to the world as “serious”.
“Before the game, I asked the players that even if they are the youngest team in the Premier League to show how serious we are to me,” Maresca said. “Also to send a message, yes, we are young but we are serious and want to compete.”
Serious they were. There are now a lot of the so-called ‘fringe’ players that will have put themselves well and truly into Maresca’s thinking. The likes of Renato Veiga, Cesare Casadei, Felix and Nkunku all had really good games in SW6.
Nkunku form begs question
And speaking of Nkunku – the man of the moment – it leaves Maresca with a headache when it comes to selecting his team at the weekend. Albeit a headache he wants to have.
Brighton come to Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon as Chelsea return to Premier League action and already Maresca’s mind will be turning to the big game. Nicolas Jackson has been in fine form at the start of the season with the 23-year-old striker scoring four Premier League goals in the first five games of the campaign, as well as providing two assists for his teammates.
Jackson was on fire against West Ham on Saturday, scoring a double inside 18 minutes at the London Stadium. Nkunku, however, with the caveat of Barrow aside, showcased his deadliness on Tuesday night.
The France international had three shots against Barrow and you guessed it, he scored with every single attempt. That sums Nkunku up – he is ruthless in front of goal.
Earlier this month, he came on with 11 minutes remaining away at Bournemouth. He had one shot and scored the winning goal. In total, in his eight appearances across all competitions, Nkunku has got 11 shots away and has scored with six of them – meaning he scores, on average, with 54.54% of his attempts (not including efforts that have been blocked by defenders).
While there is no question Jackson is in form, there is going to be a big decision when it comes to who leads the line when Brighton come to SW6 at the weekend.
What James did speak volumes
Reece James is yet to feature for Chelsea this season due to a mixture of suspension and an injury. While there is no clear timescale on when the Blues captain will return to action, the 24-year-old has been in attendance for the majority of his side’s matches this season – including the 5-0 win against Barrow.
James was sat behind the dugout, alongside the likes of Tosin Adarabioyo, Robert Sanchez, Noni Madueke, Jadon Sancho, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana, Lucas Bergstrom and Cole Palmer, who were also not in the squad for the game. After the match had finished, James – who has been captain at the club since being appointed last summer – showed just why he has the armband.
The right-back waited next to the tunnel for all of the Chelsea players to head down and greeted every single one of them with a high-five and some were even fortunate enough to get themselves a hug. A classy gesture and one that speaks volumes about the sort of leader James is – one we perhaps do not see but one that is clearly present behind the scenes.
