Tomorrow’s a real Super Sunday for Chelsea FC, we have two semi-finals to look forward to watching. Kicking off at 15:00 the men take on Southampton at Wembley Stadium. In the early evening, with an 18:05 k/o at Kingsmeadow, the ladies side make history playing the first leg of their Champions League tie.
Certain sections of the popular press and media would like the world to think Chelsea are having a disastrous season. For a team defending a title, and with the players at his disposal Antonio Conte should have done better. We’re fighting for fourth spot in the Premier League and in an FA Cup semi-final.
The Ladies though are on a roll though. They’ve already reached the final of the FA Cup and currently sit top of the Women’s Super League. Tomorrow’s game against Wolfsburg will be their first foray into this stage of a competition they only entered for the first time in 2015. Whatever the result of the two-legged tie, it will have been quite a season.
Disastrous is defined as, causing great harm, damage, or suffering: extremely bad or unsuccessful: Something that is disastrous is a complete failure
Source: Cambridge Dictionary
Antonio Conte has taken Chelsea down to those levels yet. Not even Tiemoue Bakayoko can define his season as such. The media love to make a story where there is not one. The way the club is run make Chelsea are an easy target though.
We’ve seen this afternoon, ‘darlings-of-the-media’ Tottenham go out of the FA Cup, leaving a third placed finish in the Premier League as their best hope for success this season. Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham CV is blank on the achievements page. Four seasons, have delivered not one trophy. Is that record any less disastrous than Chelsea’s biennial blip.
The media are remarkably quiet on that front. That said, there are probably a lot of ‘old skool’ Chelsea supporters who would love to see their team play to the Spurs model. Integrate the youth, play good football, keep faith with the manager and slot seamlessly into a new stadium.
We’ll be covering both games here on Vital Chelsea tomorrow, starting with our Match Day Moments feature until the ladies finish their game. In the UK, BT Sport are showing the men’s game. It’s over to BBC on the red button for the ladies just before 6pm. Hopefully we’ll have plenty of good to report through the day. Your comments will be welcomed as Super Sunday unfolds.
Next: FA Cup Semi-Final – Chelsea v Southampton – Match Officials