Thursdays. Not quite Friday, but better than Wednesday and, thankfully, not Monday. In my childhood it was the day of Top Of The Pops and Cubs. In adulthood it is now chiefly known as the last day of the week in the office before the now-obligatory "working from home" Friday, a phenomenon so extreme that black cab drivers have stopped coming into London on the final workday due to a lack of business.
In the football world Thursdays have become a Championship day ranking behind the Premier League of Tuesdays and Wednesdays, a Lidl day, if you will, to two Waitrose days. OK, painful analogies, I know, but essentially, there is a clear gulf in class between the Champions League and the Europa League fixtures of a Thursday evening, arguably pound shop European football and an unnecessary distraction as clubs are forced to rearrange their domestic games to Sundays while still having to deal with travelling insane distances to get home. As a case in point, Chelsea's return flight from last night's opening Europa League tie against PAOK in Thessaloniki was delayed by weather, denying Maurizio Sarri's side rest and vital training before Sunday's visit to West Ham.
At some point this season Chelsea will have to visit Videoton, which isn’t a dodgy 80s David Cronenberg film starring Debbie Harry but, in fact, MOL Vidi FC, also known as Vidi, a Hungarian club based in Székesfehérvár. Wherever that is. Likewise, they will also have to visit BATE, better known as FC BATE Borisov, a Belarusian club from Barysaw. None of these - including last night's opponents, the Greek side PAOK - are glamour teams, or particularly glamourous locations with which to visit. Sorry, PAOK, Vidi and BATE, but face facts.
Elitist as it sounds, but when your European adventures have taken you to Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Paris and Munich in the 14 years since Roman Abramovich's largesse transformed Chelsea into proper European players, it's slightly galling to be in the Europa League. Fans know this. It's why, as Chelsea failed to finish last season in the Premier League's top four, home and opposition supporters willingly engaged in banter about Thursday evening social plans. Chelsea know that the "Thursday gig" lacks the appeal of the senior European fixtures on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, pricing tickets for the group-stage Europa fixtures at just £20 to drum up a crowd (which, thankfully, they will do, as mugs like me will be at Stamford Bridge on 4 October for the visit of Videoton, rather than at home throwing things at the TV because BT Sport have got Glenn Hoddle in the studio again).
Home games not withstanding, it's the away fixtures that provide the bigger challenge, both for the club and its supporters. None of Chelsea's group opponents are based in particularly easy-to-reach cities, so my hat goes off to those loyal followers who will take off two days from work and shell out a considerable amount of money booking flights and trains at a relatively late stage to go and watch 90 minutes of football in places where language, hostile home fans and provocative policing will make life less than comfortable. But that is the fun of following your club into Europe.
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| Picture: Twitter/Chelsea FC |
One of Sarri's undoubted problems is and will continue to be striker Alvaro Morata who, despite a lot of creditable toil last night, wasted countless chances in front of goal. "Morata has to gain confidence with one, two or three goals," said Sarri. "I am not able to give him confidence. In this game he had three or four opportunities, he was unlucky. I hope in the future I can try to help him, but the confidence comes only with goals. But I have to say also that for the first time this season he was very ready in the box. He was on the ball, he was active."
Morata not withstanding, Chelsea's win at the Toumba Stadium yesterday evening meant that Sarri had recorded six wins out of his first six competitive games as Chelsea coach. He has a right to be pleased, but also to have concerns: "We were in control of the match for 90 minutes. We had a lot of opportunities, we missed them, so I am really happy with the three points and the performance but not the result, because when it is time to kill the match, we have to kill the match." That will have to determine team selection - and ensuring players remain fit. Unlike Sarri's predecessor, Antonio Conte, the latest Italian in the Chelsea dugout should have no complaints about squad depth. Last night he could even afford to leave Gary Cahill, with all his European competition experience, on the bench.
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| Picture: Chelsea FC |
A tougher challenge will be deciding when to play and when to rest Hazard. Convincing him to stay at the club and not move to Real Madrid was, effectively, a brand new signing. The glee with which the Belgian skipped through Cardiff last Saturday, scoring a hat trick in the process, was a joy to behold. Tougher opposition awaits Chelsea in Europe after the group stage - which they should clear - is over, but by then the FA Cup and League Cup will, in theory, be providing further distraction. Conte made these commitments a further stick to attack the Chelsea board with, unnecessarily so. Sarri has selection challenges, but these are largely which, out of a talented squad, he can pick for their Thursday adventures to be fresh and ruthless enough to win games by more than the one-goal margin they recorded last night. Olivier Giroud must, surely, have earned his place as first-choice centre forward, but that surely can't mean that £70 million Morata becomes a standby option. Whatever confidence issues have hampered him since Christmas, meaning that an expensive resource has now been misfiring in consecutive seasons, needs to be addressed. It's time to sharpen up.
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