Madness at Mestalla: Chelsea are flawed but so much fun

After the insanity of Stamford Bridge, the madness at Mestalla – Chelsea's Champions League campaign is proving nothing if not exciting.

It was always going to be difficult to top the 4-4 draw with Ajax for drama but Wednesday night's 2-2 draw with Valencia came very close.

This was yet another Group H clash that, at times, felt more like a basketball match than a game of football, with the two teams just taking it in turns to attack. It was, as Frank Lampard admitted afterwards, "end to end, not that we wanted it to be."

Such crazy contests are becoming the norm under the new boss, though.

Lampard's side are vibrant, full of fighting spirit and fantastic going forward. But their fearlessness is also a flaw that makes them even more fun to watch because it contributes to their deficiencies in defence.

They are not yet street-wise enough to take the sting out of the biggest games, which is hardly surprising of course, given so few of their players have a lot of experience at this level.

Of course, Lampard himself is also learning as he goes. He played in many massive matches as a player but he is still a relative novice as a manager. He will certainly wonder if he erred with some of his defensive selections at Mestalla.

There was justified criticism of Emerson's performance against Manchester City on Saturday but replacing him with Reece James did little to solidify the backline.

Indeed, both James and fellow full-back Cesar Azpilicueta were repeatedly caught off position during a first half in which the dreadfully profligate Rodrigo produced two miss-of-the-season contenders before Carlos Soler finally opened the scoring in the 40th minute.

Chelsea equalised just 108 seconds later via a most unlikely source, with Mateo Kovacic netting his first goal for either club or country since January 2017. It was a sign of the strangeness to come.

Tammy Abraham was stretchered off just before the break after suffering a suspected hip injury sustained in freakish circumstances, as he fell awkwardly onto the legs of Ezequiel Garay.

Chelsea then took the lead in bizarre fashion, with Christian Pulisic's instinctive finish from Kurt Zouma's knockdown only awarded after what seemed like an eternity of analysis by the Video Assistant Referee.

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The goal had been originally ruled out for offside but the sudden discovery of a better camera angle after three minutes of analysis finally led to the decision being rightly overturned.

There were still 35 minutes to go at that point, so there was no chance of that strike signalling the end of the scoring.

Indeed, Andreas Christensen and Zouma had conceded nine goals in their previous four games alongside one another at the heart of the Chelsea defence; Valencia were always going to get more chances.

They spurned a great one when Dani Parejo had a penalty brilliantly saved by Kepa, after Jose Gaya had been felled by Jorginho in the area.

Given their wastefulness in front of goal, the hosts clearly needed a stroke of luck and they got one when Daniel Wass' mishit cross flew into the net in the 82nd minute.

Valencia should have nicked victory at the death but Rodrigo demonstrated a dreadful lack of faith in his right foot by trying to convert what should have been a tap-in with his left, which saw him slice the ball high and wide.

Lampard admitted afterwards, "We nearly won it, nearly lost it. Parts of our performance I'm not mad on. We gave away too many chances. We missed a lot as well. That's something we're doing a lot of at the minute
– not putting our chances away.

"But can't turn away from fact they had a lot of chances. They were arriving in our box too much. Credit to the players for their work-rate and hanging on in there, but sometimes you have to be more secure than that.

"It's difficult to come here, I know that from coming here as a player. When the atmosphere turns, sometimes you're hanging on, but it keeps it in our hands."

Indeed, victory over Lille at Stamford Bridge in two weeks' time will see Chelsea progress to the knockout stage, irrespective of the result of the game between Ajax and Valencia in Amsterdam.

In theory, it should be a straightforward assignment, as the French are the weakest side the group.

But as we have already shown several times this season, Chelsea have a seemingly insatiable thirst for drama. Best just to expect the unexpected!