13 hours ago
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23 min Completed passes: Charlton 17-174 Chelsea.
Wait, Chelsea have only played four more passes than Charlton?
22 min It took a few minutes but Chelsea are controlling the game now. Charlton’s counter-attacks have been few and far between, and overall Chelsea have had around 80 per cent possession.
21 min “Is it normal to stop a match for a medical emergency in the crowd?” writes Scott Martin. “That seems odd because it does not directly affect anything on the pitch. Can’t the stewards and medical personnel handle without delaying the match for everyone else?”
It’s the norm these days. Not sure when it started to become so, maybe around 10 years ago.
19 min Santos drags a shot wide from the edge of the D. Chelsea are starting to take control of the game, with Gittens particularly dangerous on the right wing.
16 min Gittens cuts inside from the right, then veers back outside Bell and blasts a shot from 20 yards that is beaten away by Mannion. Well struck but straight at the keeper.
16 min Buonanotte slips Docherty in midfield, then beats him a second time before lofting a neat pass into the area towards Hato. He doesn’t get enough power on his looping header and Mannion leaps to make an ultimately comfortable save.
15 min The match resumes with a Chelsea goalkick.
14 min Yes, there is a medical emergency in the crowd. Play has been stopped for around four minutes so far.
12 min For reasons that aren’t immediately clear, there’s a break in play and both teams are passing a football around to keep warm. There might be a medical emergency in the crowd.
9 min Campbell tries his luck from the edge of the area but slices well wide.
8 min Gittens runs at Campbell and fires a low cross that is spilled by the keeper Mannion. Happily for him, the loose ball is booted clear by Coventry.
7 min Charlton have started well and are putting Chelsea under a decent amount of pressure. Chelsea would love an early goal to take the sting out of the game.
5 min Badiashile gets an early yellow card for pulling down Leaburn, who was in the Chelsea academy until the age of 16.
4 min Campbell’s low cross from the left is put behind for a corner by Andrey Santos. Bree takes, Jorgensen punches a little unconvincingly but gets away with it.
2 min I got the Chelsea formation wrong: it’s a 3-2-4-1 with Garnacho and Gittens in wide positions.
Chelsea (3-2-4-1) Jorgensen; Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Badiashile; Caicedo, Santos; Bynoe-Gittens, Buonanotte, Hato, Garnacho; Guiu.
1 min For the first time in 19 years, an association football match between Charlton and Chelsea is under way. And there’s an appropriately lively atmosphere at The Valley.
“Yes, sometimes the underdog comes out on top,” writes Matt Dony. “But sometimes, despite 18 months of preparation and unprecedented feelgood vibes, the underdog loses 4-1. Anyway. I’m no expert, but from what I have seen, Rosenior seems like a good bloke. I wish him good luck. He’s likely to need it in the Chelsea set-up.”
Too soon, Dony, too soon. And if I somehow live to the year 2126 after embracing a lifestyle of green tea and 12 cold showers a day, it’ll still be too soon.
Liam Rosenior's pre-match thoughts
I’m really excited and proud to be head coach of this football club. It’s felt like three weeks, not three days and I’m really looking forward to the game. Hopefully we put in a really good performance.
[On making eight changes] We’ve got a very good squad. We have a lot of games in a short space of time and we want to compete in every competition. I’ve got faith in every player in this group. Hopefully it’s the right decision tonight.
I’ve enjoyed ever moment so far, but I want results at this football club. We haven’t had much time on the training ground but we’ve spoken a lot about our values and what we want to stand for, and the players have been very receptive.
[What can the fans expect from your team?] A team that never gives up. A team that runs and fights for each other, that has a spirit and togetherness. On top of that, a team that enjoys playing football and expresses themselves.
There is some synergy with Chelsea being the first Premier League club to appoint a black manager in Ruud Gullit in 1996. But it remains a sad fact that despite the league’s diverse playing pool, Rosenior is only its 12th black manager. That doesn’t reflect the level of talent out there.
I have spoken to several black former Premier League players frustrated by the lack of manager and senior coaching opportunities they have been offered. It is to Rosenior’s credit that after being harshly sacked by Hull when he missed out on the Championship playoffs, he took a different route with Strasbourg and has landed a top job.
Once upon a time, before he reached to the gate to the shining uplands, Liam Rosenior was a Guardian columnist. Here are some of the topics he addressed.
Team news
Liam Rosenior makes eight changes to the Chelsea team that lost at Fulham. Tosin Adarabioyo, Moises Caicedo and Andrey Santos are the men who keep their place; Tosin is the only player over the age of 24.
A number of big hitters are on the bench, including Enzo Fernandez, Pedro Neto and Estevao – but not Cole Palmer, who has been given the night off. Chelsea play Arsenal in the League Cup semi-final on Wednesday.
Charlton make four changes from last Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Blackburn. Will Mannion, Keenan Gough, Greg Docherty and Sonny Carey come in for Thomas Kaminski, Reece Burke, Luke Berry and Joe Rankin-Costello.
Charlton (3-1-4-2) Mannion; Gough, Jones, Bell; Coventry; Bree, Docherty, Carey, Campbell; Leaburn, Kelman.
Subs: Maynard-Brewer, Gillesphey, Anderson, Rankin-Costello, Berry,
Knibbs, Apter, Fullah, Olaofe.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Jorgensen; Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Hato; Caicedo, Santos; Bynoe-Gittens, Buonanotte, Garnacho; Guiu.
Subs: Sanchez, Fofana, Chalobah, Essugo, Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Estevao, Joao Pedro, Delap.
Referee Chris Kavanagh
Preamble
Evening. The last time Chelsea appointed a new manager in January, they win the Champions League four months later. Liam Rosenior would love to emulate Thomas Tuchel, but for now his aim is to create as few headlines as possible.
The only way Chelsea can steal tomorrow’s back pages is if they are beaten by Charlton, a team who sit 19th in the Championship. That’s highly unlikely given the resources of each club, and tonight should be a nice soft landing for Rosenior ahead of tougher tasks in the Premier and Champions League.
Then again, as any Macclesfield supporter still capable of speech will tell you, a lot of things should happen in the FA Cup.
Kick off 8pm
