Chelsea supporters have shown their love once again to the key pair of Edouard Mendy and Thiago Silva during the tense 2-1 win at Vicarage Road in the Premier League against Watford.
Goals from Hakim Ziyech and Mason Mount cancelled out Emmanuel Dennis’ equaliser as the Blues had to hold on and fight for what was described as a ‘lucky’ win by manager Thomas Tuchel.
“Very sloppy and it was a very unusual performance for us. Like I said, I had the feeling we were not ready,” the German admitted in his post-match press conference when quizzed about the complacency on show, especially in the first half.
“Not only maybe. I am involved in that, I have to get the team ready, I didn’t prepare them for what was coming because it was the first time we completely under-performed as a team.
“We didn’t win first balls, second balls, we did not cope well with the pressure. It is one thing to win or lose challenges but we did not even find them.
“We had the chance to speak about it in the break and then the chance again at half time and tried to give easy messages because it was obvious that we struggled in the build up and skilful solutions.
“We needed to do the basics better, hang in there and change the mentality and to accept it. We tried, I don’t think I was too critical with players but we are also critical of ourselves when we analyse the situation.
“I think we can admit today that we were lucky to win this game. It was a very unusual performance for us, I will not focus long on this match because we play on Saturday again.
(Image: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
“There are reasons that it wasn’t easy for us, Watford played with lots of enthusiasm and we struggled in the basics. I don’t know what but it was like this. We are in this together and we got a lucky win today.”
Aside from the result itself, the main sub-plot surrounding what happened in the game primarily centred around the unfortunate Watford fan who suffered a cardiac arrest 10 minutes into proceedings.
Marcos Alonso was the hero on this specific occasion, letting the referee know what was happening in the Upper Graham Taylor Stand.
Thankfully, the left-wing back’s speed in identifying the problem allowed the medical staff to successfully perform CPR and after a long break, the game was able to continue as normal.
Other than this dramatic event which cast a big shadow over the result, two players in particular were singled out by the crowd for individual praise in a special sense.
A clip doing the rounds on social media shows the Blues faithful channelling their inner Shakira to show their love and appreciation to Mendy, who as we know came runner up in the recent Yashin awards ceremony behind PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma.
This didn’t demotivate him one bit though going into this game week 14 contest against the Hornets as he was called upon six times to make some vital saves to keep his side ultimately top of the table come the end of play on Wednesday night.
Consequently, as a result of his heroics between the sticks coupled with his performances since joining the west London outfit in September 2020 for a mere £22million.
The aformentioned Waka Waka/Mendy chant went by the lyrics of: “Tsamina mina eh eh
“Edouard Edouard Mendy.
“Tsamina mina zangalewa.
“He comes from Senegal.”
Next, substitute on the night Thiago Silva was also blessed with a new chant. The Brazilian stalwart – who came on at the start of the second half and made five key clearances – has certainly earned his new chant due to his contribution to Tuchel’s team since moving to the capital on a free transfer in August, 2020.
His chant went as followed: “Thiago, woahhh. Thiago, woahhh. He came from PSG to win the Champions League.”
Both players, who now have new songs and chants to their names, will certainly play a key part for the remainder of the 2021/22 campaign in Chelsea’s quest to win their first Premier League title since the well remembered Antonio Conte era.