Match report & talking points from FA Cup trouncing

Chelsea finally secured a 5-0 FA Cup home win at League Two Morecambe on Saturday.

It was a victory that deserved not three but two cheers, perhaps even one, as the Premier League giants troubled their weak visitors before a run of three goals in seven second-half minutes skewed the result.

In a performance that secured Chelsea’s place in the fourth round of the FA Cup, not many of the club’s B team made a strong case for promotion to the Premier League XI.

How the game developed

Chelsea started Saturday with the confidence of a team 87 league places above their opponents. The fourth tier youngsters were cooped up in their own half for most of the first 15 minutes before belatedly buckling under increasing pressure.

Morecambe captain Yann Songo’o took the unorthodox approach to blocking Joao Felix’s cross, instinctively raising both arms and fixing them in an upright position as if preparing to jump into an invisible swimming pool. However, Christopher Nkunku failed to punish the captain’s flop.

The French striker fired a low shot within the wingspan of Harry Burgoyne and watched as the Shrimps goalkeeper secured the equaliser.

The players at Stamford Bridge ended the first half with their necks strained, constantly looking towards Morecambe’s half of the pitch. But Derek Adams’ side fought bravely, dragging a red jersey in front of the ball as Chelsea fired a barrage of shots. Unfortunately for the spirited visitors, Callum Jones had no intention of getting in the way of Tosin Adarabioyo’s speculative attempt, inadvertently deflecting the centre-back’s shot past his goalkeeper in the 40th minute.

Nkunku made up for his errant penalty within five minutes of the restart. Jones underlined the quality of Chelsea’s opponents with a touch in his penalty area so heavy it might as well have been a pass to Renato Veiga. The Portuguese midfielder’s powerful effort was saved by Burgoyne before Nkunku buried the rebound.

After being stuck on the ropes for more than an hour, Morecambe finally collapsed on the canvas in the final 20 minutes. Tosin added his second goal of the game – Chelsea’s third – with an even sweeter long-range shot that didn’t require the misdirection of a deflection to deceive Burgoyne.

Joao Felix quickly found his range and scored two finishes less than two minutes apart to make it 5-0.

Morecambe had a chance to give their boisterous traveling support something to be happy about away from their hated owners. On a rare forward strike in the 88th minute, the aptly named Hallam Hope was responsible for the visitors’ final chance, but rolled the ball tamely into the welcome gloves of Filip Jorgensen.

Check out Chelsea vs Morecambe player ratings here.

This, as much as he doesn’t want to, is Christopher Nkunku’s level these days. The former Bundesliga top scorer and £52m signing has been the reluctant talisman of Chelsea’s B team. Of the 13 starts he made this season, only three were in the Premier League.

Nkunku made the most of these cup games; The calm finish he scored on Saturday was his 11th goal in the Europa Conference League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup. However, the Frenchman couldn’t even muster a smile.

Maybe he was still bothered by the missed penalty in the first half, or maybe it made more sense. Rumors have been growing this month that Nkunku is desperate for a move away from Stamford Bridge in order to earn a few minutes against clubs ranked slightly higher than 91st in the professional pyramid. Barcelona have been mooted as a potential destination but Maresca insists he wants his disaffected striker to stay.

It remains to be seen whether Nkunku can last another six months with the understudies.

As Chelsea found out on Saturday after Morecambe’s Harry Burgoyne sneaked off the line to save Nkunku’s penalty, there was no VAR in use in the FA Cup third round. The controversial video system has many flaws, but would certainly have caught the goalkeeper’s illegal wandering and allowed Nkunku to retake his saved penalty.

At the end of Chelsea’s comfortable victory this was little more than a small matter, but teams won’t always be so lucky.

The world’s oldest cup competition has always struggled to figure out how best to implement technological advances. The FA Cup was a decade old before permanent crossbars were introduced, let alone pitchside monitors. It is difficult to see the logic behind the seemingly arbitrary decision to introduce VAR from the fifth round.

There’s a lot football fans disagree about, but the vague concept of “consistency” seems to be a value valued above all others. In this case, how can there be a uniform standard of refereeing in a competition where the rules change from game to game?

On a day where Tyrique George showed some promising footwork – particularly after the introduction of an inferior full-back that took away some of his defensive focus – and Joao Felix scored a brace, Marc Guiu emphatically failed to make his mark.

The former Barcelona striker, whose powerful approach has earned him six goals in his last five appearances, finished the game with 11 touches of the ball. Even that paltry tally – the lowest of any outfield player to last the entire 90 minutes – seemed far too high for the impact he had.

Hidden in a mass of red Morecambe jerseys sunk into a block so deep that it at times reached the Shed End, Guiu spent large parts of Saturday’s contest completely separated from his other teammates.

At a time when Nicolas Jackson’s lack of form could provide a route into the first team, Guiu did little to suggest he deserved a starting place in England’s top flight.

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