Lincoln City 1-2 Chelsea, League Cup: Post-match reaction, ratings

Chelsea began the game in almost disastrous fashion, with the hosts hitting the woodwork inside of two minutes, just missing out on the classic early goal for the underdogs.

But Chelsea did not heed that wake-up call, and the third division side continued to threaten, largely with direct, simple, effective route one football and set pieces. And when that didn’t work, and after clearing off the line following some questionable goalkeeping, we simply gifted them the opener with an errant pass across the back, just before the half-time.

At the other end, Chelsea were creating very little, with a couple half-chances for Jamie Gittens all we had to show for 45 minutes of … effort?

The picture changed quickly and drastically after the restart, with Tyrique George, who hardly had a kick up to that point, producing an absolute worldie, then combining to set up Facundo Buonanotte just a couple minutes later to put Chelsea suddenly in the lead.

Lincoln’s response to go behind was admirable, and some more questionable goalkeeping led to another goal line clearance, before the home side wasted a couple presentable chances as we moved into the final quarter of the match.

A triple change from Maresca in the 70th minute did little to change the flow of the game, though Bounanotte really should’ve settled things in the 81st when he was delightfully set up by Neto on a counter. He didn’t, but thankfully we managed to see out the rest of the game (thanks in part to Lincoln hooking a shot over the bar on an empty net after another flap).

Carefree.

• Plenty of rotation, though another start for Enzo and Chalobah
• Cucurella as emergency midfielder for the last 20 minutes?
• First Chelsea start for Garnacho lasts barely 55 minutes…
• First Chelsea goal for Mr Good Night
• Ty George is not a center forward, but he sure has a knack for some critical goals
• Time to give Gaga Slonina a chance in goal yet?
• The draw for the fourth round will be tomorrow (Wednesday)
• KTBFFH

PLAYER RATINGS: