Poor performance and soft Penalty spell defeat for Chelsea in Europa League

There is no getting around the fact that Chelsea were well below par against Steaua Bucharest in Romania last night. Having said that, the home team needed the help of a generous refereeing decision to give them the win. The result was disappointing, but it was only 1-0, and Chelsea should easily be able to turn the tie around at Stamford Bridge next week.

Fernando Torres again did his impression of a man suffering from amnesia, because he looked like he had never seen a game of football before. With Demba Ba cup tied in Europe, the Spaniard is our only striking option, so it is a good thing that the players behind him are able to find the back of the net, although they also had a bad night.

Oscar was probably the best of the bunch, with Hazard generally ineffective and Benayoun looking very rusty. Mata was no better when he came on, but Marko Marin did add some zip at the end and he produced the best piece of play from us on the night, with a good run and decent effort at goal.

The whole team was sluggish, and Bertrand was caught out of position from a free kick, but the decision to award a penalty was harsh, and Cech almost saved it. It was a poor night, but should not matter too much in the scheme of things. We must be much better at Old Trafford in the FA cup on Sunday, and I’m sure we will be.