Jose Mourinho oversaw such a spectacular collapse at Chelsea this season that, beneath all the defeats, rants and controversies, perhaps the most depressing element of his second tenure at the club became almost buried.
It was his reluctance to follow through on the very obvious desire of the club to finally give some of their best homegrown talent a sustained chance. One of the brightest young prospects is Ruben Loftus-Cheek and, having suffered the indignity earlier this season of being substituted after only 45 minutes of one match by Mourinho, he delivered a second-half performance here to suggest that he is now more than ready for a sustained opportunity.
His first Chelsea goal was to not only seal the club’s path into the FA Cup fourth round but, judging by the celebrations, was clearly also a source of huge personal delight to owner Roman Abramovich. The Russian has seen little return for his heavy investment in the club’s academy during these past 12 years and it is obvious that one of the priorities for the next manager will be to continue integrating these players into the first-team.
Chelsea attacking statistics
Guus Hiddink won the FA Cup with Chelsea in his only previous entry into the competition and, in only dropping Thibaut Courtois and John Terry from what might have been his strongest starting team, duly sent out the message that he is hopeful for a repeat this season. It remains the most realistic chance of Chelsea ending this most traumatic season with silverware.
Chelsea began with plenty of purpose and were rewarded in the 13th minute when Branislav Ivanovic’s cross bounced between Scott Laird and Jordan Clarke. The two Scunthorpe players hesitated monetarily, with Diego Costa stabling out his foot and just appearing to get the final touch ahead of Laird to put Chelsea into the lead. Chelsea then twice threatened to further extend their advantage, only to be denied by two excellent Luke Daniels saves.
First Cesc Fabregas had a shot from outside the area tipped over and then Pedro forced an outstanding save after running onto a simple long ball by Gary Cahill.
It looked as if Scunthorpe might become overrun but they settled into their rhythm and posed plenty of threat themselves shortly before half-time. Gary Cahill bravely headed a fierce Stephen Dawson shot to safety and then Kurt Zouma made a vital tackle on Paddy Madden.
Scunthorpe United attacking statistics
Scunthorpe might also have won a penalty early in the second-half when Ramires appeared to trip Kevin van Veen, although there was some doubt over whether the first contact was inside the area. With Dawson and Costa repeatedly clashing, there was no hint of Scunthorpe being overawed by the fixture but Chelsea’s additional quality did again tell.
A sweeping move that began with Fabregas releasing Willian was brilliantly finished when Cesar Azpilicueta overlapped down the left and then crossed for Loftus-Cheek to finish clinically at the near-post past Daniels.
Abramovich was clearly thrilled and would also have been enthused by the sight of both Kenedy and Bertrand Traore being introduced from the substitutes’ bench in the closing minutes to underline the young crop of talent that is emerging at Stamford Bridge. Scunthorpe, though, were still not completely finished and, after Van Veen had rippled the side-netting with his freekick, Jordan Clarke also rattled the post with a thunderous late strike.
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