Matic combusts in the heat of the midfield
West Ham made a point of trying to deny Chelsea a way to pass through the middle, with Payet and Zarate tucking in, and Noble and Kouyate roving with teeth clenched. The result was a hugely congested midfielder, an area only the slickest, most precise passing could perforate. It had another, bonus, effect too, it seems. In the middle of the funk, all elbows and shirt-tugs, Nemanja Matic must have gotten a little too hot. He thusly decided to get out of the proverbial kitchen, seeking out two profoundly unnecessary yellow cards, the second of which was earned just before half time. There was a sour air of flippancy to the whole affair, as if Matic couldn’t wait to strip off his shin pads and slope off home. He didn’t win a single tackle during his time of the pitch, while Ramires, his partner attempted four, winning one. Raising the thermostat in the middle of the park was a clear maneuver by Bilic, although the effect of it was even more spectacularly pyrotechnic then he could have imagined.
