CHELSEA 13
WEYMOUTH 0
WEYMOUTH conceded 13 goals as European champions Chelsea ran riot in their friendly at the Blues’ Cobham training facility.
As prestige fixtures go, the game was a glamorous pre-season friendly for the Terras.
Chelsea also used the game to give match minutes to a squad crammed full of international stars and led 8-0 at half-time, having opened the floodgates in the fourth minute.
Weymouth held on for 13 minutes of the second half before Chelsea made it 9-0, the Blues then adding number 10 on the hour.
With first-team boss Thomas Tuchel on the sidelines, Chelsea added a further three goals as the Premier League giants showed no mercy.
Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi scored five times, while Ross Barkley grabbed a hat-trick.
England midfielder Callum Hudson-Odoi, Brazil centre-back Thiago Silva and England right-back Reece James also got on the scoresheet.
In the end, the gulf in class was evident as Chelsea demonstrated why 106 places last season separated the teams in the English football pyramid.
Speaking to Echosport, Weymouth boss Brian Stock took many positives from the encounter but admitted there was a “big gulf” between the sides.
He said: “First and foremost, the whole experience has been brilliant and it’s something that I’m sure will live long in the memory of the players.
“I did want to let them embrace the situation, however there was a focus on Boreham Wood in our first game of the season.
“We knew when we saw the starting line-up that there were going to be some internationals, but I didn’t know they were going to field a whole team of them!
“The fact that we’ve managed to give every single player that was fit some minutes on the pitch is pleasing.
“It’s important we don’t lose sight of next week. I’m pretty sure the majority of the players won’t play a team like that ever again in their lives.
“If they do, they’d have gone on to have a very good career.”
He added: “They didn’t actually make one sub, whereas we made quite a few.
“The scoreline, no-one wants to lose 13-0 but when you look at the movement, the power, the pace – you can see the top-level and big gulf.
“The lads kept on going right to the end. Thomas Tuchel came over and said some very nice words to us.
“Apart from the scoreline, everything else was positive.”
Stock in his pre-match interview revealed the Terras would not sit back, and the Weymouth boss stayed true to his word.
He said: “The biggest thing going into this game was that we knew we were going to work really hard out of possession.
“This will give us a lot of much-needed work in the players’ legs going into the season. They’ll be better for that.
“I didn’t want to be a team that came here and sat behind the ball. I wanted us to try and press the ball, get up the pitch and have a positive formation.
“I’ve gone with the formation that I think will stand us in good stead for the season, especially short term.
“We’ve gone into the game trying to press (the European champions).
“If this was something that was riding on the result I’d have approached it slightly differently and maybe put five at the back, four in midfield and one up top.
“I wanted to be positive and we knew we were going to get picked off, but that’s the best way in order to try and get fitter for the start of the season.”
Stock poured praise on Chelsea, insisting some of their play was “out of this world”.
He said: “Quite a lot of those players will not have to work as hard without the ball.
“Some of the movement, the pace, the power, the precision of their passing, their spacing, their composure was on a different level.
“You can see why they are where they are. They’re champions of Europe.
“It’s important we don’t beat ourselves up with the scoreline. Some of the quality and finishing was out of this world.
“Sometimes you have to applaud that, understand what you’re up against and compare that to what will be up against (in the league).”
Weymouth host Boreham Wood in their Vanarama National League opener on Saturday (3pm).
