True, there have been a brief few times where we looked tactically adept and have played moments of brilliant football.
Rarities aside, we are played off the pitch when we dominate possession, and even Arsenal knew this and allowed it to our own demise.
Prior to the half, Chelsea were growing into the game a bit better and had even gotten level on xG and threat.
He is too inexperienced at a senior level for this type of game, let alone without senior centrebacks to guide him or any sort of defensive cover.
Fernández bites to cover the run of Havertz, bringing both of our double pivot out of position and too far left.
I yearn ... for tactically applicable football to be played by my beloved Chelsea. This season, we have seen and I have written about the good, the bad, the ugly - yet, unlike George in the linked clip, supposedly we have an exciting future ahead of us. It is just that we, plebs that we are, haven’t the patience to see the whole picture.
True, there have been a brief few times where we looked tactically adept and have played moments of brilliant football. There have been many more times when tactics were seemingly apparent but applied poorly, times where the tactics almost seem either entirely absent or miscommunicated to the players, and times, as was the case against Arsenal, where our manager’s decisions, regardless of player availability, were inferior to the opposition and we have been played off the pitch. Rarities aside, we are played off the pitch when we dominate possession, and even Arsenal knew this and allowed it to our own demise.
The back line was disastrous, including when it briefly shifted to a back three in the second half, and the only constant from the match against Manchester City was Marc Cucurella. Mauricio Pochettino said that he had to rest both Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah due to fatigue (age and only just returning from injury his excuses, respectively), and yet both still made an appearance in the second half in a feeble attempt to salvage anything from this match. Combine the lack of experience from our starters with the lack of defensive responsibility from both wingers, which left both flanks horribly exposed, and attacks down either flank were relentless and effective. To be fair, both Cucurella and even Gilchrist did well defensively with respect to their wingers, two of the most threatening in the league. The exposed flanks were not the worst of our mismarking setup, and nobody particularly seemed up for the challenge.
The midfield was not only ostensibly outplayed, direly disorganised, and porous as pumice, but they were apparently instructed to allow it to be that easy for Arsenal. We have known the knock that Enzo Fernández had been carrying and playing through, but to keep him on is now once again another knock to the coaching and physio department. Prior to the half, Chelsea were growing into the game a bit better and had even gotten level on xG and threat. Shortly after the game was decided and shortly after the game it was decided that Enzo would be getting hernia surgery. If you are wondering why our midfield was so bad and why, quite often, Moisés Caicedo was pressing so high up the pitch, these images sumise it entirely.
Caicedo’s attempt to cover the ground Enzo could not left acres of space in front of our defensive line and no coverage for anyone making a run to occupy that space, where Martin Ødegaard thrived. Combine the forward charge and defensive cover of Declan Rice plus the defensive nous of Thomas Partey and, essentially, you are looking at a style of midfield very much in the mould of what Chelsea would like - with more experience, craft, and force to their trio than ours. They overran us in the centre of the park and did so historically well.
Trying to hit on the break with such deep opposition possession was hopeless, and almost every time that Nico Jackson was tasked with hold-up play, which was one aspect he did well against Manchester City despite not scoring, his touch was heavy and he lost the ball. Even Đorđe Petrović was attempting to release Jackson quickly for a counter that just wasn’t happening. On the occasions he did get through, which occurred because there is no denying the man’s pace, his finishing was exactly the same as it was against City, and he remains one of the biggest misfiring strikers in Europe, with only Darwin Núñez missing more big chances.
Defensively we were stretched on the wings due to the limited defensive recovery runs made by our two wingers, but we were also hampered on the right offensively. I am not going to find fault with Alfie Gilchrist for his errors defensively or lack of offensive contributions in this match. He is too inexperienced at a senior level for this type of game, let alone without senior centrebacks to guide him or any sort of defensive cover. In fact, while people have noted that he isn’t at fault for the first goal because Madueke didn’t cover and Disasi was indecisive, which are both true, it really stems even more so down to countless things wrong all over the pitch, and that sums up the overall performance. A reminder that solid lines are the runs of the players while dashes indicate the movement of the ball.
Caicedo is caught wide while tracking Ødegaard as he drifted, but does not track centrally nearly as quickly as Ødegaard attacks that space. Fernández bites to cover the run of Havertz, bringing both of our double pivot out of position and too far left. In fact, that run of Havertz should absolutely have been tracked by either Badiashile or Disasi, both of whom he is standing next to just prior to making the run, but neither communicated about nor tracked his run. In standard defending, the ball-side defender tracks the run and the other drops centrally, but that cannot happen because of how open Rice is and how lackadaisical Madueke is about helping defensively. Considering how poorly our central duo played throughout the match, I would doubt that they both stayed back due to the pending threat of the run from Ødegaard, a viable excuse and threat, but one that should have been Caicedo’s responsibility anyway. Such was the defensive disorganisation of this team on a single moment in play encapsulating the performance on the day as a whole.
Their second goal was caused by a run from Havertz that was poorly marked by our centrebacks. The resulting short corner, upon which they scored, was defended in the manner seen below. While we continue to be dreadful at defending set pieces, it serves to remind you all that we cannot create let alone score on them either.
As much as I would hate to write about the minutia of this match, you would hate to read about it. If you care to get into the most nitty and gritty, including rewatching the passing patterns that so easily opened us up, Opta has broken this game down here.
And so, after walloping Crystal Palace (6-0) and West Ham (5-0) before us, London is becoming less blue and more viole n t, with Chelsea fans relating the inextricable relationship of performances on the pitch with ownership, directors, manager, and players. Our trip to Birmingham to play Villa will be followed by two derbies at the Bridge against Tottenham and West Ham, but due to the results of the English clubs in all European competitions, it seems likely that Germany and Italy will be getting the additional Champions League places, leaving the qualifying system as it has been in recent years. Combine that with our elimination from Cup competitions and limited likelihood of finishing in the top 6, European football and the accrued income from it will likely both be missing next season. Because our players are largely on performance-based salaries, this disaster isn’t as drastic as it could be financially, but the ongoing appeal it has to both incoming prospects (players and sponsors alike) and a global fanbase, which grew exponentially by our persistent CL involvement, will be felt.
Let’s hope it doesn’t hurt as badly as this most recent result and that a fit Cole Palmer returns.
KTBFFH.
