Chelsea ratings: Hudson-Odoi displays what (almost) everybody already knew

Chelsea waited nearly an hour, but eventually remembered who they were and rolled over Malmo to advance in the Europa League. The game’s second half was a respite for fans, but changed little ahead of Sunday.

Chelsea lethargically pulled the levers of Sarriball for the first half against Malmo. The only thing more turgid than their movement on the ball was their movement off it. Malmo pressed well and had several moments that could have turned into real chances in the first half. Once Olivier Giroud opened the scoring, though, the players and fans woke up and cruised to a 3-0 (5-1) win.

Willy Caballero, Goalkeeper: N/A –

N/A minus, what is this? Well, normally if a goalkeeper faces no shots on goal, sees only five shots overall and watches the vast majority of the proceedings from half a pitch away, we give them an N/A because there is so little to grade them on. Such was mostly the case with Caballero, except for the first 20 minutes. Perhaps foreseeing a comfortable day in possession for his outfield players, Caballero crammed in all of his usual dicey footwork, questionable passes and heart attack-inducing moments into the first quarter of the game. Malmo were very active in the press for that stage, and had they grabbed their Simeones and sent one player directly at Caballero with another covering the horizontal pass out, they could have induced a debacle and maybe stolen a goal.

Cesar Azpilicueta, Right back: 6

The combination of fatigue and team formation – let alone the stress or annoyance of being the captain responsible for connecting this squad to this coach – is taking an increasing toll on Cesar Azpilicueta. He played only 56 fewer minutes than Kepa Arrizabalaga, and over 200 more minutes than Antonio Rudiger, the second-most used outfield player.

Azpilicueta looked on the verge of arguing himself into a yellow card several times in the first half, and seemed to be dissenting from his coach in the second half. Malmo made several crosses into the Chelsea box in the first half that perfectly split Azpilicueta from Rudiger or, on one set piece, Olivier Giroud, allowing the Malmo player a solid opportunity. When Malmo came at Chelsea, even with David Luiz out of the lineup, the four-man back-line seemed to have too much space available to the opponent.

Azpilicueta already seems near the end of his tether, so he needs either a break or better coverage of the various spaces and pockets in and around the penalty area.

Antonio Rudiger, Centre back: 6.5

One strange indicator of Chelsea’s sluggishness in the first half was how they often waited until the ball came back to Antonio Rudiger before starting up their movements in support of the next circuit. They were almost dependent on the ball getting to Rudiger as a trigger, which calls into question motivation for the game, motivation for the system, and overall mental and physical energy levels.

Rudiger made a few dodgy touches in the first half that gave Malmo some light opportunities, and he was turned completely on his heels at the top of the box for one of Malmo’s better shots in the first half. Overall, though, like the rest of the team he did what he needed to do, which was ultimately little on defence.

Andreas Christensen, Centre back: 7

Christensen showed the sharpness and attention that defines him at his best, and threw in one American football tackle to show an unusual willingness to take on the physical side of the game. Like a few other Cobham-bred players on the pitch, he showed why he should not be a rare sighting. It will not matter much for Sunday, but, as Jimmy Buffet would say, come Monday…

Emerson, Left back: 6.5

Callum Hudson-Odoi was Chelsea’s best individual player for the entire game. For most of the game, though, Chelsea’s best side was the left, where Emerson worked very well with Willian. He and Willian combined well to advance the play on the left, particularly without relying too heavily on Ross Barkley to do so. Emerson imitated Marcos Alonso at his best with his runs and how he took up station further towards the centre of the pitch, whether that was to create a new passing lane or pull a defender away from Willian.

If the opponent wasn’t Malmo, we’d say that after 18 months Chelsea may have the beginning of some proper competition at left back.*