Gary Cahill was Chelsea’s best defender against Roma, which is to say he committed the fewest glaring and devastating errors. His 55th minute substitution may indicate that he is the only one Antonio Conte cared to keep fresh for Sunday’s tilt with Manchester United.
Since joining Chelsea in January 2012, Gary Cahill has only come off as a tactical substitution three times. The first was in February 2013, in the 88′ against Wigan as the Blues were seeing out a 3-1 lead (Marko Marin would make it 4-1). The next was last November when he made way in the 84′ to allow John Terry a run-out in Chelsea’s 5-0 demolition of Everton.
Antonio Conte pulled Cahill in favour of Willian in the 55th minute against AS Roma. Conte rarely makes such dissimilar changes, preferring like-for-like changes that would bring Pedro or Eden Hazard off for Willian. If Conte veers from such substitutions, it normally comes with a formation switch – replacing a midfielder with a defender to go from a 3-5-2 to 4-4-2, for example.
Because Cesar Azpilicueta started at right wing-back, Conte could swap Cahill for Willian and maintain the 3-4-3. Azpilicueta went to defence, Pedro to the flank and Willian to the front.
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The combination of unusual factors suggests this substitution was about more than enhancing the offensive thrust. Even though Chelsea were only down 2-0 at the time, the game felt well out of reach. Much like the Arsenal fixture last season that debuted the 3-4-3, there was a sense that Antonio Conte resigned himself to the loss and had already shifted his priorities to the next match.
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Chelsea’s defence were a horror show against AS Roma. David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger continually found new depths of errors, indiscipline, lack of awareness and pure malpractice. On the quality of play, neither of them deserved to take the pitch for the second half. If Conte’s first substitution was about defensive performance, Rudiger or Luiz would have been first to go.
Substituting off David Luiz or Antonio Rudiger would have saved Chelsea the embarrassment of another 35 minutes like their first 55 minutes. Instead, Antonio Conte brought off his captain and the least worst member of the back-line.
This points to Cahill being the only defensive starter from Tuesday to be in Conte’s starting XI against Manchester United on Sunday. Conte alternated rest days for Cahill and Azpilicueta in the previous two matches. He knew he needed both of them as fresh as possible for Roma. Yet he chose not to reduce David Luiz’s or Antonio Rudiger’s workload – just Gary Cahill’s.
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Chelsea and Antonio Conte cannot afford another performance like Tuesday’s, particularly not by the defence. Conte already trusts Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta more than his other defenders. Luiz and Rudiger cleared the way for Andreas Christensen with their shambolic performance. With the game out of reach, Conte may have seen these two as his most dispensable players. He saw an opportunity to preserve Cahill a bit, while losing nothing by keeping Rudiger and Luiz on the pitch. He already knew he would not play them against Manchester United, and there was nothing else left for Chelsea to lose.
Next: Deconstructing a woeful Chelsea loss player-by-disappointing-player
Based on their performance, their 90 minutes on Tuesday should be their last until the early rounds of the FA Cup.