Chelsea player ratings: Christensen, Hudson-Odoi should have been in best XI
By George Perry
Chelsea dropped the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal to Tottenham. The Blues did not play like a team determined to win any trophy within their reach.
Maurizio Sarri and Mauricio Pochettino smiled as they shared a hug post-match. Perhaps they think there are more important things than winning. We know at least one of them thinks there are more important things than trophies. Chelsea’s players showed neither the happy camaraderie nor killer instinct of their current nor previous managers.
Kepa Arrizabalaga, Goalkeeper: 5.5
If not for Kepa Arrizabalaga this game could have been 4-0 as easily as it could have been 0-0. We don’t need VAR to know clearly and obviously that Arrizabalaga came nowhere near the ball as he took out Harry Kane at the top of the box. The only thing you can say in Arrizabalaga’s comparative defence is that at least he led with his hands instead of his feet, as Thibaut Courtois was prone to do in similar circumstances. Arrizabalaga put the error behind him to keep Chelsea in the game with some strong saves, but he could not erase the past any more than his teammates could bail him out.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Right back: 6.5
Azpilicueta spent most of the day on the more productive side of the pitch, with N’Golo Kante and Hudson-Odoi joining him in the most active triangle on the pitch. Azpilicueta kept things moving up on the wing and in towards Kante. From there, though, Chelsea’s forward movement bounced off Tottenham’s defensive structure. Azpilicueta, like Hudson-Odoi, needed a target man in the box for his crosses. Without that reference point, Azpilicueta just became another cog in keep-ball.
Antonio Rudiger, Centre back: 6.5
Andreas Christensen’s return to the side moved Antonio Rudiger into the role of the more “offensive,” forward-looking centre-back, a la David Luiz. Rudiger made the right passes, made himself a nuisance on set pieces and charged up at the right time to punch the ball back into play and keep Chelsea’s possession bottled up in Tottenham’s half. And he did it all without any of the defensive errors that Luiz guarantees and all of the defensive strength that he – Rudiger – guarantees.
Rudiger and Christensen were our pre-season hopeful defensive pairing. This performance validated and renewed that hope, assuming Christensen has any interest in staying.
Andreas Christensen, Centre back: 7
Andreas Christensen played like someone who has been a regular part of the starting XI, not someone pushed so far to the fringes that he went out searching for a transfer. He was much closer to being the Ice King of early 2017/18 than at any other point in this season.
Christensen won physical battles with Son-Heung Min, knowing when and how to run Son off the ball to compensate for the difference in pace. Christensen’s positioning was spot on throughout the game, moving well with the full backs and Rudiger to close down Spurs usual passing lane into the centre of the pitch. He made one minor mistake covering Harry Kane early on, but Marcos Alonso cleaned that up nicely.
If only he hadn’t egregiously wrong-footed his shot he would have scored his first Chelsea goal. Instead he is up to 55 appearances without opening his account.
Marcos Alonso, Centre back: 6.5
The home fans let out a chorus of boos every time Marcos Alonso touched the ball. Tottenham’s loyal mob of online dunces denied with righteous indignation that it had anything to do with his brace against Spurs in 2017, but was totally and justifiably about Alonso’s drunk-driving incident.
Apparently SpurTwit didn’t really think through how that conversation would go. You know, the one about Tottenham’s in-stadium support being the arbiters and enforcers of public morals.