Cesar Azpilicueta was Chelsea’s last-man-back defender for three of the four goals conceded to Manchester United. This, stripped of context or inquiry as to why he was in that position, led him to be the scapegoat for many fans.
Apparently another defence of Cesar Azpilicueta is necessary. In the absence of Marcos Alonso, scapegoat duties fell to Azpilicueta after the loss to Manchester United. Must be something about Spanish full-backs. Examining the build-up to each of Manchester United’s goals shows how Azpilicueta was doing the job he has always done for Chelsea, and how that left him equally exposed to the opposition and the blame.
Goal #1, 17′: Kurt Zouma concedes penalty to Marcus Rashford
Jorginho pulls back Andreas Pereira as Manchester United break into Chelsea’s defensive third. Anthony Taylor plays the advantage, and right as he does so Andreas Christensen pinches up in an attempt to clear the ball dislodged by Jorginho’s foul. Jesse Lingard knocks the loose ball past Christensen, whose foot catches either the ball, the ground or Lingard.
The Dane does an odd little hop-twirl-skip, reminiscent of Jorginho’s penalty technique, as the play streams past him. This leaves Rashford with open space ahead of him in all directions until Zouma drops back and to his (Zouma’s) right to get in Rashford’s way. Azpilicueta and Jorginho are a step or two behind Rashford, only catching up with him as he tumbles under Zouma’s illicit challenge.
The blame for this goal fell squarely on Zouma, not Azpilicueta, but the sequence foreshadows much of what was to come, not only tactically but in the pundits’ habit of blaming the last man back for his handling of a situation that was already out of Chelsea’s control.
Zouma’s tackle was clumsy, but he was one-on-one against one of the Premier League’s best one-on-one forwards. Zouma’s centre-back partner was 10 yards behind the play; his left-back was on the left, ostensibly covering a pass even though no one was there; and the only defenders trailing the play were Azpilicueta and the defensively-deficient midfielder who set the United sequence in motion.
Goal #2, 65′: Anthony Martial wrong-sides Cesar Azpilicueta
Unlike the first goal, which started with a smart advantage played by referee Anthony Taylor, the second goal started with one of many amateurishly poor non-calls by Taylor in the second half. United brought down Tammy Abraham at the edge of their box. Taylor did not call the foul, and a United player sent the ball to Rashford in open space near midfield.
The situation was 3v3 when Rashford came across midfield. Cesar Azpilicueta was sprinting directly behind Rashford in pursuit, even as Anthony Martial overlapped to Chelsea’s right as Rashford drove towards the centre and played the ball across to Chelsea’s left to Jesse Lingard.
Andreas Pereira ended up with the ball just outside the left side of Chelsea’s box as the Blues established their defensive line, with Andreas Christensen marking Rashford on the penalty spot and Azpilicueta marking Martial. Pereira’s cross came straight to Martial, who bodied himself ball-side of Azpilicueta to volley the pass into the net.
This goal fell the most on Azpilicueta. He did not have the proper positioning or the strength to hold off Martial and prevent the Frenchman from getting ball-side of him. Azpilicueta lost a one-on-one battle.
The one possible defence for Azpilicueta is that he was playing outside his man because of the numerous times last season Chelsea were caught ball-watching on one side as an opposition player came wide around the other side, out-flanking Chelsea’s entire (overly narrow, overly central, wholly unaware) defensive structure. Azpilicueta had all three forwards in front of him, and his opposite number was Luke Shaw, hardly an offensive threat sneaking in high and deep. Although, to be fair, Shaw had four more assists and only one fewer goal than Jorginho last season.
It’s also worth noting that Martial’s shot TBO’d Kepa Arrizabalaga. Arrizabalaga was moving laterally, creating a wider five-hole for the shot, so it was more forgivable than Thibaut Courtois shipping goals through his gaping thigh gap, but even so. A goal through the legs is a saveable goal.
Goal #3, 67′: Marcus Rashford on the counter-attack
This is where the Theatre of Dreams became the Theatre of the Absurd, at least as far as blaming Azpilicueta goes.
When Paul Pogba took the penultimate, plant step for his pass to Rashford, Andreas Christensen took a step forward. He moved towards the passer, 25 yards up field, instead of noting the intended recipient just off his right shoulder.
Perhaps Christensen was trying to play an offsides trap. If he was, he had little awareness of the rest of Chelsea’s line. Azpilicueta was just behind Christensen’s line and Zouma was just ahead of it closely marking Anthony Martial. That is to say, Chelsea had no real defensive line; or they did and simply were not communicating along it.
At times in the first half the centrebacks were spread wide, each within 10 yards of the touchline. Other times, Mateo Kovacic dropped between the centrebacks while the Blues played the ball out. Or did the centrebacks move up to flank Kovacic? As my colleague Travis tweeted during the game, Chelsea were copying Derby County’s defensive playbook last season: “Just somebody get on the ball and clear it, OK?!”
Regardless, Azpilicueta was nearest to Rashford and did his best to cover the ground behind him as Rashford brought the pass under control. As Rashford took his touch to move the ball into shooting position, Azpilicueta smartly came around Rashford’s right shoulder – his preferred shooting side – to try to put a foot in before the shot.
At every point in this play, Azpilicueta, the right back, was Chelsea’s deepest defender. Not the centre-backs. When the ball crossed the goal line, Andreas Christensen was the only other Blue in the frame. Kurt Zouma was too far behind the play to be within the camera angle.
This is a defensive high line gone wrong, compounded by a lack of midfielders closing down their opposing numbers. Mason Mount closed down Paul Pogba when he first took the ball off the Chelsea turnover, but Pogba easily drifted behind Mount while playing a one-two. This left Pogba unperturbed as Jorginho moved laterally, parallel with and 10 yards away from Pogba, never closing the distance to the Frenchman.
By not closing down Pogba nor committing himself to protecting the backline by letting Chelsea have a 2v3 defensive advantage, Pogba easily bypassed Jorginho’s no-man’s land to hit Rashford in the so-called half-space between the right centreback and right back.
Goal #4, 81′: Chelsea make it easy for the wrong youth
If the last goal turned Old Trafford into the Theatre of the Absurd, then this goal renamed the Stretford End the Kafka Stand.
Whereas the second goal started with a non-call for a foul on Tammy Abraham, this goal started with a non-whistle for a head injury to Kurt Zouma. Most Manchester United players around their own box, let alone Chelsea players, signalled for Anthony Taylor to blow the whistle so they could go through the performative safety check of the concussion protocol. Unseeing or uninterested, Taylor allowed play to go on with Zouma on the ground.
A 2v2 developed a midfield with Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba, Cesar Azpilicueta and N’Golo Kante. Martial played an around the corner pass to put the ball to Pogba rushing past Kante. Because Zouma was down after the contact and Christensen was, um, elsewhere, Pogba ran into open space with Azpilicueta on his heels and Mateo Kovacic bombing back in support. Kovacic, mind you, started the play about 15 yards into Manchester United’s half.
By the time Pogba laid the pass off to Daniel James, Emerson had come back into Chelsea’s box to square up to James.
As James moves off to Chelsea’s left, Marcus Rashford takes station on the unmarked right side of Chelsea’s box. That is, Rashford is doing the exact thing that opponents did to Chelsea all last season as Chelsea did the thing that undid them all last season, and that Azpilicueta ostensibly guarded against with his positioning on Anthony Martial leading up to the second goal. Rashford knew this was a good option because he could see Chelsea’s right back playing in the centreback position, since the actual centrebacks were in the other half (in part because of Anthony Taylor, in part because of Christensen’s reasons).
Just as the ball comes off James’ foot for his shot, Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic enter the picture. That gave Chelsea six players within 25 yards of their goal at the moment of the shot: Azpilicueta, Kovacic, Kante, Emerson, Mount and Pulisic. Both centre-backs and one of the pivot midfielders are missing, only one (Zouma) with a valid excuse.
Cesar Azpilicueta spent much of last season covering for the various defensive lapses of David Luiz and Jorginho, amongst others. If he was involved in the play anywhere but in his territory on the right side of the defence, it usually meant things were in a near-terminal condition. Many things have to go wrong before Azpilicueta is the last man standing between an opponent and a shot, especially from a central area.
Such confluences happened repeatedly at Old Trafford. Azpilicueta is the sort of player you normally want in those situations, but if they happen enough, he can only do so much.
The challenge for Frank Lampard and Chelsea’s defence is making sure that Chelsea are not left in such extreme situations, and, if they are, someone other than the right back is the last one going man-to-man. Lampard has some good reasons for playing his centrebacks in such high positions, but, at least until he has Antonio Rudiger and N’Golo Kante back in the starting XI, he will need to establish more protection in deep areas when Chelsea are in possession.
It’s not that Cesar Azpilicueta can’t handle these situations. He just shouldn’t have to, and not this often. And he certainly should not be handed the blame for situations that are all but foregone before they even reach him.