Chelsea GK and defender ratings: Azpilicueta can (should?) do everything

Chelsea “held” Manchester City to their lowest possession percentage under Pep Guardiola. Unfortunately, the defence could not hold City to fewer goals than the Blues scored.

There’s a lot to say about how Chelsea performed at the back against Manchester City, but let’s keep things in perspective. A 2-1 loss is a lot better than being down 3-0 after 20 minutes en route to a 6-0 final. And by only conceding those two goals, Frank Lampard and Antonio Conte have conceded a total of four goals in three games at the Etihad – much better than the six goals Maurizio Sarri gifted the sky Blues.

Kepa Arrizabalaga, Goalkeeper: 5

Over the last few weeks we’ve danced around the issue of Kepa Arrizabalaga, asking questions but only the not-so-hard, open-ended, trail off to kinda see where they lead you questions. Our newest colleague Varun put an end to that style of play and took a more direct route, unambiguously stating Chelsea need another goalkeeper to light the fire under Kepa Arrizabalaga to improve and prove he deserves to be the starting keeper – not just the default choice against a 38-year old and a 20-year old.

Arrizabalaga’s performance against Manchester City showed that Varun is taking the proper approach.

Arrizabalaga was the victim yet again of a deflection of his teammate for the first goal. His defenders did not do him many favours for the second goal. But surrounding those moments were repeated incidents of poor decision-making and worse execution, most notably the pass up the middle that came right back against his crossbar via Sergio Aguero. Even after the woodwork reprieved him, Arrizabalaga floundered as he didn’t know where or how to position himself in those chaotic few moments. He stranded himself in the middle of the box, neither guarding his line nor trying to smother the ball and his mistake. In the final few minutes of the game, Raheem Sterling had a goal called back for a typically pointless VAR offside. Even VAR could not spare Arrizabalaga the embarrassment, as Sterling’s shot went off Arrizabalaga’s hands and straight back into the net.

What do you do with a £72 million 25-year old goalkeeper who looks more his age than his transfer fee? You hire Shay Given or any other coach Frank Lampard and Petr Cech want, and give the keeper some outside motivation to take that training seriously and prove why he is worth the transfer fee and the No. 1 on his back.

Cesar Azpilicueta, Right back / Left back: 7

Kepa Arrizabalaga made two saves. Cesar Azpilicueta made two blocks that prevented clear goal-scoring opportunities. Is Azpilicueta not only Chelsea’s best right back and left back, but also the best goalkeeper?

Manchester City sent most of their attacks down Chelsea’s left. Whether they were doing that to avoid Azpilicueta or to target Emerson, the conclusion remains the same. City had much less ability to set up and find scoring positions when Azpilicueta shifted to the left in the 60′. Oh, and Raheem Sterling? Was he even on the pitch before the disallowed goal on the eve of stoppage time? Yes, but Azpilicueta made sure you didn’t know it.

Azpilicueta led both teams with 14 defensive actions and showed once again that he was the best £7 million Chelsea Football Club ever spent, even more so in light of the tens (hundreds?) of millions they have spent on left backs and his putative replacements.

Kurt Zouma, Centre back: 6.5

A big part of a productive partnership is one member picking up the slack when the other has a rough day. Fikayo Tomori had such a day, looking more like his pre- and early Derby days than the centreback the Premier League has come to know in the preceding weeks. Zouma responded by cleaning up for his partner, covering the spaces Tomori vacated and did not return to; picking up runners who made it past Tomori; and clearing loose balls that escaped Tomori’s jurisdiction.

Fikayo Tomori, Centre back: 6

Maybe it was the magnitude of the mistakes or the extent of the kind of day Tomori was having, but whereas he can usually make right his own mistakes, on Saturday he certainly needed Zouma. Tomori had a solid defensive day in many respects, but his is a zero-defect position, which means a lot of positives can be undone by just a few incidents.

Emerson, Right back: 4

Manchester City sent most of their attacks against Chelsea’s left, and since Kevin de Bruyne plays on the right of City’s midfield, Emerson was the focal point of many sky blue overloads. He did not handle them well.

Early in the game, de Bruyne easily played the ball into the space Emerson left exposed by going forward and not coming back. Emerson’s nadir, though, came in the moments leading up to City’s second goal. If there’s one thing a defender must know about Riyad Mahrez, it’s that Mahrez has a world-class left foot and an average everything else. Emerson allowed Mahrez to push him back into the box and then come inside to his – Mahrez’s – left for precisely the kind of left-footed curler that brought the Algerian from Leicester City to Manchester City.

Emerson did not put a foot in on Mahrez nor an arm up to muscle Mahrez into any other position. Mateo Kovacic did not go for the ball on Mahrez either, but as the full-back, Emerson had full responsibility for the 1v1. Emerson was the left back, Mahrez was the right winger. The left back in that situation shuts down the winger and, if Emerson had pushed Mahrez wide, he would have still been in Emerson’s area of responsibility. City did not even have a player coming around Mahrez for an overlap for Emerson to have to worry about.

Going forward, Emerson had at least two opportunities to whip a cross into the box on a counter-attack. On one he took a shot that travelled straight to Ederson’s chest, and on another he took the ball to the goal line before blast-looping a “cross” out the other side of the field. He did not connect the play up the left nor provide service into the box like Marcos Alonso, let alone find offensively useful positions; nor did he have a role in long switches of play from one side to the other.

Right, but pace.

Last season, Emerson and Marcos Alonso took every opportunity to hold the door open for the other. This season they are doing the same, but this time, Cesar Azpilicueta is walking through it while Reece James takes over on the right.

Reece James, Right back (59′): 6.5

Simply by allowing Cesar Azpilicueta to take over on the left, James had a positive impact on the final 30 minutes of the game. However, he only needed that short appearance to exemplify the frustration that was so much of the second half.

With about 15 minutes remaining in the game, Chelsea recovered the ball and James took possession at the top of his defensive third. He was looking for the long pass to hit someone, anyone, running on the counter. No one was making that run. Neither the wingers, striker nor midfielders were in motion ready to break through City’s still forming lines.

James could only walk the ball forward before starting a slow, deliberate build-up, by which time City were set defensively and could press Chelsea in the Blues’ half.