Chelsea ratings: Never turn your back, as Fikayo Tomori edges Mateo Kovacic
By George Perry
Frank Lampard spoke for all Chelsea fans in expressing his frustrations after the win at Hull City. The Blues had many strong individual performances, but were lacking that little bit extra from players and the whole that would have made this the easy win it should have been.
Chelsea’s season is turning into a fractal: if you see any one part of it, you have a full understanding of the contours of the whole. KCOM Stadium was the latest site of the very familiar patten.
Willy Caballero, Goalkeeper: 7
Willy Caballero only had one heart-in-mouth moment, and he got that out of the way early in the first half when Chelsea were fully in control of the game. When the Blues needed him far more than necessary in the second half, he was there. Kepa Arrizabalaga should note how vocally and angrily Caballero arranged his wall on set pieces and his defence on corner kicks. If he didn’t like what he saw, he made sure the players did something else.
He surely did not like what he saw from Mateo Kovacic on one particular free kick, so hopefully Caballero settles that account behind closed doors.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Right back: 8
Usual, which is turning into pretty high praise for Chelsea’s indefatigable leader. With Hull defending deep and centrally for so much of the game Azpilicueta contributed in the central areas of the final third. He had one of Chelsea’s best chances of the second half from that position, making a late run into the box, executing an incredibly deft first touch off his chest and blasting a shot from a narrow angle. The only downside of him playing so far central was that it precluded overlapping runs with Callum Hudson-Odoi, but Hudson-Odoi was having enough fun tormenting Eric Lichaj one-on-one.
Kurt Zouma, Midfielder: 7.5
Particularly late in the game, Zouma started coming further forward to stop Hull City from bringing down a long ball, turning and dribbling at the Blues. He was in an increasing number of battles close to midfield, which left the Blues a bit exposed at the back but allowed for a quick return to possession near the final third if he won, which he often did.
Chelsea lost too many first balls in their box from Hull set pieces, which is scarcely comprehensible or excusable with Zouma on defence. But at the end of the day, the 2-1 score reflected much worse about the Blues’ attackers than the defenders. Much worse.
Fikayo Tomori, Centreback: 8.5
In fact, the 2-1 score line reflected quite well on the Blues’ defenders since it was only 2-1 because of Fikayo Tomori. Tomori now has both of Chelsea’s goals scored by a centreback this season. Both also came against teams (a) with orange kits, and (b) have an animal as their nickname. So there’s that.
Tomori had a great chance to score a brace in the 72′, but Hull City players threw themselves to the ground in front of Tomori’s shot to prevent anything from getting through. It was exactly what I wrote about after Chelsea failed to show similar resolve the Arsenal game, and a few minutes after the Tigers’ defence collectively denied Tomori his second, Kovacic proved the point again.
Marcos Alonso, Left back: 7
Alonso gave up the corner that led to Hull City’s goal, but that had as much to do with Craig Pawson’s officiating as anything Alonso did or didn’t do.
More concerning was how easily Alonso was beaten one-on-on several times in the second half. He normally uses his body position and angles to compensate for his lack of speed and agility, but Hull’s wingers could get past and around him with very simple accelerations.
As usual and given the run of play Alonso spent a lot of time contributing to the offence. Many times he tried to do too much on his own. Was this selfish? Well, if the moves paid off, no, that’s not selfish, it’s confidence and the ability to finish Chelsea have lacked this season. But they didn’t. Then again, his teammates did nothing to argue for why they deserved the ball more than him for that finishing touch.