Chelsea player ratings: VAR overshadows Mateo Kovacic, covers for others
By George Perry
Jorginho, Midfield: 5
Jorginho made a brilliant diagonal pass that sliced through Manchester United’s midfield and defensive lines into the box, with the ball landing right in the path of Michy Batshuayi breaking clear of the lines to be one-on-one with David De Gea. Unfortunately, Batshuayi took it way too literally to be “in the path of the ball,” as he lost his balance and fell so that he was level with the ball on the ground, going over the goal line out of play.
Other than that pass, WhoScored tells me that Jorginho completed eight of nine long passes and made three tackles. That’s a lot more than I remember him doing.
Mateo Kovacic, Midfield: 8
Mateo Kovacic joined the ranks of Chelsea’s elite players on Monday night. Time after time in the first half he would receive the ball in the defensive or middle third, turn past his marker, drive or slalom his way up field, approach the opponent’s defensive line at the top of the box and slam on the brakes, as he realized he had a tightly-packed row of the wrong colour shirts ahead of him and not a single teammate doing anything in support of him.
Kovacic drove all of Chelsea’s action through midfield and into offence, and regularly set himself and his team up for the final pass. But he never had a teammate making a run in behind to receive said final pass; nor anyone darting on a tight overlap run that he could feed with a narrow vertical pass; nor anyone moving between Manchester United’s lines so that he could dribble central or lay the ball off to someone with a better shot from the top of the box.
Mateo Kovacic is not Eden Hazard in the final third. He needs his teammates to finish the move or at least help him take the next step towards the end product. They left him out to dry, just as they usually do to their goalkeeper in defensive situations.
On the subject of defence, along with his offensive contributions Kovacic also led the team in defensive actions, with a few key tackles and interceptions in the chaos of the second half.
N’Golo Kante, Midfield: N/A
Kante came off at the exact minute of the game as in the much-derided game against Watford last season. It’s hard for me not to take that personally.
Kante probably would not have saved Chelsea from either of the two goals, given the situations they came from, but you can never say Chelsea were better off without Kante on the pitch, despite the quality Mason Mount delivered. Kante could be out for an extended period with an adductor injury, which is just about the worst possible news.
Mason Mount, Midfield (10′): 7
The winter break was not enough time for Tammy Abraham to recover and apparently not enough for N’Golo Kante to put himself back together, but it certainly did the trick for Mason Mount.
Mount’s pressing was as aggressive and energetic as it has been since the beginning stages of the season. He and his teammates forced several turnovers deep in Manchester United’s zones with their well-timed and coordinated pressing. Mount and James worked a clever free kick late in the game that Mount rattled off the post from long range in that moment that confirmed everything was going against Chelsea.