Chelsea’s three lessons learnt versus Rennes: An uncomfortable slog

Chelsea defeated Rennes and moved closer to the Round of 16. It wasn’t a pretty match as the Blues learned a few lessons.

Chelsea welcomed the Champions League debutants to the Bridge in a match where the blues sought to strengthen their lead at the top of Group E. The Blues ran out convincing 3-0 winners in a match that wasn’t as comfortable as the scoreline would have suggested. Lampard decided to rest some players and give some others playing minutes when the Blues went up three goals to the good. This was a perfectly reasonable decision to make, however it proved to be a not so straightforward transition. It wasn’t a flawless performance – despite the three goals and clean sheet – and here are some lessons we learnt.

1. Frank Lampard needs to rotate more

Frank Lampard opted to bring on Olivier Giroud, Emerson Palmieri and Mateo Kovacic for Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and N’Golo Kante respectively. The subbed off players needed the rest, but their replacements did not integrate into the system as easily. The Blues started getting attacked more, chance creation was no longer as fluid as it should’ve been. The Blues came under a lot of pressure as the new arrivals tried to grow into the game. This was made further difficult for the said arrivals when even more changes were made and Hakim Ziyech and Thiago Silva were taken off and replaced with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Antonio Rudiger respectively. These changes were significant because Silva served as a calming, controlling presence who was tidying up the play and picking up loose balls.

Silva also played a big role in starting, or sometimes restarting, Chelsea’s attacks. Rudiger did not have quite the same effect and it showed in the play. This could be because many of the players introduced had hardly played together this season, and in some cases had hardly played at all.

Ziyech, Abraham, Pulisic and Havertz began to produce the fluid attacking we now see because of the amount of time they were on the pitch together (and because Ziyech put it all together), with one piece changing at a time. The five changes the blues saw against Rennes were five players who now had to first learn how to play together again, or at least learn enough to start controlling the game again to see out the match. The Blues never seemed to regain control of the game.

2. Ziyech offers more than creativity

It is quite obvious that Ziyech was brought in to boost Chelsea’s attacking numbers through goals, assists and chance creation. Ziyech offers a lot more than that though. Ziyech did a lot for Chelsea in terms of ball retention and maintaining the flow of play. Ziyech took 41 touches, completed 27 passes and created one big chance. There were several times in the game that the Moroccan contributed to build-up play by just keeping the ball moving. He didn’t take several touches to find the perfect pass every time he got the ball, he didn’t try killer balls every time he got the ball.

This showed the intelligence of the new Blues star. He would receive the ball in a tight space and instantly release another player to continue with the attack. He never miscontrolled a received pass and only got dispossessed once throughout the match, which is impressive for an attacking player. Chelsea missed this when he went off because Rennes began to have long spells of possession and when Chelsea did win the ball back, found it difficult to keep it. Ziyech perhaps wasn’t the creative powerhouse in that match, but the simple, tidy things he did in various parts of build-up had just as big an impact overall.

3. Edouard Mendy is the difference maker

Chelsea has kept five clean sheets in their last five matches in all competitions. Lampard has also finally decided on his go to centerback partnership. This has helped in defensive organization and defensive solidity. Silva has been a good addition, as expected. Kurt Zouma has had solid performances and has done very well in clearing Chelsea’s airspace. Many things have been used to explain Chelsea’s new found defensive dominance. It’s Edouard Mendy. Every defensive player has played their role, but really the main reason for the continuous clean sheets is Mendy.

Mendy has kept six clean sheets in his last six appearances for the west London club. In that time, he has played behind centerback partnerships of Zouma-Silva, Zouma-Silva-Azpilicueta and Zouma-Rudiger. Also, in that time, he has faced twelve shots on his goal and saved them all. This means that the defense has allowed twelve shots on goal, but he as saved them all. His communication with his defenders, especially on set pieces has also explained why the defenders have looked so formidable. He has claimed many crosses too, crosses that in times past would have gone unhandled and would probably have ended up in the back of the net from some player waiting at the back post that no one saw.

This may seem dismissive of the defender’s efforts, but it is not intended as such. There are also arguments that one would expect him to make those saves, but there are saves Kepa Arrizabalaga and Willy Caballero would have been expected to make which they didn’t. It is not a coincidence that all the centerbacks involved in this partnership have not had clean sheets without Mendy behind them, but Mendy has kept a clean sheet without each centerback except Zouma. Zouma is the only player that has played all ninety minutes with Mendy in all his clean sheets. Mendy has almost single-handedly made Chelsea a defensive force to be reckoned with.

What lessons did you learn from this match? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!