Chelsea player ratings vs. Man City: Blues get demolished at home

N’Golo Kante (Defensive midfielder): 3.5/10

I never thought I’d see a terrible Kante performance in this lifetime. The Frenchman just did not have a good game, simple as that. He had his usual interventions and all of that, but his passing, decision making and defensive coverage could not have been farther from his best. Kante was at fault for the third goal, obviously. Apart from that, He had so many giveaways that just isn’t normal for us to see from him. It was a forgettable night from the Frenchman, who also received a yellow card, which means he will be suspended for the next game.

Kante was also sometimes sitting in front of the two centrebacks so that he could help them play through the press, but he didn’t provide with anything. He’s never been known for his ball-carrying ability. Instead, Kovacic could’ve done a much better job in that situation because we saw him do just that at Real Madrid; he really is an excellent ball carrier. Anyway, he was replaced by Billy Gilmour in the 64′ and nobody batted an eye, which is again, unusual.

Mateo Kovacic (Central midfielder): 4.5/10

Kovacic had a really bad start to the game, as six or seven minutes in, he already had a couple of giveaways and dispossessions. He wasn’t involved much in the first half because City had the ball for so long, and was so effective with it. I also noticed him being in a really advanced position at many points during the game, which was weird to see. This begged the question of: who’s going to provide coverage when both the winger and the fullback are high up the pitch, while the defensive midfielder is near the opponent’s box, himself?

Like I said above, the Croatian’s ball-carrying ability wasn’t utilized. It’s true, we haven’t seen him use it that much in his time at Chelsea, but we saw in the second half that he still has it. In the 58′, he got the ball and dribbled past a bunch of light blue shirts and took a shot which was wide, but again, why not use it to break the press? Anyway, the second half was a bit better from Kovacic.

Mason Mount (Central midfielder): 4/10

It took a little while for me to figure out what rating I should give to Mount. It’s not that he had a game with both ups and downs, but it’s the fact that it didn’t even feel like he was there, you know? For large stretches, I had completely forgotten about the English midfielder being on the pitch. When he did have the ball, he wasn’t doing much with it. I have nothing else to say, really, he just wasn’t good.

Billy Gilmour (Defensive midfielder): 4/10

The young Scotsman came on for Kante in the 64′ and seemingly looked like the youngster with the least experience on the pitch at the start. He lost the ball two or three times in quick succession, and after that, grew into the game a little bit. He was tidy in possession, good passing, that’s about it, not enough time to make a serious impact when down 3-0.

Kai Havertz (Central midfielder) (5.5/10)

Kai Havertz didn’t really do a lot with the ball the few times he got a touch. There wasn’t much movement from him or his teammates, so the ball circulated in the middle of the pitch for the longest time, but, he did get an assist for the consolation goal. He played a beautiful, first-time cross to Callum Hudson-Odoi to tap in, which was great. That was also it though, the rating would’ve been less if it wasn’t for the assist.