Chelsea: Three lessons learnt in embarrassing loss to Man City

Chelsea suffered yet another inexplicably horrendous loss to Manchester City, so what are some of the lessons we learnt in the match?

This was a game that everyone would like to forget as soon as possible. While Chelsea started the game with good attacking and defensive movement, it did not take long for Manchester City to easily slice through the entire team. The Blues were awful after the first goal, and they can be considered lucky for not conceding more.

Here are three lessons learnt in the embarrassing defeat to Pep Guardiola’s men:

1. Faith is earned, not handed out

Frank Lampard played Timo Werner as the lone striker in this match, different from where we’ve seen him on the left for most of this season. Surely this was a vote of faith by Lampard to show that Werner is the striker we all know he can be. However, faith is earned in this sport and Werner did not do himself any favors. Too often, the German international was away from his designated position, necessary receive the ball. Although he tried to create plays, his one and only job was to be in the front and center of things, which he was not.

More importantly, Lampard had the option to take Werner off at any point. Not doing so surely would have diminished any faith the manager has in his player. However, in games where things are not working, and the score is not in your favor, faith has little value. Werner did not contribute anything positive to the game and should have been taken off.

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With that said, it’s unlikely Werner will start any more games as a lone striker—one could even argue he’d be lucky to start at all. Chelsea has plenty of options in that position with Olivier Giroud and Tammy Abraham. Both of these players will likely do a better job than the German, so Werner will have to earn his spot on the field. More importantly, he will also have to earn the manager’s and fans’ faith again.

2. Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi were only players to show up

Almost every player was awful from top to bottom. It almost seemed like the Blues were playing with a player less; and the only players to actually want to turn the result were Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

First, Pulisic, was the only player on the field trying to even the game. He found space, and created it for himself and teammates. The American was the only player who seemed to want to be inside the box; and was also the only one with the creativity to score for long periods. Unfortunately, he couldn’t even come close as he was working by himself up top. One too many times he was igniting the spark, just to see the flames allowed to die in the care of his teammates.

Then, Hudson-Odoi came on and the game changed. This might have been because City knew it’d won the game already, but Hudson-Odoi was running at defenders and making life difficult for everyone in his path. His goal came too little too late, but for the next Premier League game, he is sure to start. Despite their performances, a game can only be won when the entire team wants to win. Unfortunately for Chelsea, when only two players have what it takes to score goals—or at least create them—the result will be as catastrophic as this one.

3. Chelsea needs technical and tactical work

This game was difficult to watch from every point of view, but was particularly difficult to see how Chelsea could not get near the ball, nor the City players. Man City was playing with so much freedom that it seemed as if the Blues had just 10-men on the field throughout the entirety of the match. The main problem with Chelsea on the night was the fact that the players did not do a good job of closing down spaces at the right place and time.

This boils down to technical and tactical awareness from the players and the manager. Obviously, in theory, any game plan can succeed. But if the players do not implement it to the letter, and if the manager does not adjust accordingly, the game is done. Chelsea allowed City to have all the space and freedom the Citizens wanted. This caused the Blues to not come close to scoring the majority of the game, and in the end, the team was lucky to not concede more than three.

What are some of the things you took away from the match? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!