Chelsea’s habitually poor decision making comes to the fore

Chelsea got what they wouldn’t have dared pray for in the semifinal against Real Madrid. They found space in the final third, but did nothing with it. What’s worse is that this could be seen from a mile off without the inclusion of Hakim Ziyech.

Thomas Tuchel’s men came prepared to defend against a Real Madrid playing in a 4-3-3 but instead came up against a 3-5-2 after Zinedine Zidane must made some changes probably to avoid being disadvantaged on set-pieces. Fortunately for the Blues, the Madrid players were less than comfortable in their own skin in a three-centerback formation and it showed.

This meant that the men in white could not organize themselves defensively, allowing the Blues quite a lot of space between their midfield and attack. Chelsea found themselves in the Real Madrid defensive third with acres of space and very few white shirts. The Blues had created a clear cut chance within 15 minutes and had scored another clear cut chance four minutes after the first. The Blues though, made very poor decisions in the final third time and again, ensuring that they did not create more than two big chances in the whole game.

Chelsea has been making poor decisions in the final third, especially in the absence of Hakim Ziyech. Even more so under the tutelage of Tuchel. They have been getting away with it because of their impeccable defensive performances.

Tuchel uses a 3-4-3, with two wingbacks and two central midfielders, leaving chance creation to the front three. The Blues don’t have nearly enough maturity in the attack without Ziyech to make decisive enough passes in the final third. That was especially glaring in a semi-final of this magnitude because of how much space Real Madrid allowed between and behind them.

The Chelsea players, N’Golo Kante especially, often kept running with the ball long after they should have passed it out, or played it to Timo Werner who has running in behind. Some have justified Kante’s ridiculous decision making with the excuse that “Werner had already missed a big chance and would probably have wasted whatever ball was given to him” which is absurd. This is not to say that this was Kante’s thinking, but it is silly for fans to think that it’s acceptable for our players to waste possession in the final third because they don’t trust the striker.

Unfortunately, many Chelsea players are selective of who they pass the ball to in the attacking third, often holding on to the ball until the element of surprise is gone or they’re dispossessed. Having confidence in yourself on the ball is fine, but refusing to release the ball to players who can make decisive passes or are in better positions to take shots in key moments in a game is immature and unproductive, to say the least.

How are players supposed to get out of bad form if they aren’t trusted by their teammates? How are strikers supposed to score goals if they don’t get shooting chances? The attacking performances were particularly concerning, because it’s clear the players were struggling to cope with the formation change initially. When the Galacticos eventually settled down and figured it out, the Blues couldn’t get near them. Tuchel’s attackers were chasing shadows. Chelsea’s only memorable (slim) scoring chances were from corners (no shot resulted from any corner) and free kicks (the Ziyech one being the closest?).

A 1-1 draw against a Madrid team that have won this competition four times should be satisfying, but in the context of the game it was a missed opportunity due to personnel shortcomings. The Blues have an away goal advantage, but they’d need to keep an efficient attacking Madrid team out for 90 minutes. There’s also the fact that Real Madrid might potentially have 30 extra minutes to put as many away goals on the board as possible, after wasting opportunities to put as many away goals on the board as possible. The Blues have kept a clean sheet in a knockout tie against Spanish opposition this season already, however Real Madrid is not Atletico Madrid.

Real Madrid practically won their tie against Liverpool in the first half of the first leg. No? According to SofaScore, the Galacticos created four clear cut chances against Liverpool in the first half of the first leg, they missed two and scored two goals, going into half time 2-0 up. They scored again in the second half but gave up an away goal, winning the first leg 3-1. They created 2 big chances in the second leg, missing both of them, but keeping a clean sheet against Liverpool, winning the tie 3-1 on aggregate.

They created four clear cut chances in 45 minutes, then created two in the remaining 135 minutes of the tie, the first 45 minutes turned out to be the most important. Chelsea could not exploit and punish Zidane’s men despite all the space they were given, forcing them to take a 1-1 draw from the match.

A champions League semifinal is a set of games where the Blues cannot afford to slack in either end of the pitch, but they seem determined to.