Chelsea vs Man City: Three lessons learnt in season’s first loss

2. A disjointed attack

While it is true that the Blues have done well this season across various competitions, it is also undeniable that this team has still yet to put together a perfect 90’ since the Champions League final last season. Across the pitch, nowhere is this lack of cohesion more evident than in the attack. Perhaps this is due to the constant chopping and changing of forwards starting along Romelu Lukaku, or perhaps this is a result of the inconvenient timing of the international break.

Either way, Chelsea’s attack has looked lacklustre at best and a complete mess otherwise. Bringing in a world class No. 9 was supposed to resolve the Blues’ goalscoring issues this season. Looking at the raw goal-scoring data, it appears as if Tuchel has managed to circumvent this problem for good.

However, closer inspection would reveal that outside of Lukaku’s four goals this season, no other forward has scored more than once. This paints a clear picture that Chelsea’s forwards have simply not been pulling their weight this season. While the sheer quality of the side has helped the team through lesser opposition prior to Saturday, the match against Man City highlighted the Blues’ deficiencies up top once again. Opting to start with a duo of Timo Werner and Lukaku to allow for greater midfield solidarity, the lack of chemistry between the two forwards was painfully obvious. While the quality of the opposition has to be taken into account, the fact that this was the first time the duo has started together certainly counted against them, as well.

Chemistry between forwards have always been difficult to cultivate and perhaps Tuchel should consider sticking with a preferred forward line for the time being to allow for a better understanding to develop with time.