Chelsea was by far the better team in Sweden on Tuesday against Malmo. However, the Champions of Europe only managed to score one goal on the night. Last time out at Stamford Bridge, the Blues smashed Malmo 4-0 and the two teams did not even seem to be in the same class. This time though, the Swedish champion was much more comfortable. The backing of its home crowd almost saw it scored a couple of goals, as well. The defensive performance was good, but not solid, and although Chelsea created chance after chance, only one clear cut-chance ended up in the back of the net.
At the end of the day, three points are three points and no one can argue against a win. However, the Blues could have won much more easily had the players actually taken their chances. The team took 23 shots at goal and had 11 shots on target. This is more than what they had in their previous game. However, they were unable to capitalise on these chances. Kai Havertz had some great chances to finish off the game, but he was just not being able to get the ball past the keeper. Christian Pulisic also had a golden opportunity when he went around the goalkeeper in the dying moments, only to find the outside side netting. Simply put, Chelsea needs to be more clinical.
Chelsea struggled to defeat Malmo, 1-0, after the forwards did not take their chances in the UEFA Champions League group stage contest.
While the goalscoring issues are not necessarily a problem right now, being able to hold onto 1-0 leads is very important. The Blues should be a bit worried about their finishing though. Havertz, in particular, has not been very impactful in the recent games in front of goal. The German definitely needs to pick up his form. On the other hand, players like Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Hakim Ziyech were quite good on Tuesday. Fans must look at the positives and the negatives of the game: the Moroccan international was surely a positive presence on the pitch.
Loftus-Cheek was decent, as well, although he did lose the ball in the early period of the game and Malmo almost scored from that position. Apart from that error, he barely lost the ball, showed great control when in possession and dribbled past the Malmo midfield with relative ease. Hudson-Odoi too was lively throughout the game and he was the one who ended up giving a superb pass to Ziyech, who could not miss the chance presented to him.
It was chance after chance for the English side, but the lack of efficiency kept fans on the edge of their seats until the last moment. The Blues’ xG of 3 resulted in just the lone goal. The Swedes did not back out of the game either, they kept pushing forward at every chance they got. They almost went clear through on goal during the dying moments of the game, but a foul on Ross Barkley prevented the move from happening. The point here is that Chelsea cannot leave games to chance like it did on Tuesday. Even in the 1-0 win against Brentford, there was always a possibility of the opposition scoring and thus, the Blues need to finish off games in the early stages and prevent any hope of a comeback.
Do you think Chelsea should have scored more goals against Malmo? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!