Thomas Tuchel has had to go through a lot in the last few weeks, most of it has self-inflicted wounds as he suffered two of his most inexplicable losses during his time in SW6. Chelsea welcomed Real Madrid to Stamford Bridge and managed to be even worse than it was against Brentford last weekend. The Blues are now going to be 3-1 down when they go to a lively and packed Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg in a week’s time.
Here’s how poorly The Pride of London believes the players performed against Los Blancos:
Edouard Mendy (Goalkeeper): 0/10
Edouard Mendy was incredibly poor. His shot-stopping was way below par and his inexplicable error that led to Real Madrid’s third goal effectively summarizes his last two matches between the sticks. Again, there was an element of Mendy being hung out to dry by his back line, but when he was called upon, he was sometimes nowhere to be found.
Andreas Christensen (Right centerback): 3/10
Andreas Christensen showed zero spatial awareness when Karim Benzema split he and Thiago Silva with a run that left both centerbacks in no man’s land. His passing was good, but a defender’s job is not to pass first, it’s to defend. The Dane looked to be dreaming of the summer sun in Barcelona during his 45 minutes on the pitch.
Thiago Silva (Centerback): 3/10
Silva showed absolutely no leadership. The only thing the Brazilian did well on the evening was pass the ball. He lost his marker—Benzema—on the first two goals, which put the Blues in a massive hole early on. The fact that Silva only contested one aerial duel shows just how far off the pace he was. Chelsea’s defense was once again a disgrace, and this cannot continue.
Antonio Rudiger (Left centerback): 3/10
How people were able to push the silly narrative that any noteworthy club was considering enlisting in Antonio Rudiger’s services is baffling. The German has shown that there’s only so much protection a system can provide a player before their actual ability eventually shines through. Rudiger was even worse in this game than he was against Brentford, which is saying something considering he was the sole reason the Bees were able to get back in the game.
The third Real Madrid goal was more Mendy’s fault than Rudiger’s, but he also had a game to forget. The experienced veteran made just one defensive action while committing an error leading to a goal. His reaction to the pass from Mendy was slow, granted, Mendy’s pass was rubbish (and that’s being generous). The centerbacks had no communication on the night. It was the same thing fans saw against Brentford, only worse. This is why, despite Rudiger having less than two months left on his contract, no one is kicking down the door to secure his signature.
Reece James (Right wingback): 4/10
Reece James was as bad as the rest of the defense as he made only two defensive actions. He tried some innovative crosses and generally tried to display some semblance of confidence, but it only made him look sluggish and complacent. James’ presence was not felt, and he had enough space to do far more than he did against the Spanish giants.
Jorginho (Central midfielder): 6.5/10
Jorginho was one of Chelsea’s better players on the pitch on Wednesday night. He won four out of six duels, completed 90% of his passes, created the most chances (three) for Chelsea and even created a clear-cut chance. He demonstrated superb technique to find Kai Havertz’s head close to halftime to half the deficit. Jorginho couldn’t stop the Blues from getting overrun though. The Italian has to find ways of getting a better grip on his midfield partners and galvanizing them.
N’Golo Kante (Central midfielder): 3/10
N’Golo Kante was good in the first few minutes of the match. That run from back to front to release the ball for Havertz was genuinely good. The Frenchman disappeared after that though. He only completed 15 passes in the first half. He also contested just one duel and lost it. Kante was chasing shadows for the most part, so it’s no surprise he was a halftime substitute.
Cesar Azpilicueta (Left wingback): 5/10
Cesar Azpilicueta was generally poor. He was one of the few players that rarely made the wrong decision in passing, but he was still uninspiring overall. He wasn’t as bad as some of his colleagues on the night though. It has to be mentioned that Azpilicueta was impressive in the duels. In fact, he won seven out of nine contested duels, including four out of six aerial duels.
Mason Mount (Right winger): 5/10
Mason Mount was good in the early stages of the match. Unfortunately, he was not as composed as usual and he opted for apparent work over actual work. Mount was average. His ball retention was an eyesore, his ball movement and ball carrying were also mediocre. Mount lost a majority of his duels (seven of 11). He showed an effort, but displaying effort is not something to be praised, especially for a player who should be held to significantly higher standards.
Kai Havertz (Center forward): 7/10
Truth be told, Havertz gave Chelsea a lifeline in this tie. The German wunderkind has justified Tuchel’s decision to start him over Romelu Lukaku in the past few weeks. Against Real Madrid, he won 50% of his duels and had two shots on target. He also created two chances.
Havertz was Chelsea’s most productive forward without even considering the goal. His goal was a brilliant one, and he positioned himself perfectly to avoid the shot being saved if a keeper followed its direction. The Blues should have built on the goal and they simply didn’t. Havertz played well though, the best of any player on the pitch wearing royal blue. He tried to be involved in play as much as he could and often even found himself dropping deep to get some action. The forwards didn’t get the ball as much as they should have due to the disorganized back line.
Christian Pulisic (Left winger): 4/10
Simply put, Christian Pulisic was anonymous. He tried some skills and tricks, many of which didn’t come off. He lost five of six duels, which is really poor. Chelsea needed to make the ball stick in more dangerous areas of the pitch and Pulisic did not help with that. The American created zero chances and failed to even attempt a single cross. He was inconsequential against the Galacticos. Pulisic deserved to start, but he didn’t deliver any performance worthy of another look. Pulisic’s decision-making was also poor, as was that of many of Chelsea’s forwards in this game.
Hakim Ziyech (Right winger): 4/10
Hakim Ziyech came on in the second half, replacing Kante, when the Blues were already 2-1 down. Chelsea gained nothing by keeping Ziyech on the bench for the first 45 minutes of the match. He was largely ignored on the right flank where he tried several times to put himself in space ready to receive a switch of play. That switch hardly ever came though.
In fact, Ziyech had to drift over to get some of the ball at all. Chelsea focused on building up from the left side of the pitch, so even when Ziyech was sometimes the simple and more sensible option, players still preferred to carry the ball across the pitch to pass to someone on the right. Chelsea’s only goal came from building up from the right-hand side and the Blues still tried, before and after the goal, to build up from the left. It’s like the players’ brains were not functioning.
Mateo Kovacic (Central midfielder): 2/10
Mateo Kovacic tried to do everything he was expected to do, or at least some of it anyway. He was quite poor for someone who played a whole 45 minutes. He did nothing of note—nothing.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Central midfielder): 4.5/10
Ruben Loftus-Cheek generally played well, though he over-dribbled at several points and lost concentration several times. Chelsea lost another midfield battle and unfortunately, Loftus-Cheek cannot be exonerated from this.
Romelu Lukaku (Striker): 4/10
Chelsea had no reason to start Lukaku on the bench in a game of this magnitude. No one can argue that Havertz deserves to start all the games he has been starting. However, some of the players starting over him shouldn’t be. Timo Werner and Pulisic should, under no circumstances, be starting over Lukaku in this current run of form. The Belgian did miss a couple of good looks in front of goal that could’ve changed the tie though.
Thomas Tuchel (Manager): 4/10
In the past few weeks, Tuchel has continuously started players that shouldn’t have started, and that’s why some of Tuchel’s problems are self-inflicted. He had the right idea to start, but he also deserves credit for responding quickly when he saw things weren’t working.
What rating would you give to each player on the evening? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter!