Three lessons learnt in Everton 1-0 Chelsea: Tactical blunders
By Hugo Amaya
2. The People v. Yerry Mina: Guilty
If the Everton defense was on trial, the people would surely find Yerry Mina guilty of provocation and inciting chaos. However, those same people are those who are guilty of falling for his Jedi mind tricks in the first place.
Overall, the Chelsea attack was not good enough to score against Everton, but a big contributing factor was the lack of concentration on the match. Instead, the Blues were more interested in picking fights with Mina, who was a nuisance on the evening. This seemed to be particularly the case with Havertz, who took every bit of bait the defender threw his way throughout the 90 minutes. Havertz is the Blues’ only functional attacker right now playing in the false nine role. However, Mina made sure that the German wunderkind made little to no contributions to the front lines at Goodison Park. It goes without saying that Mina should have been booked at least once, and some of his actions were inexcusable. Nevertheless, he played Chelsea like a fiddle.
The German international, along with other players, were more focused on standing their ground and looking to start a scuffle than actually putting up a fight to win the match. Of course, Mina took this opportunity to add fuel to the fire and incite chaos any chance he could. The boys lost the plot inside their heads, and therefore, lost the battle on the pitch. The result? A lack of attacking cohesiveness and fluidity and, ultimately, the match.
Moving forward, Chelsea cannot afford to lose any more games, and not get caught in mind games. These distractions have not happened often under Tuchel, but with everything hanging in the balance and top four up for grabs, Chelsea needs cool heads. The Blues cannot be get distracted on the pitch. The objective is simple, win games and score goals—not start brawls.