Chelsea has lost the third game of Frank Lampard’s second reign and this defeat was spectacular indeed. The Blues were decent for just about the first 20 minutes of the game if that. Brighton & Hove Albion got the impression that Lampard’s men did not have a clue who they should be marking and they took full advantage of that.
The west London side seemed to set up in a 4-3-3 initially, with Trevoh Chalobah at right back and Conor Gallagher at right central midfield. As the game progressed, the shape seemed to change to a 4-2-3-1 still with Chalobah at right back but now with Gallagher at central attacking midfield. The scoreline flattered the Blues, and while there was little cause for encouragement, here are three positives and four negatives from that disgraceful performance.
Chelsea Positives
Benoit Badiashile
Badiashile, while not impeccable on the day, was the best defender on the pitch. He got caught on the ball once and misplaced a number of passes, but his positioning was great all things considered.The 22-year-old Frenchman was one of the few players in dark blue that won an overwhelming majority of his duels. He contested six duels and won five of them, including 2/2 aerial duels. He was superb in his tackling, winning 3/4 he attempted, making three key interceptions and four clearances. He made 10 defensive actions on the night, and had to cover a large chunk of the Blues left flank because Chilwell was pushing so high up.
Kepa Arrizabalaga
Arrizabalaga has come under a lot of heat in recent weeks for some less than satisfactory save attempts, but he stood tall in this game and almost single handedly kept the score respectable. Roberto De Zerbi’s men have done the double over the London club, but this game could have easily been a 4-1 or 5-1 game in favour of the visitors. The 28 year-old Spaniard had to make a whooping nine saves to limit the Seagulls to just two goals scored.
Negatives
Structure (or lack thereof)
Chels’ were open, it was incredibly embarrassing to watch. No one knew who they were to be marking. It was difficult to fathom whether the Blues were playing a back four or a back three, and there’s a case to be made as to whether the players found it difficult to fathom too. Lampard’s men decided to play a high line towards the end of the first half for some reason, which gave De Zerbi’s men opportunity to find Kaoru Mitoma running behind the back line on several occasions. Chelsea was all over the shop.
Shot allowance
The Real Madrid game last Wednesday saw Chelsea concede 10 shots on target. This game saw the home side concede 10 shots on target again.
They also allowed a whooping 26 shots. Limiting high quality shots faced is one of the requirements of good defending and the Blues did not do anything even remotely close to that. Five big chances were created in that game, and none of the five were converted. The alarming part of it is that all five were created by the seagulls. This is outrageously unacceptable.
Absence of chances
The west London club not only were horrible defensively, but they were equally as bad offensively. Lampard’s men created just eight shots in 90 minutes, with two of them on target. They also created zero big chances. This horrid performance is made that much worse when you consider that CFC was at home.
Abysmal player performances
It is difficult to say whether the last two performances have been down to poor coaching or just players not doing what they should be. Neither of N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic nor Enzo Fernandez picked up any ball carriers in the midfield for large parts of the game. This was especially true for the pass that led to Chilwell’s red card during the game as none of the central midfielders put any pressure on Valverde during that play. Against the Seagulls, many players performed very poorly, and that’s something the players themselves can and have to fix.