Chelsea post mortem: where the match was lost against Man City

Considering recent form, the professional gambler would have found himself out of pocket after Chelsea’s loss to Manchester City at the weekend. He certainly wouldn’t have laid money on Man City, with Mark Hughes’ side on a run of seven consecutive draws in the league. He wouldn’t have bet against Chelsea, either, with the Blues in a rich vein of league form defeating all-comers and not having lost to City for years.

Most obviously, the hardened gambler would never have put money on Frank Lampard – who last missed a penalty back in 2006 – not scoring from the spot just three days after resident German Michael Ballack had inexplicably made the same mistake.

But after the slightly fortunate opening goal nothing really went Chelsea’s way during their 2-1 loss to City on Saturday. It was a bad performance which, with a little help from an excellent display from City, questionable refereeing decisions and some infuriating inactivity from Ancelotti, hastened a deserved third defeat in the league.

Most interestingly, this wasn’t the first poor performance from Chelsea this season – but one of the first in which Chelsea weren’t able to turn a bad day at the office into a win. Looking back at the game, Chelsea’s patches of good play were few and far between and the team only really dominated during the first and last ten minutes of the game. Man City deserve a huge amount of credit for their work-rate – the endless hassling of Chelsea’s midfield prevented the likes of Lampard and Ballack from ever really getting a hold of the game and City were certainly the better side on the ball for most of the 90.

As it was, Chelsea still had chances to win it. Yes, Frank missed a penalty – but a miss was probably due. Drogba had two excellent chances to put the ball in the net, and his failure to score the second of those (which seemed easier to score) was the only blemish on what was otherwise another top-notch performance from the Ivorian. Ivanovic and Anelka both spurned good chances too.

Meanwhile, Ancelotti’s inability – or lack of will – to take action to change games when they aren’t going for him is a real concern. As against Aston Villa (and earlier in the season against Hull, a game in which Chelsea were lucky to pull off an injury time win), the team found themselves in a losing position and Ancelotti didn’t do enough to try and repair the situation. His solitary tactical move – replacing Carvalho and Ballack for Mikel and Beletti – did free Essien to play further up the pitch but looked more defensive than offensive. It wasn’t the positive substitution the team needed, nor the positive ‘let’s win this’ message that should have been delivered to the players already on the field.

Why not mix things up with a player who can add something genuinely different (Joe Cole)? Or, why not change the way the team is playing and go 4-3-3 to bring some much needed width (Malouda on for Deco, with Anelka moving right)?

Furthermore, in freeing Essien Ancelotti was relying on a player who was having the worst game of his season so far. Essien was struggling from the off, and looked well off the pace. De Jong is a good player but not in the Ghanain’s class, but on Saturday it was Essien who looked the apprentice, repeatedly giving the ball away or misplacing passes. The substitutions also left the only player having a worse game than Essien on the field. Once again, Deco proved that he is simply no longer good enough against the better teams or when time and space is at a premium. The sooner Ancelotti realises this (as I thought he had done last week when he fielded Joe Cole against Arsenal), the better.

Essien and Deco’s performances were just the worst of a bad lot, however. Saturday’s Chelsea looked to be lacking a yard of pace and there was a dearth of sharpness in what was a disjointed display full of scuffed shots and misplaced passes. Man City’s harrying certainly contributed to that outcome, but fans are entitled to expect more from the likes of Ballack, Deco and Anelka, and Cech has produced better displays. With Drogba not able to drag Chelsea out of the hole on this occasion, no-one else was ready to step up and into his shoes.

As Ballack has been quoted as saying today, the loss certainly isn’t the end of the world. Chelsea are still top of the table, and the midweek game against Apoel will hopefully provide a reasonable opportunity to get back into some form of rhythm. But in a very tightly-contested league, Chelsea can’t afford too many performances like Saturday’s.

Meanwhile, best of luck to Man City. Yes, Hughes has had bucket-loads to spend and his team isn’t quite there yet, but he has built a sensible squad well balanced with pace, strength and technical ability (Arsene Wenger should take note of the model). They have a good springboard now to push for fourth and, with Liverpool again struggling at the weekend, it looks like they might be fighting Spurs to be in pole position to take advantage.

What did you think of Saturday’s game – where do you think Chelsea came unstuck? Post a comment.

Comments

[Anthony Unwin]

A great article and a fair reflection of the game! Its unusual to see such an unbiased review on a fans site. I'm a Man City fan and struggle to read our own fan sites at times, they're so ridiculously blinkered!! Anyway, best of luck to your boys over the season as I think your definitely the most realistic chance of stopping them red bastards winning the league again

[Brett]

Good article. Deco was useless and de Jong must look forward to playing against him again. Cech needs to assert himself more in the area and catch the ball from crosses. His punches are weak and led to their first goal. As for the second, well...You're also right about Carlo. It seems to take him a while to realise what's happening and then there's not enough time left to make a difference. Another recent manager would have sent the artillery in.

[Jase]

Good, well written article although I have one incy wincy issue and that's the essien and de Jong comment, I think in a few years you'll be eating those words. Nigel is an absolutely fantastic player, he almost single handidly played essien, lamps, deco and ballack off the park! Anyway lads hope you beat the other London team(not
arsenal) to 1st! And good luck for the rest of
the season. City fan.

[Ph0BoLuS]

Ancelotti should of fielded J. Cole and Malouda instead of the ever so slow Ballack and Deco. City's midfield were just too quick.