Rating Chelsea's performance against Man City based on 4 key factors

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Rating Chelsea's performance against Man City based on 4 key factors

Tactics

Tuchel opted for a 3-4-3 formation in this game, putting Sarr and Alonso on the left side and playing Pulisic and Ziyech in attack next to Lukaku.

This selection and formation did not pay dividends for the Blues at all, as Chelsea's lack of pace on the break cost them dearly on multiple occasions.

Despite City's high line, the Blues were unable to put the balls over the top for any of their players, which ended up playing into City's hands as it stopped just about any breaks.

Chelsea's 2 in midfield actually didn't have a bad game but they were heavily outnumbered by City's players, with Foden and Grealish dropping in to create 4 vs 2 situations in midfield. Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne also had stellar games, which ultimately cost the Blues.

Lastly, Chelsea's own high line with Sarr playing was another error, as Raheem Sterling got in time and time again down the right and could have had himself a couple of goals on any other night.

Rating for Tactics: 3/10

Chance creation

Chelsea's system under Thomas Tuchel has often been reliant on their wing-backs to create opportunities in attack.

With James and Chilwell both unavailable though, the Blues couldn't do very much down the flanks against City till Hudson-Odoi came on.

Chelsea managed no shots at all in the first half, a scathing indictment on their ability to create chances for themselves.

Lukaku and Ziyech also overhit a few balls and made poor decisions at other times, leading to an abysmal total 4 shots on the night.

Rating for Chance creation: 2/10

Substitutions

Thomas Tuchel is not one to pull the trigger on a decision when it's not working but that didn't quite end up happening till it was too late against Man City.

This is a tricky one, because the substitutions themselves were good ones, but Werner and Hudson-Odoi were given just 20 minutes to make an impact while Mount just had about 10.

Considering the charmed life Chelsea lead until De Bruyne's moment of magic, earlier substitutions could really have changed the game and might have at leas earned a draw for Tuchel's side.

Rating for Substitutions: 5/10

Defence

Malang Sarr's poor display has already been talked about enough, so this space is to discuss one of the few positives from this game.

Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva were their imperious selves, crunching into tackles and clearing the danger as well as they could.

Rudiger in particular, showed a ton of heart in this game, and the German continues to make his case to be paid the big bucks.

A word also on Kepa Arrizabalaga. While he has been questioned for his positioning for the winner, he kept Chelsea in it with some truly excellent saves in this game.

His stop to deny Grealish and sure handling after an iffy first involvement were impressive as the Blues try to deal with the loss of Edouard Mendy.

Ratings for Defence: 7/10

AuthorDivij KSourceTribuna.com
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