Player Ratings: Crystal Palace 1 Chelsea 0 Saturday 29th March

By Ross Mooring

After the highs of last weekend, come the lows of yesterday and by the laws of the playground Crystal Palace are now a side seven goals better than Arsenal. The south Londoners certainly seemed more than one goal superior to their western counterparts that’s for sure.

A shocking display in all respects from preparation to formation to individual performances and even Jose’s substitutions put a dagger in Chelsea’s hearts and leaves the squad having to pick itself up for the short train ride to Paris in midweek.

First up, Mourinho seemed to pay too much respect to Tony Pulis’ robust Crystal Palace team, fielding a rather burly and reactive 4-3-3 formation with the three pillars of Matic, Luiz and Lampard instead of attempting to play to Chelsea’s normal strengths in and around the opposition area. Chelsea played down to Palace’s level in more ways then one.

In attack, Chelsea were a man short to start the game as neither Luiz nor Lampard got beyond the Palace midfield, let alone their defence, to pose the Eagles any problems. Hazard and Schurrle, who actually played well in the first half, did not see anywhere near enough of the ball to create consistent pressure. In defence, Mourinho’s back line got caught square too often while the midfield failed to provide any cover to the full backs, meaning Palace wingers Bolasie and Puncheon had free runs at Ivanovic and Azpilicueta.

Meanwhile, in the second half, after Palace (or rather John Terry) had opened the scoring, Chelsea lost their shape and composure going forward, ending up looking like a drunk searching for his keys. To compound the issue, Jose’s decisions off the bench were haphazard, leaving Nemanja Matic all on his own in the centre of the park while putting two static forwards up top in Torres and Ba as the team overcrowded in the home penalty area like the bunch of schoolboys that they were.

Ratings:

Petr Cech 5

Came to collect the cross when John Terry and Joe Ledley were challenging for the ball in front of his near post, leaving him in no man’s land as Terry’s header sailed into the net.

Branislav Ivanovic 4

Troubled by Bolasie for much of the game and yet again was strangely relied upon to provide crosses from the right wing, despite the abundance of attacking talent on the field.

Gary Cahill 5

Could easily have given away a penalty when tackling the man and not the ball in the first half. Okay otherwise.

John Terry 5

Possibly the greatest near post defender of all time failed to get proper purchase on his clearance and could only watch it fly into the net.

Cesar Azpilicueta 5

For the first time in a long while Azpi was exposed defensively.

Nemanja Matic 6

An up and down display from Matic who had several good moments of play throughout the game and also one or two bad ones. Was left exposed as Chelsea’s only midfielder in the second half when he bizarrely acted as the only shield to the back four and also the team’s playmaker in attack.

David Luiz 6, Frank Lampard 6

Neither Luiz nor Lampard were outstanding, but as the two midfielders ahead of Matic more was required of them than breaking up play. Luiz was active but lacked guile in the final third while Lampard’s overall play was good, but let down by his set pieces.

Andre Schurrle 7 Man of the Match

Bizarrely taken off by Jose when there were half a dozen other candidates playing worse, Schurrle was active and a menace for most of his time on the pitch.

Eden Hazard 7

Had two great bits of play, the second of which drew an outstanding save from Speroni in the Palace goal. Was given far too little of the ball.

Fernando Torres 4

Torres’ time at Chelsea is going in circles. A good performance here, an enterprising one there, followed by a stupendously bad one like this one (all the while not scoring enough goals). Yesterday wasn’t the first time he’d been in on goal only to turn 360 degrees the wrong way and finish dreadfully. He did exactly the same thing at Middlesbrough in the cup last year too.

Substitutes:

Oscar 6

Before the second substitution, Oscar looked like he was turning the screw, but as the team fell apart his ability to direct play lessened

Mo Salah 6

At times it felt like the little Egyptian had to take on the home side all on his own. Had some good moments, but way to much was put on his shoulders by his teammates.

Demba Ba 5

Anonymous.

Don’t forget to tune in at 19.00-21.00 GMT every Monday for the Chelsea FanCast on sportstonightlive.com, mixlr.com or watch live here where we discuss the latest Chelsea matches and the player ratings for each game.