A Blue Up North reviews Chelsea’s capitulation away to reigning Champions Manchester City.
Chelsea traveled up to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to face Manchester City in their Premier League clash. A trip to the defending champions is bound to be a tough day out, especially during such a busy, key period of the season. However, The Blues have regularly managed to lift their game and outshone powerful opponents in the past and so all supporters had an amount of hope and expectation.
Chelsea were going in to this match on the back of a resounding 5-0 win over bottom club Huddersfield Town and Maurizio Sarri had an almost fully fit squad to choose from. Add to that an 8 day gap since their previous match in which aches and fitness levels should have been heightened and plenty of time for preparation and focus narrowing on playing against the best team in the country.
The Italian opted for Marcos Alonso, Ross Barkley and Pedro in his starting line up, while Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Willian were named amongst the substitutes.
Pep Guardiola also had an almost complete squad to call upon, the proof of which was that Danilo, Leroy Sané, David Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Nicolás Otamendi and Gabriel Jesus. Quite a 6 a side team in themselves.
So the scene was set for an almighty battle between the 2 most recent Premier League Champions. 2 of the heavyweights in English football. And the first few minutes looked promising as The Blues had the first serious attack of the match.
But then it all changed very dramatically. Kevin De Bruyne’s quickly taken free kick allowed Raheem Sterling to fire in the opening goal on 4 minutes. Then before any of the Chelsea players had recovered from the surprise of that goal, they were 2 down.
Suddenly Chelsea were in an extremely uncomfortable situation. The team looked shell shocked, like rabbits caught in the headlights. The humiliation was made worse by the fact none of the players, either individually or collectively, nor the manager knew how to stem the flow.
At 4-0 down on just 25 minutes, the realisation was struggling to be absorbed by all watching on. Yes, City were at their clinical best with a breathtaking accuracy in carving their way through the Chelsea defence. This was an opening spell during which everything fell their way with the ball constantly dropping perfectly to their players and boy did they make the most of it.
Make no mistake, the host’s play reached dizzying heights and the visitors were clueless how to burst their bubble. Antonio Conte stated after Chelsea’s dismal performance in last season’s 1-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium that he was not stupid enough to go there and to try to play football. Sadly, Sarri did not take note.
Their advanced positioning meant City found plenty of space in which to attack the Chelsea goal. When Conte went and closed up his side creating a dour but narrow defeat, this open season on Kepa Arrizabalaga’s goal.
Fortunately for Chelsea the hosts began to ease off after building this commanding early lead. The match was truly over and it was just a matter of how bad the loss would be. Despite this The Blues showed little in attack and even at half time the manager made no changes in personnel or tactics.
After the initial shock of the first 25 minutes had settled in, the only hope for the Chelsea supporters would be witnessing some determination and extra effort to try to turn things around. Instead we had to wait til the 52nd minute to see anything and then the insult had salt rubbed into it as we watched the Barkley / Kovacic swap yet again. This was becoming another painful experience up there with the second half against Bournemouth from only a couple of weeks previously.
Then as Agüero completed his hat trick, the chasm between the 2 sides was clear for all to see. Admittedly The Blues came more in to the match as the second half wore on and the appearance of substitutes Emerson Palmieri and Ruben Loftus-Cheek improved the team’s balance. N’Golo Kante tried his best as he always does, Eden Hazard showed glimpses of his brilliance and Gonzalo Higuain has a refreshing willingness to strike at goal early, but none of this was enough to make any real difference.
As Sterling completed the scoring and The Blues were on the end of their biggest defeat since 1991, the size of the job that Sarri has to bring his team back up to title contenders in the coming seasons was there for all to see. As The Citizens moved back to the top of the league, Chelsea dropped down to 6th place below Arsenal on goal difference.
With the prime target for all Chelsea managers every season being a top 4 finish and their recent away performances, times are not looking good for the Italian. Having had a full week to prepare for this match and the capitulation that ensued was not a good combination. With upcoming matches in all 4 competitions, this was not the best way of heading into this busy schedule. Sarri will need to resolve the issues with his team. Frailties at the back and a high midfield line invited City to attack at will, while an imbalance across the team hinders their ability to create many good chances.
Remember most of this squad won the League and the FA Cup over the last 2 seasons and there is plenty of quality all over the pitch but their recent ability to collapse with little fight is a growing concern amongst supporters. Sarri will need to address this and find a way for his side’s to be more resolute and compact. And soon.
Written by Jon Ellis, home and away season ticket holder. Follow him on Twitter @ClitheroeBlue
