Wow. Never have I come away from a Chelsea game trying to put into words just how negative, lacklustre and poor our side were.
Turning up at the Etihad Stadium against such an inform Manchester City side was always going to be difficult, but the way we rolled over and handed the three points to Pep Guardiola’s side was simply embarrassing.
From the moment the line-ups came out, Chelsea fans knew straight away that we were in for a long ride. Antonio Conte opted to make a change up front following the game against Manchester United, dropping Alvaro Morata to the bench. Granted, this was the right move but his replacement in the striker position was not who many thought we’d have gone for.
The only other change we made was a forced one as N’Golo Kante was ruled out through illness and in came Danny Drinkwater. Damn.
The Italian boss decided to go for a false nine set-up and play Belgian Eden Hazard as the striker, with Willian and Pedro either side. Straight away, you could see that Chelsea were looking to hit City on the break which was probably the right decision if it had been performed…
Now, the game starts. Ouch.
From the very first whistle, you could see the disinterest in the Chelsea side. No pressure on the ball, no momentum and very disappointing when going forward.
It got to the point for City that they had time to think about the games they have coming up inside 20 minutes rather than thinking of a Chelsea threat – which never came.
Given, we never looked in too much danger at the back thanks to our mighty Cesar Azpilicueta who was the only player to turn up in Manchester. However, we were never brave enough in possession of the football and that showed when we didn’t decide to play through the lines and tried forcing the ball up the pitch high in the air to Hazard. Not going to work.
We could tell we were never going to get into the game when our key man, Hazard, was never interested due to the service he was receiving being so poor.
Let’s cut a long story short. We are Chelsea Football Club. Premier League champions. We turned up afraid of City and it was woeful for Chelsea fans to watch.
Yes, the tactics worked vs Barcelona at home but clearly not here. Why wait until the 75th minute to even attempt to bring on a striker? I’m lost for words.
Unpopular opinion: I am very much Conte in. I want to stick with him as I know he can get us back onto winning paths but he really needs to address his tactics ahead of our clash with Crystal Palace at the Bridge who are fighting for their Premier League place ahead of next season.
