Debrief
Fans booing Chelsea off for the second game in a row. Says it all.
Despite a better second half from Chelsea, it was the same old story that I write pretty much every match report right now – we were awful for half of the game. This time, it was the first half. I have no idea what was going on in this half. We were all over the place and none of what we played is supposed Maresca-ball, it was much more Poch-ball. It was an end to end basketball match, and we were HUGELY lucky to go in at half time not losing by 2 or 3 goals. Bournemouth had much better chances and should have scored more. They had 14 shots in the opening 45 minutes against Chelsea, their most EVER in the first half of a Premier League away game. It was an embarrassingly terrible 45 from Chelsea.
Then Maresca, as he has to do pretty much every game, reminds his players of what he wants them to do and that we actually need to turn up during his half time team talk, and we come out and play a little bit better. We started to control the game, create more chances, and actually look half decent. But Bournemouth changed their tact as well and sat off into more of a low block in order to get the point at Stamford Bridge. They counter attacked and still looked a threat (they came very close to scoring in stoppage time). And fair play to them because they gave everything and will be happier with the point that we should be. Although, Maresca’s subs at the end very much looked like we were also trying to hold on to the draw – I could not quite believe it.
Chelsea’s shambles at the back continues; they cannot defend set pieces, they are all mostly just caught ball watching, under the ball, or failing to attack it, and we once again struggled against the intensity of the game and how hard our opponents were battling.
Chelsea now finish December winning just one league game and also winning just one league game in our last 7. We’ve taken just two points off Bournemouth in December, playing them twice. That’s really quite shocking. We were lucky that Manchester United are also as bad as us and only drew at home to Wolves. But in the meantime, Arsenal are smashing Aston Villa, a team we lost to on Saturday, 4-0. Sigh.
Ratings
Manager
Enzo Maresca – 4
He made some bold decisions in the starting line-up, but had to change one at half time. Some very strange subs again and didn’t do anything to try and win the game later on when it became crucial. Basketball style in the first half, tried to control it more in the second – no idea what’s going on there but surely that’s on the coaching!?
Players
Robert Sanchez – 7
Sanchez once again the saviour with a number of big saves in the first half to stop the embarrassment getting even more embarrassing. Although, I think he will believe that he should have done better on their first goal, and I’d agree.
Josh Acheampong – 5
He was quite shaky to be honest and struggled to deal with Bournemouth’s overloading threat down the left. Wasn’t surprised to see him taken off at half time.
Wesley Fofana – 7.5
I can’t really rate any of our defenders too highly after the shambolic defensive performance overall, but Fofana I actually thought did well, making a number of important tackles and interceptions. Just a shame he can’t defend set pieces like the rest of them.
Trevoh Chalobah – 5.5
Not a terrible performance but he was also pretty quiet and didn’t really impose himself well enough.
Malo Gusto – 7
Battled well and didn’t really put a foot wrong most of the game. He was not wasteful in possession and did what he needed to do.
Moises Caicedo – 6
Booked early on and now misses the Manchester City game, then could have got booked soon after and saw red – a little bit daft. But other than that he did fine.
Enzo Fernandez – 6
Scored a very good goal but other than that he was a little bit up and down throughout. He was battling hard enough but lost the ball easily at times in attacking areas, breaking the attacks down.
Cole Palmer – 8
There was boos when Maresca bought him off as he was one of the few who looked to be making things happen as Chelsea went onto the front foot. One of his better games since his return for sure, and linked up very well with Estevao.
Estevao Willian – 9.5
The closest I think I’ve ever come to giving a player a 10/10 rating. He was quite simply, SUPERB. This was a world class performance and if he managed to add an assist or a goal to it, he’d be getting that 10. Some player this lad.
SPTC Man of the Match!
Alejandro Garnacho – 4
He’s only even getting a 4 because he actually did create a couple chances and got an assist. But that’s a prime example of why the eye test and watching the full performance matters more, because he was terrible. Every time he tried to dribble past his man he got tackled – the groans from the fans whenever it happened said it all. Terrible.
Liam Delap – 5.5
I thought he was actually holding the ball up quite well tonight but all in all didn’t do much and wasn’t really a threat.
SUBS
Reece James for Acheampong (HT) – 7.5
Much needed addition and helped us keep more control of the play and tighten us up defensively.
Pedro Neto for Garnacho (HT) – 5.5
A couple of dangerous runs but mostly just a little bit wasteful.
Joao Pedro for Palmer (62 mins) – 3
Awful when he came on, could do anything useful with it at all.
Andrey Santos for Delap (86 mins) – N/A
No idea what this sub was all about when we were all over them looking for a winner.
Jamie Gittens for Estevao (92 mins) – N/A
Another one I have no idea what was going on. Time wasting to hold onto the draw?! Surely not!?
Conclusion
This has become a major slump I am afraid, there are no two ways about it or any excuses that I will hear now at this point. It’s been a truly shocking December for Chelsea and our run of form is massively concerning.
Something doesn’t seem right at all now with the manager. I think he’s checked out. This is opinion but I honestly wont be surprised if Chelsea now look to make a managerial change sooner than the summer. It’s got to that point for me now. Not saying it should happen, just saying I can see it happening now