Chelsea Are On The Come Up
"If you offered 1pt before the game maybe you would've been happy, but after the game went, it's really disappointing"
I have yet to meet or speak with someone who can make a convincing case that the Chelsea era is over. It’s widely accepted that Chelsea are going through a multi-year blip. This is Chelsea, as an asset class we can metaphorically look at this club as cryptocurrency; from a volatility perspective this is the biggest club in the world.
Chelsea have already lost 3 games this Prem season (one less than Man United, one more than Man City). With Arsenal in town, most would’ve predicted that that tally would go up by 1 but the team held its own and in the end they were disappointed to only come out with 1pt.
It’s the 77th minute and Chelsea are up 2-0 against Arsenal. They’ve overall done well, the team has been able to keep Arsenal mostly quiet and control the balance of the game, but 2-0 is the most dangerous lead to have in football.
It’s at this point where the Robert Sanchez mistake happens and the door is open for Arsenal to come back and win this game.
Figure 1.
It may seem unfair to put the blame on Robert Sanchez for this turnover and to a degree it is but recognizing that in this scenario facing the play and having received a tame pass, Sanchez has a responsibility to his team to make the right and pragmatic decision.
As seen in figure 1, if we look at the body shape and positioning of one of the best pressers at the forward position in Eddie Nketiah, we can see Arsenal want to force Sanchez to play the ball into their trap.
In figure 1. Chelsea are in a 5 vs 4 situational play but what are Sanchez’s options?
If Sanchez plays the ball wide to Malo Gusto he will most likely be lose possession to Martinelli.
If we trusted Thiago Silva’s mobility, there is a very difficult ball that Sanchez could sharply sneak past Nketiah with his left to Silva’s left. At this point Smith-Rowe would be coming down on Silva and we’d transfer the decision making responsibility from Sanchez to the vastly experienced CB to bail out the team.
Then there’s the Levi Colwill option, my preferred choice. Trossard is not interested in pressing Colwill, he’s got his mind set on Enzo Fernandez. There is a safe pass to the corner flag to Colwill that would’ve kept the 5 vs 4 situational play alive and also given Colwill the safe option to clear the ball forward.
Figure 2.
With the 3 available options listed above, Sanchez opts for the most difficult option which is to play in Enzo Fernandez. Fundamentally, I can understand why he made this choice. Enzo Fernandez is Chelsea’s Talisman, if Chelsea want to be successful Fernandez needs to get on the ball as much as possible and its important to trust your best players with the ball even if they are in a tight spot.
Sadly, whether its due to a lack of communication or frankly fatigue, Fernandez is caught flat footed as the ball moves from a Chelsea 5 vs 4 to a new situational play that we can read as a 4 Arsenal players fighting for a 50/50 ball with 3 Chelsea players; and in this situational play, Declan Rice will virtually always win.
Figure 3.
You’ll hear this time and time again, at this level of elite Premier League football, matches are decided by the smallest of margins.
At 76:38 Chelsea are in full control. They have possession of the ball, they feel comfortable enough that they don’t want to clear it and they have a numerical advantage on their opponent.
At 76:41, just 3 seconds later, we witness 3 things go wrong for Chelsea and 1 thing go right for Arsenal. A poor passing-decision by Sanchez, a moment of fatigue by Enzo and the smallest of lapses of concentration by Gallagher to allow for a world class player like Declan Rice to take a 1-touch shot near his touchline and several yards out from goal which initiates a comeback for his club. With players as elite as Declan Rice, your attention to detail is how you succeed.