Manchester City's 1-0 home win over Chelsea was the premier league battle, but unfortunately the Blues ended up losing by a small goal. After the Blues lost, City's points lead widened, which would also reduce the suspense of the Premier League title race. The core players of this game are very critical, Lukaku got the opportunity and did not get up to shoot, but passed to his teammates, although the selfless attribute is good, but as the main striker is in the area where he can shoot in the penalty area, it is indeed time to shoot decisively, rather than passing the ball to teammates in an offside position. Perhaps this shot already foreshadowed that Chelsea would have a hard time winning because the strikers were not domineering enough. In addition, Alonso is limited on the flanks, the threat on the offensive end is not enough, and the number of shots obtained by the front players is limited, and naturally they cannot score goals.
Chelsea were passive in this game, and the opportunities they found to counterattack did not pose enough threat, so they conceded goals in the second half. The only goal of the match was scored by chelsea veterans, when De Bruyne dribbled the ball and then scored with a direct kick to the world. Kepa was estimated to have been blocked by some realization, so he did not move his position in advance, even if he was fast enough to save the ball, but it was beyond the reach of the whip. Such a shot is actually not a problem for Chelsea's first goalkeeper, Mendy, unfortunately he is currently playing in the African Cup of Nations and cannot play for the team, which is also a reason for Chelsea's loss.
For Chelsea, the two flanks are important, Lukaku also needs more support from the flanks, and the starters on the flanks of this game, James and Chilwell, are unable to play, so the powerlessness of the two flanks is also the main reason for not scoring and not shooting in the first half. Alonso has always been strong and weak, and Manchester City's attacks are more frequent in this game, so Alonso always can't pass the threatening ball after getting the ball, and the forward players are less and less confident.
De Bruyne has also been unsuccessful at Chelsea, and after leaving the team, every time he faces his old club that has not been reused, the Belgian will always erupt into a small universe. Since joining Manchester City, De Bruyne has scored Chelsea's goal many times, as if this is the only way to erase the gray mood of that year. In this game, Tuchel gave Ziyech, Lukaku and Pulisic enough trust, half-time 0-0 draw, 0 shots on the offensive end, in this case, the manager should make substitution adjustments earlier in the second half, unfortunately Tuchel was slow to make substitution adjustments, which was also criticized by all parties.
It is indeed dangerous not to shoot at half-time, but Chelsea has only one shot on target against Manchester City before, so if the substitution in the second half is early, it is still possible to score, otherwise it will concede. Because there is no threat on the offensive end, it is only a matter of time before the strong dialogue concedes the goal. Chelsea's substitution came in the 69th minute, and the Blues conceded a goal a minute later, when the Manchester City player returned the ball to Canselo, who easily passed the ball to De Bruyne, the Belgian broke through quickly, Kante continued to defend and failed to break the ball, and then De Bruyne shot directly from a distance. It is worth reflecting on the fact that Chelsea did not shoot long-range in this game, in fact, in such a dilemma, it is necessary to try some long-range shots.
Because there are still more than 20 minutes left after conceding the goal, Chelsea can still equalize if they are well-planned, unfortunately Werner has also missed two opportunities. The scene was all given to Jorginho on the bench, but he did not get the opportunity to appear. In fact, the players who can turn the situation around in the second half are Havertz, Mount and Zoginho, but Tuchel sent Hudson Hudson-Odoi and Werner, who replaced Ziyech and Pulisic, in fact, the former should have been replaced at the beginning of the second half, because his performance was indeed sluggish, and It was as helpful as Manchester City's Glalish.
Mount didn't make his debut until the 81st minute, and it was really difficult to give him nearly ten minutes to turn the tide. It is true that Tuchel gave Chelsea the Champions League trophy in his debut season, but the strains and substitutions in many games this season are incomprehensible, which also shows that the manager is in a bottleneck. Chelsea were unbeaten in 11 games before the match, and after the game this statistic was made ancient. The team's record into 2022 is 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, and the next game will be away to Brighton, the team only needs not to lose points on the weak teams, because the team will at least qualify for next season's Champions League. This season the team is facing a lot of difficulties, the impact of injuries, the impact of the epidemic, coupled with the impact of the African Cup of Nations, it is acceptable to finally get the top four. What the club executives can give to Tuchel is the winter window to supplement the personnel, and from the current situation, it is difficult for the club to include the right candidate.
Manchester City's post-match league record of 12 consecutive rounds of winning the league increases by one layer, and if Liverpool loses the match against Brentford, Manchester City will be more worry-free, because Klopp's team currently has one less round of matches and will continue to threaten Manchester City's top position. Chelsea may give up the second place in the league after the loss, and the gap with West Ham and Arsenal behind them will also be narrowed, so the top four positions are dangerous, so Tuchel should really think about how to rotate and make substitution adjustments.
It must be mentioned that Chelsea has played in the FA Cup and the League Cup successively, manchester City only has a two-sided battle, the preparation time is more sufficient, the players are better physical, plus the home advantage, the small victory opponents have nothing to show off. Chelsea's last league triumph was a 13-game winning streak and more league draws this season, so they slipped down from the top of the table. Kepa's performance in the last game was very eye-catching, there were also 6 wonderful saves in this game, the performance was also recognized, and the world wave goal was indeed strong, not the goalkeeper should be mainly responsible.
Chelsea has also recently fought in the third line, the League Cup and the FA Cup have been promoted, but the previous two rounds of the league were draws, and the team did not win in three rounds after losing this round, and indeed has reached the bottom. Chelsea are currently 13 points behind Manchester City, and after missing the opportunity to directly narrow the point gap, they can only expect City to make mistakes on their own.
Shortly after the start of the first half of the game, Glallish completed a threat, Kepa habitually attacked to break the siege, captain Azpilicueta appeared in time to defuse the danger, Manchester City corner kick into the box was safely obtained by Kepa, Chelsea's substitute goalkeeper's recent performance is still good, but there is still a distance from Mendy. Then Manchester City continued to attack, Chelsea although the three-guard lineup, but the team's co-defense is in place, Sterling formed a threat when Alonso stared at the defense in place, but unfortunately ate a yellow card, and gave the opponent a set-piece opportunity on the right side of the front, the ball was driven to the box by Sal's header, the youngster's air superiority is still very obvious, this time the lineup is incomplete, it does give some young players more opportunities.
Chelsea then created an attacking opportunity, Lukaku got the ball and thought Thatzieh was in a better position, so he chose to pass the ball to his teammates, unfortunately the latter was in an offside position, it was too bad that Lukaku did not shoot, and the player himself should regret it after the game. In fact, when the offensive backline continued to pass the ball, Foden and De Bruyne could not help but turn back to pressure the opponent, and the two tried to use their personal ability to complete the steal, but the passing cooperation of several people in the Chelsea backline was still seamless, which was also a change in the team.
The combination of passes in place in chelsea's backline is also the advantage of Tuchel's coaching, and the number of scoring goals with knife defenders is also increasing. Chelsea then created an attacking opportunity, but Ziyech's pass to Romelu Lukaku was great. Since then, both teams have been in a state of anxiety, both have the opportunity to attack each other, and the performance of the goalkeepers of both teams has been solid. Chelsea's Sal had two key breaks in the first half, with City attacking and finding it difficult to tear open the defence to complete the shot, and at the end Sterling and his teammates were not well understood enough to miss the opportunity to shoot in front of goal.
The two teams in this game are also trying their best, because both teams are not the main squad, Manchester City in order to prepare for the double blue club of this game is also a big rotation, the last FA Cup game Ederson, Sterling, Foden, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Stones, Glallish did not play, so the physical fitness of this game is also more abundant. The current Chelsea staff is not in order, Christensen is infected with the new crown and must be absent, Chaloba and James are both hamstring injuries can not play, Chilwell is a knee injury suspension. If these people return, with the addition of Mendy, Chelsea's league record is expected to improve.
Chelsea's Kepa, Sal, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Kovacic, Lukaku have started two consecutive games and played all over the game, and Alonso, Mount, Ziyech, Hudson-Odoi and Werner have all started and come-by-play in the last two games. Betinelli, Saul, Barkley and Havertz have not appeared in two consecutive games, and I personally do not understand the manager's cold havents.