- May 19, 2022
- Olaoluwa Nwobodo
Chelsea was only able to take a point away from Brendan Rodgers’s Leicester City as James Maddison gave Leicester the lead in the 6th minute. If only someone had warned that Chelsea should be worried about him, eh? Chelsea did not level the score until the 34th minute when Reece James made a superb early cross over Leicester’s defensive line to Marcos Alonso, who fired past Kasper Schmeichel. Chelsea has practically secured a third-place finish with this result, as frustrating as it is, and third place was the highest the Blues could hope for since the table started taking shape. The team did enough to win, but how did the players do individually?
Goalkeeper: Absent when called upon
Mendy conceded the only shot on target he faced against Leicester, which was not good enough. He did everything else right though, as he claimed crosses and distributed very well, however he was absent for the main action on his job description. Not much should be made of the goal though because it was a long shot by Maddison that Mendy probably saves 90% of the time.
Rating: 6
Defenders: Two steps behind in and out of possession
Chelsea defenders were not alert for Leicester’s goal. First of all Marcos Alonso did not help by not following his man when Schmeichel played the ball long into the area behind him. Antonio Rudiger also did not anticipate play enough to get to the ball before it got to the Leicester City player. Thiago Silva then stepped out to Maddison but literally stood there and watched the Englishman curl the ball into the net from 20 yards out. Trevoh Chalobah didn’t have much to do defensively either, because of how much possession Chelsea controlled. All centerbacks were frustrating in their passing except Chalobah. Silva took way too long to make passing decisions that were obvious. Epitomized by his decision to hold the ball while Kai Havertz ran into the box while crossing it when Reece James ran into the box. Rudiger attempted 54 passes and only attempted two long balls, that says a lot about how his passing was considering all the space Chelsea had.
Ratings: Chalobah (8), Silva (7), Rudiger (6)
Midfielders: Underwhelming especially in possession
Jorginho was very good in possession. He moved the ball very well and very quickly. Kante was much better off the ball, but his ball carrying was really poor. He lost the ball too often and made too many fouls. He made five fouls, which is a lot when you consider that Chelsea had nearly 70% of the ball. Reece James was Chelsea’s best player on the pitch, though his passing was not as sharp as it should have been. He was backing play way too often. He later moved into midfield where he played very well. He created three chances, including a clear-cut chance to Alonso to create Chelsea’s equalizer. Marcos Alonso was very good with his passing and crossing. He lost his marker for Leicester’s goal but redeemed himself by leveling the score.
Ratings: James (8.5), Jorginho (7.5), Kante (6), Alonso (8)
Forwards: Created and squandered opportunities to win the game
Literally. Two forwards created big chances at 1-1 to give Chelsea the lead and two other forwards made horrendous misses to waste those chances. Romelu Lukaku was very good. He made some very good runs and held up the ball very well. He also created the easiest chance that could be provided for a player and Christian Pulisic dragged it wide from a position that looked easier to score. Lukaku only took two shots all game, and later made way for Kai Havertz. Hakim Ziyech was, as usual, Chelsea’s best attacker.
Ziyech completed three out of four dribbles he attempted. He also won seven out of 14 duels he contested. He took the most shots on target and both of them were long-range. He created a clear-cut chance for Kai Havertz, who scuffed his shot and never even struck the ball. Nothing more could have been asked of Ziyech today.
Ratings: Ziyech (8.5), Lukaku (7), Pulisic (4)
Substitutes and manager
Cesar Azpilicueta was Chelsea’s best player from the bench today. He won five out of his six contested duels and completed all three dribbles he attempted. Ruben Loftus-Cheek started well but trailed off. Havertz’s only contribution was a horrendous miss while losing all two duels he contested. Thomas Tuchel is blameless because some of the decision-making on display by experienced professionals today was inexcusable therefore it’s difficult to blame Tuchel. It’s impossible to draw up tactical solutions when players cannot even make the right passing decisions, he’s the victim in all this.
Ratings: Azpilicueta – 72′ (7.5), Loftus-Cheek – 72′ (6.5), Havertz – 78′ (4), Tuchel (9.5)
How do you think the players did? Let us know in the comments