Chelsea suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat away from home at the hands of Manchester City on Saturday night.
Although the Blues took the lead at the Etihad Stadium, they could not capitalize on their early advantage, allowing City to claw their way back into the game before the Premier League champions killed them off in the second half.
It was a strange way for Chelsea to take the lead, which they did in the third minute of the game. New Citizens signing Abdukodir Khusanov smashed home a poor header aimed at City goalkeeper Ederson. Nicolas Jackson pounced on the loose ball and squared straight to Noni Madueke who made it 1-0.
City equalized just three minutes before half-time, Josko Gvardiol pouncing on a loose ball after a VS-One in the penalty box. They took the lead in disastrous fashion from Chelsea’s point of view, with Erling Haaland coming back to hug keeper Robert Sanchez, who fell horribly off his line.
Just as they did before half-time, City scored three minutes before full-time, this time through Phil Foden. The Englishman got on the end of a Haaland lay-off, before crossing to tap home relatively unchanged.
It was a frustrating job for the West Londoners, who failed to capitalize on the early advantage. Sanchez had a particularly poor afternoon.
Sanchez vs Man City Stats
It’s been a really poor season so far for Spanish goalkeeper Sanchez, but his exit at the Etihad Stadium was perhaps his most disappointing of the lot. He looked all at sea against a City attack that might score four or five on another day.
Sanchez had a close call against New City Man Omar Marmoush but his strike was ruled out for offside. Arguably his worst mistake was on Haaland’s goal, where he was caught in the man’s land off his line, meaning all the Norwegian striker had to do was take him from 15 yards.
He got 3/10 for his performance by Malik Ouzia, reporter for The Standard. He described Sanchez’s position on the Haaland strike as “embarrassment”, before explaining that he is a “miracle holding his shirt” in the Chelsea goal.
Actually, the sopascore statistics From the full-time show how poor the Blues number one is running. He graduated -0.68 goals and committed an error that led to a goal. On the ball, he completed just eight of 26 long ball attempts.
With Philip Jorgensen also an option for Enzo Maresca Between the positions, it remains to be seen whether Sanchez will be dropped for Chelsea’s next outing. Someone in a similar boat is a defender Levi Colwill.
Colwill vs Man City Stats
Colwill was perhaps just as bad, if not arguably worse, than Sanchez against the Citizens. Rory Football Content Creator suggested that Haaland was “bullying” the Englishman, a good example being the fact that the City star was holding Colwill before playing Foden for City’s third.
His Ouzia rating was only slightly better than Sanchez, with the Chelsea defender bagging himself a 4/10. The standard journalist also agreed with the fact that he was “intimidated” and criticized him for a mistake that almost gifted Haaland another goal.
Colwill’s statistics from the game were a disappointing summary of his evening’s work in East Manchester. The England international won just one of three aerial duels, made one mistake leading to a shot and lost the ball eight times.
|
Colwill stats vs Man City |
|
|---|---|
|
I cross |
Number |
|
Touch |
74 |
|
Accuracy |
90% |
|
Passages completed |
63/70 |
|
Large balls completed |
3/7 |
|
Air units won |
1/3 |
|
How many times did he lose possession? |
8 |
|
Mistakes that lead to a shot |
1 |
|
Statistics from Hilly |
|
Just as she does in goal, Maresca has options in defense if she wishes to drop Colwill. The Italian could bring in youngster Josh Acheampong, Frenchman Axel Disasi or former Academy war Tosin Adarabioyo.
He certainly has a big decision to make ahead of the next game with the options they have given him and it would be hard to support the decision to drop Colwill. Whatever Maresca chooses, he will be hoping his side can bounce back with a win next time out.
