There have been moments watching Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday which dropped at thoughts that joke about Leicester successful the Premier League with three gamers in midfield: Danny Drinkwater within the center and N’Golo Kante both facet. There have been occasions towards Sunderland when crammed the Kante position, primarily a one-man band with out the ball as he tried to interrupt up assaults and snuff out passing lanes, working previous teammates en path to the following fireplace.
Caicedo was notionally a part of a midfield three with Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro, however his companions don’t possess nice defensive instincts and it confirmed , the place Sunderland discovered it too simple to play via the centre of the pitch, and to defend it. Their late winner by Chemsdine Talbi was a gut-punch which emptied half the stadium onto Fulham Street, but it surely was properly deserved.
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Naturally, Chelsea missed Cole Palmer right here, nonetheless out with a groin damage. But his greatest video games have usually come towards extra open opponents – consider the house he discovered breaking forwards in – and he would have been pissed off by static teammates right here, attempting to ignite Chelsea with out the kinetic power to make a spark.
Sunderland gamers have a good time with their followers after the match (Reuters)
So maybe the participant Chelsea actually missed was Caicedo’s greatest companion, . Kante was much more efficient when he moved to Chelsea and performed beside Nemanja Matic in Antonio Conte’s title-winning facet. They have been ostensibly defensive gamers however their impression was offensive within the sense that they by no means let groups escape, by no means let counters develop, a safety blanket that saved up waves of Chelsea strain.
Caicedo and Lavia have the same impact on the uncommon events once they play collectively. Lavia takes among the defensive burden from his companion however it’s his means to evade the excessive press and his passing via the strains which add one other dimension to the workforce. And Lavia loves taking part in with Caicedo. “Thank God I play subsequent to absolutely the destroyer,” he mentioned this summer season. “Generally he does my job. I’m like, ‘let me do some bit’. He does it for me. Moi is unbelievable.”
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Lavia was on the bench right here and by no means got here on, having made his first begin of the season in midweek towards Ajax. There’s hope he can have a significant impression this season though his minutes are being rigorously managed after such a disrupted Chelsea profession to this point – rightly so, after all. Maresca is now benefiting from related warning with Reece James who’s discovering consistency for membership and nation.
Romeo Lavia performed towards Ajax within the Champions League (Chelsea FC through Getty Pictures)
Lavia enjoys taking part in alongside Moises Caicedo (Chelsea FC through Getty Pictures)
However Chelsea have an issue on the coronary heart of the workforce. This was a recreation which felt troubled from the primary minutes when Sunderland handed the ball via Chelsea’s porous centre. It was Caicedo who hustled the ball after six minutes and sparked Chelsea’s first aim, completed coolly by Alejandro Garnacho, but it surely got here towards the run of play and there was by no means a way that it will open the floodgates to a heavy house win.
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Up entrance, Marc Guiu performed with power and his urgent efforts virtually pressured a few main errors from Sunderland’s again line. However Guiu supplied little in an attacking sense, partly as a result of he was starved of service however primarily as a result of he isn’t the sort of No 9 Chelsea want towards three bodily centre-backs guarding their very own field.
The choice was Joao Pedro, who began as an attacking eight-ish-10, the place he regarded uncomfortable dropping into deep areas. The Brazilian has been solely partially coaching in latest weeks as he nurses an damage and it confirmed, transferring across the pitch like a person who had pulled each hamstrings. Joao Pedro’s solely likelihood got here within the first half when via one on one and, as a substitute of taking pictures from 15 yards, he selected to go the ball throughout the field to no one specifically. Fortunately the flag went up for offside which could have saved it from making the highlights bundle.
It wasn’t simply Joao Pedro who regarded laboured. Chelsea’s tempo was sluggish and their efforts to interrupt down Sunderland’s deep defence lacked urgency, even within the dying minutes, as in the event that they hadn’t noticed the enormous digital clock ticking away. There have been no overlapping runs round wingers to create overloads out large and it meant Garnacho, Pedro Neto and their replacements have been continually outnumbered.
Enzo Maresca leaves the sector after defeat by Sunderland (Motion Pictures through Reuters)
This, after all, is the Maresca manner, to be managed with clear positions on the pitch, to play with persistence and construction. Besides this was a recreation that required invention and unpredictability within the face of a cussed opposition. Even the common flourish of Marc Cucurella surging up the center of the pitch from left-back, chased by his personal hair like a person fleeing a cloud of bees, felt overly stage-managed by the second half, arriving at his vacation spot solely to face nonetheless when the go by no means got here. The identical patterns repeated themselves as Chelsea funnelled the ball from one facet to the opposite, noticed no manner via and went again spherical once more.
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Maresca turned to his bench within the closing half an hour to search out little or no. Estevao got here on the suitable wing and was vigorous with out producing a definitive second. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens took up station on the opposite facet and regarded like a winger with no confidence or match rhythm in his legs. Tyrique George was the one different attacking substitute, a promising younger participant however not but altering video games at this degree.
In spite of everything Chelsea’s participant buying and selling this summer season, it felt odd that Maresca had so little in reserve and a bench properly wanting the standard of substitutes obtainable to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester Metropolis. The choice to doesn’t look smart with hindsight. Chelsea have myriad centre-back pairings and a stack of helpful wingers, however their choices in central areas are too skinny when accidents strike.
It’s three months because the Membership World Cup closing and any sense of momentum has drained away. Chelsea are ninth within the Premier League after 9 video games, whereas Sunderland are as much as fourth. “World champions,” reads the banner above the primary tier which wraps round Stamford Bridge, phrases which felt virtually sarcastic by full-time, and maybe solely barely extra tenable than the Sunderland followers’ declare to be by far the best workforce the world has ever seen.