According to Liu Chuan, a British correspondent for sports weekly newspapers, Chelsea visited the Etihad Stadium on Saturday morning and were beaten 1-0 at home by Manchester City. And this so-called Premier League top battle, which is highly expected by the outside world, did not burst out of the scene to make the media expect a spark. After the game, Chelsea manager Tuchel claimed that the team should deserve a draw, but the English media rarely responded to the german coach's grievances.
The day's game is not over, Everton star Uthman, who plays as a commentator at the BBC, has pointed out that Chelsea's defeat in this game has long been doomed, because they did not show the determination to "fight with Manchester City", but seemed to want to win by chance: "We all hope to see Chelsea play a head-on match with Manchester City in this game, just like the previous game against Liverpool, but in the end they did not choose such a strategy, the team obviously adopted another strategy. They're curled up in the back and waiting to be pressed by City's side, and you can see in this game that they have a different attitude from the last game. In a way, maybe Chelsea had already lost before the game started, and from the moment they established such a tactic, Tuchel's side had lost hope of winning the game. ”
As for Tuchel's "tie theory", Sky TV commentator Joe Cole of the Blues said that it is understandable, but to some extent unconvincing: "I can understand Tuchel's statement, this game you can really see some positive factors in Chelsea's performance, especially in the second half, their formation remained more compact, the team also began to try more to pressure the opponent in the counterattack, and got a good chance in front of the goal, but is this really enough to ensure that Chelsea will score points in this game?" The City are too difficult to deal with now, especially when they are in control of the passing rhythm at home, so although Tuchel says he is very happy with some of the time in the game, it is still impossible to stop Manchester City from winning this crucial game. ”
Ferdinand, on the other hand, grabbed the conversation, specifically mentioning the last round of the league match between Manchester City and Arsenal, chelsea today obviously lacked the determination and boldness of arsenal at that time: "I think chelsea's biggest problem today is in the rhythm control of the offensive and defensive transitions. You can see that the Blues are not in a hurry to launch a counterattack immediately after they have regained the ball, and their passing and advancing are mainly short passes, which is safer, but it also gives Manchester City players plenty of time to retreat. This is completely different from the situation of Manchester City against Arsenal in the last round, when Arsenal were able to boldly and quickly push forward the attack, and the midfielder was able to continue to control the ball in the event of a missed shot, forming a staged siege, you can not see such a picture from Chelsea's attack, they seem to be more worried about their attack being destroyed and caught off guard by the opponent's counterattack. ”
In fact, Chelsea's scruples in attack, especially in the counterattack, are also considered by many media to be the key to their final failure on the road that day. Joe Cole also acknowledged this, and further noted that pulisic and Ziyech in the Blues' front court that day were disappointing: "Arsenal played well against Manchester City in that game, especially Saka and Martinelli on both wings, who ran and restrained themselves in the front and often played beautiful two-on-one coordination with their teammates when they had the ball in possession. Chelsea today, whether it is Pulisic or Ziyech, is a little inferior, you can feel that neither of them is in the best form, in fact, sometimes Kovacic has a good control of the ball in midfield, but after the ball is sent to Pulišić's feet, Chelsea's attack is stagnant, they can't continue to advance the attack, and a striker like Lukaku will gradually fall silent on the field if he doesn't get fixed support, you have to keep feeding him the ball, not letting him respond to you in the front. ”
For the Blues' goal conceded, the England elite group believed that goalkeeper Kepa was responsible. Because the Chelsea goalkeeper seemed to have been beaten by a world wave that was difficult to save, but the slow motion showed that he moved slightly half a step to the other side of the goal before making a save, and it was this move that ultimately ruined his last hope of saving. Ferdinand, who is a centre-back, pointed out in his review of the goal conceded that Kepa's fatal error of judgment was partly related to the lack of tacit understanding of his teammates: "Your only explanation is that his vision was blocked at the time and wanted to get a better view through this movement, but in fact, when the team usually trains, the goalkeeper should have similar communication with the center-back, and has already formed a corresponding tacit understanding, he should trust Thiago Silva to block the frontal shooting angle, and concentrate on the position near the far corner. But it didn't happen, it was a matter of communication and tacit understanding off the field, but unfortunately he was reflected in the game in this way. ”