Chelsea vs Real Madrid Analysis.

Lackadaisical, spineless and toothless. 3 words that sum up the performance from Chelsea against Real Madrid.

Chelsea lost 2-0 at the Bernabeu in the first leg of the quarter final in the Champions league. Goalless Chelsea made it their FOURTH straight game without scoring a goal, which is the first time that has happened since 1993 (via Squawka).

Devoid of Passion and Heart, Chelsea were never really in the game after the first 10 minutes where there was the odd sign of catching Madrid on the counter. Madrid took control after the first 10 minutes and kept their foot on the gas for the entire game after that.

Chelsea went in 1-0 down at halftime, and the second half did not start any better, In the 58th minute, Ben Chilwell was sent off for a last ditch challenge preventing Rodrygo from going 1 on 1 with Kepa.

After this point, Chelsea were just hanging on trying to keep it at 1-0 to take back to Stamford Bridge for the home tie. However in the 74th minute, Chelsea were caught sleeping on a corner kick taken quickly, which resulted in the second Real Madrid goal from Marco Asensio. Kepa should have done better as he was beaten getting a fingertip on the shot.

Toothless Blues:

Chelsea were set up from the beginning to hit Real Madrid on the counter attack. However apart from a chance in the first 2 minutes for Joao Felix on the break, and a chance for Sterling to equalise instantly after Benzema's opener, that was all we really saw in terms of attacking threat.

When you look at average positions and the passing networks for Chelsea, it is obvious why they look so toothless in attack. In a 3-5-2 formation the wingbacks were supossed to offer the width in attack, and runs in behind from wide allowing the two strikers (Felix and Sterling) to opperate around the box. However this is not what we saw.

Instead the Chelsea wingbacks were pinned back, inside their own half and completely neutralised. This then caused a lot of sideways passing across the flat midfield 5 line.

(Figure 1)

(Figure 2)

In the two examples above, you can see how it looked when trying to play out with the ball in figure 1. In figure 2 you can see how it should looks using the wingbacks for width, allowing the midfielders to pick passes forwards and get the team out.

To often Chelsea were caught playing sideways as shown in figure 1. These were the most common passes in the passing network for Chelsea, which consisted of continuous, sideways passing from Enzo to Kovacic, Kovacic to Reece James, Reece James back to Enzo, and so on.

By doing this, Chelsea caused Real Madrid no threat in behind which allowed Real Madrid to step onto Chelsea inside their own half and dominate the game from there. It looked extremely disorganised in midfield with players getting in each others way, and no clear patterns were being formed to beat the Real Madrid press.

The Chelsea forwards have been in poor form of late, and the way Chelsea were set up today didn't help the cause. The way this was set up, was going to take a piece of individual brilliance to make something happen. When you watch this team play, you can see that no one in forward areas have developed a connection and understanding that you see in great attacks in world football. Chelsea have an abundance of talented forwards at the club, but it all means nothing if you cant make it tick.

Lackadaisical:

One thing Chelsea fans wanted to see going into this tough fixture at the Bernabeu was spirit. They wanted to see Chelsea players giving their all for the badge, and showing what it means to represent the club. However many of the players looked disinterested and directionless.

On the other hand, you have players such as Valverde for Real Madrid covering every blade of grass on the pitch, making it hard for Chelsea to play out, especially when you consider the passing networks spoken about earlier shuttling the ball inwards, Valverde was just able to easily block the passing lanes as there was no out ball in behind.

The difference in work rate, desire and heart was clear to be seen on the night as Real Madrid out worked Chelsea. Real Madrid won more duels (46), made more tackles (17) and more interceptions (11) than Chelsea. There was a lot more spirit in the performance of Real Madrid and that showed.

Confidence:

The final thing i want to touch on is the lack of confidence in the players. When you take into account the amount of quality in this Chelsea squad, barely any of the players look like they are playing with any confidence. This squad has Champions league winners, World cup winners and even Premier league winners, but the confidence seems to be at an all time low.

For a squad that is worth around £900 Million according to TalkSport, it certainly isn't playing that way. This could be down to the amount of new signings, different managerial changes and system changes, but when you have a squad as talented as Chelsea's, the level cannot get this low.

This stems from back to front, in recent weeks Kepa has looked like his old self makes a few poor mistakes, certain defenders have looked shaky of late including new signings Koulibaly and Cucerella, previous POTY winners like Kovacic and Mount are having their worst seasons for Chelsea, and there is not ONE forward playing with confidence and belief in themselves right now.

Conclusion/Player ratings:

In conclusion this was a poor display for Chelsea in many ways, the hunger and desire fans wanted to see from their players was far from what met the eye. Chelsea looked like a team who lacked belief in this fixture and that showed in the performance.

Ratings: Kepa (5), Fofana (5), Silva (5), Koulibaly (5), Chilwell (4), James (4), Enzo (5), Kovacic (4), Kante (5), Sterling (4), Felix (4). Subs: Cucerella (4), Havertz (5), Chalobah (5), Mount (4), Gallagher (4).