Football Update: A Few Observations from Chelsea vs. Manchester City game
One loss in six games and there are only suggestions that Chelsea are no more than flat track bullies. The statement can’t really be argued as Chelsea’s first five games were all against lowly oppositions like Wigan, West Ham, Blackpool and Newcastle and
when presented with their first real challenge of the season, the free scoring Chelsea failed miserably.
In the match against City, Chelsea looked uninspired, flat and far from the prolific, swashbuckling champions. One could argue the fact that a few of their players were out injured but for a team like Chelsea that can’t really qualify as an excuse for a
show as dismal as this.
On a drab day when the players look to their manager for inspired substitutions they were let down by Carlo Ancelotti, as out of three substitutions one was simply mind-baffling, one curious and just un-understandable. Trailing one-nil and going into the
final half an hour of the game, Yuri Zhirkov replaced Obi Mikel and Chelsea looked good going forward all of a sudden but that was neutralized with the substitution of Josh McEacheran, who was asked to sit in front of the defence as the game approached the
finish line. However, the most mid baffling or perhaps even stupid change was the withdrawal of Didier Drogba for Daniel Sturridge. Drogba was not injured or tired and he has shown plenty of times that he can change the game in an instant with sheer individual
brilliance and withdrawing your biggest goal threat was perhaps stupid on the Italian’s part.
On the other hand, Mancini’s tactics paid off remarkable in the game. The City manager has often been criticized for employing three holding midfielders and out of the three Yaya Toure is given the license to attack. The ploy is not a very smart one from
Mancini but against Chelsea, it worked. There is no guarantee that it will work in future too but when a player like Toure is leading the creative impetus from the midfield further illustrates the fact that how abysmal Chelsea were in the game. Toure is no
Makelele or Xavi, or Iniesta and against Chelsea on the weekend, he still pulled the strings masterfully.
Another tactic that worked remarkably well for Mancini was the deployment of Carlos Tevez in the role of a lone striker. Although Tevez is best suited of all the strikers in the team for the position but one aspect of the game that Tevez still has to master
is his heading and when playing as the lone striker you just can’t not be lacking. The tactic can surely work sometimes but it surely limits the attacking options of the team.
Although the win will go a long way in establishing City’s credentials in the league but this is a City team that is still in progress and they are far from a finished article. The still are a bunch of sublimely talented individuals who still have to get
to know each other on the pitch and learn to play collectively as a cohesive unit.
David Silva is of course one of the most prodigious talents that City bought in the summer but he is still slightly off the electric pace of the Premier League. He has the skill and talent for sure, as a few of his touches demonstrated against Chelsea but
the Spaniard still has a trick or two to learn if he is to become successful in the English Premier League.
Finally it was very difficult to figure out which set of fans it was that sang at the top of their lungs
“where were you when you were s**t?” but the taunt would equally suit both the teams.
Tags: