SOUTHAMPTON 2-1 CHELSEA
Chelsea goals: Sterling 23'
Southhampton goals: Lavia 28', Armstrong 45+1' (a: Perraud)
Chelsea subs: Kovacic (for Loftus-Cheek, 46'), Pulisic (for Havertz, 66'), Broja (for Azpilicueta, 66'), Chilwell (for Jorginho, 67').
I won't bother splitting up the team analysis, there really isn't a lot to praise in the team this game
When Tuchel first signed for Chelsea he famously said that "We will build a team that nobody wants to play against". After this game, in the post-match, he said "I don't think it takes a lot to beat us, and this I don't like".
The thing that annoys me is that I was very excited looking at the lineup - Ziyech back into the team, which means that Mount can move into more of a deeper midfield role in defense and gives him freedom to stay deeper or push upfield in attack. With that 11 we can play any combination of 3-4-3, 4-3-3 or 4-2-2-2, so the fluidity was very exciting to see.
Undoubtedly the first 20-25 mins were ours. Southhampton weren't really up to it and it allowed us to keep possession and set up some good moves within our attack, especially the front 4 of Sterling, Mount, Havertz and Ziyech. Sterling nabbed another goal from that central position
The goal felt deserved from us given our dominance but then from there it was typical Chelsea - the mentality just dropped and we allowed Southhampton to equalise (a very good goal), before getting a second just before half time.
The main pressing issue is the midfield. We simply just don't have enough quality depth to compete against teams. With this lineup, when Southhampton pressed through the midfield it was down to Jorginho and Ruben as the double pivot; Ruben isn't the best in those situations (better attacking upfield) and Jorginho has been prone to some mistakes recently. Sterling was often tracking back and trying to win back the ball when this happened but it wasn't really effective. From there the Saints had freedom on the ball and the oppurtunity to get shots on target.
Combine that with our poor mentality that came after going behind, and subs (aside from Broja) not really adding anything else to our attacking game, and it becomes an absolute throwaway game. We are good enough as a team to get a win from this game, yer we just aren't there. And as Tuchel put very well, it really doesn't take much to get a result against us.
Some positives to take - Silva had an amazing game as normal, saving us from conceding several more, Cucurella had a decent game too.
Broja coming off the bench was very positive, and I'd really like to see Mount and/or Havertz benched so that he can get some games in the team, because he was our best attacker yesterday by far. Ziyech as well, though he did drop off when we conceded, was a breath of fresh air in the attack.
You can just tell from the full time cheer from the Southhampton fans, how much it really meant to them. Hassenhuttl celebrating. We need to shape up pretty quickly. I'll be honest in saying I stopped watching large parts of the game because, to be fair, not a lot was missed. It looked like we just wanted the game to end and for the scoreline to stay where it was.
We've just signed Fofana, and we've now got a pretty strong defence, but that means nothing if we prevent ourselves from getting opened up like this, because our defensive line cannot do every single thing on the pitch.
Ideally I'd like a CDM and a ST before the window shuts tomorrow, but I have no idea how successful that's going to be. ST gives us some backup now that Werner is gone and is needed for some consistent goalscoring in this team. Tuchel can get the best out of Auba, who I think now is our best bet, even if just on loan. We also desperately need CDM cover as Kante continues to have fitness issues, plus it's worth noting Ruben went off injured in this game too, so our main options for the weekend game are Jorginho and Gallagher. As I'm writing this we've just inquired about Sangare from PSV, maybe a case of too little too late, but the player would be perfect for our situation. Just hope it's not another Saul situation.
West Ham at the weekend I am nervous about. We'll see what happens I suppose.
Ugh.