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A slew of words may not be capable of recounting what happened at the Etihad Stadium when Chelsea visited Manchester City. Beaten? Thrashed? Battered? Not quite. Chelsea were scourged by Pep Guardiola's troop and were sent back to West London with a suitcase full of nightmares.
A hat-trick from Sergio Aguero it seems was enough to haunt the nightmares of many away players, but that was not all they had to face. A couple of beautifully crafted goals from Raheem Sterling and a solitary effort from Ilkay Gundogan tripled Chelsea's misery
Since the turn of the year, the Blues have lost three away league games on the trot, without having found the back of the net even once. In the same period, they have now shipped a total of 12 goals.
Right from the outset, City looked like a team ready to pounce on a bunch of ill-prepared professionals. They pushed the opposition on the back foot right from the third minute, when Sterling reacted to a loose ball in the box to fire home the opener.
What followed was absolute chaos from the Chelsea. Goals came rushing in, and the motivation levels dropped. As a result, the visitors left with nothingb to show for themselves. Subsequently, following their worst drubbing in over two decades, the Blues have now slipped to sixth place now the Premier League table.
On that note, let's look at the the three prime reasons behind Chelsea's shambolic defeat.
#3 Individual errors
If one were to ask Chelsea supporters to name one player to blame for the defeat, they'd point ten fingers each at Marcos Alonso. And for most who witnessed the game, it wouldn't be a far-fetched accusation.
Now let's break down the Spaniard's mistakes alone before the first goal. When Kevin De Bruyne stood in front of the dead ball, he sighted a run from Bernardo Silva. At that moment, for some inexplicable reason, Alonso kept jogging towards the center back. Silva received the ball and played it in and of course, Alonso didn't get back in time.
Given the six goals that were scored, Aguero's one-yard miss that shocked the world seems like a long time ago. However, consider this — when City were working the ball around the left flank, Aguero was in the center. Who was marking him? Alonso. The Argentine striker drifted to the far post, but Alonso stood deathly still.
Moving on to the skipper, Cesar Azpilicueta. The Spaniard, who is widely regarded as one of the most robust defenders in the league was done for by Raheem Sterling. The winger's pace, footwork and ability to deceive proved to be too hot to handle.
And how can we not mention Ross Barkley? When David Luiz leaped to head the ball to Barkley, the midfielder headed it back, hoping for either Antonio Rudiger or Kepa Arrizabalaga to make contact. Indeed, the one who made contact was Aguero. And you know what happened next.
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#2 Irresponsible midfield
It's not very often that you can say this, but N'Golo Kante arguably had the worst game of his career, as did barkley. Jorginho? Let's not even talk about it.
When it comes to Gundogan's goal, Kante had been following Aguero's trail when the ball was on the left wing. However, the forward raced away from under the Chelsea midfielder's nose and passed the ball back to Gundogan. Kante can be blamed for failing to sense any danger here.
We may have already spoken about Barkley's individual error, but going forward, he was a zero product player. A host of side and back passes was all he could amass. The same goes for Kante, who didn't play one through ball or a cross.
Chelsea's win against Huddersfield underpinned how crucial it is for the midfielders to move it around quicker and enjoy touches in the opposition box. Both of them have further ignited and reiterated this point through their display.
Jorginho, who was at the base of the midfield, was constantly put under pressure due to his lack of agility and pace. With a minimum of two light blue shirts around Jorginho and two others around the men beside him, the hosts plotted a midfield masterclass.
As a group — and as a trio — the midfielders allowed City to get into the final third with utmost ease. The same was highlighted in the first, second and fourth goal. (Sterling, Aguero, Gundogan)
#1 Lack of motivation from the forwards
The key to Sarri-ball is how closely Hazard, Pedro and a striker play with each other, followed by the midfielders, who occupy wider areas in the middle third of the pitch. This brand of football concerns a lot of detailing, which was clearly missing from the away side.
Hazard and Gonzalo Higuain did not exchange many passes, Pedro tried to wriggle through the opposition back line single-handedly, and apart from a few surging runs from Hazard, there was no ingredient that Sarri wishes to infuse in his philosophy, with respect to his forward players.
In the first half, Higuain played a brilliant back heel to Pedro, who should have reduced the deficit to just one goal. Instead, the Spanish winger hit it straight at Ederson. He had another chance, and once again, Pedro failed to ask a bigger question to the City custodian.
Hazard made a few remarkable runs and got the attack flowing, Higuain found himself in spaces on a couple of occasions, but those were all in the first half. In the second half, due to the burden of the score line, the Chelsea forwards chose not to respond. They lost the sense of urgency and determination in their game.
As a consequence, we saw just one shot on target in the second 45. While you cannot overly whip the blame on them, the front three should at least have given something to the away fans to cheer for and made City back pedal to an extent.
