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“He’s turned Chelsea into the Arsenal team that used to get battered for the last seven, eight years,” said Jamie Carragher on air about Maurizio Sarri as the Etihad Stadium witnessed probably Chelsea's biggest humiliation in Premier League history, at the hands of Manchester City.
After getting battered by Bournemouth, Chelsea responded with a 5-0 victory against Huddersfield. Manchester City were looking to top the Premier League after a 2-0 victory against Everton.
Sarri made two changes to the lineup as the fully-fit Antonio Rudiger came in for Andreas Christensen and Pedro started in place of Willian. Pep Guardiola benched Nicolas Otamendi and started Oleksandr Zinchenko in the left back position. Raheem Sterling replaced Leroy Sane, and Kevin De Bruyne replaced David Silva.
It took Manchester City just four minutes to take the lead as a pass from Bernardo Silva deflected off David Luiz and fell in the path of Sterling, who dashed in to open the scoring. Eight minutes later Aguero made up for a missed early chance with a stunning effort from outside the box. At the 19th minute, a terrible clearance from Ross Barkley found Aguero to perfection and he made no mistake by finishing calmly and giving City a 3-0 lead.
Just when it looked like things couldn’t get any worse for Chelsea, Ilkay Gundogan rubbed some salt on the wound with a decent strike from 20 yards to make it 4-0. With every passing minute, the noise at the Etihad got louder and after half time City supporters started chanting “You need Mourinho”.
In the second half, Sterling won a penalty which was converted by Aguero to bring up his 11th EPL hat-trick which is the most by any player in the league along with Alan Shearer. At the full-time whistle, the scoreline read 6-0 as City notched up one of the greatest victories in their history. Here are the three reasons why Manchester City beat Chelsea.
#1 City’s playing style
During the press conference before the match, Sarri heralded City as probably the best team in Europe and they showed the world how ruthless they can be on their day. This match was a fitting tribute to the way Guardiola has changed Manchester City as the immaculate passing and the midfield dominance reminded football fans of the glory days of Barcelona under Guardiola.
Right from the start, City played as a team and did everything perfectly. They pressed hard as a team and closed out the passing lanes for Jorginho with ease. Chelsea struggled to adapt accordingly and surrendered meekly. The City players ran circles around the Chelsea defence on the left flank as Cesar Azpilicueta and Rudiger had no clue on how to counter City’s strategy.
John Stones and Aymeric Laporte did their job to perfection and Fernandinho was at his usual best. With this performance, Manchester City sent a clear message to their title rivals Liverpool and Guardiola would have been very pleased with the style of football on display.
#2 Chelsea’s lack of response
After every league defeat this season, Sarri has constantly talked about Chelsea’s mental weakness and how his players give up quickly. This lack of mental toughness troubled Chelsea yet again and they looked lost on the pitch after Aguero scored the second goal.
It is natural to get a bit upset when the opposition is playing so well but in this match, the Chelsea players never even created a decent chance to strike from inside the box which is unforgivable at this level. The much-maligned Jorginho was once again bullied by the opposition midfielders. Without Jorginho’s contribution, Chelsea were going nowhere with their attacking plays and ended up losing the ball easily in the midfield.
There was very little off the ball movement from the Chelsea forwards and at half time, the whole Chelsea team looked lifeless. They played marginally better in the second half but at that point, the humiliation was already complete.
#3 The Sarri-ball
No manager in the top tier of European football insists on playing a particular brand of football as much as Sarri and his inability to adapt resulted in Chelsea getting destroyed at the hands of Manchester City.
When you are playing against a team managed by a genius like Guardiola, not having a plan B is utter suicide and Sarri paid a hefty price for his lack of planning. Sarri’s system relies a lot on Jorginho and once Manchester City pocketed him, Chelsea went out of options and they struggled to move the ball forward to Eden Hazard and Gonzalo Higuain.
Chelsea made a tactical blunder by picking Marcos Alonso who lacks the pace and creativity to provide overlapping runs on the left flank. His usage of N'Golo Kante has raised a few eyebrows and he could have played him in a defensive midfield role in the second half to minimise the damage. Unless he changes his strategy, he will be making way for a new manager this summer.
