Man City 1 - 0 Chelsea - 切爾西足球俱樂部 Chelsea Football Club

Man City 1 - 0 Chelsea

Kevin De Bruyne 70'

6 Shots on Target 1
5 Shots off Target 3
9 Corners 1
11 Fouls 6
3 Offsides 4
1 Saves 5
0 Yellow Cards 2
56% Possession 44%










Cards
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7' Marcos Alonso
32' Mateo Kovacic





球場: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
觀眾: 53,319
開賽: 12:30 Sat, 15 Jan 2022
主裁: Craig Pawson




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https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2022/01/16/
the-debrief--compact-defence-foils-man-city-forwards--but-it-s-n

The Debrief: Compact defence foils Man City forwards, but it's not enough
in narrow defeat

16 Jan 2022


Chelsea were unable to halt Manchester City's run of victories in the
Premier League, but the statistics show how close our tactics came to
succeeding and reveal a much closer game than it may have appeared.


https://i.imgur.com/HnKp3Gf.png


You couldn't fault the effort or the commitment of the Blues on Saturday,
but it wasn't enough to prevent Man City recording their 12th win in a row
in the Premier League, even if we came closer than anyone to being the
first visitors to leave the Etihad Stadium with a point since October, a
feat only two teams have managed all season.


We had to do a lot of defending over the 90 minutes, with the
concentration levels required adding mental fatigue to the physical
exertions of the last few weeks, and in the end the pressure we had
withstood for much of the game told, as Kevin De Bruyne scored the only
goal of the game with a curling shot from outside the box.


Thomas Tuchel said after the match he felt we had deserved a point for our
efforts at nullifying City's threat, and the statistics tend to back up
our head coach's view, showing how close we came to doing what nobody has
done for nearly three months by picking up points away at the Etihad
Stadium.


== Fresher legs tell ==


There is never a good time to play the league leaders, but it's fair to
see this match didn't come at the ideal time, with a well-rested
Manchester City playing their first game for over a week, while Chelsea
were taking to the pitch for the third time in the same eight-day period,
following our midweek exertions in the Carabao Cup semi-final win over
Tottenham Hotspur.


City inevitably used that extra energy and their home advantage to control
possession for long spells, although probably not by as much as it
appeared at first viewing, but their 56 per cent possession still left us
working hard to try and keep them at arm's length.


https://i.imgur.com/bOV3gMO.jpg


Acknowledging that fact, Thomas Tuchel's team attempted to ration our
energy by employing a tactic similar to that used with such success by
England at last summer's European Championship, coming out quickly at the
start of each half to try and make an impact before our opponents could
settle into their rhythm.


It nearly paid off, especially in the second half, with three of our four
shots coming inside to first five minutes after half-time, including the
closest we came to scoring. If Ederson hadn't managed to palm away Romelu
Lukaku's effort with a great save right at the start of the second half,
it would have been 1-0 to Chelsea and a very different 45 minutes that
followed. In contrast, our opponents didn't manage an attempt at goal in
the opening 10 minutes of either half.


https://i.imgur.com/3ea1Gts.jpg


== Denying opportunities ==


Manchester City's plan was clear, using a trio of quick, skilful attackers
to try and break our defensive line and open up spaces in the penalty
area. Phil Foden operated in a free role, trying to tempt our centre-backs
to follow him into deep positions to expose gaps for Jack Grealish and
Raheem Sterling to attack from the channels.


Thankfully Thiago Silva was far too experienced and disciplined to fall
for that trap, holding his ground and organising those around him to keep
our defensive wall intact, while passing Foden off to our midfield when he
strayed too far, resulting in N'Golo Kante playing much closer to our
defensive line than usual to prevent any space forming in that area for
Foden to exploit.


That left City's wingers looking to find gaps between our centre-backs and
wing-backs from wide positions, with just 19 per cent of their attacks
taking place down the middle of the pitch, as opposed to 37 per cent on
the left and 44 per cent on the right.


It took a real team effort to stop them creating clear chances through
that method, with Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso forming the first
line of defence, while Antonio Rudiger and Malang Sarr covered their backs
ready to step in quickly if the wingers managed to find a yard to use
their pace or tried to exploit the spaces behind our wing-backs on the
counter.


https://i.imgur.com/3A8xL2V.jpg


Kante and Mateo Kovacic also played a key role here, especially the
Croatian in the case of keeping Sterling penned in on our left flank.
Kovacic's clever positioning helped block the inside channel and ensure
any pass to Sterling's feet would need to be wide and out of harm's way,
and denying City the chance to play through-balls between our defenders
for the pacey attacker to run onto.


https://i.imgur.com/jnaGNxI.png


The important role the midfield pair of Kante and Kovacic played in
helping our defence close those spaces is clear by the fact the Frenchman
made the highest number of tackles in the match, joint with Azpilicueta on
five, while Kovacic was close behind with four.


== Looking for the out ball ==


Finding ourselves in the unusual situation of having less possession than
our opponents, with 37 per cent of the game played in our third of the
pitch, and facing a relentless high press, there was a more direct
approach on display from the Blues, similar to that we had seen at
Tottenham earlier in the week.


https://i.imgur.com/gHNDHOC.png


However, while in north London the emphasis was mostly on Lukaku to hold
up the ball in a central position, City's high defensive line called for
something a bit different, as the Belgian was corralled into our own half
to stay onside. Instead, we looked to exploit the space behind their
attacking full-backs.


With Kyle Walker's pace making that difficult, it was Christian Pulisic
bursting into the areas vacated by the attack-minded Joao Cancelo down our
right that we looked to, with the likes of Thiago Silva keeping an eye
open for opportunities to release the American early with long balls and
Azpilicueta helping to support him. That explains why 43 per cent of our
own attacks came down that side, with Pulisic and Azpilicueta accounting
for two of our three key passes in Manchester, Kovacic providing the other.

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