Coming up against an in-form Borussia Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park was never going to be an easy task and so it proved as Chelsea fought hard in a fierce, narrow 1-0 loss to Edin Terzic’s side that saw 10 yellow cards dished out.
Here are 3 lessons learnt as Potter’s first UCL knockout tie ends in defeat…
Attacking line shows promise but still lacks the clinical edge :
Due to the UCL’s squad restriction of not being able to add more than 3 new players after the winter window, Potter’s hands were forced to take huge decisions, one being to drop striker Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and one might wonder what would have happened tonight if Aubameyang was not dropped from the squad, given Chelsea’s missed chances.
With the inclusion of marquee new signings Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and loan signing Joao Felix, Potter got a seemingly upgraded attack line for the knockout stages of the UCL.
Bedding the new signings into the team and having them invested into the style of play is never a quick fix but Potter seems to have fast tracked the connection between the attacking players of the team as Chelsea showed some good combinations in Germany. Playing in a 4-4-2 system, Potter positioned Joao Felix just behind lead striker Kai Havertz while Mudryk played as a left sided midfielder in the midfield 4 with Enzo sitting alongside RLC in the midfield pivot.
Despite BVB early pressure, Chelsea did grow into the game and created good chances on the break with some nice combination play from Felix, Mudryk, Enzo and the rest of the attack line (Kai and Ziyech). With Chilwell and Recce James joining the attack when licensed to go forward, Chelsea did look really threatening on occasions.
Boasting an xG (expected goals) of 2.13 from 21 shots, inefficiency and a stellar showing from BVB’s goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel made sure Chelsea left Signal Iduna Park with nothing but misses (3 big chances missed). With the return leg in a fortnight’s time, Potter will be hoping to have his attackers firing on all cylinders as Chelsea hope to overturn the tie to progress to the quarterfinals.
Left side now a point of target for opponents :
As previously highlighted in this piece, Potter has more often than not utilized a 4-4-2 system since the close of the winter transfer window. Playing the 4-4-2 system has seen Mudryk occupy the left midfield role and the Ukrainian has struggled to impact games since his winter move from Ukraine’s Shaktar Donetsk.
Mudryk often struggles to track his opposing full back’s run leaving a huge gap between himself and the starting left back, with teams now beginning to spot that weakness and looking to utilize the space in behind the former Shaktar man. West Ham at the weekend, Fulham prior to that, and now Dortmund all showed concentrated efforts in attacking Chelsea’s left hand side and that has seen both Chilwell and Cucurella struggle defensively in recent matches.
Potter surely has to think deep and look to affect changes with games of huge importance still to come.
Enzo needs a defensive partner:
Enzo Fernandez since joining Chelsea has been paired with: Gallagher, Mount against Fulham, then RLC in the last two games, but neither pairings have worked. Sitting deepest against Fulham, Enzo did show his passing range and ability to find players in behind opposition’s defence with accuracy but his struggle against Fulham in transition and building back made Potter revert to a midfield two, bringing in RLC for Gallagher.
Partnered by RLC, Enzo Fernandez often has to initiate the press in midfield as the Cobham graduate doesn’t have the “legs” to lead a press and his poor defensive reading of situations often means Enzo needs to track back doing an extra job of the team’s DM despite playing a little higher than RLC in their respective average positions per game.
With RLC doing his most with a decent outing against Dortmund; 3 tackles (most for Chelsea), 5/8 ground duels won and 8 recoveries. While Enzo his partner garnered; 2/2 tackles, 3/9 ground duels won, 6 recoveries and 1 block. All pointing to the need of a more defence-minded partner needed for the Argentine.
Man of The Match – Joao Felix- 7/10.
Next up for Chelsea is a return to domestic action as they square up against Southampton on Saturday at Stamford Bridge with kick off scheduled for 3pm UK time.
