After the chastening defeat against Brighton on Saturday, Chelsea bounced back to wining ways against Dinamo Zagreb.
Here are the lessons learnt from Stamford Bridge as Blues end group phase with 2-1 win.
✓ Slow Start By Blues Gets Punished :
Starting off with a solid team on paper and expected to win quite easily despite already securing top spot in the group, it was a rather slow start for the host tonight as Zagreb caught the Blues napping with some sloppy plays affording the Croatian champions the chance to take a shock lead and give her rapturous fans some glimpse of hope of retaining their spot in Europe via the Europa league.
With Chelsea struggling to stamp her authority early on, Zagreb playing with an higher intensity took the lead after Petkovic got free in the box before he powered an header which beat Mendy in the Chelsea goal. Chelsea did however recover from the slow start and took control of proceedings from there henceforth before getting back on track and in front for the remainder of the half and game in entirety.
With Arsenal visiting next, Potter will hope his Chelsea team comes out flying and smoking hot from the onset till the last blast of the whistle in order to stand any chance of a positive result from the highflying North Londoners.
✓ Jorginho Shines Quietly :
A performance rather quiet but highly effective like that of Jorginho’s performance against Zagreb mostly goes under the radar with few or no one spotting the influence he had on this team on such days. Playing in his usual deep role alongside debutants Zakaria, Jorginho dictated play and sprung passes around with efficacy of the highest volume.
Having a hand albeit not directly in both goals, Jorginho’s influence outweighs his hand in both goals as the Italian kept the Blues ticking. Having a pass accuracy of 93%, Jorginho showed his level with the ball but looked solid while chasing after it also as the former Napoli man recorded an 80% success rate of his ground duels and 100% success rate of his aerial duel.
✓ Zakaria Makes a Statement :
Appearing in Chelsea’s colours for the first time since his move in the summer, Dennis Zakaria wouldn’t have imagined himself waiting as long as November before making his debut.
With reports of his rustiness circulating wide in the media, Graham Potter deployed Zakaria deep alongside Jorginho in what appeared to be a loop-sided 3 man midfield with Mount completing the trio.
Dennis Zakaria did look the part for the majority of the time he was on the pitch by keeping things simple (98% pass accuracy) and got rewarded when he found himself on the edge of the box with a loose ball and a swift powerful strike followed to ensure the Swiss got a goal in his debut.
As solid as Zakaria did look (7 recoveries), there were times he lacked the fitness to apply pressure on the opposition with his low intensity runs and delay on the ball on one occasion which needed the intervention of Kalidou Koulibaly.
His positions on the pitch while Chelsea were in possession were sometimes also called into questioning as he often failed to pick up the right pockets of spaces with Chilwell and Jorginho often seen directing him on areas he needed to occupy. The evident flaws exhibited in this game is to be expected though, especially from a man who only played his first game of the season.
More is certain to be expected from the former Gladbach man if he remains fit and works harder to get his full match rhythm up to the standards of premium competition in the Premier league.
Zakaria exited the pitch with what looked like cramps before he was replaced by RLC on the 71st minute.
Man Of The Match; Jorginho 9/10
Next up for Chelsea is a huge home tie against Arsenal. 12pm UK Time on Sunday.
