Chelsea had the chance to progress into the quarterfinals of the FA Cup if they could be Man City at the Etihad Stadium. Man City however, dominated us and deservedly won the match. We struggled in attack and our defense, notably missing John Terry was extremely poor. We basically started the same team tonight, as 2 weeks ago where as City, had many notable changes to the line-up. We clearly lacked intensity in the midfield, leading us to only having 2 shots all match. This allowed City to tweak their tactics and control the match. Here are my player ratings for the match:
Petr Cech- 6.5/10
Cech had an extremely poor match by his standards. He fumbled the ball a couple times, and was lucky that Jovetic couldn’t convert the chance.
Branislav Ivanovic-7/10
Ivanovic was just about our best defender in this match, even though this clearly wasn’t one of his better performances. His attack was very poor, and he couldn’t have the same impact he made 2 weeks ago, as Silva, and Milner both defended against him well.
David Luiz- 6.5/10
David had an extremely lackluster performance against City. He dived into challenges, was caught out of position and he couldn’t keep his concentration at all. He can be blamed for the second goal, as he did not play the whistle, and allowed Nasri to stroll past him.
Gary Cahill -7/10
Although Gary was under an injury cloud leading up to the match, but he still looked lost out on the pitch. After the showing at West Brom, and this match, it’s clear to me, Gary needs John terry to bring the best out of him. He did make a couple good interceptions and last ditch tackles, but he was still poor today.
Cesar Azpilicueta- 7/10
Dave had an average game tonight. He did not attack, and his defense was only average. He should of defended better against Jovetic, when he scored the first goal for City.
Nemanja Matic-7/10
Matic was the biggest let down for me today. He seemed lethargic and dull, and Yaya Toure made a mess of him in the midfield. Two weeks ago, Matic was the MOTM, and kept Toure under raps with ease. This, in my opinion is why City won so easily today.
John Obi Mikel- 8/10
I’m not Mikel’s biggest fan, but he impressed me today. We never really got into the swing of things, and we were caught off the pace of the match but Mikel kept trying and broke down the City attack. Mikel was frustrating Toure and was Chelsea’s best player.
Ramires- 6.5/10 (Subbed off 60th minute for Torres)
We saw the best and worst of Ramires against City. He was awful in possession of the ball. His touch was very poor, and passing was wayward. He often gave away possession but he was the first person to win the ball back. His defense was very good which surprised me.
Willian- 7/10 (Subbed off 70th minute for Oscar)
Willian is obviously suffering from fatigue. He made a great start for Chelsea, but the past 3 weeks or so, he has seemed to be very tired. This has caused his attack to be sloppy, his shooting was woeful and his final pass was often off its mark.
Eden Hazard-7.5/10
Hazard is another player who has seemed to struggle from fatigue the past two matches. Hazard couldn’t contribute to the Chelsea attack and Zabaleta, with Milner kept Hazard quite.
Samuel Eto’o- 7/10 (Subbed off at half time for Salah)
Eto’o couldn’t get involved in the first half, but that was from a lack of service. Unless he was injured, I cannot for the life of me understand why he would be subbed off at half time, for Salah, a diminutive winger. I would of kept Eto’o on, and played him alongside Torres as a 2 man striking partnership.
Used Subs:
Mohammed Salah- 6/10
Salah could not involve himself at all in the 45 minutes he played. In fairness, he was playing out of position for 15 or so minutes.
Fernando Torres- 7/10
I’m not sure why Torres didn’t start this match as he would be a lot fresher than Eto’o and as he played very well the first time these 2 teams met this season. Again, Torres suffered from a lack of service from the midfield but when he did get the ball, he tried to attack the line.
Oscar 7/10
Oscar is another player who I feel should have been substituted on earlier in the match. He wasn’t too bad when he came on but the team as a whole played like a substandard side.
