So, the Chelsea vs PSG game has been balanced, and when I say balanced, the first half ended with Chelsea winning. PSG equalised, I think in the 52nd or 54th minute. Since then, it has been a balanced game. Both sides have been controlling, with fluid passages of play.
The lineup with Chalobah and Fofana as centre-backs, and Cucurella playing left centre-back, has been balanced, to say the least. James and Caicedo in the pivots has also been standard, nothing out of the ordinary. They’ve controlled the midfield.
João Pedro has had an awful game, in the sense that he’s been double-marked. I wouldn’t blame him, but he looks exhausted, like he’s giving up. And I can’t blame Maresca for not bringing the sub on right now, because he’s nowhere near João Pedro’s level. João Pedro is being double and triple-marked right now because he’s in form. He’s the most in-form player in the team. Cole Palmer on the wing, trying to cut in, hasn’t been the most effective either.
Pedro Neto gave the assist for Enzo Fernández’s equalizer, Chelsea’s second goal. If you see this and think there is a way forward, I would say maybe going long and beating PSG’s press, because they’re a very good side. That was the only time Jørgensen made a longer pass, but it was longer than needed, and João Pedro couldn’t bring it under control. So it’s more about making those runs. Building up from the back is definitely not working, nothing to write home about. Variety is absolutely needed right now.
Watching this game, I would say it’s been equilibrium for a good part of it, right up until around the 73rd minute. Both teams have been pressing and attempting to score, but no clear chances and nothing yet.
But in the 73rd minute, an error from Jørgensen triggers the collapse. He was looking to pass out to Fofana, but Fofana was far out to his right and he couldn’t locate him. That mistake was the trigger for this defeat, the turning point, the moment where everything just fell to pieces. A cheap goal can be demoralizing, and I don’t think these boys have the spirit to fight back when going down in the last quarter of the game. I didn’t feel the pressure from them. So I think that’s what actually triggered the beating.
This is my observation so far. It’s the 85th minute, and right now it’s PSG 3, Chelsea 2, due to an error from Jørgensen. I’ll record the rest of the match as voice notes as it goes on.
At the 77th minute, Palmer had an opportunity to play the perfect weighted through ball to Enzo Fernández, because Enzo was making a diagonal run to stay onside. All Palmer needed to do was lay that perfect through ball. He has the ability to do that, but he decided to go another way. Why he made that decision, I will never know. I really don’t want to put it down to selfishness, because I don’t think Palmer is that sort of player. But that moment right there was a potential turning point, and it would have been a turning point. It’s a different story if Enzo doesn’t convert his chance, but he was onside. Enzo was onside. Palmer needed to make that pass. He has the vision to do it. It’s within his skill set, nothing extraordinary, but why he didn’t make that pass at the 77th minute is beyond me.
What was Maresca thinking when he decided to bring on Lavia and Delap for João Pedro and Cole Palmer in the 82nd minute? I can maybe justify taking Palmer off. He’s still not back to that Palmer of two seasons ago, the Palmer of the first half of last season. He’s still not that guy. So I can understand taking him off to introduce a fresh set of legs and perspective at the latter end of the game. But what was Lavia supposed to do in a one-goal deficit? We’re 3-2 down. Are you not looking to attack? Are you not looking to still explore your chances? Are you not looking to convert when you eventually get it?
I understand João Pedro may be exhausted, but if there’s anybody who had a good chance of converting a new opportunity, it was João Pedro on that pitch. Give us a fighting chance by leaving him on. Lavia and Delap, that substitution failed at that turning point. It changed the course of the game. It did not help us. It took us very, very far away from where we needed to be. That substitution was wrong, Maresca. It was completely wrong. Learn from this moment.
So, Delap came on, and like I said, why was he coming on in this game? He was not going to change anything. He’s miles apart from João Pedro’s standard right now; they are on completely different planes. He had no business coming on in this game. He had an attempt, and had the option to do a simple cutback, but decided to go it alone as a striker, and it wasn’t even on target. He was no more than 12 yards from goal, maybe even 10 yards from the post, and it still wasn’t on target. There was not much pressure from the defender either. That’s just how awful Delap can be. I don’t blame him, no disrespect, but he’s definitely not at Chelsea’s standard. He’s definitely not on that level.
Then Kvaratskhelia came in for Doué for PSG, and he was just a thorn in the flesh. He came in and scored goals in less than 20 minutes, insane. He had this wonderful strike. James was dilly-dallying on the ball, a PSG player pinched it from him, and Kvaratskhelia gave one absolute belter, one of those great goals you can’t blame the goalkeeper for. It was a great shot. The boys looked exhausted, really, really tired.
At some point, Jørgensen clearly didn’t learn from his earlier errors. He still played something close to another terrible pass out from the back. They were offside, so disaster was averted, but he almost made a second costly mistake. That’s how bad he was. He actually had a passing accuracy of, I think, 67%. He was making short passes for most of the game, that is awful. Enzo Maresca has to tell him: it’s fine to make long passes. You don’t have to always pass out from the back, especially when PSG’s press is extraordinary, high, strong, and intense. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Play the long pass. Try other options.
The late sub came on, but was quiet. At this point it was 4-2, difficult to come back from, but possible. Difficult, but possible.
Then at the 93rd minute, in extra time, there was an incident outside the pitch involving a ball boy and Pedro Neto, which delayed the restart. PSG then started a counterattack. Hakimi gave a simple cutback to Kvaratskhelia, who fired it in. It wasn’t even a great shot for a player of his level, but Jørgensen couldn’t save it. How can you be a shot-stopper and not stop that? How can you be that bad? I think it’s time to try a lower club, because this is really awful. If you come back from this, fair play, but yeah, you let yourself down badly.
And this makes me appreciate Robert Sanchez even more. Even if he can be awful with distribution from the back, and those passes can be decisive in the wrong way, he is still one of the best shot-stoppers I’ve seen. He would definitely have saved that shot. That I’m certain of.
It is what it is. The game ends PSG 5, Chelsea 2, complete self-destruction. The Jørgensen errors triggered it. There was a great goal at 3-2, Kvaratskhelia’s, I could have accepted that. But those other two goals were completely avoidable. If you’re going to win the Premier League, if you’re going to win the Champions League, if you’re going to beat big teams, those are saves we should be making. I don’t see how we come back from this with the second leg at the Bridge next Tuesday. But yeah, I guess we’ll see how that goes. Thank you.