Five underperforming Chelsea players responsible for slump in form

Aditya Devavrat 01:01 07/02/2018
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  • Chelsea have slumped to back-to-back three-goal losses.

    Chelsea‘s 4-1 loss to Watford on Monday night came after a 3-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth in midweek, marking this the first time since 1995 that the Blues have lost by three goals in back-to-back games. Of course, that means that owner Roman Abramovich has never seen such poor form, and thus it’s no surprise that there are suggestions the notoriously trigger-happy Russian could sack manager Antonio Conte.

    Conte led the team to the Premier League title last season, and as of now he’s likely to keep his job, but the drastic collapse in form he’s overseen is shocking.

    But, as captain Gary Cahill said after Monday’s loss, that’s partly down to the players as well. Here are five underperforming stars who have cost Chelsea this season.

    GARY CAHILL

    The Chelsea captain’s form has visibly dipped this season, after he’d been a bulwark during the title-winning campaign. Statistically, his tackles won per 90 minutes are higher this time around (1.13 to 1.09) – but, significantly, so is his tackles lost stat (1.31 to 0.96). And as those numbers show, unlike last season, this year he’s losing more tackles than he’s winning over the course of a full game.

    Cahill fails to pass the eye test, as well. While ostensibly he’s actually made fewer errors this season, sometimes you can see how that stat belies the truth. On Monday night, for example, Cahill was partially at fault for all four of Watford goals, without actually contributing a statistical “error”. He was slow to read the pass that completely took him out of the game for the Hornets’ penalty, and then backed off and looked too scared to put a tackle in for Watford’s next three goals. The indecision in situations which require a defender to take command is costing Chelsea.

    Captain Cahill has been less than solid at the heart of defence.

    Captain Cahill has been less than solid at the heart of defence.

    TIEMOUE BAKAYOKO

    It would be difficult to find a worse 30-minute display than Tiemoue Bakayoko‘s on Monday. He misplaced four of the 12 passes he attempted, and was dispossessed seven times. Time after time, his first touch let him down – and twice, it led him into poor tackles. Both times, he saw a yellow card, and thus Conte’s preferred midfield enforcer was sent off having done little by way of enforcing or playing as a quality midfielder.

    It’s understandable that the Frenchman would struggle in his first season in the Premier League, and it’s quite likely that next season onwards, he’ll be a better player. But Monday night’s performance was a culmination, not an aberration – Bakayoko has been poor on multiple occasions, and his play has affected N’Golo Kante’s form as well.

    Tiemoue Bakayoko's poor season culminated in Monday's sending off.

    Tiemoue Bakayoko’s poor season culminated in a red card.

    PEDRO

    While Pedro often gets the nod over Willian, with the prevailing wisdom from Conte this season seemingly that the Spaniard is more reliable, the facts don’t back that up. Across the board, the Pedro of this season is worse than the Pedro of last season. Fewer goals scored, assists, and chances created per 90 minutes, and although his passing accuracy as a percentage has gone up, he’s playing fewer successful passes – which means he’s either playing less risky passes, or his overall involvement has gone down.

    Significantly, his assists and chances created stats this season are also lower than Willian’s, which means Conte’s faith in him seems unjustified.

    Pedro is often the preferred option in attack - but why?

    Pedro is often the preferred option in attack – but why?

    ALVARO MORATA

    Alvaro Morata came to Chelsea with a lot of hype, and it was justified – his scoring record with Real Madrid was phenomenal, and the criticism that a lot of his goals came against weaker teams was offset by the fact that he’d scored in the latter stages of the Champions League, including in a final.

    But after a strong start to this season, Morata hit a slump that he has not been able to overcome, so far. He hadn’t scored in his previous six games before picking up an injury late last month, and that’s after he’d already had a six-game goal drought once before in the season. In fact, since scoring a hat-trick against Stoke in September, he’s found the back of the net just six times in 24 appearances.

    One goal in every four games is not the form Chelsea were hoping for.

    One goal in every four games is not the form Chelsea were hoping for.

    DAVID LUIZ

    This is the most surprising. David Luiz was the linchpin of Conte’s three-man defence, the player that made the switch to a back three work and thus was instrumental to Chelsea’s title run. Six months later, and there was even talk that he could be shipped off to Arsenal as part of the deal that brought Olivier Giroud to Stamford Bridge. That didn’t happen, of course, but Luiz had already been dropped from the squad before that.

    He’s played only 10 of the 26 Premier League games Chelsea have had so far this season, and while he’s missed some through suspension and injury, it’s clear that Conte lost faith with his star defender. Like Cahill, Luiz is losing more tackles than he’s winning this season (2.47 to 1.18 per 90 minutes), although that was true last year as well – but the difference has become starker. He’s also made more errors, as the inconsistency that plagued his first spell at Chelsea has returned.

    David Luiz's regression has arguably been the costliest.

    David Luiz’s regression has arguably been the costliest.

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