Maresca must now sack Chelsea star 4/10 who was ‘abused’

Chelsea suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat away to Manchester City on Saturday night.

Although the Blues took the lead at the Etihad Stadium, they could not capitalize on their early advantage, allowing City to claw their way back into the game before the Premier League champions killed them off in the second half.

It was a bizarre way for Chelsea to take the lead, which they managed to do in the third minute of the game. Citizens signing Abdukodir Khusanov mistimed a header towards City goalkeeper Ederson. Nicolas Jackson pounced on the loose ball and immediately passed it to Noni Madueke who made it 1-0.

City equalized just three minutes before halftime, when Joško Guardiol pounced on a loose ball after a one-on-one in the penalty area. They took the lead in disastrous fashion from Chelsea’s point of view, with Erling Haaland getting behind and lobbing goalkeeper Roberto Sanchez, who was caught horribly off his line.

Just like before half-time, City scored three minutes from time, this time through Phil Foden. The Englishman was given the end of the break by Haaland, before running through and heading home relatively unchallenged.

It was a disappointing day’s work for the West Londoners, who failed to capitalize on an early advantage. Sanchez had a particularly bad afternoon.

Sanchez’s stats against Man City

It’s been a very poor season for Spanish goalkeeper Sanchez so far, but his exit at the Etihad Stadium was perhaps his biggest disappointment. It all looked at sea against a City attack that could have scored four or five on another day.

Sanchez had a close-range effort against new City man Omar Marmoush, but his shot was ruled out for offside. Arguably his biggest mistake was on Haaland’s goal, where he was caught in no man’s land off his line, meaning all the Norwegian striker had to do was lob it from 15 yards.

He got a 3/10 for his performance from Malik Ouzija, a reporter for The Standard. He described Sanchez’s position for Haaland’s shot as ‘confusing’, before explaining it was ‘a miracle he’s holding his shirt’ in the Chelsea goal.

Really, his Sofascore statistics from full time show just how bad the Blues number one was. He prevented -0.68 goals and made one error that led to a goal. He completed only eight of 26 long ball attempts.

With Filip Jorgensen also an option for Enzo Maresca between the posts, it remains to be seen whether Sanchez will be dropped for Chelsea’s next outing. Someone in a similar boat is a defender Levi Colwill.

Colwill’s stats against Man City

Colwill may have been as bad, if not arguably worse, than Sanchez against the Citizens. Football content creator Rory suggested that Haaland “bullied” the Englishman, a good example being the fact that the City star kept out Colwill before putting Foden in for City’s third.

His rating from Ouzia was only slightly better than Sanchez’s, with the Chelsea defender scoring 4/10. The Standard journalist also agreed with the fact that he was “violent”, and criticized him for the mistake that almost gifted Haaland another goal.

Colwill’s stats from the game were a disappointing summary of his evening’s work in East Manchester. The English representative won only one of three aerial duels, made one mistake that led to a shot and lost the ball eight times.

Just like in goal, Maresca has options in defense if he wants to drop Colwill. The Italian could bring in youngster Josh Acheampong, Frenchman Axel Disasi or former City academy member Tosin Adarabio.

He certainly has a big decision to make before the next game, with the options available to him, and it would be hard to argue against the decision to drop Colwill. Whatever Maresca decides to do, he will be hoping his team can bounce back with a win next time around.