And breathe. A roller-coaster of a game that could have swung either way ended as an exhilarating (or exasperating, if your name starts with Antonio and ends with Conte) draw. Despite injury woes of their own, Roma were never going to be easy opposition and so it proved.
Here are the talking points from a Champions League match that ended in a 3-3 tie.
#1 Necessity is the Mother of Rotation
The absence of Moses and Kante coupled with the utter woefulness of Batshuayi and Willian meant it was, once again, the turn of David Luiz to fill the gaping hole in a midfield trio while Morata returned from his spell on the sidelines. Roma had the majority of possession despite the extra man in the Blues’ midfield. It didn’t matter, though, as Chelsea raced into an early 2-0 lead. That lead was then cut short due to one of the many brainfarts suffered by the Chelsea defence. Thankfully, the attack seemed to be in better shape than the defence, salvaging a draw from the jaws of certain defeat.
#2 We Need to Talk About Dave
Cesar Azpilicueta had a nightmare against Crystal Palace and if he hoped to redeem himself against Roma, he could not have been more wrong. Kolarov, of all people, left him for dead for Roma’s first goal and after that, Dave simply struggled to keep up with the game. After he was moved out to right wingback, his weaknesses became even more apparent. Conte needs to pull him aside and take him out of the firing line for a while, until he regains his composure. For the first time in his Chelsea career, Cesar Azpilicueta is desperately out of form.
#3 Eden vs Edin
Edin Dzeko, of Manchester City fame, has been in sensational form since moving to Italy and he continued his goalscoring streak with a well-taken brace. Eden Hazard, so anonymous against Palace, also took up the cudgels and brought the fight to Roma with a couple of good goals. One of the goals was a collectors’ item, scored with his head! Both players could have had a hat-trick, and Hazard seemed a little annoyed that he was hooked off for Willian. If he carries on like this, there will be plenty of opportunities for him to collect the match-ball.
#4 Defending Is For Chumps
We’ve just given up on defending, haven’t we? It’s beyond my intelligence to investigate why it’s all gone down the crapper, but Conte certainly seemed to have found the cause. After the match, the Italian admitted to having got his tactics wrong for this game, and it appeared that he’d seemingly sacrificed his own team’s playing style to match his opponents. Let’s hope he has enough personnel available to make the necessary adjustments for the next one. Speaking of which…
#5 More Injury Concerns – Part 67453
No Chelsea game ends without at least one fresh injury concern these days and so it happened again. David Luiz had to be replaced early in the second half with a possible calf injury and in his post-match comments, Conte also cast doubts over Bakayoko’s fitness. It’s a good thing we signed midfield cover in Danny Drinkwater (injured since he was signed, in case you didn’t know) for such contingencies over the course of a long season. And it is going to be a very long and a very difficult season, by the looks of it.
Next stop, a clash with high-flying Watford who currently sit above Chelsea in the table and Marco Silva will be hoping to add to his growing reputation with a win against the champions. Time to buck up those ideas and get back to winning ways.