Fewer touches than Sanchez: Chelsea man who made 5 passes all game let Poch down
After a disappointing away day in the Northwest on Wednesday evening versus Manchester United, Chelsea travelled to Goodison Park today, where they were defeated 2-0 by Everton.
Abdoulaye Doucoure opened the scoring just after the break, following up from a Dominic Calvert-Lewin missed opportunity to fire low past the helpless Robert Sanchez. Chelsea upped the ante after conceding the opener, but they struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities.
Toffees youngster, Lewis Dobbin, came off the bench to secure the three points and score his first senior goal for Sean Dyche’s side, which concluded yet another setback for Mauricio Pochettino, with his Chelsea team sitting in 12th in the Premier League table.
Chelsea’s stats vs Everton
The Blues enjoyed the majority of the ball as expected, bossing 71% possession in the first half according to Sofascore. Everton offered very little in terms of attacking threat before the break, accumulating 0.11 XG and registering two attempts at goal. Benoit Badiashile and Axel Disasi dealt with the physicality and movement of Calvert-Lewin with ease.
Chelsea also looked like the most likely side to open the scoring, registering five attempts at goal and earning five corners. Cole Palmer had three attempts from almost the same spot, cutting inside onto his stronger left foot and unleashing each strike just outside the box.
Pochettino would have hoped that his half-time team talk inspired his side to push on and collect three points. Instead, Chelsea went a goal behind after Everton came out flying.
From that point on, Dyche set up his usual low block with the view of holding onto their one goal lead, the onus was on Chelsea and their creative players to pull the Toffees apart. Therefore, Chelsea racked up even more possession than the first period, 73%, and they had no choice but to commit players forward.
In fairness to the away side, they can’t be faulted for a lack of trying and they tallied up 11 attempts at goal, however, they failed to create a single big chance, reflected in the total xG of 0.93. Almost all of the creativity was on the shoulders of 21-year-old Palmer, which made defending their own box a simple task for Everton.
Armando Broja’s game in numbers
Following Nicolas Jackson’s poor showing in the week, Pochettino handed Albanian forward, Armando Broja, a rare chance to prove his worth by leading the line.
The aggressiveness of Jarrad Branthwaite and James Tarkowski seemed to overwhelm the 22-year-old striker, who only completed five passes all game, completing five of them, showing just how little he was involved in the play. The attacker appeared to be incredibly isolated throughout with his lack of involvement highlighted by the fact that goalkeeper Sanchez registered more touches of the football.
|
Armando Broja's display vs Everton |
|
|---|---|
|
Stats |
Broja |
|
Touches |
16 |
|
Shots |
1 |
|
Dribble attempts (succ.) |
2 (0) |
|
Duels (won) |
7 (1) |
|
Possession lost |
7 |
|
Figures via Sofascore |
|
Considering the Everton centre-half pairing is strong when the ball is in front of them, starting Broja in the first place is a slightly questionable decision by Pochettino, especially when Jackson and even Raheem Sterling were on the bench, as the duo are much more dynamic and offer movement in behind.
That said, it is difficult and unfair to judge Broja just off this game, with the number 19 clearly lacking match fitness and confidence.
It was a performance that you would expect from a player who missed 274 days last season through injury and just 223 minutes under his belt this campaign.