The main talking points from Chelsea’s disappointing 2-1 defeat to Sunderland at Stamford Bridge with the Blues throwing away a winning position on Saturday afternoon
It is not often we see Enzo Maresca in such a bullish mood. After Saturday afternoon’s performance against Sunderland, however, the Chelsea head coach was quick to strongly criticise his players.
The Blues went a goal ahead inside four minutes with their best move of the match – and actually one of their only clear-cut opportunities of the game. Alejandro Garnacho finished well after Pedro Neto fed the Argentine with a fine pass. That, however, was about it for the Blues, who struggled to create any sort of big chance at Stamford Bridge.
It left Maresca frustrated and a tad perplexed at full-time. Not often do we see the Italian so critical of his team but his verdict post-match spoke volumes about Chelsea’s defeat to the high-flying Black Cats.
“I think in general, we were not good enough,” explained a blunt Maresca. “When you are not good enough in the Premier League, we know that the consequence can be a bad one.”
With the game level at 1-1, it was a long ball that undid Chelsea in the end. The Blues were in attacking mode, looking for the winner in front of the Matthew Harding Stand, when a long, hopeful ball towards Bryan Brobbey ended up with a stoppage time goal for the visitors. Bedlam in the away end, who sang their hearts out throughout the 90 minutes.
As the ball floated in the air towards Brobbey, both Trevoh Chalobah and Tosin Adarabioyo started moving towards the Dutchman. In the end, the latter, Tosin, went tight to Brobbey, who held the Chelsea defender off with ease.
The Sunderland forward ended up having the ball, with his back to goal, for about four seconds. It was far too easy for him, shielding the ball from Tosin. Brobbey then laid it off to Chemsdine Talbi, who found himself unmarked making his way into the Chelsea box.
Chalobah was essentially a spare man throughout all of this. The 26-year-old defender was standing off Tosin and Brobbey, but should have been far more aware of the danger that was about to present itself.
And that is what angered Maresca: “The second goal we conceded, I said already many times, when you are not able to win, it is important that you do not lose.
“But even with that, it is not a transition when you are open or it is 1v1, it is just one long ball in behind. We are 2v1 with the two central defenders and we didn’t defend properly.”
He added: “It can be an easy situation because we are 2v1. The striker is facing his goal, with his back [to the goal]. It’s an easy situation to defend but probably we tried to manage a little bit because it was 92-93 [minutes in], but in that case, for sure, we have to do better.”
Wilson Isidor’s goal – that levelled the game for Sunderland after Garnacho’s opener – is not one Maresca will be too delighted to watch back either. It came from a long throw-in, and football.london asked Maresca pre-match about the threat the Black Cats pose from launching the ball into the box.
And while the Chelsea boss told reporters there had been work behind the scenes in order to try and combat the dangerous weapon Nordi Mukiele had in his arsenal, the first long throw of the afternoon ended with Isidor scoring from close range.
“The first goal came from a throw,” said Maresca. “Again, it’s difficult to deal because they bring six, seven, eight players inside the box, so it is difficult. But overall, I think we were not good enough.”
Those last three words, “not good enough”, sort of summed up the afternoon for Chelsea. Sunderland defended immensely well, while retaining a threat on the break throughout the 90 minutes, and it forced the Blues into some seemingly hit-and-hope crosses.
That played into the Black Cats’ hands, though, with their three central defenders, Dan Ballard, Lutsharel Geertruida and Reinildo able to deal with the majority of the deliveries into the box with relative ease.
Chelsea attempted 30 crosses throughout the 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon – the most from Maresca’s side in a Premier League game this season, with the next closest being the goalless draw with Crystal Palace (29) on the opening weekend of the campaign.
It seemed as if Chelsea were stumped by Sunderland’s organisation and defending. Maresca was insistent that was not the case, however, and the plan was always to get the ball into the box from certain areas. The game-plan was not at fault, instead the players were for their execution in the final third.
“When we arrived in a certain area of the pitch, we crossed because we expected to have four or five players inside the box,” the Chelsea head coach said. “Today when we crossed, we had players inside the box, but probably the quality of the cross was not the best one.
“But I think we scored many goals from crosses [in the past]. The last one we scored I think was the Benfica game, the cross from Pedro, and Garna was [at the] second post and then there was an own goal, but the goal came from there.
“So probably today was more about the quality of the cross of the players that were inside the box.”
Chelsea were forced into taking pop shots from distance in the second-half when they were looking for the third goal. While the Blues were their patient selves in the build-up, the final moment – whether it was a pass, cross or shot – always seemed rushed.
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Marc Guiu started his first Premier League match since signing for Chelsea in the summer of 2024, ironically, against Sunderland. Guiu spent 26 days at the Stadium of Light in what was supposed to be a season-long loan, before the Blues ended up recalling the 19-year-old Spanish striker after Liam Delap suffered a hamstring injury on August 30.
After opening the scoring in Wednesday’s thrashing of Ajax at Stamford Bridge, there were high hopes for Guiu coming into this one. But it seemed Sunderland did their homework on their former teammate – if they even had to, given he was part of the squad not so long ago.
Ballard stayed tight to him throughout the 76 minutes he was on the pitch. The Sunderland defender gave Guiu no change at all, rushing him into decisions whenever he got the ball. And that was rare; Guiu touched the ball just 10 times in his 76-minute stint.
Considering Chelsea had 69% possession of the ball, that is far too few touches for their sole No.9 to have. Is that down to the system or Guiu himself? Either way, Chelsea received an enormous boost on Friday with Delap returning to training.
Maresca confirmed the 22-year-old striker, signed for £30million in the summer, is in contention to take part against Wolves in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Wednesday evening.
One man who could – and should – be given a rest at Molineux is Joao Pedro. The 24-year-old Brazil international has been nursing a groin problem ever since the September international break.
Something has not been right with Joao Pedro ever since. The former Brighton forward has now gone eight games – in all competitions – for Chelsea without finding the back of the net. And while that is not the be all and end all, the Brazilian’s performances have too suffered.
“I think Joao is not training every day because he’s managing a little bit himself from the injury problem,” Maresca said. “Moi [Caicedo] is exactly the same, Enzo [Fernandez] is exactly the same.
“We have four or five players that unfortunately, because of some problems, they cannot work every day and they try to make the effort to play the game.
“So Joao in some games has been better, today he struggled a little bit. But today I think overall all the players struggled today, so it’s not just about Joao.”
It seems a no-brainer to give Joao Pedro the midweek off. Let him travel to Wolverhampton, but he should not be anywhere near that pitch. He hasn’t stopped since joining Chelsea in the summer, midway through the Club World Cup, and could do with some help in that regard.
Joao Pedro’s decision-making in the Sunderland defeat was way off and it contributed to a frustrating performance at Stamford Bridge, though, as Maresca rightly pointed out, he was not the only one. Chelsea were very poor, very not themselves, and it was far too easy for Sunderland to get at least a point.
Regis Le Bris’ men were comfortably holding on for a point in SW6 and ended up getting two more with a fantastic move, from their perspective, in stoppage time.
Defeat for Chelsea is their sixth in their last 31 matches in all competitions. In four of those six defeats, the Blues had a man sent off. So it is just Chelsea’s second defeat with 11v11 in a 31-game period.
So, there is no disaster for Chelsea, far from it. Disappointment, of course. Some frustration, inevitably. But it should be nothing more than that.
