Chelsea put on a brilliant display against Atletico Madrid to come away with a fantastic 1-2 victory in Spain. It's never easy to win a game away from home, especially against a team that is known for keeping its composure when in the lead. However, the boys from London failed to live up to their potential after falling to manchester city at home.
Players and the manager alike knew that Manchester City was always going to be a tough team to break, but despite that, the team seemed confused and lost during the first half of the game. Chelsea was completely overrun, and right away it was clear that the Blues would either lose the game or walk away with a draw.
How did Chelsea perform in the second half?
The team did a better job, but with Morata out in the first half from injury, the writing was already on the wall. Willian tried to take center stage but couldn't get enough space to move around. Hazard tried the same, but the Manchester City defense held firm. There were a few chances, but none were dangerous enough to cause City a lot of problems. At the end of the day, City probed until they provided the first and only goal of the match during the 65th minute. It was a wonderful goal, and there was nothing Chelsea could do about it.
Did Antonio Conte make a mistake regarding formation?
Looking at the formation Conte chose to go with before the beginning of the match, one has to wonder what he had in mind.
He decided to incorporate a 3-5-1-1 formation, and that choice was most likely the cause of the defeat. The problem is, he relied too much on Alvaro Morata and Eden Hazard working well together when they only played once as a unit, and that was against Atletico Madrid. It would have been a better idea for Conte to move forward with 3-4-3 instead, but he went for a more defensive style of play while at home.
Going forward, it's going to be tough for Chelsea since the club is taking part in two major competitions. The English Premier League is on one hand while the UEFA league is on the other. Both are important, but to some, the UEFA carries more weight since it consists of the best clubs in all of Europe.
The good news is, Conte has a lot of players to choose from, so it shouldn't be a problem.
However, he needs to select a team formation that works against big teams. Conte made changes to the formation in the past that have worked in his favor. Expect a similar move after this defeat at the hands of Manchester City.
