Chelsea 4-2 Swansea City: Chelsea Player Ratings [Part-1]

It was a wonderful attacking spectacle after a disappointing start to the match. Chelsea struggled early on in the game as they failed to press Swansea and hold possession.

The Swans took the early lead via Skipper John Terry’s own goal and continued to dominate until about the half-hour mark, after which Jose Mourinho took Hazard to one side and gave him some tactical advice. After that, Chelsea got some hold of the game, Costa scored the equalizer, and the second half was absolute mayhem.

Here are the player ratings for Chelsea players:

Courtois: 7/10

He had a decent day as a keeper and made some saves in the early period. Both goals conceded were not particularly because of his fault. His reactions and collection of corners were fabulous, and there were some drilled shots that were saved well by the youngster.

His handling has been particularly good, as he barely loses grip of the ball. On one occasion, when Gomis was through on goal, Courtois showed great courage to charge at him. Gomis was flustered, and he fluffed his chipped shot.

Ivanovic: 7.5/10

Brana is particularly having great influence as an aggressive, attack-minded fullback. He marauds forward with his huge physical presence and acts as a great target man for Cesc Fabregas’ top passing qualities. He has been a key player with his positioning on the wide right, and his crossing and passing seemed to have improved significantly as the play was run by maestro Fabregas.

If there was one thing that most people noticed, it was that most of the Swansea attacks were from their left flank, which is what Ivanovic was defending as Taylor and Routledge ran havoc from Swansea’s left flank. It is another fact that Schurrle wasn’t doing enough on the right flank and was struggling, and the game improved significantly when Hazard switched to that side.

Cahill: 7/10

Cahill was the better of the two center backs. He was composed while facing the brute strength of Gomis. His blocking of some crucial shots as well as some really composed clearances were obvious to the eyes and were a pleasing aspect of a Chelsea defense that doesn’t look too settled at the moment.

Cahill adjusted well to the higher-pressing tactic that Jose implemented in the second half and kept the counterattacks on check. He has been pretty mobile and decisive in his defending, as he seems to have no doubt about his defensive techniques.

Terry: 5/10

Captain John Terry had a poor game today. He was the one who scored his own goal off a ball, which was really tough to defend. Yet his movement has started to become an issue. He is a leader nonetheless, but his organization of the defence doesn’t look strong enough when Chelsea pushes higher up the field.

He was clearly on his heels and out of position when Jonjo Shelvey, a player with average pace, ran through unchecked to score with a calm finish. He would probably be replaced with either the versatile and experienced Ivanovic or the young and energetic Zouma. But, in away games, we can surely trust the captain and legend to organize the defence as we dig deep to defend.

Azpilicueta: 6/10

He had a good game, as he defended well enough. He didn’t do anything spectacular, but he did the job that was asked of him. He, being a right-footer, often looked to cut in from offensive positions to either cross or lay off attacking players.

His in-swinging crosses were not good enough, as they usually ended up out of play. He didn’t have much of an attacking influence, but he still made many crucial overlaps and combined well with Hazard and Fabregas.