Manchester City 1-1 Chelsea: Post-Match Analysis [17-02-2024]

Disasi has to MOTM. We look so much better with proper fullbacks in the fullback positions. What a great display defensively! This is what happens when you play a balanced back four with a LCB, a RCB, a natural LB, and a natural RB.

Disasi stole the show, of course, with a commanding display. Colwill and Chilwell did their jobs in their usual positions. All three weren’t perfect (even Disasi got skinned by KDB early on and then got a bad touch under no pressure). But they were absolutely brilliant in keeping the World Champions to a single deflected goal. This has to be a sign for Pochettino to play CBs at CB and LBs at LB.

But there was one guy who quite literally did not put a foot wrong. He was perfect, and his name was Malo Gusto.

This boy absolutely loves to defend. You can see his commitment. He is touch-tight and not afraid to put in a tackle; he is not afraid to get dribbled past. He is ridiculously quick when it comes to accelerating, meaning that the quickest wingers cannot accelerate without him in the way. I remember around June, there was a Twitter post from a Chelsea fan quoting a Lyon fan about him not being good defensively—this couldn’t be more wrong. Offensively, he might not have the quality or polished nature of a Reece James, but he is still quite a potent attacking threat. This can be developed. But his sheer work rate, willingness to defend, and mentality—those are things that cannot be coached into a player.

One thing I liked was how he closed down the passing angle for Doku, forcing him to dribble, but also how his speed and agility made it very hard for him to get dribbled past too. He shut out all avenues except the back pass to Ake (credit to Palmer for excellent diligence in tracking back too). He was the reason the City’s major threat was nullified. Crosses came in from the right that were repelled by Disasi, some by Gusto too even. But City’s big threat is their left wing, and our right back had the game of his life.

Everyone else had good and bad bits to various extents. From Disasi, who was mostly excellent, to Sterling, who was kind of poor, he came up with the most important kick of the game for Chelsea.

I’ll follow up about Pochettino, but this just is giving our right back his deserved flowers. This game sure Disasi had more dominant contributions, while in other games it’s the attack, but Gusto’s consistent good performances are the reason we even have a fighting chance against Europe. The Top 5 isn’t as far as we think it is.

Jackson misses a big chance early on; he needs to take that first time instead of handling it. Allows the keeper to close down the space. Poorly executed. But, to be fully critical, I’d like to see Gusto also play that ball for the first time. He took an extra touch wide, which meant that by the time he delivered the ball to Nico, the space was much tighter and there was less room for error. Contrast this with how Nico delivers his ball to Raheem. The first time, perfectly placed in space in front of him, gives Raheem time to handle the ball and finish it off (which he did, albeit not in a particularly clinical way, but it doesn’t matter because he puts the ball where it needed to go at the end!).

Nkunku deserves some flak for the chance he didn’t convert later in the match, but I don’t agree with all the flak he is taking. Conor needs to play that ball 4 feet in front of him, so Nkunku can run onto it and keep his forward progress—and importantly, the space he has on the defenders. It’s a poorly-weighted, soft pass. At this level, 3–4 feet of ball played ahead of a runner and into space, versus at the runner’s feet or a little behind him, usually means the difference between a goal and a missed chance. Yes, the game is that precise.

If we want to be more clinical in our finishing, yes, I agree that our finishers often need to do better, and usually they deserve the majority of the blame for a big missed chance. But our passers also play a role in this.