It’s not often you see WhoScored’s stats rating system giving a player on the losing side the man of the match award, and it’s a pretty damning indictment of Chelsea’s performance that that was the case tonight.
The stats gave Jaidon Anthony 8.1/10 for his two assist showing.
Meanwhile Chelsea’s number one was Enzo Fernandez, who got a 7.8.
Other highlights from Chelsea’s team were the other players who got goals or assists – Nicolas Jackson, Mykhailo Mudryk, Raheem Sterling, Moises Caicedo.
Reeling off players like that make it sound like Chelsea played well, but that wasn’t the case. The goals were isolated moments among a sea of total mediocrity. Much like their worst moments on Sunday, the team just passed the ball around nervily without ever finding any rhythm or shape.
This victory feels more like it’s just delaying the inevitable rather than heralding in a new phase of this project. Still, on to the next one…
Whine and moan. Whine and moan. Yes, we failed to convince at times — especially giving up the first Leeds goal and then again coming out flat in the second half — but all three goals were quality and, most importantly, we found a way to win. When you’ve got such a young squad you take the positives and look to build on them rather than endlessly dwell on the negative.