Stats show why Chelsea fans should be frustrated by old failings coming back under Maresca | OneFootball

Here we go – into a long international break with no Chelsea fixtures to think about. Luckily we have yesterday’s game to look back on and reconsider.

It’s difficult to be too harsh on the team given they did well and were pretty unlucky not to win. The good form they’ve been in stops anyone being too critical. But they could easily have thrown yesterday’s game away and lost it against ten men. For a team that was expected to go into this team as one intending to dominate possession and strangle the life out of games, this has been quite the opposite.

They had 66% possession in this game , but that was against one of weaker teams in the league, who were down to ten men for more than a third of the game when extra time is factored in. Despite that advantage in possession, Enzo Maresca’s team managed just 22 shots to Nottingham Forest’s 16.

New best friends Christopher Nkunku and Jadon Sancho. (Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)

Chelsea need more from low block lockpicks

Jadon Sancho did not get a single shot away in this game, nor did he contribute much with his passing or dribbling. We’ve heard repeatedly that his role in the team is to help against low blocks, but yesterday he didn’t do nearly enough. There are multiple players coming for his spot in the team, and he knows that.

Once again, it was difficulty in breaking teams down which cost us 2 points here. We’re ahead of schedule, so nobody is too bothered. But the Chelsea of a few years ago, aiming to go for the title under Thomas Tuchel, would have been raging to drop points at home in this fashion. If we every want to be back at that level again, we need to recover that mentality and feel the same frustration now.