Most passes, defensive actions and duels – this Chelsea machine counted as two players | OneFootball

It’s pretty painful to look back at Chelsea’s game on Sunday, given what happened.

The Blues started slowly, got caught out by an early goal, and then lost Nicolas Jackson to a red card.

Chelsea have to balance control and threat after red

From that point it was almost impossible to come back, especially at St James’ Park. Newcastle sat deep and let us into the game, but in order to compete in midfield we had to reduce our options in attack, and that meant that despite controlling a lot of the ball, we weren’t able to generate any threat in their box.

On a number of occasions we would forge space for a cross or cutback, only to find there was nobody there to take advantage. One painful example came right in the final moments, when Cole Palmer wriggled free in the box and put in a low cross across the 6 yard box which had nobody there to polish off. Agonising.

It wasn’t the only example in the game. At times someone would fashion a chance to hit a cross, only to see someone like Enzo Fernandez facing up against 3 hulking Newcastle defenders in the box.

It was an impossible decision for Enzo Maresca, who chose to stay in the game without the ability to score, rather than leave more attackers on and become more vulnerable. The Blues did their best, but it was a lost cause from the moment Jackson trudged off.

Caicedo shines even in difficult moment

Moises Caicedo runs midfield against Liverpool. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

One man who held the team together was, of course, Moises Caicedo. He had the most completed passes (SofaScore) in the game, he had the most tackles in the game, he competed in the most and won the most duels in the game, he had the joint most defensive actions in the game.

Switching from right back to central midfield saw him even more dominant than usual – but even he couldn’t rescue the situation.