Chelsea vs. Inter Milan, Int’l Champions Cup: Half-time report

Outside of an early chance for Inter, Chelsea have had the better of this pre-season friendly in Singapore so far. Until Mr. Referee decided that nothing close to a penalty was actually a penalty, shocking both Azpilicueta and Jovetić and everyone else with the decision. It’s pre-season, so who cares, though Chelsea’s lack of effort on the take to crash the net was disappointing and should send Conte into rage. Courtois saved the penalty, but several Inter players were on hand to score the rebound.

Otherwise, Chelsea’s performance has had a very controlled, measured, in-season feel about it, but we’re greatly missing that bit of creativity and invention from an Eden Hazard, or just a proper winger on the left flank. There have been some nice moves, down the right flank involving Willian and Moses (good to see them linking up well) and also down the left through long switches to Alonso, but the experiment of playing Morata wide hasn’t produced too much palpable excitement.

Both Morata and Batshuayi may have been on the team sheet, but it’s been very much the usual 3-4-3 on the pitch. It has had a bit of a 3-5-2 feel to it in possession, with Morata and Batshuayi pushing into the box and Alonso morphing into an out-and-out left winger, but otherwise it’s the tried and true despite reports of Conte trying something new in training.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing and it’s certainly been a better first half than against Bayern on Tuesday. And we can build from there.