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Remember the times we laughed at Arsenal for getting destroyed by teams over and over again? Remember the times we made fun of Arsene Wenger for failing to change his ways even after huge defeats against the likes of Manchester City, Bayern, Chelsea et al.? Well, we’re that but worse as instead of Manchester City and Bayern, we’re getting pummeled by Manchester City and Bournemouth.
After getting our worst defeat in 22 years, courtesy of the 4-0 loss at the hands of Bournemouth, we’ve gone and outdone ourselves by getting an even bigger loss at the hands of Manchester City.
0-6 - Chelsea suffered their heaviest defeat in any competition since losing 0-7 to Nottingham Forest in April 1991. Drubbing.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 10, 2019
As soon as the lineups were announced, everyone could tell that a destruction was a possibility as Maurizio Sarri opted to start Ross Barkley instead of the more defensively capable, otherwise as well, Mateo Kovacic.
Considering we’re going against one of the strongest teams in Europe, playing a left three of Marcos Alonso, Ross Barkley and Eden Hazard was asking to be punished and thus, we were and deservedly so.
Sarri’s football is already defensively troubled, to say the least and his team selection was the final nail in the coffin. On top of choosing a defensively weak trio of Alonso, Barkley and Hazard, Sarri opted to start Pedro instead of defensive workhorse, that is, Willian.
All this culminated and led to the result which destroyed the night of all the Chelsea fans who made the trip to an away ground, yet again. In the last three away matches, Chelsea have conceded 12 goals and scored none, a run which includes a 2-0 loss at Arsenal, a 4-0 loss at Bournemouth and this 6-0 loss at Manchester City.
I guess this is what Antonio Conte was talking about when people criticized his defensive approach against Manchester City at Etihad last season, stating that he’d rather play defensively instead of trying to take the game to Manchester City and getting pummeled.
Conte on Sky criticism: "I'm not so stupid to play open against City and lose 3-0 or 4-0. If I remember, Arsenal played vs them like that and you criticised them a lot because they conceded 3 goals in 30 mins. The pundits must use their heads when you speak about tactics" #CFC
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) March 4, 2018
Maybe we should have listened to him?