It was an extremely disappointing afternoon for Chelsea on Saturday – possibly their worst of the season so far.
It is certainly up there with the defeat to West Ham United. Chelsea had complete control of the game but were unable to make their pressure count against a low-block in Nottingham Forest and the visitors took advantage in the second-half at Stamford Bridge.
Anthony Elanga struck past Robert Sanchez on 48 minutes in what turned out to be the only goal of the game in sunny west London. Chelsea knocked and knocked but ultimately did not create enough clear-cut opportunities in the 90 minutes.
But when they did, particularly Nicolas Jackson late on, the Blues did not take the chances. It left Mauricio Pochettino visibly disappointed on the touchline at full-time in what is his second defeat in four Premier League matches as Chelsea head coach.
While Chelsea fans haven’t turned on Pochettino – they would be silly to given the context – some of them have asked – and rightly so – about the system he is using. The Blues spent the whole of their pre-season tour of the United States using the 4-2-3-1 formation.
Chelsea supporters, at the time, were trying not to get too excited because it was only pre-season but there were so many encouraging signs from the formation the new head coach was using. So it seemed almost inevitable that when Chelsea took on Liverpool in their first Premier League game of the season last month that the Argentine would use the same system.
However, it has been far from that. Pochettino is using three central defenders and for the way Chelsea supporters want to see their team play, with so much attacking talent at disposal, it is being deemed too negative.
Particularly when they come up against teams like Nottingham Forest, who came to defend at Stamford Bridge, at home. There was definitely scope for at least one more attacking-minded player on the pitch in the second period at least.
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