Chelsea travelled to Rome in matchday four of this years Champions League. Victory would see the Blues into the last sixteen of the competition they won in 2012.
Antonio Conte started the game in his usual 3-4-3 formation moving César Azpilicueta into the right wing-back position, in the absence of Victor Moses. N`golo Kante, although close to full fitness, was left out of the matchday squad altogether, perhaps being saved for the United game. Danny Drinkwater was on the bench, and was looking for a Champions League debut with Chelsea.
Roma started the game as quickly as they did in London, if not quicker. Stephan El Shaarawy fired the home side in front with just one minute on the clock. It was an ominous start, for a Chelsea team that were unbeaten in four games.
Despite going behind, it looked as though the match might follow a similar pattern to the reverse fixture which ended 3-3. The game ebbed and flowed and Eden Hazard found himself one on one with the Roma keeper. The Belgian ran out of space before he could do much with the chance and the keeper saved.
Despite creating chances, Conte`s side never really looked like scoring, Alvaro Morata managed to fire over with just the keeper to beat. Worse still, defensively the ever changing back three looked shaky and much more likely to concede.
They did. El Shaarawy doubled Roma`s lead when Antonio Rudiger inexplicably allowed the ball to bounce past him into the path of the Italian who slotted home. Half-time came with score still the same.
Conte`s decision to keep rotating Chelsea`s defence once again reaped mistakes. Chelsea`s poor finishing added to to their woes and overall the team were a dysfunctional mess that should have the press boys sharpening their pencils. The only real bright spot of the half was Qarabag taking the lead against Atletico Madrid.
The faint hope that the break would see a resurgence of a Chelsea side that played so well in Madrid, were soon dashed. Roma were content to sit on their 2-0 lead and dictate the pace of the game while allowing Chelsea to have the ball. With no creativity coming from anyone in a white shirt, it was a tactic that worked well.
Roma extended their lead further when Cesc Fabregas gave the ball away and Perotti fired in another long range shot. Chelsea were all over the place, the midfield was a mess as was the defence. Alvaro Morata couldn`t hit a barn door with banjo and he was replaced by Michy Batshuayi with 20 minutes remaining. For once, the task for our super-sub was too much to handle.
Willian had replaced Gary Cahill earlier in the half to zero effect. A series of misplaced passes was the best the out of form winger could manage. Danny Drinkwater got his debut and replaced the equally ineffective Cesc Fabregas, who was playing his 100th Champions League game. It was underwhelming. The game ended 3-0
There are really not enough negatives to describe this performance. A big dose of blame must lay at Antonio Conte`s door as he was out-thought on his competitive return to his homeland. On the field his team were out-fought. That`s not a good combo heading into the game against United.
It was a performance that was inexplicable for so many reasons. Chelsea were a ‘team`, I use that word very loosely, that were simply out of sorts and off the pace. It was very much men against boys. Antonio Conte must hoping N`golo Kante is fit enough to play ASAP. Hopefully on Sunday.
If there were positives, there weren`t really, but Eden Hazard looked bright until the point he realised it was all a lost cause, about midway through the first half. Without two brilliant saves by Thibaut Courtois in the second half the score would have been much worse.
Of course the biggest positive, and bonus of the night came courtesy of that great Azerbaijani team Qarabag, who for the second time in the competition, held Spanish giants Atletico Madrid to a 1-1 draw. Roma jumped ahead of Chelsea in the group, however, Qarabag`s result kept Madrid four points behind Chelsea with two games remaining.
Next up in Group C, Chelsea face the long trip to Azerbaijan hoping to seal the win that would secure a place in the last 16.
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