Chelsea were beaten 2-1 by Atalanta last night in a potentially crucial game in the hunt for automatic qualification in the Champions League.
The Blues made a decent start, scoring early when the out of form Joao Pedro finally found the net following good play from Reece James.
But they gradually lost control of the game, showing the naivety and lack of confidence we’ve seen countless times from this team. The return of Moises Caicedo to the starting team felt like it would add some energy to a floundering group, but there were long periods where we were as listless as ever.
Two chances early in the second half might have wrapped it up, but James and Enzo Fernandez missed them, and the home team were soon level. After that there was little positive play from Maresca’s men, who worsened as changes shook up the team, and the late winner was deserved for Atalanta. Charles De Ketalaere was given far too much respect by Marc Cucurella, and the Belgian was able to beat Robert Sanchez at his near post with a good strike.
There was still time for a couple of late Chelsea efforts to try and level the score, but the impressive Marco Carnesecchi stood strong.
Now the Blues have to play Pafos and make a nasty looking trip to Naples to face Napoli knowing they probably need 6 points to secure a top 8 place and avoid the extra fixtures of a playoff in February.
**MOTM – Josh Acheampong**
Analysis
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Enzo Maresca on the touchline. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
In recent games the Blues have started slowly and struggled to get into gear. In this case they had a solid start in a not particularly difficult away game (by Champions League standards), then proceeding to fold in the second period.
Enzo Maresca’s rotation decisions have generated a huge amount of discussion in recent weeks, in this case it’s his subs which have people scratching their heads. He took off a centre back at half time, then a central midfielder not long afterwards, and left attacking players on the bench when needing a goal.
At one point his side had four full backs, three of them effectively playing in midfield. The coach really tied himself into knots here, and the consequences could be brutal.
Teams
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**Atalanta**
Marco Carnesecchi
Odilon Kossounou
Berat Djimsiti
Sead Kolasinac
Raoul Bellanova
Marten de Roon
Jose Ederson Silva
Lorenzo Bernasconi
Charles De Ketelaere
Ademola Lookman
Gianluca Scamacca
_Substitutes_
Marco Sportiello
Isak Hien
Yunus Musah (s 87′)
Mario Pasalic (s 87′)
Lazar Samardzic
Giorgio Scalvini
Marco Brescianini
Nicola Zalewski
Honest Ahanor (s 71′)
Daniel Maldini
Davide Zappacosta (s 17′)
Nikola Krstovic (s 72′)
**Chelsea**
Robert Sanchez
Josh Acheampong
Trevoh Chalobah
Benoit Badiashile
Marc Cucurella
Moises Caicedo
Reece James
Pedro Neto
Enzo Fernandez
Jamie Gittens
Joao Pedro
_Substitutes_
Filip Jorgensen
Max Merrick
Tosin Adarabioyo (s 76′)
Andrey Santos
Jorrel Hato
Malo Gusto (s 67′)
Wesley Fofana (s 46′)
Tyrique George
Marc Guiu
Facundo Buonanotte
de Oliveira Estevao
Alejandro Garnacho (s 66′)
Stats
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Quote of the game
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“We are aware, absolutely.” – Enzo Maresca on the prospect of adding the Champions League playoffs to his crammed calendar.