Nothing 'fake' about it: Champions Chelsea deserved their 3-0 loss against Manchester City

It took 20 seconds for Manchester City to dissect Chelsea’s midfield and defense as David Silva’s slide-rule pass set Sergio Aguero up perfectly only for Asmir Begovic to make an impressive block. That drew a scowl from Jose Mourinho on the touchline – an expression that would remain unchanged until the final whistle. “According to me, we controlled the second half. We played a high line, pressed hard and our defense was in the midfield line. If 1-0 was a doubtful result at minute 70, 3-0 is completely fake. At 1-0 Chelsea were the best team for the whole second half,” Mourinho said after the loss, while also bemoaning the decision not to send off Fernandinho for an elbow on Diego Costa. [caption id=“attachment_2395190” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Three strikes and out! Chelsea players react to going 3-0 down against Manchester City. AFP[/caption] Mourinho’s comments, though, are an attempt to gloss over what was a poor performance from the champions. Make no mistake, 3-0 was a respectable loss for Chelsea given the way they were outclassed, outfought and out-thought by City at The Etihad on Sunday. City came out all guns blazing - creating chance after chance after chance. Manuel Pellegrini’s team has set down an early marker for the season. Mourinho will stay defiant in the face of the loss [“I know my mathematics and there are too many points left to play for to discuss (title chances)”] but it may actually help him. Being exposed early in the season by a top team will make him consider tactical changes and possibly dip into the transfer market. For one thing, he needs to pick Kurt Zouma over John Terry against sides that play with speed. Zouma is not only faster, but probably stronger and certainly more imposing in the air. Mourinho practically admitted as much too after sending on Zouma for Terry after the break. “Zouma is the fastest defender we have and sometimes I have to make a tactical decision. I was proven right by the decision because we controlled the second half better (with Zouma in the side),” he said. Also, expect the pursuit of John Stones to intensify now. Chelsea could also use more dynamism in midfield. Ramires and Nemanja Matic don’t seem to work to well together. Yes, they are not like each other but maybe Chelsea need a plan B when it comes to choosing the two sitting midfielders behind Cesc Fabregas. Consider Yaya Toure and Fernandinho. The former is a complete midfielder who can pass, surge forward, shoot from distance and create chances while the latter is more of an anchorman (who can also shoot, as he showed when he scored the third goal). Matic is fantastic as an anchorman but Ramires’ utility is limited. He is fast and presses opponents but he has limitations: only 58 percent of his passes met their target, he completed just one take-on and lost all his aerial duels. [caption id=“attachment_2395176” align=“aligncenter” width=“505”] Ramiers’ attempted passes in the match against Man City. Courtesy: Sqwaka[/caption] It would also be brilliant to see central attackers in tandem for Chelsea, maybe in a 4-2-2-2 or a 4-3-1-2 formation. Costa had completely lost the mental and physical battle after Fernandinho’s elbow. He won absolutely nothing in the second half and was subbed off for Falcao. [caption id=“attachment_2395174” align=“aligncenter” width=“496”] Diego Costa’s attempted shots. Courtesy: Sqwaka[/caption] That could mean getting Eden Hazard in the hole behind a striker with Victor Moses going out wide and a Matic-Willian-Fabregas midfield axis. The two-striker system is a dying formation, yes, but with two goals down you want to surprise your opponents and stand as much chance of mounting a comeback. And that can happen only if you score. Infographics courtesy squawka.com