Chelsea set-up in a zonal 4-2-4 which turned into a man2man press. The aim was to disengage in the first line(allow GK have the ball) while Jackson/Palmer pushed City to one side of the pitch which was the cue to go man2man( or press on the flanks ). This sometimes worked, but for many other reasons it often failed. Lets see why.

In the high press I often found Jackson/Palmer not tracking the midfielders on time. In the image below Chelsea execute their plan( pin City to wide areas and press aggressively), but Palmer is late to arrive on Kova which allows him receive, turn and pass. Now we are left open. These situations were a consistent theme throughout the game(now remember, this was just the high press) which was a killer.

James was often pinned by Marmoush and Colwill/Chalobah were pinned by Haaland(image above). This is why the plan was to force City on one side, maintain the numerical advantage on Haaland and press aggressively on the flanks. Maresca did not want to leave Haaland alone for obvious reasons.

City dropped lots of players in build up and given we wanted to leave 2 guys on Haaland, they always had a free man. Bernado will drop to receive and entice pressure. Gungodan will drop as well with their FBs high and wide. This numerical advantage + Citys quality allowed them to progress play while Chelsea slowly dropped deeper.

In the middle of the pitch is where Citys rotations killed us. Gungodan would often drift wide forming the "double-width" concept which often pulled Caicedo wide. This created space in the middle for City as Marmoush often dropped and took advantage. Caicedo became uncomfortable going wide and with our wingers pinned, it resulted in what you see in the next page

Caicedo stays in his position when Gundogan drops. Palmer does not recover quickly enough and Gundo gets all the time to pick a pass(for a player of his quality, this is cash money). This was offside, but it was a foreshadowing of what to come.

Sancho was often not sure whether to follow Bernado or keep an eye on the wide FB. This often left spaces for City to recycle in a U shape. Even when we pressed them on a flank, they could simply go back to the CB and quickly recycle to Bernado/Gundo who dropped wide because our wingers were pinned by their FBs.

Everything led to us being passive in our approach. Wingers pinned back. CMs not willing to drop out centrally and press their men. Palmer/Jackson not covering and applying the needed pressure as the 1st focal points. This led to a passive mid-block with lots of spaces behind the defensive line.

Everything culminates in the 1st goal we concede.

It was clear what the plan was, but it failed for many reasons as and it wasn't because we prioritized a passive approach from the beginning. My biggest concern however is the physical conditioning. I get it for Enzo/Colwill given they returned from injury, but its concerning for other players. Chelsea were certainly fitter in our first 10 games or so.

In the 2nd half, Maresca decided to go full on man2man but we were always late to our men giving enough time and space for City to play through us. It also exposed our backline against Haaland 1v1 which was always going to end with 1 winner.

Chelsea never really took advantage of City's nervy start off the ball. There's a whole lot that can be said on what we did on the ball as well, but to cut it short: it was terrible. Maresca has never had his team play the way we did during this game, so if it happened against City its for good reason and not because he decided to play a highline without applying pressure on the ball. How much of this was on the players and manager? I don't know, but everyone takes their fair share of blame.