The Blues gave up an early goal and struggled to respond against Pep Guardiola’s club.
Chelsea were powerless to dampen Manchester City’s celebrations as they were defeated 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
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Wesley Fofana’s terrible pass gave City possession deep in their half, allowing City to strike them with pace and open the goal through Julian Alvarez just 12 minutes in.
It was far from the Blues’ worst performance since Frank Lampard took over as interim manager, but there were far too many uninspiring efforts, with Enzo Fernandez and Trevoh Chalobah among those who disappointed yet again.
However, the Blues can point to Raheem Sterling, Lewis Hall, and substitute Noni Madueke as bright moments, and fans will be hopeful that their new coach will give the latter two, especially, a chance to shine next season.
Rates Chelsea’s Etihad Stadium players…
Defense & Goalkeeper
Kepa Arrizabalaga (6/10): He couldn’t be blamed for Julian Alvarez’s goal and had no saves to make after that, although his distribution was poor once again.
Wesley Fofana (6/10): A bad pass-handed City possession, allowing them to score on the break.
Thiago Silva (5/10): He was let down by his teammates for the first goal, but he was too slow behind his opponents’ pace and unable to respond swiftly on many occasions.
Trevoh Chalobah (5/10): He was caught off guard when City broke forward, giving Alvarez more than enough space to score, and he never recovered, continually following behind the forwards.
Midfield
Cesar Azpilicueta (6/10): Solid in defensive one-on-one battles but ineffective on the ball, providing little support upfield.
Enzo Fernandez (5/10): Another underwhelming performance. He saw enough of the ball but didn’t do enough with it, and he struggled under City’s siege.
Conor Gallagher (6/10): Tried to link midfield and attack and had a good header in the first half, but nothing came off for him.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (6/10): Had a couple of good runs but ran against a brick wall of a City defense and wasteful teammates.
Lewis Hall (8/10): Whipped in a dangerous cross for Gallagher, put in some solid defending and had two nice efforts stopped by Ortega in a strong performance for the 18-year-old.
• Attack
Kai Havertz (6/10): An unneeded yellow card after 18 minutes. Although not a direct threat, he attempted to link up with Sterling and later Madueke.
Raheem Sterling (7/10): His pace was dangerous at times, and he almost scored with a wonderful run, but he was offside in the end.
• Subs & Manager Noni Madueke (7/10): Came on for Sterling midway through the second half and was immediately up for it, dribbling well and quickly.
Mykhailo Mudryk (5/10): Replaced Gallagher but did not do any better in the fourth quarter.
Kalidou Koulibaly (6/10): Came on for the final 10 minutes and prevented Erling Haaland from scoring.
Carney Chukwuemeka (5/10): Took over for Loftus-Cheek, but there wasn’t much he could do.
Frank Lampard (sixth):
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His squad was not utterly destroyed by the freshly crowned champs, but there were far too many underwhelming performances. The defense lacked discipline and shape once more, and they relied on Sterling and Hall to pose a direct danger while the rest of the team was a passenger.
