The day produced yet another dour 0-0 and this game did not produce much action until the last ten minutes when both teams went in for the kill. The game frankly did not much of note and I really should have watched the other two games available today.
Firstly, on Chelsea. I must admit that I was a bit puzzled by the continued presence of Ivanovic at center back. I had wanted to see Cahill playing there and Ivanovic at right back instead as that is probably his best position. However, Azpilicueta did not disappoint in the match and his quick thinking allowed him to make a few crucial interceptions, justifying his place in the team. I was a little surprised that Chelsea's trio of Hazard, Oscar and Mata did not run at the City defence that much. When they got the ball, they tended to carry it and drift infield, waiting for the full backs to overlap instead of taking on the defender themselves. The only occasion when any of them tried to dribble past was when Hazard ran at the City defence in the 60th minute in the box and City had to send three players to stop him. I thought this would change when Moses came on for Hazard in the 70th minute, but Moses and his direct running did not put off the City defence by much.
Lots of people will be interested in how Benitez's arrival has changed the team. To that, I will say 'not much'. The starting line up was pretty much the same and Chelsea's attack played generally in the same way. The defence looked more structured though and this was the main reason for the clean sheet. There seemed to be a well defined plan, which was to squeeze the space available for City's attackers. The holding midfield duo of Ramires and Mikel were tasked to move close to whichever City attacker was holding the ball and block his passing routes. This worked very effectively and City's main chances only came when they caught Chelsea being under-manned at the back. There is also the question on whether Rafa Benitez has revitalised Torres. The answer to that is a no too. Torres played like he had been all season. The problem is not a lack of trying, is just that he has lost the sense of where the ball is and lots of pace. This was most obvious in the 43rd min, when Torres had a one step head start against Kompany but still lost out in the chase for the ball. Kompany is not the slowest defender about but he is definitely not the fastest either. Sadly, it seems that the bad performances for Torres is set to continue unless he manages to adapt to his deficiencies.
Mancini surprised me by springing a 4-4-2 in the match and not changing to 3-5-2 at any point of the game. Normally, Mancini will revert to a 3-5-2 when trying to win a game. Instead, his substitutions were very uncreative. He sent on Tevez for Dzeko in the 68th minute and Balotelli for Aguero in the 85th. That reeked of a lack of ideas and not what I had come to expect from the unpredictable Mancini. I have to say that the idea to start Dzeko nearly paid off though. In the 41st minute, Dzeko headed the ball to Aguero in the penalty box and Aguero had loads of space but headed weakly straight at Cech. Dzeko was in the tea, for exactly such a purpose: to hold up balls and compete in the air. Mancini showed a bit of ambition in the match from the off though. In previous games, the duo of Toure and Barry saw Toure moving up to support the attack while Barry stayed back. This game, they both moved up in tandem like in the 12th minute, where they were passing the ball around near the edge of the Chelsea's penalty box.
A bit about the referee. City's main tactic for defending was to press Chelsea hard once they lost the ball. This inadvertently led to City's players kicking through the legs of Chelsea but the referee allowed most of that. Only in the 76th minute did the first yellow card for such offences come out, to Kolarov. I have to congratulate him for being consistent with his decisions though and he never gave most of such offences from the start.
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