Chelsea
finished their pre-season tour of China and Singapore with a 2-1
International Champions Cup defeat to Inter Milan on Saturday - and their
final fixture in the Far East will have given boss Antonio Conte plenty to
contemplate.
The Premier League champions were blown away by a first-half blast from
Bayern Munich on Tuesday and, while Chelsea finished strongly against Inter
Milan, there were further moments of defensive disarray, in addition to
Stefan Jovetic and Ivan Perisic's strikes either side of the break.
Here, we take a look at the talking points from the game - including the
outrageous own goal Geoffrey Kondogbia scored for Chelsea…
Defensive concerns for Chelsea
Chelsea were 3-0 down to Bayern Munich inside half an hour earlier this week
and, although Carlo Ancelotti found excuses for the Londoners' defence after
the game, the Blues were looking vulnerable from the off against Inter
Milan, too.
Conte had said ahead of the clash that he felt Chelsea were getting up to
speed in terms of their tactical work, but it took the Italian side just
four minutes to expose out-of-position Marcos Alonso and cause chaos in the
Blues' box with a flurry of blocked shots, after David Luiz had desperately
deflected Antonio Candreva's shot, forcing Thibaut Courtois to save.
Chelsea had begun the game with the same five-man defence which looked so
well organised and secure en route to the club's Premier League title win
last season but the concerns continued throughout the first 45 minutes
before Inter made the breakthrough in stoppage time, thanks to a
controversial penalty call.
While Cesar Azpilicueta's challenge on Jovetic was a fair one, the extent to
which Borja Valero's lofted pass opened up Chelsea's defence reflected their
vulnerability on the back foot and that weakness was glaringly evident
inside a minute of the second half, when their isolated centre-backs were
outnumbered and Jovetic had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside after
sweeping in the rebound to Perisic's shot.
Conte's men weren't so fortunate on 52 minutes, when another Inter break led
to Manchester Untied target Perisic driving the ball under Courtois, and
Joao Mario really should have added a third when he shot straight at the
goalkeeper after being teed up by Perisic.
Conte - who stressed there was still hard work for his side to do in
pre-season - will be eager to step up his work with his defence on the
training field, when they return to Cobham next week.
Morata and Batshuayi fail to break through
At the other end of the pitch there were encouraging signs from both Michy
Batshuayi and £70m summer signing Alvaro Morata, but Chelsea were clearly
lacking the invention of Eden Hazard, the pacey runs beyond of Pedro and the
power of Diego Costa, who has been training on his own in Brazil and is
seemingly on his way out of the club.
Morata, deployed on the left side of a front three, which also included the
hard-working Willian, showed plenty of industry and made some smart runs to
receive the ball in space but would surely have preferred the central role
given to Batshuayi.
The Spaniard, whose goals-per-minute rate was only bettered by Lionel Messi
in La Liga last season, was limited to working the channels and offering an
outlet down the line for Alonso. Frustratingly, his best moves were clever
turns near the halfway line and clipped passes across the pitch to spread
the play, rather than the dangerous moments in the penalty box he is
renowned for.
Batshuayi wasn't able to offer that incision either. A first-half spark,
which saw the Belgian rob Inter of the ball, dart forward and tee up
Willian, was a fine example of the striker's ability to bring others into
play but a poor shot on the turn early in the second half and header over
the bar late on lacked the clinical finish Batshuayi would have wanted to
show his onlooking boss.
The striker did find the net with five minutes to play but yet another poor
decision from the officials - who incorrectly flagged the Chelsea man
offside - denied Batshuayi the confidence-boosting goal he was after.
Chelsea ready for new season?
There are still two weeks remaining before Chelsea begin their Premier
League title defence at home to Burnley on the opening weekend of the
2017/18 season and Conte will be thankful for that, given the work he will
want to do with his defence on the training ground following their
performance against Inter Milan.
While the Italian will have no qualms with his team's attitude - the Blues
battled hard against Inter, just as they did against Bayern - and can point
to a late incorrect offside call costing his side a draw on Saturday, his
backline have looked uncharacteristically out of shape in their past two
outings.
Conte will also be pleased to see the return of injured duo Eden Hazard and
Pedro to his first-team squad. Without Costa, Chelsea looked to be missing a
cutting edge against Inter Milan and the manager will need to find a way to
maximise the threat of Morata, who was too often on the fringes in
Singapore.
Next Sunday's Community Shield with Arsenal will be the next gauge of
Chelsea's progress towards their best form and Conte will be eager to see an
improvement at both ends of the field at Wembley, before the new league
season gets underway.
Man Utd target Perisic impresses
Chelsea's clash with Inter Milan will have made interesting viewing for
Manchester United fans, given the presence of reported United target Perisic
in the Italian side's line-up - and they will have been impressed with what
they saw from the Croatian.
While the winger had a quiet first-half, his performance in the second
period showed why Jose Mourinho is keen on the 28-year-old. Perisic
displayed his pace with a driving run and shot at the start of the second 45
and then beat Courtois on 52 minutes with a similar move, firing a left-foot
strike under the goalkeeper.
Perisic, who had earlier teed up Jovetic for a good effort on goal, should
have finished the game with an assist to his name, too, after bursting into
the box, holding the ball up and then laying off to Joao Mario, who
wastefully shot straight at Courtois.
There was also shot into the side-netting, after Perisic had out-paced new
Chelsea signing Antonio Rudiger, as the Inter wide man grew in confidence as
the game wore on. Will we see him lining up against Chelsea in the Premier
League next season? United supporters will hope so...
Outrageous own goal
While Chelsea's defensive errors will trouble Conte and Perisic's impressive
display will leave Manchester United fans considering what role he could
play at Old Trafford next season, this match will ultimately be remembered
for Geoffrey Kondogbia's outrageous own goal.
With Chelsea 2-0 down and seemingly out of the contest, the Frenchman threw
the English side a lifeline in the most bizarre fashion, lobbing his own
goalkeeper Daniele Padelli from all of 40 yards with a miscued back-pass.
It was a moment Kondogbia will want to forget - but there will be little
chance of that: this own goal will be replayed in blooper reels for years to
come.
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