Ross
Barkley made his Chelsea debut on Wednesday but was unable to prevent them
losing their Carabao Cup semi-final to Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate.
The £15m January signing from Everton stepped off the bench to replace the
injured Willian on the half hour mark.
Here, we detail how he got on and see what his manager Antonio Conte had to
say about his performance…
As it happened
30 min - Barkley looks unsure on the touchline but eventually realises
Antonio Conte is calling for him to get ready to go on for Willian, who
appears to have a hamstring problem. He takes up an attacking midfield
position in support of false nine Hazard.
30 - Barkley's Chelsea career starts with him sent flying by a shove from
Laurent Koscielny, who out-muscles him to earn a goal-kick for the home
side.
31 - Moments later Barkley gives away a free-kick on the halfway line for a
high foot on Jack Wilshere. The Arsenal man gets revenge within a minute,
sliding in late to bring Barkley down. Wilshere is booked.
33 - Barkley shows some rustiness, as his slide tackle on Koscielny near
Chelsea's corner flag is penalised. Barkley failed to touch the ball.
43 - Barkley runs on to a through ball but his cross back into the box from
the byline is cleared.
45+2 - Barkley opts to try to thread a pass rather than shoot from the edge
of the box but it is intercepted, Arsenal counter-attack down the other end
and Mesut Ozil's deflected shot goes just wide.
46 - Barkley spreads the play, spraying the ball out to Moses.
50 - Works the ball to Hazard and sets off in support for quick counter
downfield, but the Belgian is just unable to squeeze a return pass to
Barkley, who was well-placed on the edge of the box.
54 - Barkley shows neat footwork in the middle of the park before setting
N'Golo Kante away on the break.
69 - Takes the ball with his back to goal in centre circle, shows good
strength to hold off his marker before clipping it out to Alonso on the
flank.
74 - Barkley spins away from Mohamed Elneny but is brought down by Granit
Xhaka in the centre circle.
77 - Barkley beats Monreal to a high ball and then goes past the Spaniard
again as he breaks down the right, before playing the ball inside to spark a
move which leads to a Chelsea chance.
79 - Draws the foul from Monreal in the centre circle.
82 - Rudiger heads Barkley's whipped corner over the bar.
85 - Barkley loses possession to Shkodran Mustafi on the halfway line.
87 - Moments later Mustafi fouls Barkley 35 yards from the Arsenal goal in
the centre of the pitch. But Marcos Alonso sends his free-kick way over the
bar.
95 - Barkley's last-gasp corner, with goalkeeper Willy Caballero up looking
for an equaliser, fails to beat the first man.
The manager's verdict
Antonio Conte: "He has a lot of space for improvement. He's working with us,
he's only been here two weeks. But for sure, today I was forced to make this
substitution. At the same time, I think he can improve a lot."
Our verdict
After a long-term hamstring injury, this was Barkley's first appearance of
the season and there was clearly some ring rust on show. Barkley struggled
to influence the game - although he was not the only Chelsea attacking
midfielder to fail to make a major impact on Wednesday night.
There were a couple of flashes of his potential - some neat footwork in the
centre circle and a driving run past Nacho Monreal the highlights - but
Conte will hope to draw much more out of the England international as he
builds up his match fitness.
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