ZonalMarking analysis of Paris-Chelsea

It was said last night, PSG's midfield had a cohesion that Chelsea lacked. Playing Fabregas alongside Matic was a fairly poor move, as Fabregas is an awful defender and awful positionally.

I don't watch a ton of Chelsea games, but hasn't Mou played Cesc in that roll quite a bit this season?

Cesc in that role was not our problem. Ramires, Willian, Oscar, and Drogba in "attacking" roles was our problem.

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Cesc in that role was not our problem. Ramires, Willian, Oscar, and Drogba in "attacking" roles was our problem.

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I'd argue that Cesc deep requires players like Ramires, Willian and Oscar, players who have plenty of technique but also can cover a lot of ground, to be in the same side to provide balance. I can't reiterate how poor Cesc is defensively, and I said it when he was an Arsenal player, and I said it when Chelsea bought him. The fact that Willian and Oscar in particular cannot provide any offensive spark is that they are brought into the side for their energy from midfield, with their attacking characteristics second to their defensive ones. It wasn't for offensive reasons that each one overtook Mata though Mata is way better on the ball and has a spectacular final pass.

Cesc can control games from deep, but he literally needs the whole team built around him, and since he needs the ball to feet so he can see the game, he needs willing runners from deep positions to provide him outlets.

For me there was no reason to get rid of Mata if he couldn't do the defensive work, and then go and buy Cesc when he can't do the defensive work. Perhaps Mourinho thought he could get the most out of Cesc defensively returning him to a deep lying position, where he first broke through. But people forget that when he was at Arsenal, the midfield was built around him with players who had lots of energy to cover for him. That's not to say a team that Cesc plays on can't go far in Europe, but I don't see how to mitigate his weaknesses while building a team around him at the same time.

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I don't disagree with what you're saying but when we found ourselves up a man and able to push forward we didn't have the players that could do it.

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And I wonder if that's a confidence issue, like Mourinho talked about later. Chelsea seemed unwilling to leave their low block shape. And, let's be honest, Chelsea were unlucky this tie though they were outplayed in some respects, as they never trailed PSG. It's just that they were comfortable letting PSG play at them. In hindsight, this looks a poor tactic. But there were within 5 minutes of going through on 2 occasions, and had gotten the important away goal in the first leg. Can we really blame Mourinho when his tactics, though extremely negative, nearly worked? In one sense, we can, as Chelsea weren't the attack force they should have been. At the same time, given the relative ease of chance creation in the first leg for PSG (namely down the left side), Chelsea were perhaps counting on PSG continuing to be wayward in front of goal.

If I have one problem with the way Mourinho was set up, it was that the transition from the defensive shape to an offensive shape was poor. It's not as if one forward run from a winger to overload a side would have immediately resulted in a goal for PSG, nor would it have drawn Chelsea out of shape all that much. Chelsea didn't seem to understand how and when to counter-attack and push bodies forward. That's what annoys me about Mourinho's Chelsea. They seem content to park the bus, but never to start it up again to relieve pressure or score an open play goal.

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If I have one problem with the way Mourinho was set up, it was that the transition from the defensive shape to an offensive shape was poor.

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Yep, when we were kind of forced into attacking by the red card we failed miserably at it. In Jose's defense I don't really know what his other options were. Willian is not much better than Ramires. The only other thing he could have done is maybe Cuadrado on the right but he doesn't have that trust factor yet and it would have been a hell of a spot to put him in.

We really need another dymanic attacking mid. Maybe Cuadrado can be it but even still I would like one that can play centrally as well. As I've stated, I'm over Oscar.

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The transition game is where Mourinho has made his mark. His early Chelsea teams were superb at it. His Inter team was excellent at it. And Madrid could counter like few teams in the world. But this iteration look lethargic in transition. That is what is confusing.

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Sounds like that might be more of an issue with the players than the coach. Jose certainly didn't suddenly forget what he was doing.