From Heavy Spending to Harsh Lessons: Chelsea’s Gap to the Elite Laid Bare by Bayern
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From Heavy Spending to Harsh Lessons: Chelsea’s Gap to the Elite Laid Bare by Bayern

From Heavy Spending to Harsh Lessons: Chelsea’s Gap to the Elite Laid Bare by Bayern

They may hold the title of World Champions, and there is no doubt that under Enzo Maresca, things in West London have improved immeasurably. However, if their performance in defeat to Bayern last night is anything to go by, Chelsea have a long way to go before they are once again considered alongside the cream of the European crop.

In their first Champions fixture since April of 2023 against Real Madrid, Chelsea were faced with the reigning champions of Germany in what proved to be a humbling return to the highest echelons of European competition.

Bayern Munich, under the guidance of Vincent Kompany, have morphed into an unstoppable, fluid unit capable of scoring from anywhere - with Harry Kane up top, and the likes of Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry and Luis Diaz running at the backline, there are threats in every direction. There is good reason why predicted them to reach the final this season.

On the other side of the halfway line, an expensively assembled but vastly inexperienced Chelsea squad faced them, and it showed. Though the first period saw the Blues bravely fight fire with fire, reaping partial success, their gap to one of Europe’s elite teams was laid bare in the second period.

With seven UCL league phase games left to go, Maresca must rethink his approach going into these European clashes - in such a youthful, impulsive side, his control is limited, and he must be able to get exactly what he wants out of his squad if he is to make a success of Chelsea Champions League story.

So what exactly went wrong at the Allianz Arena?

Bayern Punish Young Chelsea Side

The game went exactly as the sub-title suggests - despite some promises moments, and a brave attempt to play Bayern at their own high-pressing game, Chelsea were the architects of their own downfall - lapses in concentration, sloppy decision making, and the inexperience of the grandest European stage resulted in a comfortable loss, leaving Enzo Maresca with more questions than answers.

The opening 20 minutes proved to be an even contest - Chelsea were mixing things up from the back, both gradually passing their way forwards, and pumping the ball in behind a very high Bayern Munich backline for the likes of Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro to chase.

This approach yielded a couple of chances, the best when Enzo Fernandez saw a close range effort brilliantly blocked by Konrad Laimer, stopping a certain goal. But as with most Chelsea games, the Blues frustratingly took their foot of the accelerator, and Bayern pounced ruthlessly.

Turning off at a retaken free kick, Joao Pedro quickly found himself facing off against Michael Olise, arguably one of the best close control dribblers in Europe, and predictably lost his one on one duel, as Olise’s whipped low cross found the back of the net off the knee of the unfortunate Trevoh Chalobah - the centre back seemed off the pace for most of the night.

Rattled by conceding, Chelsea sat back and allowed Bayern to dominate possession - a costly mistake, as eventually, they found another gap, and a mistimed reach from Caicedo saw him miss the ball and bring down Harry Kane in the penalty area.

With Kane over the spot-kick he earned, the result was elementary - Chelsea were left red faced after conceding two naive goals in seven minutes, and they looked like conceding more.

Though the dynamic did change when Cole Palmer, marking his 100th Chelsea appearance with a stunning goal two minutes later, Maresca’s side couldn’t build on it, and after half time, they once again took their foot off the gas and allowed Bayern to control the game.

Once again, this played into the home side's hands - the German outfit’s high press eventually drew an error from Malo Gusto, and Harry Kane found himself one on one with Robert Sanchez - once again, the result was elementary.

Sanchez in fact had a rare good game - he made an outstanding stop to deny Olise from making it 4-1, and generally looked calm and collected throughout. Had he not been on song, Chelsea could have boarded the plane looking considerably worse for wear.

So what went so wrong in Munich - and how do they bridge the gap to Europe’s elite?

Chelsea’s Self-Inflicted Defeat

In truth, while the game could have ended 4 or 5-1 to Bayern Munich, Chelsea could have done more on the night, and had they continued to maintain their threat from the first half, there is a significant chance they could have come away with a crucial point.

However, their switch away from the early strategy of mixing it up in favour of exclusive, insistently passing out from the back came back to bite them. Bayern’s second and third goals were rooted in Chelsea mistakes in possession.

Against sides like West Ham and Burnley, the Blues’ would have likely gotten away with it - but against some of the finest attackers in global football, they were suitably punished.

What confused me was why they switched away from their mixed approach - the first 20 minutes saw Enzo Fernandez and Gusto go close, with both chances coming from long Robert Sanchez passes. However after the 20th minute, when Bayern broke the deadlock, Chelsea seemed to forget this was working, defaulting to a slow, overly cautious prod at attempting to break through the Bayern press.

Doing this, Cucurella made an error which led to Caicedo bringing down Kane in the area, and Gusto’s heavy touch led to Kane’s second moments later. It was the definition of insanity - they kept trying the same thing over and over expecting different results.

Is This a Problem to Worry About, Or Can Maresca Address This Over Time?

Chelsea did have some mitigating circumstances that allowed them a little leeway. Though the price of this season's squad sits at over £1 billion, and has invited heavy criticism from pundits and other clubs for not regularly performing, Chelsea are still a team in transition.

Focusing almost exclusively on building for a trophy-laden future, one of those mitigating circumstances was the vast gulf in Champions League experience: Chelsea had a combined 60 UCL games between their starting XI, while Bayern’s lineup had accumulated comfortably over 500.

This made itself very evident on the field of play - Bayern managed the game brilliantly, and stemmed the flow of Chelsea attacks throughout the game, while Chelsea increasingly sat back, allowed Bayern to come at them, and then switched, something you cannot afford to do when on the back foot.

The inexperience was clear, but at the same time, the presence of 18-year-old Willian Estavao, who came on with 10 minutes to go, would have strengthened the team. To incorporate him, Gusto would have been taken out, with Reece James dropping from midfield to right back, and Enzo Fernandez shifting into a deeper role.

As a result, Palmer would have occupied the centre, leaving Estavao with free reign over the right flank. Against Josip Stanisic and later, Konrad Laimer, Estavao’s pace and dribbling would have seen him bypass the wide defenders on multiple occasions, and as we saw with Chalobah’s own goal, as soon as a wide player reaches the byline, a low cross can create all kinds of havoc.

In addition, the introductions of Alejandro Garnacho and Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos added an extra dimension into the Chelsea attack. The impact of Santos was particularly interesting.

He was pinging the ball left and right with urgency not seen earlier in the game, and his pass through to Palmer, who’s delightful 89th minute finish was ruled out for a marginal offside, was testament to what midfielder can do - he needs more minutes, perhaps rotating with Enzo Fernandez to act as an unknown capacity to opposition players.

Over the course of the tournament, this young Chelsea squad will start to grasp the basics that are required to succeed at this level - they may have won the Conference League last season, but the UCL is a different beast altogether. Should turn up with anything less than their A-game, they will no doubt be punished heavily.

However, with the talent at Maresca’s disposal, the ever increasing Champions League experience can only benefit the side - with their next Champions League fixture a winnable game against Benfica, led by iconic ex-manager Jose Mourinho, Chelsea face a fascinating taste next time out - should they win, they will be back on track. However, should they fail to win against a side that lost to Azerbaijani side Qarabag in their tournament opener, their UCL story could be at risk of a premature ending.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist

Harry Pascoe

Lead Writer

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