Twin crises deepen for Chelsea as Enzo Maresca suffers worst night of reign | OneFootball

Chelsea failed to register a shot on target as attacking problems grow

There was a time not long ago when a Brighton player doing something even half this good would prompt a £60million bid from Chelsea almost by default. How Enzo Maresca must wish he had that option now.

Those comments angered many Chelsea supporters. Among those leaving early as Yankuba Minteh’s second of the night secured a 3-0 win, you did not sense the mood had improved.

Such was their own team’s no-show that Mitoma’s opener was just about the only highlight to take away. Scored in front of the away end, it was that good, a goal rare enough its quality to draw rival admiration and, if we’re all being truthful about it, not even the begrudging kind.

From a direct kick for Bart Verbruggen, Mitoma produced a touch of such ridiculous brilliance as the ball dropped over his shoulder that it rather overshadowed the following three. They, too, were perfect, to beat Trevor Chalobah and then Filip Jorgensen in the visiting goal.

That the strike came only minutes after Noni Madueke was forced off, seemingly the latest victim of the Premier League’s hamstring epidemic, only stiffened the blow.

Noni Madueke was forced off with a hamstring injury in the first-half

Action Images via Reuters

And this Chelsea do not seem to deal well with those. Evidence is gathering, perhaps because of their youth, that this is a fair-weather football team, fine when things are going well but unable to respond the moment they turn.

Brighton’s second was part of a similar double-whammy, driven home from close-range by Minteh soon after Enzo Fernandez had seen a would-be equaliser rightly chalked off for a foul.

By means fair, Chelsea were again pathetically toothless in attack, outdoing themselves by failing to muster a single shot on target across 90 minutes, a grim reduction on Saturday’s one.

With Nicolas Jackson’s own hamstring injury worse than first feared and both he and Marc Guiu out until after next month’s international break, Maresca warned he would have to get creative and, in fairness, tried.

Christopher Nkunku, so ineffective as a No9 last weekend, started again but this time in a deeper role, supporting Cole Palmer, while Fernandez ran from midfield beyond the pair.

With two lively wingers, in Madueke and Pedro Neto, Chelsea briefly looked a force, Brighton stretched and confused by a team playing almost as two split contingents of five, one raiding foreign territory and one protecting ensuring safety at home.

That all went up in smoke, though, with Madueke’s exit, the Englishman hurt teeing up a chance squandered by Palmer and forced off after 21 minutes as Thomas Tuchel watched on.

This correspondent is no medical expert, but you did not need to be. Madueke’s shake of the head and hand gesture towards the bench, like a man pulling a Christmas cracker on his own, told you the prognosis was not good. In mid-December, Chelsea had nine senior forward players fit and available. Now, for various reasons, they are down to four. None are playing well.

Jadon Sancho, Madueke’s replacement and another England wannabe with a chance to impress, did nothing to catch Tuchel’s eye.

As Minteh struck either side of half-time, the most senior players in a Chelsea side not blessed with many summed up their lack of fight. Marc Cucurella’s defending for the third goal was embarrassing. Levi Colwill, in what is becoming an ugly habit, cried for a non-existent foul.

“Can we play you every week?” the home crowd sang, and you could understand why. They had not seen their side win here in three months, before two London buses turned up six days apart, carrying Maresca’s sorry side.

From the away end, came choruses of Roman Abramovich’s name and then the demand that “We want our Chelsea back”. Barely two months ago, after thrashing Southampton in the midst of an eight-game winning run, they were singing that they had.

Things have spiralled quickly since then and Maresca still has shown no sign of being about arrest the decline. The opposite, in fact: with injuries mounting and the atmosphere turning, things are only getting worse.