Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the US ended in defeat, as they were beaten 2-1 by Real Madrid in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Enzo Maresca’s team showed their defensive weakness once again, conceding the first goal on 19 minutes, with Lucas Vazquez deflecting the ball into the bottom corner despite Dani Ceballos’ best efforts to claim it.
Less than 10 minutes late, Los Blancos had a second. This time, Brahim Diaz took a great pass from Vinicus Jr to get around Filip Jorgenson and fired home from a tricky angle.
Noni Madueke did score a goal for the Blues with his head, but it was not enough to prevent a third defeat in five games under their new boss.
Mail Sport’s Kieran Gill discusses the talking points from Chelsea’s final match in the United States.
Brahim Diaz finished off a fine pass from Vinicius Jr in what proved to be the winning goal
Noni Madueke did head in for Chelsea, but it wasn’t enough to prevent another defeat
The Blues now return to the UK having played five games in the US and won just one.
Chelsea’s high defensive line exposed
Chelsea’s high line was constantly exposed by the speed demons of Real Madrid. One ball down and boom, the Spaniards were through.
When Manchester City’s pundits look at this match as part of their preparations for the Premier League season opener at Stamford Bridge, they will be taking this into account.
Last season we saw how Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham struggled when someone passed the ball over the bar, and we suspect Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea will suffer the same.
Rodrygo (pictured) got a lot of fun, among other things, by getting behind the Chelsea high line
Maresca’s Favorite Men
Reece James, Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku are the only players to have started all five of Chelsea’s friendlies in the United States, which is interesting because they are three players who missed much of the last campaign through injury.
Lavia in particular has impressed in the pre-season, as we have seen the 20-year-old develop into a deep playmaker with each game.
Enzo Maresca has started Romeo Lavia (left) in all five of his friendlies as Blues manager
Did American fields influence the Blues?
The £115million Chelsea midfielder spoke candidly to Moises Caicedo on Monday about the state of playing fields in the United States.
“It’s so dry, the pitches,” he said. “We know we’re players with great quality, but sometimes it’s not just about you. It’s about the pitches.”
Caicedo’s name was missing from the player sheet, so we all assumed he was rested, but that turned out to be a mistake as he wasn’t brought on until the second half.
Nicolas Jackson has not yet made any selection for this pre-season, but trained fully with the team on Monday, meaning he could play against Internazionale at Stamford Bridge this weekend.
Moises Caicedo complained about the state of the American fields before the match with Real Madrid
Vinicius Jr. a good example
Reece James had a hard time living with Vinicius Junior, but that’s no big deal as he is one of the best wingers in the world.
Vinicius is a perfect example of what Chelsea want from the starlets they sign before their 18th birthday. Vinicius was given time to improve and now he is a certified superstar.
Next summer, Chelsea will take Estevao Willian and Kendry Paez on tour.
Vinicus Jr’s development shows Chelsea need to be patient with some of their stars
There is still some transfer work to be done
Chelsea now have work to do in the transfer window.
Not only in terms of inflow, but also in terms of outflow, because there are players in their bloated group whose future has to be decided.
Ben Chilwell did not play against Los Blancos, after also failing to feature against Man City
Armando Broja is another player ignored by Maresca who could leave Chelsea this summer
Ben Chilwell is one of those who has barely been seen in the United States. Maresca admitted that he is not sure if he can invert.
Armando Broja is another example, he wasn’t even in the squad for this match.