First losers: Chelsea and Jorginho’s nightmare in the first half

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The warning signs were there after just four minutes for Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea. A tame shot from Matheus Pereira came at the end of a play pass that saw the Blues stripped of the ball in midfield. They got away with it that time, but it was a family sight as Chelsea conceded five goals against relegation-threatened West Brom.

Several missed passes later and it was suspected that it could be a slightly tougher afternoon than Chelsea expected. Several of his players seemed a bit off the beat and a bit rusty, even before the costly expulsion of Thiago Silva. The Blues made eight changes to the starting XI who beat Sheffield United in the FA Cup before the international break. Mason Mount’s absence raised some eyebrows after his brilliant performances recently for both the club and the country, while there was a welcome return for Silva at the center of his defense. Or so we think.

Silva was returning for the first time from a thigh injury he sustained against Tottenham on February 4. The Brazilian has been fantastic in the main league for Chelsea since joining in a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer. But these were not his best 28 minutes. The 36-year-old received a warning in just five minutes when he threw Pereira back, leaving the experienced center-back walking a tightrope for the rest of the game.

Marcos Alonso’s free-kick, which hit the post in the 27th minute, was stabbed by Christian Pulisic, with Chelsea seemingly on track to a standard win from Tuchel to zero, but an incident seconds later turned the game upside down. Flying to block a shot, Silva was out of control and caught Okay Yokuslu well after the ball was gone. Maybe it was a bit unfortunate, but it was clumsy and left referee David Coote with no choice but to fire him. It was Silva’s first red card since May 5, 2013, when he was sent off by PSG in a Ligue 1 match. That left Chelsea against a visibly unhappy Hakim Ziyech replaced by Andreas Christensen as Tuchel looked to shore up his defending.

Thiago-Silva-Chelsea

Even though Chelsea had the two best chances to follow, it was West Brom who scored next with a long boot on the court from Baggies goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, which bounced off the edge of the area and Pereira threw the ball to the network expertly. The Baggies had been decent up to that point in the future, but that goal gave them the confidence to run wild. If the first goal was a bad time to concede, two minutes into first-half injury time, the second was even worse with West Brom taking the lead with almost the last kick of the half. It was a great job again from Pereira, but Chelsea was falling apart at this point.

And while Silva will take much of the stick for his sending off, Jorginho played an important role in turning the tide of the first half. The Italian handed it directly to Pereira in the run-up to Silva’s first yellow card, and the Brazilian had no choice but to take down the attacker. Not only that, but Jorginho gave the ball away again in West Brom’s attack that led to Silva’s second caution. And to top it off, the former Napoli midfielder bizarrely attempted a backward header that landed at Mbaye Diagne’s feet in preparation for Sam Allardyce’s second goal.

CIES Football Observatory this week Jorginho ranked as the best player in the Premier League since the turn of the year, slightly ahead of Manchester City’s Ruben Dias, while Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski were the only two players above him in the world. There is no question that he has been impressive since Tuchel joined, but he will want to put this performance behind him as soon as possible.

And so will Tuchel, who had to see his Chelsea concede another three goals, and the Blues conceded as many goals in the first half today (two) as in their 14 previous games under the German in all competitions. However, West Brom deserves credit, especially for their sublime third and fourth goals, leaving Chelsea with no chance of saving anything in the match. Mount got off the bench to take a second for the Blues, but it wasn’t enough to 5-2 win for West Brom handed Tuchel his first big test as Chelsea boss.

Speaking after the game, Tuchel said: “There wasn’t that much until the red card came. After that, we couldn’t cope with the situation. I don’t know why. ”It is likely to be a very small but very strong bump in Chelsea’s reign with Porto that will likely have a reaction when the teams meet in Champions League action on Wednesday. the door to West Ham, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton, who are chasing a top-four result, with the Blues yet to face tough games against the Hammers, Manchester City, Arsenal and Leicester before the end of the season. Tuchel has been brilliant so far, but it will be interesting to see how his talented team reacts to adversity.



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