Chelsea were knocked out of the League Cup on Wednesday night after they travelled from Stamford Bridge to St. James’ Park to lose 2-0 to Newcastle United.
The Blues had beaten Eddie Howe’s men 2-1 in the Premier League on Sunday on their own turf, but could not complete a double over the Magpies.
A composed finish from Alexander Isak, after an error in midfield gifted the ball back to Newcastle, and an own goal from Axel Disasi sealed the victory for the away side.
Enzo Maresca selected Disasi in the right-full-back position, with Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile in the middle, and the Frenchman endured a difficult evening.
Axel Disasi's performance in numbers
The biggest talking point about his performance is, of course, the own goal that made it 2-0 to Newcastle before the end of the first-half, which turned out to be the last goal of the evening.
It was somewhat unfortunate in the sense that the first ball is not dealt with by his teammates and the ball dropped into a dangerous position between him and Filip Jorgensen, but he simply did not sort his feet out to make the clearances and sliced it into his own net.
Aside from that error, Disasi also lost four of his six duels and was dribbled past once, which shows that he struggled with his physical battles against Joelinton – who played on the left flank for the Magpies.
He did, however, create two chances for his teammates and the former Monaco man was far from the only underperformer on the pitch for the Blues, as captain Enzo Fernandez was just as bad as him.
Enzo Fernandez's performance in numbers
Handed the armband for the game, the World Cup winner produced a disappointing display in the middle of the park with his lack of creativity and quality in possession.
Whilst it was an error from Renato Veiga to produce a sloppy pass under pressure for the opening goal, Sandro Tonali was on the front foot ahead of Fernandez, who put his arms up in the air to call for a foul rather than challenging for the ball.
The Evening Standard handed him a rating of 3/10 for his performance, referencing that incident as part of their reasoning, and criticised his lack of leadership in the first-half when Newcastle scored their two goals.
Touches
138
Key passes
1
Big chances created
0
Crosses completed
1/8
Possession lost
23x
As you can see in the table above, Fernandez had plenty of opportunities to make things happen on the ball, with a whopping 138 touches, but lost the ball 23 times and only created one chance.
His failure to create a single ‘big chance’ from 138 touches and eight attempted crosses illustrates his lack of quality in the final third, and he set the tone for himself early on with a wayward long switch on his weak foot that went straight out of play for a throw-in.
Therefore, Fernandez was just as bad as Disasi, as he was a liability in the midfield with his loose play, and Maresca will be hoping for far better from both players moving forward.
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