Calum McFarlane will get a lot of credit following Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City, and rightly so.
No one was expecting Chelsea to get a result at the Etihad under their interim manager, and it looked like that was going to be the case.
However, Enzo Fernandez managed to pop up at the death and equalise for the Blues.
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In the end, it was a bit of a masterclass from McFarlane, but he has been quick to give his players the credit for the team’s turnaround.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty ImagesCalum McFarlane thought Andrey Santos was ‘exceptional’
Chelsea went into half-time 1-0 down following Tijjani Reijnders’ brilliant strike. As a result, McFarlane decided to make one change at the break, bringing on Andrey Santos for Estevao Willian.
He has since praised the midfielder, describing his performance as “exceptional”.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, which has been shared by football.london, McFarlane said: “We didn’t expect them to shape up the way they did in the first-half with the No.6 on the front line. We were getting pinned back at times.
“We made a change at half-time to go more man-to-man on the ball. Andrey Santos coming on at half-time and Enzo moving up one, I thought Andrey was exceptional.”
Santos has been a bit-part player at Chelsea this season, making just four starts in the Premier League.
However, after his latest performance and with Liam Rosenior coming in, the 21-year-old may be in for more opportunities.
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty ImagesAndrey Santos’ stats vs Manchester City
That was probably Santos’ most impactful performance in a Chelsea shirt, with the Brazilian putting up some very good numbers.
For example, according to Sofascore, Santos completed 28 of the 31 passes he attempted, giving him a 90% pass success rate.
The Brazil international also made five defensive actions, which is not bad for someone who played just half of the game.
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All in all, it was a great midfield performance. The next match that Moises Caicedo misses, it would not be a surprise to see Santos come in for him.
Santos and Chelsea’s next game is a west London derby against Fulham. The expectation is that Rosenior will be in charge for that fixture as he closes in on a switch from Strasbourg to Chelsea.
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