By participating in the Club World Cup, Chelsea have had to, in effect, sacrifice a large part of the upcoming preseason. However, despite the insistence that we\u2019re taking this competition as seriously as possible, it would appear that we\u2019re not averse to do a bit of experimenting at the same time, to help fill that gap in preparations for next season.<\/p>\n
Alas, last night\u2019s experiment backfired quite emphatically in always sunny Philadelphia. We haven\u2019t seen such a momentous collapse from the team in some time, going from a game that was solidly in-hand and under control, to conceding twice in the span of six minutes in nearly identical ways. Nicolas Jackson\u2019s second ridiculous red card in his last four appearances then effectively ended the match, despite plenty of time left on the clock.<\/p>\n
Maresca didn\u2019t elaborate on what the exact nature of his experiment may have been, but we had Reece James playing in a three-man midfield alongside Mois\u00e9s Caicedo and Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez, while Cole Palmer was back on the right flank where he had so much success last season. That\u2019s certainly not a bad idea on paper; in practice, the execution was lacking greatly however. Experiments can fail in many different ways.<\/p>\n
\n\u201c[Those were] six minutes that completely changed the dynamic of the game. I think, until their first goal, we had started the second half much better, but then two goals in two minutes and the red card changed the dynamic of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last two days, we tried something completely different. We played in a different structure today to prepare for next season and have more options. The plan was quite good for an hour, but then we conceded the goal, and the second one, and then we had the red card. In the end, with us down to ten men, they deserved to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
-Enzo Maresca; source: Chelsea FC<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n