Anatomy of a Disaster: How PSG exposed Chelsea's biggest weaknesses

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For around 72 minutes, Chelsea kept pace with the reigning European Champions. They traded blows, came close to landing mortal wounds. The Parc de Princes feel quiet, boos rang out through the evening air when Enzo Fernandez guided in the equalizer.

And then, as it often does, came Chelsea’s hallmark - that dreaded 20-minute spell of dissociation - decisions wrapped in brain-fog, executed with the languor of Prince Oberyn circling the fallen Mountain before getting his skull squashed into mush. The manner of Chelsea’s capitulation in games of such magnitude is now alarmingly predictable, and yet, inexplicably maddening.

Maresca’s ploy against PSG with a side he knew had the tendency to commit momentum-imploding errors, was to minimize them. Against one of the best high-pressing sides in the world, he told Sanchez to go over and not through it. That little bit of adaptation proved decisive.

Rosenior’s approach was the exact opposite of pragmatic. “Coming here against a really high-pressing team,” he said post-game, “if you stay calm and play through the initial pressure, you can cause a lot of problems, which we did.” The collective disenchantment of Filip Jorgensen being picked over Rob Sanchez was palpable online.

His observations conveniently ignored the cracks threatening to widen into fissures all game. On more than one occasion, Jorgensen’s attempts to play through the press were almost intercepted. With the score at 2-2 and PSG re-energizing their press with Kvaratskhelia and Mayulu, the logical prerogative would have been to build via the channels or to try diagonals from goalkicks, something that hurt PSG in the CWC final.

Instead, Jorgensen passed the ball to Barcola inside his own box for a confidence-shattering 3rd for PSG. He then underhit a pass to Caicedo in his own 3rd that led to a disallowed goal. Chalobah was visibly livid with the Dane on the first on the first, Enzo Fernandez did not hold back in reprimanding his keeper for playing short when there were options to bypass the pressure on the disallowed goal.

“Players make mistakes,” said Rosenior under heavy pressure to defend his unanimously unpopular decision before the game. “Filip's not the first one to make a mistake. And that's part of football.”

It is a perfectly decent thing to say, but only if your side hadn’t just committed its 5th error leading to a shot and 3rd leading to a goal in just 9 CL games. In the past two seasons, the count for errors leading to shots stands at 49, ones leading to goals at 19.

Chelsea have now conceded more than one goal in 20 different games this season [won 4, lost 11.] Of the 28 goals they have conceded that were 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th goals in these games, Chelsea have conceded goals within 15 minutes of each other nine times. Goals within 30 minutes of each other takes that tally to 17. Statistically speaking, 60.7% of the time, Chelsea’s reaction to taking a second hard punch is letting their opponents land a crippling third.

PSG seemed very aware of the fact that Chelsea’s confidence is a brittle entity. They did not try anything stupid. They did not go to a volatile 3-1-6 with runners assaulting the last line and leaving the kind of space Dembele galloped into to score the 2nd.

They did what often works with Chelsea - they waited. Chelsea did the rest, and then they lost their heads. There were no reds here, but Pedro Neto clattered into a ball-boy, sparking a melee on the touchline. It was yet another example of a side that is now undeniably Europe’s finest double-edged sword.

At the start of Rosenior’s tenure it was hard to place any blame on him for individual errors or the squad’s imbalance. However, picking a goalkeeper who wished to leave the club this winter, and then making him the central piece of the strategy against the European Champions was as naive as many of his players have been this season.

Not even the most delusional Chelsea fan will think the side are capable of mounting anything resembling Barcelona’s 4-0 comeback win against the Parisians. There could be a consolatory win against a rotated side, but it is that streak of callousness that truly hinders this side from being classified in the same bracket as the elites.

It is time for Rosenior to acknowledge brutal realities he has seemed reticent to confront. His idealistic musings in press-conferences are slowly beginning to grate on Chelsea fans, who want decisiveness, not diplomacy. There is little time to hand-hold players who are refusing to elevate themselves to the required performance threshold. Then there’s the bottom line: he has only beaten Wolves, Wrexham, Hull and an injury-ravaged Villa in March while failing to beat Leeds, Burnley & a toothless Arsenal. Another slip up against Newcastle could leave his own position at the helm in a very precarious place.