Chelsea player ratings v Flamengo – Cole Palmer shocking, Nicolas Jackson embarrassing
Chelsea suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Flamengo in their second Club World Cup game on Friday.
In an incident-filled affair, Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson was shown a red card for an aggressive second-half challenge.
Flamengo initially came out of the blocks well, as the Stamford Bridge side endured a couple of shaky moments in defence.
However, the West Londoners took the lead through Pedro Neto on 13 minutes, when the winger latched onto a loose ball and fired past Agustin Rossi.
After the Portugal international put Enzo Maresca’s men ahead, the first half turned into a somewhat scrappy affair as both Neto and Liam Delap received yellow cards, adding to the booking already shown to Chelsea teammate Moises Caicedo.
The Blues led 1-0 at the interval, but second-half goals from Bruno Henrique, Danilo, and Wallace Yan sealed a deserved win for the Brazilians.
Chelsea player ratings v Flamengo
Robert Sanchez – 5
Robert Sanchez has faced transfer speculation and gave the ball away cheaply in the early proceedings, but was lucky that the Brazilian Serie A side didn’t capitalise on that. The Spain international made some good saves when he was called upon, though. Sanchez didn’t cover himself in glory when Filipe Luis’ side scored from close range three times, but his defence didn’t help him out.
Malo Gusto – 4
The right-back did not demonstrate the sort of attacking threat he is capable of, and failed to mark assist-maker Gonzalo Plata when the Brazilian club equalised.
Trevoh Chalobah – 5
Having recently made his England debut, Trevoh Chalobah hasn’t fully settled into Club World Cup proceedings, and was part of a poor Chelsea defensive unit.
Levi Colwill – 6
The best player in Chelsea’s back four, who were otherwise poor, as he produced a goal-line clearance when the scores were level at 0-0.
Marc Cucurella – 5
Euro 2024 winner Marc Cucurella did not produce the kind of performance his international accolades suggest he is capable of.
Reece James – 5
Reece James played in a holding midfield role, proving his versatility. The England international demonstrated his dangerous set-piece delivery well too, but made a second-half error which could have been capitalised on by Flamengo as he cheaply gave the ball away in a dangerous area.
Moises Caicedo – 4
Caicedo has arguably failed to live up to his price tag throughout the majority of his Chelsea career, while his poor performance in the first half saw the Blues overrun by Luis’ men.
Cole Palmer – 4
Cole Palmer has rightly earned a reputation as the Stamford Bridge side’s talisman, but failed to deliver the goods on Friday.
Enzo Fernandez – 5
The presence of James and Caicedo allowed Fernandez attacking freedom, but he was largely unable to demonstrate any creative tendencies.
Pedro Neto – 7
Neto did well to maintain composure when he scored, but other than his big moment, the 25-year-old was relatively quiet and sometimes gave the ball away, bringing an end to promising situations.
Liam Delap – 6
The former Ipswich Town man worked hard in his first start for Chelsea, but lacked his crucial finishing touch.
Substitutes
Romeo Lavia (for James, 64) – 5
A quiet performance from the ex-Southampton man
Nicolas Jackson (for Delap, 64) – 2
Jackson committed an unnecessary, malicious foul just moments after being subbed on and was deservedly shown a red card. The Senegal international desperately let his side down.
Marc Guiu (for Palmer, 82) – 5
Marc Guiu had little time to make an impact, but witnessed a close-range effort from a tight angle saved by Rossi.
Noni Madueke (for Fernandez, 82) – 5
The England man was not handed enough minutes to make an impact on the game.