READ MARTIN SAMUEL’S MATCH REPORT FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE:
DAVID LUIZ still had his game face on, all the way to the touchline, even as a cameraman twirled around him, desperate for that famous smile.
He was still in the moment, still in the match. The whistle had long gone, but he wasn’t letting go. Not even when Pep Guardiola offered words of congratulation. They do that to you, Manchester City. As Luiz said, they keep you honest.
Focus-breaking hugs from members of Chelsea’s backroom staff, and there it was. The famous sense of fun returned, a great big grin, from one of football’s great big entertainers. Yet, as he reviewed the day in the tunnel later, Stamford Bridge now empty, that intensity of emotion returned.
‘The way they play, the way they keep the ball, even the goalkeeper is amazing,’ he said. ‘That way you have to be honest and have the humility to say we have to defend, we have to suffer. They create so many opportunities if you don’t concentrate. That’s what we tried to do. Focus on the defensive, then enjoy our space when we had it.’
He was right, too. This was Chelsea at their most unselfish, their most collectively sincere. Pedro put in a shift, but defensively more than creatively.
N’Golo Kante scored the first and Maurizio Sarri was given the opportunity to extol his own brilliance in reinventing him as a box-to-box midfielder, instead he answered that this was a rare foray from Kante in a game where he stuck dutifully to the side of Jorginho, as a guardian, the role played by Allan at Napoli.
Equally, Chelsea’s defence was exceptional: as good against City as they had been poor against Tottenham two weeks ago.
LUIZ, in particular, was a Jekyll and Hyde character — from comically inept to a tower of strength, intelligence, discipline and vision.
His raking crossfield pass started the counter-attacking move that ended with Eden Hazard’s exquisite cutback to Kante — his header sealed the game in the 78th minute, just when the home support were hunkering down for a torrid final stretch under City’s cosh.
‘Luiz played a very good match, but so did Antonio Rudiger,’ Sarri insisted. ‘It is about discipline. You have to look at the ball, you have to read the situation. You need a lot of application, a lot of attention. Our players are able to defend, but not to have the same level of determination in every match.
‘We need to improve on this, we need to be able to play with the same level of application in the matches with less motivation. I can understand it’s easier to have great motivation against Manchester City but I know very well against Brighton there will be three points available, too, so we need to be the same.
‘I think even with a professional it’s not automatic. The same for you. Every morning is not the same for you.’
But it has to be the same for champions. If City’s first defeat of the season brought home anything at all, it was the incredible demands on Premier League champions. To see a great team, one of the greatest, shut out as they were at Stamford Bridge, only illuminates the feat performed by Arsenal’s Invincibles in 2003-04. They will have had days like this, too. Days when they came up against a seemingly immovable object, when they were just a fraction off, when they were missing the odd influential figure — as City are with Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne — yet somehow that team held it together.
They drew a few, but they did not lose. It says something of the competition in this campaign that the only team capable of getting ahead of City so far — Liverpool — have had to remain unbeaten to get there.
Ironic, too, that for all their millions and the recruitment of the finest coach in the world and some of the finest players, City still struggle to break free of a trait that has dogged them since the days when they were little more than a punchline.
Since coming back to win 3-2 against Blackburn at Ewood Park on April 17, 1995 — when Brian Horton was manager — City have won a single away game in the Premier League after trailing at half-time.
The moment Kante scored in the 44th minute, close to a quarter century of history was against the champions. Guardiola is proving no more adept at reversing this trend than predecessors including Alan Ball, Frank Clark and Stuart Pearce. In his defence, mind, City do not trail at half-time as often as they used to.
Still, this vulnerability — City have fallen behind 12 times in 2018 and have recovered to win just three of those games, against Hoffenheim, Bristol City and Burnley — is one of the reasons Guardiola is as sceptical of their status as favourites for the
Champions League as he was about their ability to remain unbeaten through the season.
‘You don’t have to tell me how competitive this league is,’ Guardiola exclaimed. ‘It’s you and your analysts who keep saying we are invincible, that we are perfect, how good we are and that in February we are going to win the league. You said that. All of you.
‘Not the manager, not any player, not the club. What happened last season was because we were incredible. And today we were better than last season when we won here. The first half we had chances and we cannot expect to have a lot of chances against a team like Chelsea because they are really a Champions League team — incredible manager with incredible players in attack, in defence, Jorginho, Kante, Mateo Kovacic, the back four well organised, so well organised it’s difficult.
‘But that is the level. So when the people say Champions League, Champions League, we are not favourites because of these reasons. At that level, you need nothing to score a goal, but they scored. That’s why it is so unpredictable.’
Sarri was generous, saying Chelsea got lucky when in essence they rode the storm through stout defending, not good fortune. Anyway, while City had several good chances, and the bulk of possession, the best performers on the day were Luiz, Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta in Chelsea’s back four, and there is nothing lucky about being resolute.
Did it help that City, like Chelsea, started without a striker, Raheem Sterling their most advanced figure? Not according to Luiz. Asked if he feels happier when he sees the teamsheet and knows he is up against a midfield player, not a goalscorer, he looked bemused.
‘Sterling is not a midfielder,’ he insisted. ‘But also, it is not easier. I think it’s better when you have a reference than without. It’s always more difficult when you don’t have a reference.’
You would rather play against Aguero? Big Luiz smile. ‘Of course,’ he replied. He’s mad, obviously, but at least he’s focused. CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Arrizabalaga 8; Azpilicueta 8.5, Rudiger 8.5, LUIZ 9, Alonso 7; Kante 7.5, Jorginho 6; Willian 6.5 (Loftus-Cheek 75min, 5.5), Kovacic 6.5 (Barkley 65, 5.5), Pedro 7; Hazard 7 (Giroud 90). Subs not used: Caballero, Fabregas, Christensen, Emerson. Scorers: Kante 45, Luiz 78. Booked: Jorginho, Pedro. Manager: Maurizio Sarri 8. MANCHESTER CITY (4-1-4-1): Ederson 7; Walker 7, Stones 7, Laporte 7, Delph 6; Fernandinho 6.5; Mahrez 6 (Foden 84), B Silva 5.5, D Silva 5 (Gundogan 68, 5), Sane 5.5 (Jesus 53, 5); Sterling 7. Subs not used: Muric, Danilo, Kompany, Otamendi. Booked: None. Manager: Pep Guardiola 6. Referee: Michael Oliver 6.5. Attendance: 40,571.