Former Chelsea boss Glenn Hoddle has suggested that Jose Mourinho got his tactics wrong in Chelsea’s 3-1 UEFA Champions League defeat to PSG last evening.
With Samuel Eto’o ruled out through injury, the Blues manager opted to start Andre Schurrle – who has played in wide areas for most of the season – as a centre-forward in the Parc de Princes with Fernando Torres and Demba Ba left on the bench.
“I don’t think Schurrle playing up front worked,” Hoddle told Sky Sports.
“But you’ve got to give credit to Paris Saint-Germain. They probably weren’t happy with the way they were playing after they went 1-0 up and they had a good reaction. They suddenly started playing on the front foot, pushed people forward and got their full-backs much higher when the ball was ready to come.
“Consequently Willian and Eden Hazard were forced to go even deeper and they were letting them go at times. That was the key; they really did force that issue on the two wide men for Chelsea and in the end they couldn’t get out.
“They didn’t have anyone to retain the ball in the second-half and if you do that away from home you are going to pay the price – and in the end they did.”
Chelsea face a mini crisis now, they have lost ground in the Premier League title and now face an uphill task to overturn the deficit when the teams meet again next week.
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