Top 4 English manager has been finally sacked today after loosing to championship team in the premier League yesterday

Chelsea have a lot of work to do if they are to reach the Carabao Cup final after being defeated in the semi-final first leg by Championship side Middlesbrough. Boro took the lead in the first half thanks to some poor defending from the Blues, and that proved enough in the first leg.

Mauricio Pochettino made three changes to his starting lineup from Saturday’s win over Preston North End. Thiago Silva, Noni Madueke, and Conor Gallagher have all returned to the squad for the match at Riverside Stadium.

Cole Palmer was Chelsea’s false nine in the north east, and the Blues No.20 was instantly involved in the game. Madueke found his countryman on the right side after some great effort, who quickly turned and shot but it was too close to Boro keeper Tom Glover.

Palmer would frequently descend into his own half to grab the ball and try to get involved. This allowed players like Madueke and Raheem Sterling to run more centrally and occupy the middle of the pitch.

His off-ball play was also brilliant, as he intercepted the ball on the half-hour mark to nearly give the visitors the lead at the Riverside. He should have done the same. Palmer regained possession after Jonny Howson’s error, but placed the ball wide of Glover’s goal in what was clearly the visitors’ best chance of the first 45 minutes.

Boro, on the other hand, took the lead before the 40-minute mark thanks to Hackney. Following some bad defending by Levi Colwill, the ball was played across the box, and Hackney finished smartly to punish Chelsea, who had been awful in the first half.

Colwill has been disappointing in recent games. In defence, he is playing in a strange position, yet certain basic defensive talents have let him down, as was the case at Riverside.

He was caught out of position at first, which is acceptable if you have the pace to make up the yards. Colwill does, but his challenge with Isaiah Jones was not solid enough, allowing the Boro player to cross the ball to Hackney, who did the rest.

It begs the question of why the club let Ian Maatsen go on loan. Chelsea are severely lacking at left back, with Ben Chilwell and Marc Cucurella both injured. While the former is close to returning, his track record with injuries is not encouraging.

Colwill is not a left-back, as seen by his performance in the first half of the season. He thrived as a central defender on loan at Brighton last season, but Chelsea appear to have stifled his evolution and development by insisting on playing him on the left side.

In any case, Chelsea headed into the half-time break behind by a goal in front of a raucous Riverside crowd. Palmer created the most chances for the visitors, as expected, but the 21-year-old was not at his clinical best.

In actuality, he had four shots, two of which were on target and two of which were ‘huge chances’ that were missed. One of them was especially disappointing since Glover parried a ball from Enzo Fernandez directly into his path, but he skied it.

Madueke had a fantastic chance to tie the game early in the second quarter. The winger got his head on a wonderful ball into the box from Fernandez, but it was too close to Glover.

Chelsea’s gameplan in the second half appeared to be to get the ball out wide and cross it into the box. However, there was no one physically present in the vicinity. Armando Broja was sitting on the bench, which made no sense.

Broja, on the other hand, was turned to shortly after the hour mark. Mykhailo Mudryk also came on for Chelsea, who needed a goal in the north east. Despite having the majority of the possession in the second half, Chelsea were unable to score. The Blues were wasteful in front of goal, as we have said often times under Pocheettino.

Not only that, but they were defensively exceedingly frail. Boro were nothing remarkable on the night, but Chelsea’s disorganised defending made them appear such at times.

There is a lot to do in the second part, which begins in a fortnight. Fortunately for the Blues, there is still time to make amends at Stamford Bridge.