Five things we learnt from Chelsea's 3-2 defeat to Burnley (Chelsea 2-3 Burnley)

Earlier today Chelsea suffered a shocked and bitterly disappointing defeat at home to Burnley, losing the game 3-2.

Here we look at five things we learnt from the game from a Chelsea perspective.


Before the five things, just a few thoughts on the game itself.

It's easy to blame the referee Craig Pawson and while he didn't have the best game and made some poor decisions, I feel it is a bit of a cop out to blame him alone for the defeat. Gary Cahill was an idiot with the challenge he made and shouldn't have given the referee the decision to make, when you do that you are just asking for trouble and Cesc Fabregas is a bigger idiot for getting the booking for sarcastic clapping in the first half (even if that's how I and many Chelsea fans were feeling). That booking should have been avoided meaning Chelsea finish the game with 10 men and he isn't banned for the game against Tottenham next Sunday. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I don't think Antonio Conte got his team selection right either for this. Yes part of the problem is how small the Chelsea squad is at the moment due to letting players leave and injuries but Alvaro Morata should have started ahead of Michy Batshuayi.

And I'm gutted for Jeremie Boga. Getting taken off after only 16 minutes in his debut because of Cahill's stupidity must have really hurt and hopefully it has dented his confidence. I was quite excited when I saw the news that he would be starting, finally a youth player getting a start in a game, only to last 16 minutes. So disappointing.

Onto the five things and I've tried to be more positive because the negatives are bloody obvious and everyone else will be mentioning them.

Number 1 - Lacked a creative spark

No Eden Hazard and no Pedro really highlighted that without them Chelsea lack a player who can produce that bit of magic, that can get people off their seats, that can make things happen out of nothing. They are a constant threat and worry to the opposition.

Think of that Pedro goal against Everton late last season when Chelsea won 3-0. Until that point Chelsea were really struggling to break Everton down, they weren't really creating any goalscoring opportunities so Pedro took it upon himself to do a little bit of trickery to create space for himself on the edge of the box before taking a shot.

Maybe that was the role Boga was meant to take, he looked good when he played in pre-season when he replaced Pedro, but Cahill's sending off put an end to that.

Number 2 - Squad depth/Need signings

Do I need to say anymore?

I thought the team list on the back page of the Community Shield programme showed how thin Chelsea's squad is but this game took it to another level and now with Fabregas and Cahill suspended for the game against Tottenham the squad looks a lot thinner.

Just who is going to play alongside N'Golo Kante in midfield? Fabregas is suspended. Nemanja Matic? Sold. Tiemoue Bakayoko? If he's fit in time. Nathaniel Chalobah? Sold. Ruben Loftus-Cheek? Loaned out. Who does that leave? David Luiz?

Repeat number one about a creative spark.

Then there's the wing-backs. There was no Victor Moses in this game because of the red card he picked up in the FA Cup final so Cesar Azpilicueta filled in there and didn't do a bad job, he's not a bad backup for the position, it's on the left where the real issue is. Chelsea have Marcos Alonso and... No one. Alonso was booked within the first five minutes of this game and you have to think with the way things were going with the referee being very card happy that had Chelsea had a backup left wing-back then Conte would have made such a change at some point.

Should probably say that we know Conte wants signings and he's not happy with the lack of transfer activity from the board. Just wonder what sort of mood that is creating.

Number 3 - Antonio Rudiger looked good

Rudiger didn't do much wrong in defence and he made some really really good forward passes. Not the ideal first game for him but showed plenty of promise that he will be a good signing.

Number 4 - Alvaro Morata looked good

When Morata came on Chelsea instantly looked better. He gave Chelsea a lifeline by scoring on his debut. He set up Luiz for the second. He was involved in a third but it was (rightly) disallowed for offside. He was much much better than Batshuayi. I think it was a mistake by Conte not to start Morata or failing that bringing him on at half-time instead of leaving it until after the hour mark. Again though, just like with Rudiger, it looks like Morata will be a good signing.

Number 5 - Kept fighting until the end

So often when a team goes down to 10 men and then 3-0 down at half time they completely collapse but Chelsea didn't. They kept going. They kept fighting even managing to get 2 goals back. That has to be a positive surely?

That's five things we learnt from Chelsea's 3-2 home defeat to Burnley. let us know your thoughts in the comments.