Chelsea 0-1 Valencia: Hits & Flops | UEFA Champions League 2019/2020 

A loss came out of the blue for Frank Lampard's Chelsea who seemed in control of the game but created little going forward. It means that Chelsea are yet to taste victory at home under the new boss, although, the home fans will feel that they should've taken at least a point from the game as Ross Barkley hit the crossbar from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute.

Losing Mason Mount early in the game to an injury after he was on the wrong end of a horror tackle from Francis Coquelin, was a massive blow for this Chelsea team who struggled to find a creative outlet without him. It could also change the complexion of their tie against Liverpool this weekend.

The visitors will be overjoyed with the result as Albert Celades opens his Champions League campaign with Valencia with a win. There were plenty of murmurs of unrest within the Valencia camp after the controversial exit fo Marcelino, but now they can look forward to building on these early three points.

Plenty went wrong for Chelsea and right for Valencia, let's take a look at the hits and flops.

Flop: Ross Barkley

Barkley was unable to convert a penalty that would've put Chelsea level with Valencia

Substitutes taking penalties has been, in general, a fairly disastrous decision for many teams. Chelsea were the latest victim of this as Fikayo Tomori's header struck Daniel Wass on an outstretched arm, and although it wasn't caught in play, Cuneyt Cakir deferred to a VAR decision and awarded the spot-kick.

Ross Barkley, who had barely been on the pitch for minutes, stepped up to take it. A short discussion during which he dismissed both Jorginho and Willian, Barkley stepped up and found that his penalty kissed the top of the bar on its way out.

Had it been a good performance from Barkley other than the penalty miss itself, perhaps he would be spared the blushes. But he did little more than cycle the ball around, and created one dangerous situation but failed to find a team-mate after getting into the box.

Hit: Geoffrey Kondogbia

Kondogbia successfully shut the door to numerous Chelsea attacks

With Francis Coquelin, Geoffrey Kondogbia, and Dani Parejo in Valencia's midfield, they set up a wall in front of their back-line. While Parejo did a fair job, and Coquelin apart from the tackle was successful in putting the Chelsea attackers under pressure. The real hero of the system was Kondogbia.

The French midfielder made plenty of important blocks and interceptions stopping Chelsea from playing through the middle. Given that the home side were incessantly knocking on the door, he had plenty to do on the night and was alert to any danger when the Blues stepped forward.

His presence in the middle also forced Chelsea wide, which, though they were happy to do eliminated any threat they would've created through the middle. Apart from one occasion where Willian skipped past him, Kondogbia was a solid rock that allowed Valencia to keep Chelsea out.

Flop: Chelsea's crossing

Neither Alonso nor Azpilicueta could consistently find good deliveries into the box

Tammy Abraham already has 7 goals for Chelsea in the Premier League, all of them coming in the last three games. At least three of those goals were direct results of good crosses that he was able to get on the end of and beat both his marker and the goalkeeper to finish the opportunity.

The difference in this game was that Chelsea's crossing was abysmal. They couldn't find Abraham consistently. Even when Lampard changed tack and brought on Giroud to play alongside Tammy and provide more of a threat in the middle, no cross could find them.

The prime culprits were Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta who maybe had two good crosses between them all game. Pedro and Willian attempted a few towards the end of the game as well but none were effective until Willian's corner found Tomori, who in turn won a penalty.

For a side that wants to have any hope to qualify for the knockout stages, they will need to improve on their delivery from wider areas.

Hit: Rodrigo

Rodrigo made Chelsea pay as Valencia struck from a set-piece routine

Valencia were solid defensively but looked dangerous when they went forward as well. Kevin Gameiro and Rodrigo combined well to try and exploit the open spaces Chelsea left in midfield. While Gameiro's role was largely holding up the ball and bringing his team-mates into play, Valencia's top scorer from last season, Rodrigo created havoc with his movement.

Jose Gaya and Daniel Wass often joined them in attack when they flooded forward and on a couple of occasions, they were successful in finding Rodrigo in the middle. Just as it started to look like it would be one of those nights where Valencia may either have to settle for a point or Chelsea may nick the three points, Rodrigo turned up with the winner.

His movement wasn't tracked by any of the Chelsea defence as Dani Parejo's freekick found him in space and although he didn't get the purest connection on the ball, he was able to guide it into the back of the net.

Hit: Dani Parejo

Dani Parejo put in a captain's performance against Chelsea

The Spaniard was Valencia's outlet from the back. They had limited chances to go forward, but when they did, the release came from Dani Parejo. he was able to pick out the likes of Gaya, Rodrigo and Gameiro going forward to then put the home side on the back foot.

Given the way Valencia set-up set pieces would be a crucial chance for them to try and score against Chelsea. Whenever they had the opportunity, Parejo stepped up and did the business for them. Chelsea's frailty at the back was exposed on more than one occasion as Valencia started to pull off one training ground routine after another. It was one in particular that made Chelsea pay as Parejo's perfectly weighted ball, albeit a bit awkward for Rodrigo to hit, was played in behind the defensive line.

It was important that one of Valencia's midfield trio play a more passing role as they sat back against Chelsea, and Parejo played it to perfection.