Chelsea boss Graham Potter ringed the changes as he took his side to the Etihad to face Manchester City.
With an important Premier League fixture coming up at the weekend away to in-form Newcastle, Potter opted to rotate his squad.
As usual in a Carabao Cup fixture, Pep Guardiola did the same, but due to Manchester City’s elite squad depth, they were still able to field a strong side.
Jack Grealish, in particular, had an impressive first half, tearing apart the Chelsea defence at times. Journalist Nizaar Kinsella noticed that Kalidou Koulibaly didn’t have the best of games, as seen in the tweet below.
Koulibaly is struggling early on.
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) November 9, 2022
Koulibaly received a booking for a foul on Grealish and overall looked like he wasn’t up with the pace of the game.
The experienced defender has been well rested in recent weeks and was an unused substitute against Arsenal in their latest Premier League game, so there’s little excuse for Koulibaly.
Potter is having a difficult time with injuries at the moment, with Wesley Fofana a huge miss at the back.
The moment Roman was sanctioned from Chelsea, I knew that the mighty Blue was going to face problems in signing players in key areas. We need a good midfielder like Kante and a very young and strong striker like Christopher. Once the midfield is not holding the ball, the defense will suffer, and we will concede more goals. The board need to step up.