Graham Potter wasn't able to use his knowledge of Brighton to Chelsea's advantage as a calamitous first half saw Chelsea hung out for the Seagulls to attack.
A self-destructive first 15 minutes, even from Thiago Silva who had to atone for his own mistakes to clear off the line twice in the opening stages, saw the Blues 2-0 down before they could smell the salty seaside air. By half-time, and with a second own goal of the game, the points were all but sealed for Roberto De Zerbi's side and Potter was left to listen to chants aimed his way from the home support.
The narrative was too much really. De Zerbi yet to win and Potter yet to lose since Todd Boehly made the choice to appoint the 47-year-old at Stamford Bridge, really, only one thing was ever going to happen.
READ MORE: Four things learned as Graham Potter falls to first Chelsea defeat versus Brighton
Potter continued with his attacking formation with just three defenders - one of which is playing wildly out of position in Marc Cucurella, and the wingbacks left their outside centre-backs all alone. That was part of the plan, Potter said, explaining: "The responsibility for those two wasn't to defend against their wing-backs, but I understand that whenever you do something, and it doesn't work, you look a bit of a fool. That is how it is. I have to accept that, deal with that, do better, and I'll learn. That's the process."
Cucurella, who received similar amounts of peltings from the home support throughout the game, was perhaps lucky to have lasted into the second half. He was once again tormented and the sight of him crouched down to defend against Solly March was the recurring image of the first half. That was part of the risk that Potter set out with though, but it was also De Zerbi's plan.
He revealed the aims of his team, saying, "We prepared the game one-to-one with Mitoma with Chalobah and one-to-one Solly March against Cucurella. But Trossard was fantastic, Adam Lallana the same. All the players were fantastic."
"The first 20-25 minutes we were fantastic, in how we played with and without the ball. We played with an intensity I liked."
football.london wrote on Friday that Potter's adaptation of the wing-back role had aided Christian Pulisic in particulate the risk-reward factor was always there. Whereas RB Salzburg allowed Chelsea space on the wings, Brighton were on-top of the Blues early and had an effective extra two players due to the reluctance of Pulisic and Raheem Sterling to help their team out.
The benefits of that come when Chelsea attack with purpose, but by then it was too late and Potter did, as he said, look like a fool. It might be the death of the wingback ploy for a while, certainly with no defensive midfielder for cover, but Potter's flexibility and ingenuity mean it probably won't be the last we see of it.
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