Saturday 29 July 2017 18:34, UK
Chelsea finished their pre-season tour of China and Singapore with a 2-1 International Champions Cup defeat to Inter Milan on Saturday - and their final fixture in the Far East will have given boss Antonio Conte plenty to contemplate.
The Premier League champions were blown away by a first-half blast from Bayern Munich on Tuesday and, while Chelsea finished strongly against Inter Milan, there were further moments of defensive disarray, in addition to Stefan Jovetic and Ivan Perisic's strikes either side of the break.
Here, we take a look at the talking points from the game - including the outrageous own goal Geoffrey Kondogbia scored for Chelsea…
Chelsea were 3-0 down to Bayern Munich inside half an hour earlier this week and, although Carlo Ancelotti found excuses for the Londoners' defence after the game, the Blues were looking vulnerable from the off against Inter Milan, too.
Conte had said ahead of the clash that he felt Chelsea were getting up to speed in terms of their tactical work, but it took the Italian side just four minutes to expose out-of-position Marcos Alonso and cause chaos in the Blues' box with a flurry of blocked shots, after David Luiz had desperately deflected Antonio Candreva's shot, forcing Thibaut Courtois to save.
Chelsea had begun the game with the same five-man defence which looked so well organised and secure en route to the club's Premier League title win last season but the concerns continued throughout the first 45 minutes before Inter made the breakthrough in stoppage time, thanks to a controversial penalty call.
While Cesar Azpilicueta's challenge on Jovetic was a fair one, the extent to which Borja Valero's lofted pass opened up Chelsea's defence reflected their vulnerability on the back foot and that weakness was glaringly evident inside a minute of the second half, when their isolated centre-backs were outnumbered and Jovetic had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside after sweeping in the rebound to Perisic's shot.
Conte's men weren't so fortunate on 52 minutes, when another Inter break led to Manchester Untied target Perisic driving the ball under Courtois, and Joao Mario really should have added a third when he shot straight at the goalkeeper after being teed up by Perisic.
Conte - who stressed there was still hard work for his side to do in pre-season - will be eager to step up his work with his defence on the training field, when they return to Cobham next week.
At the other end of the pitch there were encouraging signs from both Michy Batshuayi and £70m summer signing Alvaro Morata, but Chelsea were clearly lacking the invention of Eden Hazard, the pacey runs beyond of Pedro and the power of Diego Costa, who has been training on his own in Brazil and is seemingly on his way out of the club.
Morata, deployed on the left side of a front three, which also included the hard-working Willian, showed plenty of industry and made some smart runs to receive the ball in space but would surely have preferred the central role given to Batshuayi.
The Spaniard, whose goals-per-minute rate was only bettered by Lionel Messi in La Liga last season, was limited to working the channels and offering an outlet down the line for Alonso. Frustratingly, his best moves were clever turns near the halfway line and clipped passes across the pitch to spread the play, rather than the dangerous moments in the penalty box he is renowned for.
Batshuayi wasn't able to offer that incision either. A first-half spark, which saw the Belgian rob Inter of the ball, dart forward and tee up Willian, was a fine example of the striker's ability to bring others into play but a poor shot on the turn early in the second half and header over the bar late on lacked the clinical finish Batshuayi would have wanted to show his onlooking boss.
The striker did find the net with five minutes to play but yet another poor decision from the officials - who incorrectly flagged the Chelsea man offside - denied Batshuayi the confidence-boosting goal he was after.
There are still two weeks remaining before Chelsea begin their Premier League title defence at home to Burnley on the opening weekend of the 2017/18 season and Conte will be thankful for that, given the work he will want to do with his defence on the training ground following their performance against Inter Milan.
While the Italian will have no qualms with his team's attitude - the Blues battled hard against Inter, just as they did against Bayern - and can point to a late incorrect offside call costing his side a draw on Saturday, his backline have looked uncharacteristically out of shape in their past two outings.
Conte will also be pleased to see the return of injured duo Eden Hazard and Pedro to his first-team squad. Without Costa, Chelsea looked to be missing a cutting edge against Inter Milan and the manager will need to find a way to maximise the threat of Morata, who was too often on the fringes in Singapore.
Next Sunday's Community Shield with Arsenal will be the next gauge of Chelsea's progress towards their best form and Conte will be eager to see an improvement at both ends of the field at Wembley, before the new league season gets underway.
Chelsea's clash with Inter Milan will have made interesting viewing for Manchester United fans, given the presence of reported United target Perisic in the Italian side's line-up - and they will have been impressed with what they saw from the Croatian.
While the winger had a quiet first-half, his performance in the second period showed why Jose Mourinho is keen on the 28-year-old. Perisic displayed his pace with a driving run and shot at the start of the second 45 and then beat Courtois on 52 minutes with a similar move, firing a left-foot strike under the goalkeeper.
Perisic, who had earlier teed up Jovetic for a good effort on goal, should have finished the game with an assist to his name, too, after bursting into the box, holding the ball up and then laying off to Joao Mario, who wastefully shot straight at Courtois.
There was also shot into the side-netting, after Perisic had out-paced new Chelsea signing Antonio Rudiger, as the Inter wide man grew in confidence as the game wore on. Will we see him lining up against Chelsea in the Premier League next season? United supporters will hope so...
While Chelsea's defensive errors will trouble Conte and Perisic's impressive display will leave Manchester United fans considering what role he could play at Old Trafford next season, this match will ultimately be remembered for Geoffrey Kondogbia's outrageous own goal.
With Chelsea 2-0 down and seemingly out of the contest, the Frenchman threw the English side a lifeline in the most bizarre fashion, lobbing his own goalkeeper Daniele Padelli from all of 40 yards with a miscued back-pass.
It was a moment Kondogbia will want to forget - but there will be little chance of that: this own goal will be replayed in blooper reels for years to come.
