Chelsea analysis: Alvaro Morata debut gets biggest cheer as Bayern defeat proves a point for Antonio Conte

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Simon Johnson25 July 2017

Chelsea were easily beaten by Bayern Munich in Singapore as club-record signing Alvaro Morata was handed his debut.

A 3-2 loss is not a fair representation of the German side's dominance in the friendly out, having scored three times inside the opening half an hour.

Antonio Conte, his normal fiery self on the sidelines, gave more youth a chance to impress and is likely not to have been too convinced by the performances in front of him.

Simon Johnson was in Singapore to assess all the key talkings points...

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Antonio Conte will feel this game has proved his point

If there is one positive to take from losing to Bayern, it's that Chelsea may work even harder to get the signings Conte wants.

Without a few first-choice players here, the strength of the squad was exposed by Bayern Munich's quality.

Chelsea hope to bring up to four more players before the end of next month and they certainly could do with more numbers.

It's great to see some of the youth being given a chance, yet the reality is Conte will want more proven talent when Chelsea play the likes of Bayern in the Champions League next season.

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Andreas Christensen will need time

There has been a lot of hope and expectation over Christensen's return from a two-year loan at Borussia Monchengladbach, but this match provided a bit of a reality check.

Starting instead of David Luiz, the Denmark international had the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Franck Ribery running at him.

Anyone would struggle against those three and Christensen was no different - same could be said for his team-mates too.

It will take a while for him to settle into Chelsea's system and there is no doubt he has a lot of promise.

There were times he made up for mistakes made by more established men in blue.

But he will clearly act as a back-up to Luiz and be ingratiated slowly into the team rather than being picked in the first XI from the outset.

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Cesc Fabregas exposed defensively against quality opposition again

This was written a lot last season and is going to be an issue again next term all well - Fabregas can be a source of strength and weakness.

When he was given time and space by Bayern he looked composed and his passing was sublime.

A long through ball to Michy Batshuayi in the first half was just the kind of service that Diego Costa used to thrive on.

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But when Bayern were breaking forward, he was easily bypassed and Chelsea's back three were exposed.

N'Golo Kante was not at his sharpest either and it was all too easy for their opponents.

Conte has spoken about the possibility of Fabregas playing in the No.10 role, with new signing Tiemoue Bakayoko and Kante behind.

That would certainly be a more solid looking line-up to play against the best of the best.

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Alvaro Morata gets the biggest cheer of the night

Chelsea can expect a lot more from their record buy in the future, the most important thing is his career at the club is under way.

When he came on as a second half substitute for Jeremie Boga, the locals erupted in acclaim. The noise was more intense than the reaction to the five goals on show.

Having left Los Angeles on Wednesday night for London to complete his £58m switch, then going on to Singapore on Sunday, it was understandable that he was on the periphery of the action.

But there were enough signs of his movement, neat link up play and touch of the ball to see why Chelsea spent so much.

There are 18 days before Chelsea's first League game against Burnley and Morata has plenty of time to work on the understanding with his new team-mates.

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No need to panic

There was a sense of deja vu today as Chelsea were torn apart by an elite European club in the second game of a pre-season tour.

For Bayern Munich, read Real Madrid a year ago at the University of Michigan, when they looked just as outclassed in the first half.

Chelsea fell 3-0 behind to Real Madrid back then too, with two late goals from Eden Hazard sparing their blushes. This time Marcos Alonso and Michy Batshuayi restored some pride.

But the most important thing to remember is that all the concern expressed by supporters after the Madrid encounter 12 months ago was soon forgotten as Chelsea dominated the title race.

So pre-season defeats, while discouraging, aren't always the be all and end all.

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