Rating the Chelsea Players Against Manchester City

Chelsea's hopes of a cup double ended on Sunday at Wembley with defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final.

The Blues went down 2-1 to the Citizens, and despite a spirited comeback in the second half, Chelsea ran out of time and must now focus on finishing inside the top four to ensure Champions League qualification and on the Europa League, where they meet Basel in the semi-finals.

Chelsea's performance might have justified at least extra time at Wembley, completely dominating the second half with Roberto Mancini fielding three defensive midfielders and three centre-backs towards the end in order to hang onto the lead.

Fernando Torres was arguably fouled in the penalty area by Vincent Kompany, who was on a yellow card, as well as the blatant violent conduct from Sergio Aguero which went completely unpunished, but referee Chris Foy failed to give the decisions that would have swung the game in Chelsea's favour.

Here are my ratings for the Blues.

Goalkeeper and Defenders

Petr Cech: 8/10

He could not have done much with both City goals and was responsible for several top saves throughout the game, in particular Sergio Aguero's instinctive stab at the ball from close range in the opening minutes of the game.

Cech was also excellent at timing his runs out of his penalty area in order to increase the tempo of Chelsea's attacks as they began to take control after conceding the second goal. 

Cesar Azpilicueta: 4/10

He really struggled this afternoon, clearly off the pace, and was guilty of failing to cope with one-on-one situations, in particular Yaya Toure's run in the dying moments when the Spaniard perhaps even fouled the Ivorian inside the area, only for the City powerhouse to remain on his feet.

Distribution and control also failed to meet the mark, and he was guilty of conceding possession at the height of Chelsea's attacks, completely destroying momentum.

David Luiz: 6.5/10

He looked a little unsure about who was controlling the line at the back, but he eventually sorted out communication problems with Branislav Ivanovic.

As Chelsea pushed for an equaliser, Luiz was one of the best players at adding pace to the attacks with clever passes to open up the space and stretch City. He also provided the assist for Demba Ba's goal.

Branislav Ivanovic: 6/10

This was not his best game, but he battled hard, and despite a lack of communication with Luiz as to who was marking who, the Serbian battled hard and defended well when City pushed the ball into the channels for Aguero to chase.

Ryan Bertrand: 5/10

His crossing was poor, often simply scooping the ball up to around head height where Costel Pantilimon was able to easily collect and release pressure on City's defence.

Midfield

Jon Obi Mikel: 5.5/10

He had some useful pieces of skill to release several counter attacks, but his passing was not progressive enough this afternoon. It was sometimes loose and, while not always conceding possession to City,  put unnecessary pressure on teammates to produce a piece of skill to work extra time and space.

Ramires: 5.5/10

He gave his usual energy and work rate but was wasteful too often to impact the game positively. He could deserve a bit of a pass here due to the way the game panned out in the second half.

Once it went to 2-0, City dropped very deep and therefore nullified Ramires' ability to break into the space behind the opposition's defence.

Oscar: 6/10

He battled really hard when not in possession and was able to break up several dangerous attacks of City's. However, the Brazilian often lacked a little bit of composure on the ball and was unable to split City's defence with any of his passes.

Attacking Midfielders and Forwards

Demba Ba: 7/10

He provided the goal with a stunning piece of skill. Ba swiveled and connected with a perfectly timed volley that was unstoppable.

Ba battled hard throughout but often lacked the service to affect the game even more.

Eden Hazard: 6.5/10

The Belgian was a bit too quiet to begin with, but once he gained the confidence to take on his opposite number, he began to influence the game.

Hazard beat Gael Clichy several times with ease, burning the Frenchman for pace and trickery and creating Chelsea's best chance to equalise with a surging run from deep inside his own half that resulted in Juan Mata attempting to take the ball around Pantilimon and roll it into an empty net.

If only Hazard had ran at Clichy in isolated situations earlier on, Chelsea might have assumed their dominance while drawing the game.

Juan Mata: 6/10

Frustrated in his attempt to create chances for the Blues due to a lack of movement in front of him, the Spaniard remained patient and helped the Blues to stretch City when 2-0 and eventually came back into proceedings.

Towards the end, though, Mata seemed tired, and a couple of his passes were lazily lopped up for the likes of Vincent Kompany to easily head clear.

Whilst not a great chance, Mata was unable to capitalise on a defensive mistake from City when put through by Hazard, Chelsea's No. 10 rounded Pantilimon, but the Romanian stopper got a glove to the ball before he could roll it into an empty net.

Fernando Torres: 6.5/10

He made a bright impact as a substitute, seems more powerful than before and caused problems for City.

He made a lovely pass, dropping deep in order to release Hazard on the opposite side of the pitch, and might have earned a penalty had Chris Foy had a better view of Kompany obstructing El Nino from bearing down on goal.

Overall, another positive impact for Torres, and you can see that he is slowly having a greater influence for the Blues.