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There is an obvious pattern to Chelsea’s upside-down season. Against teams currently in the lower half of the table, Frank Lampard’s men have racked up 19 points out of a possible 21, all victories except the thrilling 3-3 draw at West Brom.
But against the upper half, Chelsea is yet to win, winning three points out of 15. While Lampard expects the trend to continue Tuesday night, as his opponents, the Wolves, are ranked 13th, the contrast is just as marked that something must change if they are to be challengers to the top of the table this season.
So far, the individual quality at Stamford Bridge is good enough to beat the weaker teams, but they are not yet cohesive enough as a unit to threaten the best.
Lampard would probably agree. After Saturday night’s 1-0 loss at Everton in which Chelsea didn’t get a shot on goal in the second half, he said: ‘I keep reading how we have the strongest team in the league, but we don’t I get it.
“There are teams around us that have won titles and have players full of 20 or 30 goals a year in their squad.
‘We clearly don’t have it. We have young players, some who have won titles, but some new to the league.
‘We are a work in progress. We have players who were in the Championship or on loan in the last two years ”.
The problem for Chelsea is high expectations following a £ 220m spend in the latest transfer window from Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell, Hakim Ziyech, a new goalkeeper Eduoard Mendy and world-class defender Thiago. Silva.
Ironically, the defense has been resolved faster. Mendy, Reece James, Kurt Zouma, Silva and Chilwell have become Lampard’s established defensive line and consistency in the selection has given Chelsea the foundations to avoid being surprised as a favorite, particularly with N’golo Kante back to his best level in midfield.
Aside from West Brom’s initial result, Chelsea have conceded just three times in six games against teams from the lower half.
But in midfield and attack, Lampard has had many options to choose from with 10 top-class players battling for five spots.
They have struggled to find the right combinations to disrupt organized defenses and failed to score against Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea or Tottenham.
Injuries to Christian Pulisic and Ziyech have not helped and both were absent at Everton on Saturday, preventing Chelsea from occupying open positions.
Havertz, the most expensive acquisition at £ 72 million, has had its season interrupted by a positive Covid test and has struggled all season. “When you don’t do anything for two and a half weeks and then start training again, you feel like you’ve never played soccer before,” he admitted.
The balance on the Chelsea side, particularly up front, has not looked good in the biggest games. Roman Abramovich will want to see his expensive signings of Ziyech, Pulisic, Havertz and Werner assimilated, but Lampard is also willing not to rule out Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Callum-Hudson Odoi, who have been through the Chelsea academy and did very well. Last season.
He also has a World Cup winning center forward Olivier Grioud on the books, who recently scored four against Sevilla in the Champions League.
Fitting in everyone is impossible and so far Lampard hasn’t made the tough decisions that José Mourinho has made at Spurs by ditching Dele Alli and Harry Winks in order to use a system designed to bring out the best in Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min.
Havertz has played center and wide to try to get his Mojo back, but nothing has worked to date. He has not scored in 10 games and his confidence was eroded against Everton when he was substituted early. In other games, he looks like a passenger and gives away possession.
Lampard will not lose faith. You will recall that Didier Drogba had initial problems in his first season and Havertz has admitted that the Premier League has been a difficult school.
‘The intensity in the duels and the races is much higher. I realized that immediately. The games are very exhausting, ”he said.
The 21-year-old’s technical quality is obvious and an EFL Cup hat-trick against Barnsley underscores that he can punish teams that give him time and space. But it’s not that easy against the Big Six, or even Everton.
Werner’s stats are better than Havertz’s, with eight goals in total for Chelsea, four in the Premier League. But the German flying machine, signed with great enthusiasm by RB Leipzig, is also in a small drought with seven goalless games. His mistake against Leeds from one yard will be repeated for years.
Werner’s speed is a useful weapon, but he doesn’t feel as comfortable in tight spaces and he hasn’t affected Chelsea’s biggest games, which are often played like chess matches.
None of this will come as a surprise to Lampard, who expected some inconsistency from his revamped gear. But there is a time when he has to settle for his top five forwards, as he has obviously already done so with his back six (including Kante).
He seems to prefer having Abraham or Giroud as a physical presence at the top of the field, but once Pulisic is fit and shooting, how does that work with Werner, who has been used a lot on the left so far?
These are tough questions, but one that Lampard will have to solve during the season.
There is no need to be negative at this time. Chelsea played wonderful football by scoring 14 goals against Crystal Palace, Burnley, Sheffield United and Leeds.
The problem is that neither of those teams will compete for spots in the Champions League. Against the greats, they have to become an attacking threat and find the right chemistry up front and Lampard will know they start in 2021 against Manchester City and Leicester.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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