[ad_1]
If the challenges for the title are based on the ability to achieve 1-0 wins on the road, then Chelsea are not ready to catch up with Liverpool and Manchester City. An attack infused with elite Bundesliga talent is not enough.
With Kepa Arrizabalaga flapping behind a defense that still offers too many opportunities, the same old weaknesses remain impossible to ignore. In the end, Frank Lampard was able to speak of stamina and determination.
After giving away another lead, Chelsea did well to regain balance to open their campaign with a win against Brighton. But they are not the finished item, even though they have spent over £ 200 million this summer. There are flaws to be solved and while Lampard insisted he was happy with Arrizabalaga’s performance, his search for Rennes goalkeeper Edouard Mendy suggests otherwise.
Chelsea still has gaps to fill, even if it has felt a bit like the summer of 2003 in recent months. Seventeen years after Roman Abramovich arrived at Stamford Bridge and forever changed the face of English football, the checkbook is open again.
There has been a bad taste for waste. As Jürgen Klopp was quick to point out last week, it’s lucky to be able to call in an oligarch during a pandemic. Equally, however, the Liverpool manager’s spike contained a basic truth that Lampard’s team needed room to grow.
Despite all the talk that Lampard is under pressure to fight Liverpool and City, Chelsea were nowhere near Klopp’s champions last season. There’s a lot of ground to make up and Lampard hasn’t had much time to lie down on his new signings after a preseason interrupted by positive coronavirus tests and a poorly timed international break.
In that context, he was probably asking too much for Chelsea, who did not have several of their new signings, to break into Brighton early on. After all, it’s been just over a month since Kai Havertz scored when his former team, Bayer Leverkusen, lost to Internazionale in the Europa League quarter-finals. The German winger has not recovered from his last campaign with Leverkusen and it was no surprise that he was calm on the right during his first appearance in a Chelsea jersey.
Timo Werner, who has had more time to acclimatize after confirming his signing from RB Leipzig in July, was sharper than his teammate in Germany. It was obvious to see why Lampard favored the forward over Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud.
Werner pressed the ball. His movement was slippery. He fired at every opportunity. His straight run was exhilarating and punished Brighton’s carelessness in the first half, falling to Mat Ryan after Steven Alzate gave Jorginho a chance to send Werner clear.
At the event, the first goal of a brave new era was scored by a player whose future is still in the air. Jorginho, who could have already left if Maurizio Sarri was still coaching Juventus, stepped forward to break the deadlock with a brilliant penalty. However, for most of the first half, Brighton was quicker on the ball.
Aside from some forays from Werner, Chelsea lacked cohesion. Ruben Loftus-Cheek had a shot at No. 10 in the absence of the injured Hakim Ziyech, fresh from Ajax, but was off the pitch before giving way to Ross Barkley.
Brighton sensed an opportunity to test a defense that conceded 54 league goals last season. They looked at Chelsea’s defensive setup and, with Thiago Silva absent to offer some lead at center and Ben Chilwell still reeling from a heel injury, they saw that little had changed.
Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen felt awkward in between at times.
There was space behind Reece James on the right and the speed of Tariq Lamptey, the former Chelsea youth, gave Marcos Alonso problems on the opposite flank.
Then there was the doorman. In other circumstances, Chelsea could have sold Arrizabalaga this summer. But the Spaniard cost 71.6 million pounds when he moved to England two years ago. It won’t be easy to change and any interested club watching it here would have noticed that it was at fault when Brighton drew.
While Leandro Trossard’s shot from the right went to the far corner, Arrizabalaga was too slow to move. That’s why Lampard wants a new goalkeeper. There are still too many cheap concessions and while James restored Chelsea’s lead with a bludgeoning blow, Brighton should have equalized for the second time when a cross found the unmarked Lewis Dunk, who headed out. It was a terrible failure by Dunk and Zouma made him pay, extending Chelsea’s lead.
In the end it was a satisfying workout. But Lampard, who faces Liverpool on Sunday, knows there is room for improvement. The defects have not disappeared. – Guardian
[ad_2]