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Did you catch Chelsea last night?
It was our first look at Frank Lampard’s new dream team, and the results were ups and downs.
Chelsea were outscored for much of the match, relying on moments of individual brilliance to drag them down to 3-1. It was the textbook definition of lack of cohesion: a bunch of sporadic pieces that will take time to consolidate as a collective. It takes time to mold a group of like-minded people into a team.
Chelsea has much of new parts to work on. And Lampard was working last night without Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva or, if the reports are to be believed, the arrival of a new goalkeeper. There was also no Christian Pulisic.
Chilwell and Silva could They will be available for the Liverpool game, and they will be needed, but even if they start, that lack of cohesion will only be amplified, it will be the first time the games have lined up side by side and it will be on an alien. system.
It’s almost impossible to put a title in the microwave. In the history of the Premier League, only Blackburn with Jack Walker and Chelsea at the beginning of the Roman Abramovich era have been able to turn their teams into immediate success and title winners. Even the high spending sides big money usually takes time.
That ‘necessary time’ was evident last night. Kai Havertz spent much of the game as a right back, physically unprepared for the start of the season. Timo Werner was active and brilliant, but he was often seen as a one-man attack as Chelsea struggled to make the transition on the counter. It took a moment of brilliance from Werner, a penalty, a bolt from the right and a deflection from a corner for Chelsea to rally chances and score. There was little fluidity to his game, on or off possession.
There is much of talent here. Do they have the right offensive-defensive balance to hold up a championship challenge through March? Probably not. But why should that all be achieved in one year? With Havertz, Werner and Ziyech added to their mix, they have the backbone of a team that defies the title. Silva is a decent substitute; Chilwell could turn into something.
While Lampard and company. are figuring out that identity and those systems (and their depth of attack options makes it likely that their identity has Not system) is the perfect time for Liverpool to play against them.
Jurgen Klopp’s side is a bastion of cohesion. I don’t mind that in a sarcastic, transferential way. I mean that in its building patterns and its structure in the final third. I mean that regardless of who is on the court, the pressure rituals are the same. Allowances are made for personnel changes (Jordan Henderson picks up the pace, for example) but generally, you know what you get with the Klopp side.
Liverpool weren’t at their best in the first half against Leeds, defensively at least, but in the second half they had more or less rounded to the side of taking the ball, passing the ball, pressing hard. that we are used to seeing.
There will never be a better time to that side to take a trip to Stamford Bridge. It’s an opportunity to put a warning in the title, to remind people that the cobwebs of Project Restart’s malaise have faded.
Chelsea have a lot of talented players. But they have yet to merge into little more than a talented team. There will be teething pains along the way as they seem to gel, and Klopp and Liverpool are in as good a position as any to teach an early lesson.
What I’m reading …
This behind-the-scenes look at Tottenham’s Todo o Nada / Amazon propaganda effort was riveting.
Jurgen Klopp sent a strong and unspoken message about Gini Wijnaldum’s future on Saturday.
I enjoyed this from Andrew Beasley on whether or not we should Really be concerned about the Liverpool defense.
What I’m hearing …
Sally Jenkins is the outstanding old school American sports columnist (in style and voice). Your journey is refreshing and interesting. It’s worth taking the time to listen to it on Dan Le Batard’s podcast.
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