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In theory, this was always possible.
Chelsea’s season ended later than all Premier League teams except Manchester City and Manchester United.
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So, given that they faced the defending champs at home and two well-organized, albeit supposedly inferior opponents in their first three games, you may have forgiven Frank Lampard’s Chelsea for only coming out on four points.
Hitting the panic button after three games is never wise, this is more of a marathon, not a sprint. Of course, questions will be asked because the money spent by Lampard calls for a title challenge, but in reality this team was always a long way from challenging Liverpool, or even City, at least initially. A more realistic goal seemed to be to get to third place and establish themselves as the best rivals for next season. Is it a bit ambitious? Maybe, but Lampard is a new manager in a new Chelsea. Yes, he has spent so much that he remembers the early days of Roman Abramovich and his rivals Pep Guardiola at City, but he did not have the starting point that Guardiola had, both in terms of squad and managerial nous. Additionally, it took Jurgen Klopp until his third full season to reach the top two, with the title finally coming in his fourth.
Rank Lampard, Chelsea Manager kicks a ball during the Premier League match between West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea at The Hawthorns on September 26, 2020 in West Bromwich, England
Image Credit: Getty Images
But make no mistake about it, Chelsea should be concerned about the way they started. Taking Barnsley’s 6-0 EFL Cup win out of the equation, a worrying trend is developing.
In each of their three games, Chelsea have been impressive up front, without a ruthless edge, and have made basic mistakes behind. Whether it’s a goalkeeper error, a sloppy header, poor scoring, or simply lingering too long on the ball, Chelsea look like a team that is still playing preseason. Yes, they only had one friendly but some of these mistakes are unforgivable at the highest level.
What will be particularly concerning to Lampard is that some of these bugs are creeping into his attack. In the first half, both Timo Werner and Tammy Abraham were guilty of missing chances on the brink of guilt, when the score was just 1-0. Many Chelsea fans were hoping that their attack would rescue the defense this season. It will have to be that way, as it certainly won’t be the other way around according to projections so far.
Thiago silva
Image Credit: Getty Images
As mentioned above, there is a long way to go, and there are many things Lampard can point to. Werner, Thiago Silva and Kai Havertz continue to play in their first matches for the new club. Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy are yet to play, while Ben Chilwell is clearly far from top form. Nor is there yet Christian Pulisic, who finished the season so strongly. In a month or so, chances are high that this team will flow the way Lampard would like and they are starting to blow up teams. After all, they came back to Saturday’s game and scored two big goals and a third later to salvage the point, but it’s hard to imagine Chelsea being able to come back every week. Lampard’s comments after the game reflected that.
“You can do as many meetings as you want; if you’re going to make those mistakes, you’ll give yourself a mountain to climb,” Lampard said.
“We created two or three great opportunities in the first half, I felt we would create more, the only other problem at 3-0 was that West Brom was going to protect their advantage more,
“It’s a great lesson for us. We will improve a lot. We are still finding our way with new players and lack of preseason. Today is part of the improvement process.”
: Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham celebrates with her teammate Callum Hudson-Odoi after scoring her team’s third goal during the Premier League match between West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea at The Hawthorns on September 26, 2020 in West Bromwich, England. Sporty s
Image Credit: Getty Images
For that not to be the case, Chelsea have to eliminate the careless mistakes that plague them right now. You cannot imagine that a player as experienced as Silva would make the kind of mistakes he made on Saturday on a regular occasion, particularly when he realizes that the Premier League has a different pace than Ligue 1. However, a player who He probably won’t. Having another chance, not that he deserves it, is Marcos Alonso. The lack of defense of the Spanish in the best of times and Lampard hooking him at halftime said it all. Captain Cesar Azpilicueta is not known for his attacking game, but still the switch was made with Chelsea chasing the game. Chilwell, when in shape, will offer more to both offense and defense, while Azpilicueta is a better short-term option. In goal, Willy Caballero will be upset with his effort with Callum Robinson’s first goal and the fact that he was picked ahead of Kepa Arrizabalaga suggests that it is only a matter of time before Mendy takes his place as the new number one. .
As this author alluded to a month ago, you can understand why Chelsea splurged on the market the way it did. The start of this season was always going to be weird with the late 2019-20 season ending, so why not take a little risk with the number of new players joining? Clearly, Chelsea felt they couldn’t risk losing players like Havertz or Werner next summer when their rivals had more purchasing power.
The three goals in the second half, plus the fact that they managed to not concede more goals, is where Chelsea should look as they go. In theory, the signings of Mendy, Chilwell and Silva should make Chelsea stronger as a defensive unit. Among them, that trio has only one Premier League appearance so far, which was that player’s debut in the competition. Is it really time to sound the alarm? Not yet.
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