“We talk about the problems of the London club”, — write: sport.ua
However, after four rounds of the Champions League, the Londoners are only in 12th place (lower than all the English clubs), and in the national championship, they are approaching the cherished top four, and then moving away from it, alternating between victories, defeats and draws. This team has youth, talent and potential, but lacks consistency. Next, we will consider 6 problems that head coach Enzo Maresca must solve in order for Chelsea not to have a mediocre season.
Defeat weaker opponents
Failure to beat teams they should have beaten has cost Chelsea dearly this season. A home defeat to newly promoted Sunderland and a draw in the Champions League with Qarabag are further examples of how the Blues can’t always confirm their status as favourites.
The Londoners dropped points against Crystal Palace, Brentford, Manchester United (when United were struggling at the start of the season), Brighton and Sunderland, losing to three of those teams. After that, there were victories over “Liverpool” and “Tottenham”, but “Chelsea” could not cope with the seemingly easier opponents. Such points losses can be costly at the end of the season.
To be more stable at home
A draw with Crystal Palace and defeats to Brighton and Sunderland came at Stamford Bridge, while Chelsea also had unconvincing performances at home to Fulham in the EPL and Benfica in the Champions League. The Blues are clearly not taking advantage of their home field advantage and that is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Long gone are the days when Jose Mourinho turned Stamford Bridge into an impregnable fortress during his 2 spells at Chelsea, going 60 and then 77 home games without defeat. Now the “blues” need to make their opponents afraid to come to their stadium again. Even the fans support the team only by the game and by the mood – this connection needs to be established.
It is better to start the matches
Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine Chelsea have earned an unpleasant reputation this season as a team that drags itself into the game for a long time. This slowness allows opponents to seize the initiative and impose their game, even if only for a while. This happened in matches with West Ham, Fulham, Brentford, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Ajax. The “blues” defeated the Dutch, but woke up only after being withdrawn from their opponents.
Chelsea are the youngest team in the Premier League, so it is believed that they lack the experience to play the full 90 minutes at the same level. The need to rotate the squad due to injuries and a tighter schedule will certainly play a role in the club’s return to the Champions League. But the Londoners still need to find a way to assert themselves early in matches and use their advantage – in speed, home arena or something else. All too often, their authority is undermined already after the starting whistle.
Establish discipline
Discipline has been a major problem for Chelsea in the opening months of the current season, with the Blues receiving red cards in four of their six matches in all competitions between 20 September and 18 October. These mistakes proved particularly costly in back-to-back league defeats against Manchester United and Brighton.
Robert Sanchez was sent off just five minutes into the match at Old Trafford after running out of goal and crashing into Brian Mbemo, while Trevo Chalobah was sent off early in the second half against Brighton. In the end, the Londoners lost in both cases. Maresca initially said discipline was not a big problem for his team, but changed his mind after Malo Giusto and Liam Delap were sent off for Chelsea.
Deal with injuries
Of course, it doesn’t always depend on the manager, but the injuries are not in Chelsea’s favor as the season just gets going. Having avoided last season’s injury crisis, which became a major problem for Mauricio Pochettino in the 2023/24 campaign, the Blues now have personnel problems to contend with once again.
The most notable absentee is Cole Palmer, who is suffering from an injury picked up at the Club World Cup. And in general, the Londoners are still paying for their success in this tournament: together with Palmer, Delap, Dario Essugu, Benoit Badiashil and Levi Colville were in the infirmary. The sooner all injured players return, the better.
Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine Their return will help ease the pressure on a team that has suddenly looked weak in some areas, with Delap able to give Joao Pedro a break in attack, Essugu able to replace Moises Caicedo in midfield, Badiashil to bolster a weakened back line and Palmer bringing the same creativity that was missing in games like the one against Sunderland. Colville will likely miss the entire season with a torn cruciate ligament.
Improve the game in defense
Colville’s injury on the eve of the new season caused Maresca a lot of trouble in defense. The specialist went through different combinations of central defenders to find the optimal formula, but was never able to do it. Chalobah was a regular in the starting line-up but did not get a consistent partner, although he was joined by Josh Achimpong, Tosin Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana. Badiašil was in good shape, but then he got injured.
The result was inconsistent defensive action and a lack of full engagement, while individual errors and disorganized collective defensive play cost Chelsea points in a string of matches. For all the activity of the “blues” in the transfer market, they did not fulfill one of the most important tasks – they did not sign an experienced defender who would be useful now. But the top club has to find a way out of various situations and after the break at the national team match, the Londoners need to confirm their status.
Sergey ZAVALKO, according to Goal