Chelsea are in an interesting position this season. The table would suggest that they are not too far ahead of where they were towards the end of last season, despite a new head coach and hundreds of millions spent in the transfer window last summer. However, ask most supporters and they would be more positive about the Blues’ chances of returning to the top game sooner rather than later. Some things are clearly not right. As usual with Chelsea, the strikers are not converting the chances that are being created. That has been a recurring problem for Chelsea ever since Diego Costa left in 2017. Despite some high-profile signings in that position, none have been able to score the goals needed for Chelsea to be consistent challengers.
It’s important to rememberthat Chelsea’s most recent successes under Thomas Tuchel were not achieved with free-wheeling attacking play and strikers scoring loads of goals. Rather, they were achieved through a remarkably stingy defence that barely conceded at all. The last time Chelsea were a high-scoring outfit was probably under Carlo Ancelotti in 2009/10, when they scored seven or more goals in a game on four separate occasions. Not only did Didier Drogba win the Golden Boot, scoring 29 goals in the league alone, Frank Lampard scored 22 goals in the league (27 in all competitions), from midfield! When have Chelsea had such in-form goalscorers since?
If you are going to regularly challenge for the top honours in the game, you need at least one if not two players who are regularly converting the chances you are creating. And Chelsea have lacked that for years. This is not a new problem that Pochettino has created or is suffering from, it is a problem that he has inherited with the job. But it is now his problem to solve. Whether he can is going to be vital to his potential success as Chelsea manager.
What really swings it for me though is the eye test. Chelsea look far better than they did last season. They are regularly creating not just shooting chances, but good chances. They are often out-shooting opponents and maintaining possession extremely well. Even against sides that will typically sit deep and not look to apply pressure, Chelsea will usually manage far higher shot statistics. In addition to simply looking better and more organised, all of the stats point toward Chelsea being far more on the front foot in games than we saw last season.
So, Pochettino has had an impact; this team looked devoid of ideas at time last season, unable to break any team down at all. And there have been glimpses of something greater. Cole Palmer has been one of the stars of the early part of the season for Chelsea, showing consistent quality and craft. Raheem Sterling has also looked more like the player that Pep Guardiola relied on so heavily for so long. And it must be mentioned that Christopher Nkunku has not played a minute of competitive football yet. Despite the money spent on other arrivals in the summer, Nkunku was the standout signing. The player that would hopefully unlock the Blues attack and pave the way for a return to the elite competitions that Chelsea are so used to playing in.
There are question marks over other areas of the side and that will likely mean yet more outlay in the transfer market. But this is not 2003 anymore. Constructing a squad and putting the right conditions in place for it to be successful takes time. The phrase or shorthand for what Chelsea are going through is ‘trust the process’. I dislike that phrase with a passion. But I think that it is the phrase that best sums up what Chelsea fans are going to have to expect for the next season and maybe beyond. I don’t think that last night’s game against Tottenham can be taken as a sign of progress. The Blues were completely outplayed for the first 20 minutes or so; it was only when Tottenham started flinging themselves into ridiculous challenges that were always going to result in at least one red card that Chelsea actually managed to get back into the game at all. In the end, the team took advantage of the numerical disparity and put Spurs away but it was not a 4-1 win that inspired confidence for the games ahead. It was a result born of what Tottenham did, not what Chelsea did. But the chances came their way and they finished them. So maybe that is the main thing to take from this game at least. Chelsea did finish their chances. It may not have been convincing or pretty or beautiful to watch, but the job was done and a building block is in place.
This might look, come the end of the season, like me desperately trying to justify or explain to myself why I should continue to be excited about Chelsea this season, when it looks like it will be another season in the mid-table, after the billions spent by the new ownership to buy the club and the billions more on new players. But that is the nature of supporting any football club I suppose.
Eat, Sleep, Blog, Repeat 