Chelsea have a long road ahead of them, but seeing the Blues fighting to the final whistle is an encouraging step in the right direction as they seek redemption.
Chelsea’s 2016/17 Premier League campaign has got off to an encouraging start. Two games have yielded two wins for the Blues and new boss Antonio Conte. While the record may be perfect, the performances have been anything but. However, the re-emergence of a certain quality is a significant step in the right direction for the West Londoners.
Fight.
Chelsea were absolutely atrocious last season. The results were awful and led to Jose Mourinho’s dismissal. Despite the losses and draws, the one factor that irked Chelsea fans the most was an apparent disinterest.
Some of the tactics were questionable and the club’s recruiting policy was also a contributing failure, but a lack of hunger and desire on behalf of the players turned many fans against them.
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Fortunately, the performances thus far in this campaign have indicated a much-changed attitude. Simply put, the Chelsea of 2015/16 would not have won either of the first two games.
Against West Ham, the team were struggling in Antonio Conte’s 4-1-4-1 formation. Six months ago, the Blues would have slumped around to close the game out for a draw, or even concede late. This time, they fought until the final whistle, embraced the substitutions that the boss made and grabbed a 89th minute winner.
The Watford game saw Chelsea put in an even worse display. Evidently, the players are finding it extremely difficult in the 4-1-4-1. However, they again kept their hopes up and made a miraculous recovery to take all three points. A visible energy that was augmented by substitutions saw the Blues overturn a one-goal deficit and win 2-1.
You could count the number of committed performances last season on one hand. As soon as matters took a turn south, the players seemed to switch off and allow themselves to be taken away by the tide. Before they realised, the manger had been sacked and there was a fear, justified or not, that the Blues could be relegated.
As was expected by the rational onlooker, that did not happen, but the anger amongst the fans had reached levels not see in a very long time.
With a largely unchanged squad, the players appear to have learnt significantly from that experience. After the humiliation, there is a clear hunger to make amends and this has been proven by two late wins.
There is plenty of work that needs to be done for Chelsea to challenge for a top four spot, let alone the title, but this is largely technical. The key factor that cannot be instilled by any coach is the will to win and fight to the end. Fortunately, this has returned and it represents a huge step in the right direction.
Now, all Conte needs to do is play with two strikers…