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Chelsea set manager up with tight, difficult preseason around the world

By Travis Tyler

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 11: Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is seen in the stand prior to the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge on December 11, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 11: Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is seen in the stand prior to the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge on December 11, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /
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Chelsea have an incredibly short window after the World Cup to prepare for the following season. The new manager will have a difficult run to prepare.

The World Cup final is on 15 July. The Premier League season starts on 11 August. That is an incredibly short period of time for any manager, especially for a new manager, to prepare a squad. But that is likely what Chelsea will do. They have created an intense, five game schedule that covers thousands of miles. In it is also the glorified friendly that is the Community Shield.

A mere week after the World Cup final, Chelsea will be in Perth to challenge the Perth Glory. At that point, most of the main squad is likely to still be off resting from the World Cup. The match will be the perfect chance to see what returning loanees and academy players have to offer.

Five short days sit between Perth and the next friendly on European soil against Inter Milan. By that point, some of the World Cup players will start trickling back in. It will also be the first chance for whoever is manager to see how the side stacks up against solid competition. Inter Milan were used similarly last year.

The next friendly is one of the most exciting. Arsenal led by new manager Unai Emery will provide a tough challenge because of all the unknowns. Even more World Cup players will be back into the fold by this time, with the players making it to game seven getting minutes late on.

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Manchester City are the opponent in the Community Shield. The Community Shield is a glorified friendly to everyone but the winner who will call it “first silverware of the season”. It is not but it is still a nice match to win and gives a good indication as to where the squad is going into the new year.

Chelsea’s schedule is ambitious, and only two days after the Community Shield is a match against Lyon. It will likely see a more rotated lineup for at least part of it to get the squad up to speed.

And then four days later Chelsea travel to Huddersfield for the first Premier League fixture of the season. That is roughly about three weeks from the first match of preseason to the first match of the season. The bright side is that Chelsea have put together plenty of quality matches to prepare. The downside is that they will spend a ton of time travelling on their very few off days.

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The season is not won or lost in preseason, but important things do happen during it. And as Chelsea are planning to get a new manager, the time for him to implement his style will be short. The Blues have given whoever is next a chance to succeed, but it will be very difficult. The manager and players will have to learn by doing, something that could  work very well or very poorly. It is imperative that Chelsea finish up the managerial situation in time to be effective.

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