Chelsea played a solid game of football against Liverpool, even if they did not win. They passed their first test, but we saw again something we have known for a while.
Chelsea need a real striker at some point.
There’s not too much wrong with Chelsea’s biggest threat being their best player. Eden Hazard would be the biggest threat on any team in the world, besides probably Barcelona. That’s not the problem. The issue is Chelsea have not one single other option, and it makes them tactically too easy to stop.
If Eden Hazard doesn’t score then Chelsea don’t either. Neither of Chelsea’s strikers are even a threat to score, let alone actually do as much. This is a hard thing to recover from as a club. It makes the team a little bit too predictable and easy to defend against. As I have explained on a litany of occasions, the inherent advantage of being the attacker is you make the first move. After that, everything is reactionary. By becoming predictable you then get rid of the possible advantage the attacker should always have.
This is why it is as important for players who dribble to know when to pass as it is for pass-masters to know when to dribble or shoot. In order to run the dialogue of a match, teams that attack must remain unpredictable. Otherwise, there’s no benefit for them.
Chelsea’s lack of another goal threat, therefore, is so frustrating. The team is learning to do so much well. They recycle possession well, they pass and move well and are definitely heading in the right direction. But to be so limited in the basic purpose of the game puts a low ceiling on their achievement. It’s very difficult for them to really break through and move to the next level when their strikers are about as scary as a couple of toothless toddlers.
If Chelsea are going to move on to the next level, the next thing needs to be finding a useful striker. Morata might be able to recover someday. But at the moment he’s one of the least potent strikers the world has ever seen. Morata came on against Liverpool and again put in one of the whiniest and weak performances I have been cursed to see a player in a Chelsea shirt give.
The alternative is Oliver Giroud, who is now the striker almost as famous for not scoring as he is for scoring. Yet he is considered more potent, an astonishing fact considering how much both players cost and how few goals they have produced.
If Chelsea want to win trophies in this new style and not simply compete for them they need to solve this issue ASAP. The next level is within sight but out of reach in Chelsea’s current iteration.