Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in a match that again showed the limitations of the team and Maurizio Sarri’s system at the moment.
It says a lot about this Chelsea side that, in a match that never really got off the ground, they still managed to make a strong impression. Chelsea had multiple chances on goal and created a litany of chances despite appearing to have hit their peak in this current iteration under Maurizio Sarri.
What we’re seeing at the moment is Chelsea being about as good as they can be with the current squad and contractual issues weighing over the club. Those issues, especially pertaining to Eden Hazard, are undoubtedly affecting the club.
For instance, with Olivier Giroud leaving the game injured and Alvaro Morata off Morata-ing, Chelsea need a striker. They don’t just need a basic one to pass the time. They need an excellent one who will raise the level of the whole squad. The problem, though, is there’s no way Chelsea are able to sign that player without knowing the future of Eden Hazard.
Maurizio Sarri even touched on it this week when he suggested it is important that Hazard make a decision on his future soon. Chelsea simply cannot improve the team without knowing the future of the best player the club has had since Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard were in their prime.
Chelsea can still afford the sort of players who make differences: the Griezmann’s, Dybala’s, Werner’s and possibly Neymar’s of the world. The money is not the problem. They simply do not have a single chance of convincing a player of that level to join the side on the back of a complete lack of knowledge of whether Chelsea’s one great player will stay or go.
Either way, Chelsea will have to adapt to the situation. Obviously the best case scenario is they keep Hazard. He’s a sublime talent, and every option to replace him is an unknown. But if Chelsea are going to replace him, they need to start building a plan for that now. And Eden Hazard, for his part, owes the club – behind closed doors – a solid answer.
Then things can actually move forward and the team can grow. The current iteration is a decent fourth or fifth place side. N’Golo Kante is starting to mature into the role Sarri sees for him, like we all should have known he would. His goal at Crystal Palace showed exactly what a wonderful player he is. The intelligence to spot the run and exploit the area between the center back and left back, and then the ability to get the ball off his chest and onto his left foot in two touches, showed the level of class he possesses. That will work for him no matter where he plays.
Chelsea will want to figure out how to move forward as soon as possible. The Premier League is more competitive than it has ever been and teams are improving at all times. Liverpool are playing some of the best football we’ve ever seen in this division and are rumored to be spending big in the January market anyway.
If Chelsea don’t move forward they are moving backwards. There’s no such thing as treading water in this league. If the Blues don’t make the necessary preparations for the future with or without Eden Hazard they’ll quickly find themselves further out of the hunt than can easily be amended.