At last, newly appointed manager Frank Lampard took charge of his first match. With so many questions to be answered, the excitement to watch a preseason friendly became barely bearable.
Give Chelsea Football Club a little bit of credit: they know how excited their fans are about having Frank Lampard on the touchlines. Now take back all that credit and then some, as the club thought no one would mind them mining that excitement for a quick revenue stream by charging supporters just to stream the preseason matches.
None the less, to catch a glimpse of Frank Lampard on the sideline for Chelsea was too good to pass up. So call me what you will (Ed. note: We usually do), but I forked over the money so I didn’t miss out. It’s nice to start a season with so much positivity, regardless of the hardships facing Chelsea over the next season.
Michy Batshuayi absolutely put on an exhibition for all to see. He was not messing around in his third preseason attempt to become a first team regular. He displayed the physicality which was questioned in his last spell with Chelsea. The Belgian striker also showed off his hold up play through out much of the first half when needed.
Batshuayi rounded out his 45 minute performance doing what he does best. He notched a goal from a errant shot from Kenedy. The ball hit Batshuayi and fell right to his foot, where he left no doubt and buried it for the Blues’ first preseason goal. This may be his season to break out and claim the starting striker spot for Chelsea.
Other first-half players were nearly as impressive. Conor Gallagher and Kasey Palmer were both very productive. Both displayed outstanding ability to spray passes accurately all around the pitch, while maintaining perfect positioning.
At 18, this game was Gallagher’s first exposure to senior-level football. He will take his opportunities in preseason for all they are worth and see where they lead him for the 2019/20 season, whether that is a loan or splitting duties between the youth teams and the first team. Palmer is near the other end of things: he has had five loans already at age 22, and is linked with a move to his most recent loan club, Bristol City.
Elsewhere in the first half, Dujon Sterling was very comfortable with the ball at his feet, and Danny Drinkwater played very good defense in the first half, despite being understandably rusty going forward. Kenedy looked very lackadaisical, a disappointing sign as, after all these years, it would be nice for him to step up and really fulfill some of his potential.
The second half had sightings from Kurt Zouma and Tiemoue Bakayoko, two players with significant time in past Chelsea lineups. Both looked sturdy and fit versus the Bohemians, but unlike the first half, the second half was boring and sloppy.
Frank Lampard sent out a 4-3-3 in the second, which may have played into the boredom. The 4-2-3-1 of the first half had better movement on and off the ball, better spacing and positioning, and therefore a more fluid flow of play. The players contributed to the disparity, but overall and considering recent seasons, the 4-2-3-1 won the day over the more recently familiar 4-3-3.
But all those are the sort of tweaks and decisions that preseason exists for. Without a doubt, the excitement was through the roof seeing a Frank Lampard-led side playing in Chelsea blue.
Overall the squad put in a decent showing (just overlook the scoreline). The passing was crisp for the first preseason match and some players tired a little easier than others (Lampard said he pushed the players to test their physical limits), but in every way a very positive first preseason match.