Chelsea must approach every game with the intensity they had vs Liverpool

Chelsea exceeded expectations when they bounced back from their opening day loss to take the Super Cup to a penalty shoot-out. This is the mental level they must play at for the entire season, regardless of the context.

Chelsea played excellently against Liverpool, contrary to the pregame expectations. The 2-2 result is even more impressive considering Liverpool is a very organised team when it comes to pressing, yet they had no space to play.

After the Manchester United pummeling on Sunday, Chelsea looked like a walk over. Frank Lampard said that they had to learn, and fast. They did. In general all the players played very well, especially with their organization in playing out and preventing Liverpool from playing out themselves. N’Golo Kante was always in the right place when the Blues were defending: winning tackles, making interceptions, making runs and resisting pressure.

With the way both teams played, no one deserved to lose.

This is why I still smiled when Tammy Abraham had his penalty saved. I was already satisfied with what I had seen until the 120′. Far too many fane made Abraham feel like he cost Chelsea the Super Cup.

But let’s remember that he only decided it because he didn’t score. Had he scored the shootout would have continued and someone else would probably have missed. Someone was eventually going to miss. When the blame game spins up, it’s not relevant who.

Throughout the game against Liverpool it was obvious the players were always switched on. At one of the few times they lost concentration, they were punished. They kept their pressing intensity at a high level for the whole game. This is extremely difficult to do, but it is required to compete at Chelsea’s level.

This is what the Chelsea players – no matter who is on the field – need to do every game, for 90 minutes in every match they’ll play.

Squad depth will be a major factor in the Blues’ ability to maintain this intensity. Lampard will need every Chelsea player this season to compete in all competitions. Every. Single. One.

At the end of the match on Wednesday the Chelsea players were disappointed at not winning the Super Cup. But more than anything else they more tired, and probably just wanted to sleep.

One problem Chelsea had last season, apart from tactical rigidity, was summoning a constant energy level when facing different opponents. This helps explain how Chelsea lost to Wolves, and three days later beat the defending champions with a clean sheet. They beat Tottenham despite struggling to score against Southampton at home.

Chelsea often stepped into the pitch existing to just win, without much effort: “after all, it’s only Bournemouth,” it seemed.

Say what you want about Manchester City, but you cannot deny that they play the same way against Liverpool as they will against Burton Albion and Rotherham. The same can be said about Liverpool. This is why these teams were able to reach the levels they did in previous seasons.

Chelsea took a beating from Manchester United in Sunday. They put in an excellent shift in against Liverpool in the Super Cup, and now they welcome Leicester City to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Chelsea fans all want to see the same of what they saw from Istanbul. Chase everything that is round, tackle everything that is wearing boots, suffocate the opposition. They have to do this against every opponent they’ll face, even if they face Brentford.

Chelsea thrived after being written off against Liverpool. They have to match that level of intensity no matter what the expectations are for any game against any opponent this season.