Chelsea are in control of most of their games, except for seeing out wins over the final minutes. Frank Lampard’s next task is giving his young Blues the ruthlessness to deny their opponents all hope.
Chelsea are a wonderful young side. They’re full of talented attacking and defensive players, all of whom seem to have skills that complement one another. It is almost as if having grown up playing football together has given them the natural link that turns good sides into great ones.
You could even go so far as to say I have been proven correct in my statement that for Chelsea to emulate Barcelona they would need to raise them and train them together like Barcelona does, as opposed to embarrassingly droning on about Barcelona in Blue and buying ill-fitting cast offs in the process.
Of course, Chelsea are not the best side in the Premier League. To get there they’re going to have to make some improvements. Their concentration and tendency to concede late goals are dangerous aspects of this team. Not only do other teams literally get more chances because of it, the opponents get hope out of Chelsea’s late-game wobbles.
Chelsea’s defence used to be so dominant, so airtight and so steely in their resolve that other teams simply gave up when Chelsea scored the first goal. They knew they never had a chance of getting it back, and so the life seeped from them quickly while Chelsea walked away the victors, reserving energy for later fixtures.
Now things are different. Chelsea unfortunately give teams all the hope in the world. They’re entertaining, gallant and youthful – but not one single thing about them is ruthless. That is what they’ll need to develop. Chelsea cannot continue to give such sparkling hope to sides beneath them. It wastes energy and makes what should be easy quite difficult.
Chelsea should have run out the match against Watford with a high level of professionalism. They should have managed their opponents and rested in possession from the 65′ onwards and looked towards the next game. Instead they conceded in the 80′ and needed to spend the rest of the match flat out and nervily protecting the three points they had earned over an hour before.
To have even taken the chance at conceding a penalty in the 78′ on Saturday stunk of immature footballing sense and stupidity.
Nothing is good when done with reckless abandon and stupidity. Yes, passing from the back is good when done properly in a logical and sensible place. But to carry on with it for its own sake in the face of logical basics-of-football knowledge is in the realm of absurd meant to be occupied only by Joseph Heller and Hunter S. Thompson.
At some point a proper professional in the group should have had the thought, “We’ve done well for 75 minutes with the en vogue stupid pass from the back in the face of danger nonsense that Pep has peddled to ruin football. But for now, let’s clear it and manage this game.”
Yet instead here we are, with Chelsea conceding VAR goals to the worst team in the division. Yes, the penalty probably should not have been given. But should Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho, in particular, been mucking about like a bunch of drunks in the box anyway? No. The ball should have had a hoof put through it, the lines reorganized, the formation rebuilt and the clean sheet and goal protected. VAR is a mess, but they shouldn’t have put themselves in the position where it could make such a difference.
Winning 2-1 over Watford? Nonsense. They’re bottom of the table with a handful (literally) of points and Chelsea are conceding goals like this?
Chelsea are too good for this level of tomfoolery. They’re too talented for this level of ineptitude. They’re too bright to be this stupid. Or so I hope.
This Chelsea team are going to be excellent. They will not get their through softening standards or loosening expectations. The minimum for this match should have been a 2-0 win, but again the Blues showed their soft underbelly.
The next level is to round out the wonderful attacking merits they have shown with concentration, efficiency and professionalism. They sure are lovely and the future is about as bright as that of those Barcelona teams I always compare them to, in my genius. My genius going unrecognized is not something that bothers me – most geniuses die without plaudits for their work, and I humbly accept that. My footballing intellect truly knows no bounds, but the joy, my raison d’etre, is in the work, just as it must now be for these young men.
They have shown what wonderful footballers they are. Athletic, creative and quick. They possess intellect of play and stature in the face of challenges.
But they must now begin to understand the professional side of the game. Chelsea cannot turn into Tottenham in Blue.
Frank Lampard can be trusted to ensure that doesn’t happen.