Chelsea Tactics and Transfers: Mature win shows growing professionalism

Chelsea showed a great deal of professionalism in their win over Crystal Palace, the kind they lacked in their more youthful early season matches.

Though this season at Chelsea has been resoundingly positive, one negative became impossible to avoid. Chelsea never seemed to completely control and manage games. They are highly entertaining and attack with the sort of verve and creativity that is very good to watch, but they never killed off games. They wouldn’t bury opponents with the professional manner that conserves energy for the next match, something the best teams do.

That changed on Saturday. Chelsea did everything they needed to do to win the game while also doing what they had to do to ensure they can compete in the following matches, too.

The Premier League is the best league in the world because, on any single day, any team can defeat any other. The current table has Liverpool, Leicester City, Chelsea, Manchester City and Sheffield United in the top five. It’s anything but predictable.

That, though, means teams need to be able to do what is necessary for both today and tomorrow at the same time. Burning through everything you have in the tank for one single match is as foolish and stupid as it is very tempting. But a good season is not had by winning a single match 15-1 or, for instance, 9-0.  A good season usually requires earning over 85 points. That’s winning 28 times – not just once by a lot.

Teams should attack as much as they can and score as much as they can, but the second they’re not managing the games well they have a problem.

Using resources in one game that is already won when they could be used in the next is a problem. It’s even more of an issue when you’re competing on three fronts and, in particular, in a Champions League group with three teams all tied on seven points.

Earlier this season, Chelsea were not doing themselves any favors. They gave teams too much hope. They didn’t strangle the life out of the end of matches the way strong teams do. They let opponents live long enough to have hope and fight to the end.

Crystal Palace played well against Chelsea. They were organized and professional in the way that Roy Hodgson has made them since he took over.  It’s one of the reasons they’re now Premier League regulars even if they’re unexciting. They are exactly the sort of team that Chelsea usually struggle with.

In this instance, though, the Blues were perfect. They controlled the game and poked and prodded until they found an opening and then they took it.

Tammy Abraham scored a perfect striker goal. He made as much of a nuisance of himself as he could throughout the game, even if he was marshaled pretty well by the Palace defense. Then, when he his one truly gilt-edged chance came to him, he took it perfectly. He opened up his body and placed the ball perfectly in the corner, and the game was Chelsea’s.

Christian Pulisic added on later, and for the first time this season Chelsea didn’t look like they were equally likely to give a goal up as score another. And that, above all other things, is fantastic progress for the side.

Chelsea have looked childish and immature at times this season. They’ve looked like they were having as much fun as it’s possible to have on a football pitch and the football has been fantastic. But in the end that’s not what they need to do. They need to get results, and sometimes their mental capability to do that did not match their limitless physical capabilities.

A few moments of that incessant “pass around the box in the face of certainly better, smarter options” still happened. Kepa Arrizabalaga didn’t do himself any favors on a couple of occasions in that regard, but more often than not Chelsea made the right decisions.

A 2-0 win with minimal fuss against a team like Crystal Palace, who boast the talent of Wilfried Zaha, is a good result. They proved that they may really be as good as their potential suggests.

Frank Lampard has this team moving in the right direction and frankly (get it? – Ed. note: Sigh) they deserve to be where they are in the table. They’re a good team and are starting to play not only good football but professional football.