Chelsea lacked steel against The Irons, but the flame has not gone out

Chelsea had arguably their worst performance of the season against the Irons where little fight was put up. But the sky is not falling after a rough week.

A truly great team needs two things: silk and steel. They need the players with the appropriate technical abilities to pull off what is asked of them. That is the silk. And then they need the grit, determination, and fight to just grind things out and enforce their will onto the opponent. That is the steel.

Chelsea never really lost the silk over the last few seasons but the steel had eroded away since the last title win. This season was the first season since 2017 where the Blues always felt like they were putting up a fight in every match. That is until the West Ham match anyways.

The Blues held West Ham at bay bar a naive, over confident mistake by Reece James. Before and after the created nothing. Frank Lampard attempted to shuffle the deck with the subs but nothing worked before the final whistle. Fans are understandably angry and looking for scapegoats, perhaps more than usual even. But after a rough week, it is important to note that the sky is not falling. The flame from the winning run has not gone out.

The week does make for bad reading which is undeniable. A loss to Manchester City, expected by many, was taken in stride though disappointingly. A draw to Valencia was not ideal, but it took a wonder goal for the Spanish side to do that. But the loss to West Ham really sent people into a tizzy.

Lampard rotated the side after those two hard fixtures and it came to bite him. But that is also a bit unfair. Tammy Abraham was the biggest miss and Olivier Giroud failed to even be noticed by the Hammers defense. So poor was Giroud on claiming crosses that Lampard decided he would rather go striker  less than put Michy Batshuayi into the same situation (also, Batshuayi’s two most recent substitute appearances have been woeful). The remainder of the players on the pitch played little better.

The most damning statistic of a lack of steel was Chelsea making zero fouls. In any match that is unheard of but a London Derby? Shocking and shameful. And for arguably the first time this season, it felt as though Chelsea could not score. It felt like the push was not there.

The end of the Manchester City match showed a similar lackadaisical approach to scoring. The man missing on that day was Mason Mount, a scapegoat for many from the West Ham match. Without Mount, however, Chelsea simply has no one drawing players away in midfield and opening spaces for others. He does more for the side without even having to touch the ball than some can do with 1000 sideways passes.

Some have pointed towards fatigue as a reason why Chelsea has struggled and that is probably on the right track with the wrong car. Physically, the Blues do play in a taxing way but that has not been a big issue for most for months now. Mentally however, the Blues do seem to be lagging.

Lampard requires constant attention and effort from his players. The toll that takes is just as much mental as anything and the players are struggling more and more with that. The lack of fouls or decent chances shows that. The Blues were present in the match, but they were never in it.

But the flame has not gone out after a rough week. Remember, Chelsea was on a long run of form before these three matches. Things have been rough recently but that run of form is not so far away to dismiss. Chelsea lacked the steel they showed all season against West Ham and it hurt the side.

Over the next few days, Lampard needs to put his side in the right mental frame of mind to bring that grit back. He can, and probably will. West Ham has historically been a bad day for the Blues over the last five years (five wins, three draws, five losses). It was a bad day, but do not let it paint the season already passed or the season to come as bad too.