Can Chelsea’s makeshift defense see the season through?

Chelsea has almost been given a clean bill of health and with that in mind, it’s now crucial the Blues finish the season strong.

When the Premier League resumes on June 20, the Blues will possibly have their full squad available to them. Of course, this will also be true for all their rivals—like Tottenham. Unfortunately, this does not instill as much confidence as it should. Many tweets and comments are making the rounds about how Ruben Loftus-Cheek is going to pick up where he left off and destroy the Premier League, but he won’t at first. That’s not how it works when you’ve missed around a year off the pitch. This, however, is not the main issue for Chelsea.

Chelsea has defensive problems, unnecessary defensive problems. Fans should not look forward to the rest of the current Premier League campaign for this reason. The Blues have conceded the most goals in the top four this season. For a club that holds the record of the least amount of goals conceded over a 38-game period, it is instantly clear why this is a problem. No club can compete at the highest level while conceding the amount of goals Chelsea has conceded this season. Frank Lampard and the Blues obviously want to win trophies, so they’re going to have to do something about that.

This means defensive signings are needed in the next transfer window, but when the 2019/20 season resumes, the Blues will have to finish the season with what they have.

Many say John Terry should return to Chelsea as defending coach, and that will help solve the problems. We cannot say how that would potentially go, but since Aston Villa has conceded 56 goals this season. We should take a look at Sheffield United. Sheffield has conceded 25 goals this season, only Liverpool has conceded less. We know how Liverpool does it—with Virgil van Dijk—but, how does Sheffield do it? The Blades defend in numbers. They throw bodies forward when they have the ball, and as soon they lose it, they all get back into positions and hold their shape. Chelsea could adopt this, though it will slightly change how Lampard wants his team to play.

Lampard wants Chelsea to play a high line. As a result, the Blues expose themselves to a counter-attack when they lose the ball. This is obviously not working as Chelsea’s pressing is not as good as it should be for counter-pressing to work. So, it may be worth trying to hold their shape when they lose the ball. Since Chelsea does not have world class defenders in its back line, the only other logical thing is to defend in numbers, which can only be done if the numbers are there. Chelsea players have been left in no-mans-land far too often after a turnover. The midfielders are especially guilty of this. Chelsea’s midfielders should be ready to cover and get into shape as soon as possession is lost, especially in the midfield third.

It is worth mentioning though, the two games Billy Gilmour has played for Chelsea this season have resulted in two clean sheets, that can’t be a coincidence. Chelsea would need players who can get back quickly in a counter attack and also someone who has excellent positioning, as well as good tackling. It’s rare to find all these qualities in one player, but Chelsea has one in Kurt Zouma. Zouma is fast, has excellent positioning, and is probably the best tackler of all the central defenders currently at Chelsea.

Selecting who to partner with Zouma is a tricky one. Rudiger seems like the next best option, but he jumps into many tackles and it wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t miss many of them. His positioning can get awkward at times. Andreas Christensen would have been a good option for his good tackling abilities, but getting back in time might prove challenging seeing as he’s not the fastest player around. Fikayo Tomori is very fast, but finds himself out of position more often than anyone is comfortable with.

Come the start of the 2020/21 season, the Blues should prioritize defensive players, especially center backs. But, if Chelsea had to complete the current season, this is a way of coping with the defensive vulnerabilities plaguing the team.