Chelsea: Four lessons learnt as Blues move on to FA Cup semis

4. Reece James and Billy Gilmour have returned to Earth

In a season defined by youth integration, Frank Lampard has been fortunate to get mature performances out of pretty much every young player he’s tested out. Of those players, Reece James and Billy Gilmour were arguably the most shocking in terms of looking experienced beyond their years. At 20 and 19 years old respectively, seeing them run rings around players ten years their senior was a sight to behold.

Unfortunately, that was not the case on Sunday.

Gilmour, who started alongside Mason Mount and N’Golo Kante, was by far the most jittery player in a Chelsea side that was chocked full of jitters in the first half. He didn’t just make bad passes, he made bad passes that set up great chances for the opposition. It was a classic case of a player trying to do too much. Gilmour’s virtuosic performances before the suspension of the season were based on his ability to play the game at his own tempo. On Sunday, he was getting dragged along at whatever pace Leicester decided to set. He was hardly the only Chelsea player to look out of sorts in the first half, but his mistakes were by far the most gaudy and dangerous. While it’s never great to be replaced at halftime, his substitution was a merciful end to a torrid day.

Reece James, on the other hand, suffered from trying to be just a bit too smooth. James is so exceptionally skilled and athletic that his attention to detail sometimes falls by the wayside. Against Leicester, on a day when his skill and athleticism just weren’t quite clicking, he was routinely embarrassed by Ben Chilwell and Harvey Barnes for 45 straight minutes. James is someone who thrives when his team is on the front foot, where he can routinely show off his pace, power and technique. For a top-level fullback, however, defensive discipline and pure grit and grind are traits that must be learned over time. In that sense, James is lucky to have Cesar Azpilicueta as a mentor. No one embodies the true essence of defending quite like Azpilicueta. The difference between the two was shown in stark contrast when James made way for the Spaniard at halftime, a change which immediately neutralized the danger Barnes and Chilwell had posed in the first half.

For both Gilmour and James, it was a chastening day at the office to say the least. The good news is that a tight fixture schedule will mean their services will be needed fairly regularly for the final stretch of the season. The first half on Sunday was hopefully the low point of both players’ fledgling Chelsea careers, and presumably an eye-opening lesson on the demands of top-level football. There’s no arguing that both James and Gilmour are on track to be extremely good footballers in the next few years, but development will always require some serious stumbling blocks along the way. One of those came on Sunday, and it will be interesting to see how both players dust themselves off for their next appearances.

What did you take away from the match? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!