Chelsea: Four lessons learnt as Blues leave Tyneside with three points

Chelsea went up to Newcastle and came home with three points, here are four lessons we learnt in the Blues’ latest match.

Chelsea traveled to St. James’ Park for a historically irritating fixture, so bad that the Blues have only won one of their last seven visits in the league. The Blues came into this fixture having won their last five games in all competitions, but everyone knows that form is only one of many things to consider in fixtures against Newcastle.

After losing their last match between the two sides, Chelsea responded this time with a convincing 2-0 victory. The Blues put on a performance that had as much grit and fight from as it did guile and finesse. Another clean sheet and multiple goal margin on the board, but here are a four lessons we learnt from that performance:

1. Edouard Mendy’s calming presence is the most important

Many have attributed Chelsea’s recent clean sheet success to Thiago Silva’s calming presence. This is a surface evaluation and it isn’t really true. It is true that the Brazilian has had some impact, but the main reason both centerbacks—as well as other defensive players—have looked so calm and in control is because of the efficiency and competence of the goalkeeper behind them. Chelsea has kept eight clean sheets this season so far, seven of those have been with Edouard Mendy in goal.

These clean sheets have been with three main centerback partnerships; Kurt Zouma-Silva, Zouma-Antonio Rudiger and Silva-Fikayo Tomori. Only the Silva-Tomori clean sheet came without Mendy in goal, when Willy Caballero made nine saves in a match to keep the net clean against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup. The other clean sheets have come in Champions League and Premier League matches. Zouma and Rudiger have kept two of these clean sheets. Zouma and Silva, the rest.

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Silva has the guile that everyone loves to see in centerbacks, but that is not what has calmed the defense. Mendy has been very solid between the sticks, organizing the defenders on set pieces, making crucial saves when called upon, picking up loose balls and claiming crosses to snuff out danger. The knowledge that the goalkeeper is not one mistake away from conceding a goal, that a misstep by them (the defenders) is not a near-certain goal, does more for defensive players’ mental state than whatever their teammate tells them during matches.

2. The will to defend as a team is paying off

Another ignored aspect of Chelsea’s newfound defensive solidity is perhaps the willingness of all the players to put in defensive shifts. You may notice that several times when Chelsea lost the ball, two-to-three players were in a position to put in a tackle if needed. It was evident from the way Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech kept dropping back to help their fullbacks that they saw defending as part of their job too.

Ziyech was the most creative player on the pitch, but he didn’t linger in the center circle when Chelsea was defending. He was very much in the thick of things, putting pressure on and making tackles when possible and necessary. The central midfielders also did their fair share, turning into defensive midfielders when Chelsea didn’t have the ball and relentlessly putting pressure on the ball until possession was won back.

This is in direct contrast to last season where the defenders were mostly hung out to dry, and often being left with large amounts of space to defend. Midfielders’ unwillingness to track back, as well as some wingers not supporting their same-side fullbacks and heaping blame on defensive players who have to take the brunt of teammates’ carelessness. That was prevalent last season. This season, Chelsea’s defensive solidity cannot be put down to any one factor because many things have changed, but there’s a clear difference in the way things are being done when you compare this season with the last.

3. Trust Frank Lampard’s judgement

This should go without saying, but it is surprising how many people are willing to dismiss Frank Lampard’s decisions without bothering to figure out the reasons for them. Many fans called for, and predicted, Fikayo Tomori to start. Some of these fans perhaps forgot that Antonio Rudiger’s last match for Chelsea before today ended in a clean sheet in the Champions League. They hold on to what they remember about Rudiger playing last season. Rudiger started and kept a clean sheet, again.

Lampard has shown numerous times that he knows what he’s doing and he sees what others don’t, but people use his lack of managerial experience to dismiss a lot of his decisions. All of this while refusing to admit that they got it wrong when the choice turns out to be the right one.

Tactics, transfer decisions and team selections have made many fans doubt initially, but time and time again, he shows that his thought process is correct. When a team loses, that doesn’t always mean the team selection is wrong. When a team concedes a goal after a substitution, it doesn’t mean it’s the wrong substitution. Football results are built on multiple factors and the earlier fans understand this, the better they can begin to understand Lampard and his thought process.

4. Creating lots of chances is more important than being clinical

Being clinical has never been Chelsea’s strong suit. The Blues have missed numerous clear cut chances across a plethora of games, making many fans feel those missed chances are the reason for not getting the desired result in a given match. Nothing could be further from the truth. This may sound weird, but it is normal for top teams and top strikers to miss a lot of big chances because it shows they’re creating a lot to begin with. Creating plenty of good chances is the only way to ensure that you still have opportunities to score another goal.

“If only we had converted our chances, this result would not have happened” is useless whining. The very best strikers miss as many chances as they score, it’s how they’re able to perfect their craft in match situations. It’s also because they put themselves in positions to score so often that they can’t possibly convert even 40 percent of them. Title winning teams create so many chances and therefore, strikers need to convert just 20-30 percent of them to score as many goals as they need. An example of that is seen today where Werner missed two big chances, leaving the game hanging in the balance and fans on edge. He then went on to set up Tammy Abraham to put Chelsea in a more comfortable position. The key moment in the game shifted from the chances he missed that left the game at 1-0, to the goal he created that doubled Chelsea’s lead.

A loss is not a result of the chances you didn’t convert, it’s a result of the chances you didn’t create after the ones you didn’t convert.

What is something you took away from the Blues’ latest contest? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!