Chelsea four lessons learnt at Sevilla: Giroud steals the show
By Nate Hofmann
3. Chelsea’s wingers are still a question mark
Any Americans watching the match on CBS All-Access will have been greeted by the description of the game, which framed the Blues as “Christian Pulisic’s Chelsea.” While that’s understandable from a marketing perspective, it’s unfathomably ludicrous in almost every other way.
Pulisic will be able to dine out on the form he showed at the end of last season, where he consistently proved that he is in fact good enough to be a top-level Premier League star. He’s one of the great young players in the game, full stop.
Unfortunately, he’s also one of the most fragile. The variety of muscular injuries he has picked up just since joining Chelsea includes muscles that few outside of the medical community could properly identify. The issue is that Pulisic is a better athlete than his body is willing to accept. As much as every Chelsea fan (and American broadcasting company) wants him to reach his tantalizingly sky-high potential, it seems like his penchant for annoying but time-consuming injuries might define his career more than his on-field exploits.
On Wednesday, Pulisic made his first start since the end of October. He was decidedly rusty, sporting a beard that seemed to signify the trials he has undergone to return to the squad. He had his moments, but there was a distinct sense that he was pushing to try and show that he was fully back to the levels he showed during Project Restart.
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As far as attacking play went, Giroud clearly stole the headlines, which might have been to Pulisic’s benefit insofar as it saved him from the excessive spotlight that is consistently aimed in his direction. Most importantly, he came off after a little over an hour in good shape, hopefully another step towards ideal match fitness. Pulisic is and will continue to be a unique challenge for Lampard, who has to balance his talent and production with his obvious fragility. It can be hard to design a highly effective side when you can’t be sure that one of your best wingers will be able to play in more than 25 matches per season.
Then there’s Callum Hudson-Odoi, who started opposite Pulisic on the right wing against Sevilla. The inconsistency of Hudson-Odoi’s contributions seem to be a mixture of a still unfinished recovery from an achilles tendon tear and some sort of behavior or mentality issue.
On Wednesday, however, he was nothing short of excellent, particularly in the first half. Hudson-Odoi’s tendencies mirror that of many young attacking starlets: a tendency to overcomplicate things and the desire to be the hero every time they touch the ball. This was one time where Hudson-Odoi avoided falling into those bad habits. He was able to combine exceptional skill with pragmatic production in a way that kept pressure on Sevilla’s defense every time the ball made its way to the right touchline. While he didn’t end up with any goals or assists, he was one of the standout performers from the match.
If this is the version of Hudson-Odoi that will show up on a regular basis, Chelsea has a winger who could feasibly hold down the right wing spot for ten years. The problem, of course, is that there has never been anything to suggest that he is capable of anything even approaching consistency. It must be absolutely maddening for Lampard.
Fortunately, it’s worth remembering that Hudson-Odoi just turned 20 in November. He has been a first team player for the better part of three seasons now, although with almost a full calendar year stolen by the achilles injury. His improvements have been marginal, which can be frustrating, but a player who jumps into the first team at such a young age is apt to have a slow and unsteady rise to prominence. Against Sevilla, he showed just enough to give Lampard a selection headache this weekend, which is a sign that he’s doing exactly what he needs to at this point in his career. Chelsea did well to hold onto him this summer, and it’s now up to Lampard to make the most of his presence, but right now he is still a relatively unknown quantity from week to week, which is equal parts tantalizing and infuriating.