Chelsea preseason: Three lessons learnt away to Bournemouth

3. Sinking stock

Even in a mostly solid performance, a few players stood out for the wrong reasons. Chief among these has to be Kepa Arrizabalaga. No, not for any howlers but his distribution was simply awful. If he completed as many passes as he failed to it would be a surprise. Now, a keepers primary job is to be a keeper and he did that. But when a team uses their keeper as much as a point of possession, he simply can’t get it wrong that often.

Tammy Abraham played well, but he’ll be a victims of the success of others. He played well, but it was Broja and Ike Ugbo that scored in the same or less time. A striker’s primary job is goals and to see the competition come on and find the net only hurts Abraham’s prospects no matter how well he did himself. He still might have time to turn things around this preseason, but at the moment it is hard to say no to a transfer fee and just keep Broja around in his place.

On a similar note, Christian Pulisic didn’t exactly standout in any particular way. It’s one thing to be a player returning from loan and to ghost through the match, but a player from the previous season lacks the luxury. With competition hot for spots up top, Pulisic didn’t do nearly enough to be remembered for next time.

What did you learn in this match? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!