Chelsea hasn’t solved attacking issues but has gone back a page

Much of the talk in recent weeks around Chelsea has been about the lack of goalscoring. The Blues have been winning very consistently but the goals simply weren’t flowing. When Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner both got injured, that story seemed like one to stay.

Except it didn’t. Since the back to back losses to Manchester City and Juventus, Chelsea has played six matches with only two having the Blues score less than three goals. 19 goals in six matches is a very tidy return for a team with goal scoring issues.

Chelsea is winning with some good scorelines again, but it is less about solving the attacking issues and more about going back to what worked before. It’s an issue that Chelsea already tried to solve but it was at least working.

Last season with Thomas Tuchel, the Blues did not rely on any one goal scorer. In fact, for a solid period of time the team was only scoring from set pieces, penalties, and the occasional wonder goal. That got Chelsea all the way to fourth and it allowed them to win the Champions League, but few thought it was sustainable long term.

That’s why the club went out and bought Romelu Lukaku to take all the chances the Blues were creating and convert them. Initially, he did. But, Chelsea’s hard start to the season and fatigue eventually dulled Lukaku before injury. It did not help that Mason Mount was out of form and unable to create the types of chances he was the previous season. Tuchel tried many ways to fix this issue but they all left the Blues scrapping out victories.

That’s turned recently however. The Blues are now attacking more like they did last season with a higher focus on possession and players outside of the forwards turning up. The wingbacks in particular have put Chelsea on their backs in pursuit of victories.

It’s easy and lazy to say “well Lukaku is out so he was the issue!”. Look at Kai Havertz and how much of a ghost he was against Newcastle. Striker is a thankless job no matter who plays there. Those inside forward spots are too unless one has an endless supply of energy like Werner or Mount. Others have stepped up, but the primary role of that front three has become distraction, not goalscoring or creating.

And that’s not dissimilar to last year. At some point, it doesn’t matter who is putting it in the back of the net so long as someone is. Managers would certainly like their strikers and forwards to score but all else the same, the result is what matters. When a trio of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Kai Havertz, and Hakim Ziyech can’t score, it is good to have Reece James turn up with some worldies.

This will also boost the club’s confidence when Lukaku and Werner do return. If those two can slot into an in form team (which they arguably didn’t have before despite the wins), Chelsea can reach an entirely new level altogether.

The attack is working now by using ideas from last season. Now, there could be a synthesis of ideas coming that allows the Blues to continue these goal fests.