The Pride of London Podcast ep.1: Chelsea crushes Leicester

The Pride of London podcast is finally ready to go just in time for Chelsea to crush Leicester City. The Blues were immediately dominate against the Foxes and only started to let up towards then end.

Brendan Rodgers, whose head may or may not be turned by Manchester United talks, tried to match the Blues’ three at the back. It went as well as that ever does with Chelsea creating chance after chance against the Foxes. A somewhat wild header by Antonio Rudiger opened up proceedings, followed by a magnificent N’Golo Kante(!) shot from distance(!!!). Christian Pulisic would finish things off late on with a cameo appearance goal.

The team’s growing tactical fluidity was on display as centerbacks became midfielders, wingbacks became wingers, and wingers became forwards. The longer Chelsea plays under Thomas Tuchel, the more the lines get blurred between all the various formations the Blues could potentially play. Leicester had no answers for the fluidity the team showed and it looked nothing at all like the two matches at the end of last season. This Chelsea team has truly grown in a short time while Leicester has either stayed in place or regressed. What this looks like against “bigger” teams will be interesting to see.

Joined by Travis Flock (@Crossroads_CFC), Gabe Henderson and Travis Tyler discussed the Leicester match, the upcoming Juventus match, as well as the Manchester United match and the goings on after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking.

Juventus is facing a minor injury crisis in what will be the match to determine first or second in the group. The Old Lady got the better of an uninspired Blues side last time, but this time the Blues feel much better prepared. Looking further ahead, United will either have a new manager bounce or more of the same as they look to salvage their Premier League campaign. Chelsea will want to be the first to stop that.

In addition, the trio answered listener questions about Antonio Rudiger’s future at the club, the sustainability of the defenders scoring, and Callum Hudson-Odoi’s future as players return to fitness.

Rudiger, amongst others, is running out of contract. While there is still a chance that he will extend, that chance looks less and less likely with each passing day. Meanwhile, Chelsea is winning and scoring for fun but so much of that is on the back of defenders putting it in the net rather than the attackers. Is it a tactical issue that can be fixed or is it sustainable? Time will tell.

Finally, Hudson-Odoi has really come into his own since being used as a left winger more consistently. It’s worth noting that his chance came only when many others were out injured. Now that Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, and Christian Pulisic are returning, what does it mean for Hudson-Odoi?

All of this and more was discussed on the very first proper episode of the Pride of London podcast. Go give it a listen on iTunes or Spotify and rate/review as you see appropriate!