Chelsea’s Temporary Chilwell: Here comes 18-year-old Lewis Hall
A mediocre performance against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge left fans with a sour taste in their mouth, but the addition of Hall into the starting IX in a losing effort gave the Blues the energy it has lacked over the last few contests. His speed and elusiveness with the ball at his feet are traits he acquired as a midfielder, now with a more dangerous player on the wing, behind one of the midfielders, the options for CFC going forward are going to be far greater than it has been.
"“Lewis Hall did brilliantly. Fantastic performance. Great quality great effort. You can see he can take the ball, He took responsibility…Putting the ball in the net is the hardest thing and that’s all he didn’t do today but everything he did do was fantastic.”"
Finishing has been an issue that Potter has realized, and with time, the players will adapt to Potter’s style of play, just like at Brighton, and begin to put the ball in the back of the net. Hall may not even be close to an experienced player, but his youth is what makes him exciting. CFC’s developmental squad added some incredibly talented pieces to its squad over the summer and has rebounded from a season where it shaved off relegation by one point.
In a talent-filled pool of players coming up the ranks at the club, there will be a time when the manager will have to pick and choose. Hall putting together back-to-back displays in consecutive seasons in cup competitions has to give the coaching staff enough to say he deserves at least a consistent shot at contributing with the wing-back situation in the position it is in.