3 Things Chelsea must do before the end of the season
By Ben Kissam
Spiritual people will tell you that to curb anxious thoughts, you should never focus on the past or future. Only by living in the present moment can you keep your mind clear of the nasty mind worms that become anxiety. Anyone who says that probably didn’t watch a Chelsea Football Club match during the 2022/23 season.
All campaign, focusing on the present has been an exercise in frustration and disappointment. In fact, the only thing keeping a lot of fans calm is the prospect that surely next season has to be better. (Or perhaps just not as bad.)
And with caretaker manager Frank Lampard at the helm, it’s actually kind of pointless to focus on the present. He’s gone in a few weeks anyway.
So, here are three things the club needs to do between now and the end of the season—a span of seven games—to prepare for next season and make living in the present moment fun again.
1. Chelsea must Stay healthy
Despite this season’s Premier League standings and gloomy vibes, the club has real, valid reasons to be optimistic about next year. It’s a squad loaded with raw talent. The new owners appear willing to invest more money in that talent pool if necessary—meaning a new striker (besides Christopher Nkunku) or goalkeeper could easily be a summer signing. There’s also a new hierarchy at the top of the club that will only become more efficient and effective each day (right?).
However, an errant ACL injury or hamstring tear by one of our core players could cast more gloom over the one thing keeping many Chelsea fans hopes alive. And that is a better 2023/24 season.
That’s not to say we should sit oft-injured players like Ben Chilwell, Reece James, or Wesley Fofana. But we need to be careful. Load management needs to be priority number one for this club so we can hit the ground running again next season.