Chelsea took a very promising performance from Gameweek 1 against Liverpool to East London in Gameweek 2. Many expected the game to be difficult because West Ham games often are, but very few foresaw the complete disgrace that turned out to be that performance.
The lineup was mostly understandable, and the result was not a direct consequence of the lineup anyway. On the day, the Blues’ usage was subpar, keeping the ball and passing it around, but not creating enough good chances.
West Ham managed the red card very well and stretched Pochettino’s men, with a certain Blues’ debutant making sure that the extra man was a non-factor, or worse, a negative factor. Here are six negatives and two positives from the game:
Chelsea POSITIVES
Raheem Sterling: Incredibly effective
Sterling was the most dangerous player in Blue. He came up against a team filled with 28 – 30-year-olds and he made it count. He drove past several West Ham players at will, at different points in the game, and they couldn’t deal with him.
According to Sofascore, the Englishman completed a whopping 6/7 dribbles on the day (40% of all Chelsea’s completed dribbles), and made the superb run that forced Tomas Soucek to bring him down just inside the area. The former Manchester City forward also won 12/21 duels he contested, and five fouls, creating several offensive set-piece opportunities with his skill alone. If there was any player for the away side that did not deserve to be on the losing end today, it was Raheem Sterling.
It is Gameweek 2
Yes, that’s the only other positive. Chelsea fans need not be worried yet, as this is Pochettino’s second competitive game in charge. There’s not much room for performances like this though, as there are teams in the league that can punish performances like this more comprehensively. West Ham is not a traditionally high-scoring side, and they even had scoring problems last season, which is why conceding three to them is not good.
The Blues boss is smart and self-aware enough to rewatch the game and figure out where things went wrong. The only thing that prevents this result from meaning more than just the horrid scoreline and performance is the fact that it’s Gameweek 2 and there’s still a lot of time for improvements.