Chelsea Football Club : Pre-Season & Season Analysis

Udit Nagar
Aug 23, 2017 · 11 min read

“Keep the Blue Flag Flying High” is what the Chelsea supporters chant when their team arrives on the pitch. After a flabbergasting resurrection from a brutal 2015/16 season, Chelsea showed confidence and dominance over the premier league winning their 5th title since the dawn of the 1992 era. The boss Antonio Conte played a major role as he re-built the house of cards shattered by club’s ex-Manager Jose Mourinho. Winning 30 games out of 38, Chelsea also established a record by becoming the first team to do so in the Premier League. But, every prize comes with a price.

The Transfer Window:

After selling Oscar and Brainslav Ivanovic during the winter transfer window to Shanghai SIPG and Zenit St. Petersburg respectively, Chelsea’s manager Antonio Conte had a fall-out with Diego Costa when he texted him that the striker is not the part of his plans moving forward. Chelsea also sold the defensive mid-fielder Nemanja Matic to rivals Manchester United after the arrival of Tiemoue Bakayoko to the club from the Ligue 1 Champions AS Monaco. The defender Nathan Ake and the second Goalkeeper Asmir Begovic were sold to AFC Bournemoth, a team who impressed last season with their possession stats in the top flight football in England. The contract of the Chelsea legend John Terry also expired after the last season as he moved to the Championship team Aston Villa. Juventus also completed the signing of the Chelsea winger Juan Cuadrado who had a magnificent loan-spell with the Italian champions. Chelsea’s mid-fielders Nathaniel Chalobah and Ruben-Loftus Cheek were sold and loaned out to Premier League teams Watford and Crystal Palace respectively. Also, the winger Christian Atsu was sold to Rafa Benitez’s English Championship winners Newcastle United.

While, there are other players like Marco Van Ginkel, Tammy Abhraham, Ola Aina and Lewis Baker who have been loaned to PSV, Swansea City, Hull City and Middlesbrough respectively, Chelsea have only managed to sign 4 first-team players this summer:

  1. Alvaro Morata (Real Madrid : 58 million pounds)

Alvaro Morata joined Chelsea from Real Madrid at a massive signing amount of 58 million pounds. The Real Madrid/Spain striker was unhappy from the club for not getting regular first-team chances despite proving his performance whenever being brought on from the bench. He scored 14 goals from the bench last season, but was rarely getting a first team chance in La Liga. Real Madrid sold him and then bought him back from Juventus in 2015. While his time at Juventus, he performed brilliantly under Antonio Conte, hence the boss knows the potential of the new Diego Costa replacement. He was also a part of Real Madrid’s Champions League winning squad in both 2015/16 and 2016/17 campaigns.

Alvaro Morata vs. Arsenal for the Community Shield 2017

2. Antonio Rudiger (AS Roma : 30 Million pounds)

Antonio Rudiger is the new defensive machine which Conte bought from AS Roma for 30 million pounds. Rudiger played a major part in Germany’s Confederation’s Cup win in 2017. He also performed brilliantly with AS Roma in his previous seasons, but he was looking for a move with new challenges.

Antonio Rudiger unveiled as Chelsea’s new signing

3. Tiemoue Bakayoko (AS Monaco : 35 Million pounds)

Tiemoue Bakayoko was a quality influence in AS Monaco’s reign in Ligue 1 after replacing Paris-Saint Germain as the new champions. Playing alongside Joao Moutinho, Bernardo Silva, Radamel Falcao and Kylian Mbappe, Bakayoko gained a world-class tag. Bakayoko to Chelsea was a rumor since the January transfer window and was expected to be the first unveiling. But, due to the injury of the player there was some reluctance from Chelsea to make a move, as they needed a replacement for the moving Nemanja Matic. In the end, Chelsea made a 35 million pounds bid for the defensive midfielder which was later accepted by Monaco henceforth making the player move to West London.

Bakayoko signing for Chelsea in late July 2017

4. Willy Caballero (Manchester City : Free)

Willy Caballero, the infamous goalkeeper who stopped 3 penalties and denied Liverpool the EFL Cup of 2015/16 was released from Manchester City earlier this year. After carrying the burden of a flop Claudio Bravo, Caballero started most of the matches for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in their 2016/17 campaign. Although after the signing of Ederson Moraes from Benfica, the Argentine wasn’t needed at the Etihad and was released from the club. Chelsea took the advantage of the situation and replaced him with the departing Asmir Begovic, who made a move to AFC Bournemoth successfully.

Chelsea’s Director Micheal Emenalo unveiling Chelsea’s first signing of the season : Willy Caballero

Apart from these, Andreas Christensen has returned from his loan spell at Borussia Monchengladbach and made into the first team. Also, Jeremie Boga, Charly Musonda and Fikayo Tomori have returned from their loan spells from Granada CF, Real Betis and Brighton Hove & Albion respectively. Chelsea Academy’s player Kyle Scott has also tentatively made a spot in Conte’s first team.

Chelsea are right now linked with the signings of Andrea Belotti from Torino, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund, Antonio Candreva from Inter, Virgil Van Djik, Cedric Soares and Ryan Bertrand from Southampton, Danny Drinkwater, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City, Ross Barkley from Everton, Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose from Tottenham Hotspurs and Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain from the London rivals Arsenal. They are also interested in Idrissa Gana Gueye from Everton, should the Danny Drinkwater deal with Leicester doesn’t work out. As mentioned by Antonio Conte, he needs both the quality and the quantity in the team in order to make pace with both Premier League and the Champions League. He has been given 200 million pounds to spend in the remaining transfer window, let’s see if Chelsea signs any of these players before the window ends.

Chelsea’s first team:

Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois, Willy Caballero, Eduardo

Defenders: Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Marcos Alonso, Victor Moses, Fikayo Tomori

Mid-Fielders: Pedro, Eden Hazard, Tiemoue Bakayoko, N’golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas, Willian, Jeremie Boga, Charlie Musonda, Kyle Scott, Kenedy

Strikers: Alvaro Morata, Michy Batshuayi, Loic Remy, Diego Costa(until the move to Atletico Madrid is confirmed)

Analysis (Pre-Season & Burnley-Spurs):

  1. Arsenal (Win : 0–3)

Chelsea’s official pre-season started against Arsenal in Shanghai where they belittled their North-London rivals 3–0 with Batshuayi scoring a brace. Chelsea dominated through-out the whole game like champions and they deserved the win.

2. Bayern Munich (Loss: 2–3)

Although after Arsenal, Chelsea played the Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in Singapore and were completely looking defenseless. They conceded 3 goals within the first 25 minutes and looked shattered through-out the first-half. Goals from Marcos Alonso and Michy Batshuayi brought them back in the game but weren’t enough to win it, as they ended up losing 2–3. Marcos Alonso kept struggling with his pace through-out the match and the absence of David Luiz as a Center-Back also played a major role in their defeat. Andreas Christensen was included in the playing XI for the first time since his loan spell at Monchengladbach, and he didn’t live up to the hype. Jeremie Boga vs James Rodriguez didn’t end well as the former wasn’t able to cope up with the latter’s experience. It has also been observed that most of the times, when Conte involves Cesc Fabregas on the field with Kante as a CDM, Chelsea have conceded goals, since Fabregas’s game-play is more attacking rather than defensive. Alvaro Morata made his first appearance as a Chelsea striker and gave an assist to the Michy Batshuayi goal. That is when it was realized that the new players needed to get used to the infamous 3–4–3 formation which won the league for Conte.

3. Inter (Loss: 1–2)

Chelsea were humiliated once again in Singapore as they were looking completely lackluster against Inter. Goals from Jovetic and Perisic completely came out of nowhere as Inter stunned Chelsea most of the game. The only goal for Chelsea was an own-goal from Geoffrey Kondogbia in the final 25 minutes of the game. Conte was frustrated with the lack of more signings in the team and the same was reflected during the game. While Manchester City spent a mammoth 200 million on their defense and Manchester United also involved in a spending spree by buying Romelu Lukaku, Victor Lindelof and Nemanja Matic, Conte demanded the board to make more signings in order to increase depth in the team. The team lacked back-ups for N’golo Kante, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso. After the Inter game, Chelsea were interested in signing the 30-year old Inter wing-back Antonio Candreva who was amazing throughout the Inter-Chelsea game. In the post-match interview, Conte’s reticence was observed in the post-match conference towards the board and the Italian manager wasn’t happy with the way things were going for the club.

4. Arsenal (Loss: 5–2 (Pen))

Another loss for Chelsea came against their North-London derby rivals Arsenal in the Community Shield. Chelsea outplayed the gunners for the first 80 minutes, leading the game 1–0 with a Victor Moses goal shortly after first half. Pedro received a red-card by a tackle on Mohammed Elneny which led the new signing Kolasinac to score a brilliant header past Courtois from a free-kick. The game was level 1–1 after 90 minutes, and both the teams proceeded to penalties where again Chelsea were humiliated 4–1. Things weren’t going right for Antonio Conte as the inexperienced Chelsea bench was completely visible. No proper backups were present to handle the game after Pedro’s red-card. The Spainard was also declared injured and unfit for the first Premier League game against Burnley after the horrific tackle in the Community Shield final. He joined Bakayoko and Hazard on the injury list. Chelsea’s inexperienced bench was completely exposed with Academy players and loanees. Marcos Alonso struggled again with his pace and the Willian/Michy Batshuayi duo didn’t impress as well. Conte needed players which the club still weren’t ready to sign with the deals of Virgil Van Djik, Antonio Candreva and Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain moving nowhere. The team lacked both the confidence and the experience as it was completely visible after the Kolasinac equalizer.

5. Burnley (Loss: 2–3)

Chelsea marched as the Premier League champions at their home, only to get humiliated by Burnley at home. Chelsea’s captain Gary Cahill saw an early red-card after a brutal tackle and was sent off in the 14th minute. The sending off exposed the inexperienced bench with the likes of Kyle Scott, Charly Musonda and Fikayo Tomori. The debut for Jeremie Boga turned out to be a disappointment for the player as he was shortly replaced by Andreas Christensen. The synchronization of Christensen with Luiz and Azpilicueta at the back looked completely shaky which led Burnley to score 3 easy goals in the first half. Michy Batshuayi’s control on the ball was disappointing as it showed many reasons why Chelsea were missing Diego Costa. Batshuayi’s control on the ball and aggression on the defenders was close to nothing as Burnley defenders completely owned the Chelsea striker. Diego Costa had the ability to fight the defenders and move forward which made him one of the best strikers of all times at the club. Stamford Bridge was devastated after a horrendous first-half performance put up by the defending champions. Sam Vokes was the star performer for Burnley in the first-half scoring a magnificent brace. Marcos Alonso struggled with his pace again and was outplayed by the Burnley mid-field. Second-half started and out came Alvaro Morata replacing Michy Batshuayi. Morata’s instant impact on the field was visible as he scored a wonderful goal past Tom Heaton. Chelsea’s attack was suddenly back into the game and their game-play with 10-men was overplaying Burnley’s 11. But soon after that, Cesc Fabregas received a second yellow and was sent-off which led the Blues drop down to 9 men. Still the attack was relentless but wasn’t converted into goals as the 9-men factor jumped in. David Luiz scored past Heaton in the final minutes after a brilliant assist from Morata and the game ended 2–3 in favor of Sean Dyche’s Burnley. Chelsea fans applauded their team after showing a wonderful fightback in the second-half. But it still didn’t shadow the fact that Chelsea needed more experience on the bench. The fans showed another twitter outburst over this loss and the lack of signings. After the match, Cesc Fabregas and Gary Cahill faced a ban for 1 and 3 matches respectively. Chelsea lacked the squad depth completely for the upcoming game versus Tottenham Hotspurs at Wembley with still no activity in the transfer-market. The only positive sign was the return of Victor Moses after his 1-match ban after the FA-Cup final sending off.

6. Tottenham Hotspurs (Win: 1–2)

With 4 sending-offs in their last 3 official encounters, Chelsea were underdogs at Wembley. The lack of squad depth showed the same, although Alvaro Morata, Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Andreas Christensen got their first start in a Premier League game. Conte switched to the 3–5–1–1 formation which involved playing with 6 defenders where David Luiz took the role of a CDM. Tottenham’s dreadful record at Wembley was the only sanguine mindset Conte could follow. Tottenham Hotspurs (usually known for applying pressure on other teams) came in as favorites in the game to apply pressure on the vulnerable Chelsea. A Dele Alli foul on David Luiz outside the box lead to a mind-blowing free-kick from Marcos Alonso which the gave Blues a lead at Wembley. Tottenham were strong with their response throughout, dominating the possession stats. Harry Kane was a machine throughout the game but the Blues’ lead was intact during the first-half of the game. Chelsea returned positively in the second half and their defense completely outplayed Spurs’ rigorous attack. Christensen and Rudiger impressed really well at the back. Azpilicueta provided important clearences. David Luiz’s CDM role kept Alli and Eriksen struggling with the ball. Kante kept Harry Kane in his pocket. And the best of all Marcos Alonso’s game-play and pace improved as he was brilliant throughout. Willian and Morata failed to impress as the former missed many chances and looked tired. Morata also failed to control the ball on most of the occasions. Ultimately, both Morata and Willian were subbed off for Batshuayi and Pedro respectively. Things turned when a Bakayoko foul on Dele Alli, gave a free-kick to Spurs from a very intimidating position. Eriksen took the free-kick and Batshuayi mistakenly headed it into his own net. It was an own-goal and Spurs were on level. Meanwhile, Alonso was booked for an offence. After a failed attack from Spurs, the counter-attack from Chelsea was fabulous as Marcos Alonso shoved another one past Hugo Lloris in the final minutes of the games which resulted in a Chelsea victory. Marcos Alonso stood tall after shutting down all the critics. He covered a distance of 11 kms throughout the game with a commendable pace. The scenes at the away end were a delight to watch as Chelsea were heading out victorious from Wembley.

Though, this all was pretty amazing, Chelsea still faces the problem of the lack of signings. Leicester’s 40 million tag on Danny Drinkwater is way too much for a back-up. Chelsea are willing to pay 25 million pounds for Antonio Candreva but the deal is still not done. Chelsea are also not meeting Everton’s expectations of 50 million pounds for Ross Barkley and Arsenal’s expectations of 40 million pounds for Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain. If the signings are not completed within the transfer window, Chelsea wont be able to keep pace with the Champions League football and the Premier League as the schedules will get tight which in-turn will increase the probability of injuries. Conte’s master-plan needs players and the Chelsea board should focus on the boss’ demands as he did the unthinkable with the team in the 2016/17 season.

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