Thank god we finally got some goals. After two straight games with Chelsea not scoring a single goal (nor giving one up to be fair) despite having everyone mostly healthy, they exploded in the second half of their Champions League bout with FC Krasnodar last Wednesday. Chelsea also scored three at Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday; not conceding at all and giving Edouard Mendy his fifth clean sheet in six matches. After three straight draws, two of them without scoring, Chelsea have finally seemed to find a rhythm of sorts with their new signings at the front as well as figured out some personnel in the midfield that let the offense properly flow.
Unfortunately, after a super-sub performance from Christian Pulisic against Krasnodar, he appears to have hurt his hamstring again. During warm-ups before Burnley, Pulisic felt a slight sensation in his hamstring and was kept out by Lampard. Despite the load management mid-week by only playing him 20 or so minutes, the grind of this season with so many matches close together in all competitions, seems to be getting to Pulisic. When he’s playing, he’s clearly the most dangerous player on the field. His first action this season against Crystal Palace showcased his rocketing speed as he immediately made an impact, almost scoring after coming on around the 82nd minute. Since then, with an international break and consistent play, the team overall struggled to score goals. Chelsea seem to finally have found their offensive rhythm, but it seems like Pulisic could be left out of that loop. Against Burnley, in both these games, Lampard seems to have figured out his optimal lineup across the field and with Pulisic probably never being consistently healthy, it’s not like the team can’t survive without him. Maybe I’m just being alarmist and he’s young enough that he can change something in his fitness routine to get his damn legs more limber, but I just think after two more years of this, Chelsea probably loans hims out somewhere like West Ham United where can get consistent playing time, be the man and probably fade away into his late twenties as his body fails him. Athletes can overcome early career injury bad luck. Matthew Stafford famously couldn’t stay healthy his first two years in the NFL then subsequently put together almost eight straight of consistent play. The problem with Pulisic, is that it’s the same type of injuries still plaguing him, just like they did at Dortmund. He really needs to figure out yoga to properly stretch his hamstrings or this might be an indicator of a situation much more dire.
Fortunately, Hakim Ziyech is now healthy and spent these two games against Krasnodar and Burnley, lighting up the field, a much needed spark weaving his way into the offense. Timo Werner and Ziyech have a particularly strong connection with each player coming from squads where they had plenty of compliments to each other’s game. During the Krasnodar outing, after Pullisic came in, Ziyech, he and Werner along with Kai Havertz hummed together so well resulting in Pulisic earning a penalty which Werner stuck home and a passing sequence that gave Ziyech his first Chelsea goal off an assist from Werner and a hockey assist from Pulisic. Again it’s frustrating that Pulisic can’t stay healthy; I think he has like three hockey assists this season and while Havertz plays the true 10 position, it’s Pulisic who makes the offense reach its final form. Throughout the Krasnodar game, Havertz, Werner and Ziyech dissected the defense with Ziyech really getting comfortable with his sumptuous left footed crosses into the box from the middle and the right side. Against Burnley, after the half, Chelsea blitzkrieged with Reece James right side crosses, Ben Chilwell left side crosses and Ziyech passes from the middle and right side. It’s firepower scary to see now that the wings and middle contain such creative players. At Burnley, Ziyech cutely converted a goal against the stout Nick Pope, fooling the goalkeeper with his wizardry of movement, leaving Pope out of position. With the full start, his second, Ziyech was all over the field, almost as a supportive second 10 for Kai. He’s better at pressing the ball than he probably gets credit for as an attacking midfielder, but where Krasnodar showcased a bit of what he offers, Burnley was full display of his array of skills. His assist on Werner’s wonderful finish was a natural progression within the flow of that game. You could see through both games that Frank Lampard’s confidence in the skill of his players allows them to take more risks and push the ball further and faster up the pitch.
It’s like Lampard heard my shouting at the television because Mason Mount played what I believe his best position, in both the Krasnodar and Burnley games. At Krasnodar, Mount came in for Jorginho and while he naturally drifted up the pitch towards the opponents half, his defensive skills and control of the midfield shined as he and N’Golo Kante, who he came on with, gelled that midfield and provided stability for the offense to score three subsequent goals. His energy seems to infect everyone and he’s able to match the effervescent sparkplug energy of Kante by providing balls up the center and generally doing well holding down the midfield. He played the position again on Saturday in the Burnley game and provided such good play between the boxes that Burnley barely got any sort of rhythm going offensively. Mount is a much better defender than Jorginho and against Burnley he really started to see the bigger picture of the field as Jorginho does, providing real cheeky, firm ground passes up the field, notably to James. It’s the kind of service Jorginho gives in the air, but that Mount appears to be specifically working on to secure his place in the midfield. Even after the game, Mount proclaimed his preference for playing where he did in the midfeild. He seems to understand how this offense is supposed to work with the array of strong skills the forwards have. Finding the big picture flow of the offense and executing that vision has been challenging for him, so it’s really great to see his energizer self used where he really belongs and it’s helping him see things much more globally.
Along with Mount, I can’t say enough about Kante and how stalwart he is. He’s clearly the best player on the team of the highest world class and I know he can’t stay healthy since he’s like 5’5” but he really is the heart of the team. While Kante didn’t play much against Krasnodar, he anchored as he always does against Burnley, running all over the field with his disruptive mindset, even earning himself a decent shot on goal. This season, now that he has Havertz, he can rest himself a bit in the Chelsea half and run that end, while not extending himself too far into the offensive end. With Kai, Kante acts like a VHS tape roller on one side with Kai on the other in the offensive end. Together the tape of the game feeds through both and they control each end back and forth, fully using their skill sets as designed. Watching the Burnley game, I just felt like I was watching a video tape with the reels moving back and forth through the fulcrums of Kante and Kai. Kai again provides so much stability, creativity and frankly size that lacked last year. He’s far more interconnected than Willian was willing to be at times and honestly plays so much more intelligently that Ross Barkley. He’s still getting on the same page with everyone offensively to score goals, something he did often at Bayer Leverkusen however he’s also surrounded with superior talent and his facilitation of the offense and control of his side of the field is all Chelsea really need him to do right now. I’m just so happy to see someone on the offensive side take these reigns to compliment Kante. Pulisic tried at times last year, but he’s a flare of a player, not like Kai who will scrap constantly, play everywhere and defend better. With Ziyech getting more comfortable in the offense, Kai can really start to understand his teammates better, the spacing they like and the passing that puts them in the best positions to use their skill sets.
Look, I know these games were against bad competition. Krasnodar threatened in the first half before wilting under the renewed pressure of Chelsea bench in the second half. Burnley never trifled with attempting to score. Besides that, Chelsea last year (and earlier this year against West Brom) have had the tendency that young talented teams have to play down to their competition. It’s bound to happen and not entirely without valuable experience, especially when Lampard knows exactly it’s happening as indicated by what he usually says after tough matches. Major college football teams, as the season commences, often play very inferior teams. I remember a few years ago when The Citadel, a small military style school in South Carolina, played Alabama during the season and were of course demolished by a team that went on to lose in the national title game. Chelsea should be treating these games as such from a psychological perspective to build confidence and work out the kinks of a still evolving team. The backline looks incredibly set and solid and after we actually got to see how good Mendy is against Manchester United. The team now knows the goalkeeper can be counted on. These are real teams they’re beating though, Champions League and Premier League teams, not Ipswich Town in the FA Cup. It doesn’t matter that it’s not Liverpool or Manchester City because it’s clear when those games come that they’ll at least be able to hold their own. There’s a strong base here and I know Premier League aspirations are shortly down the road. I think those are founded and while this year might not be it, next year this team will have gelled, solidified itself, put a fucking minutes restriction on Pulisic and be ready compete for the Premier League and beyond.
Bo's Gamut 