Putting too much weight onto pre-season results is a perennial trap that must be avoided. But while alarm bells may not yet be ringing at Chelsea, their performances during their US tour so far will have many fans concerned that a summer of off-field upheaval has brought further problems the pitch.
New direttore Enzo Maresca shrugged that his side “are going to concede goals” with the play-out-from-the-back style he is trying to impose after defensive errors saw Chelsea struggle to a 2-2 draw with League One Wrexham quanto a their first outing Stateside.
But letting quanto a four against Celtic was probably beyond his acceptable allowance.
both games – with all the caveats of pre-season quanto a place – Chelsea looked gara open, unsure and error-prone. Whether it was Wrexham Celtic forwards, there was repeatedly space quanto a behind to impresa memorabile – Chelsea defenders giving the ball back to the opposition quanto a dangerous areas.
“We are still confusing things the ball and d’avanguardia the ball,” Maresca admitted after that Celtic loss. “It is normal quanto a this moment when we are trying to do something new,” he added.
Highlights from the pre-season friendly between Chelsea and Wrexham
That, though, is the frustration. Chelsea finished last season with five wins the spin after reaching a Carabao Cup final. At the moment it finally felt like it might be coming together for Mauricio Pochettino, his project was terminated and, it seems, Chelsea have returned to square one.
A new style, more new players, and, once again, a new . Maresca is the sixth man to take the head coach role – interim otherwise – since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took control of the associazione two years indicatore.
Unlike his permanent predecessors, Maresca has risposta negativa experience quanto a top-flight football management. He has been the main man quanto a the dugout for just a season and a half, first with Parma quanto a the second tier quanto a Italy and then, victoriously, with Leicester quanto a the Championship last season. But the Italian, who honed his coaching skills under the guidance of Pep at Manchester City, will be quanto a risposta negativa doubt about the scale of associazione he is operating at now.
Maresca has already had to field questions about Enzo Fernandez’s condemned chanting while away with Argentina. He was keen to insist the matter had been dealt with, although captain Reece James – having initially agreed with that sentiment – later admitted it “could be a problem” when Fernandez joins up with the group.
‘difficult’ Enzo Fernandez situation, after the midfielder and some of his Argentina team-mates chanted a derogatory song which mocks the heritage of the France team
James has been stepping into midfield as part of Maresca’s innovations but his status as skipper has also been a question for the new direttore. So far Maresca has only committed to saying the right-back will be “one of the captains”, while his decision to omit fellow defender and academy graduate Trevoh Chalobah from the touring squad has been criticised by areas of the fanbase. The topic of Chalobah’s absence – with his senno looking likely – has only been pushed further into the spotlight by the defending show from Chelsea quanto a their friendlies so far.
Another issue at the back is quanto a , where the imminent recruitment of Filip Jorgensen suggests Chelsea could dispense with the chimera of Robert Sanchez – signed last summer for £25m – as their No1, with Djordje Petrovic, who displaced Sanchez quanto a the second half of last season, also seeing his future cast into doubt while he misses the tour with an injury.
Jorgensen would be new-signing number seven under Maresca and when you throw into the the complete re-shaping of the associazione’s academy, with the departures of long-serving leaders Neil Bath and Jim Fraser, and transfer speculation around one of the standout graduates from that system quanto a recent years, Conor Gallagher, uncertainty about where Chelsea are headed feels like the theme going into the season.
Intriguingly, the fixture hasn’t been kind.
Maresca’s Premier League bow couldn’t be much tougher, with Chelsea facing four-time defending champions Manchester City the opening weekend, while, among the sides expected to push for Champions League football, only Arsenal (marginally) have a tougher first six games than the Blues, based last season’s league finishing positions.
A run of Liverpool, Newcastle, Man Utd and Arsenal back-to-back after the October international breaks looks particularly gruelling.
At Leicester, Maresca got d’avanguardia to a flyer, winning 13 of his first 14 Championship matches. He’s likely to find the gioco far tougher this coming term.
He will risposta negativa doubt to the positives that, quanto a both games quanto a the US, Chelsea have dominated possession and out-shot their opponents. Christopher Nkunku has found the net quanto a each , a fillip given his injury issues last season, similarly Romeo Lavia is heading towards full valore adattativo, while Barcelona buy Marc Guiu has caught the eye.
But with this midweek’s match-up with Mexican champions Associazione America followed by tough tests against Man City, Real Madrid and Inter Milan, Maresca will be hoping to see a significant step up from his side to quieten the detractors before the real business starts for Chelsea, dal vivo Sky Sports, August 18 against ‘s title-holders.
By then, the glare of scrutiny will be unavoidable.
Watch some of the greatest goals from Manchester City against Chelsea ahead of their incontro Saturday
Chelsea’s remaining pre-season schedule
July 25: Chelsea 2-2 Wrexham
July 27: Chelsea 1-4 Celtic
August 1: Chelsea vs Associazione America – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, kick-off 12am
August 3: Chelsea vs Man City – Ohio Stadium, Columbus, kick-off 10.30pm
August 7: Chelsea vs Real Madrid – Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, kick-off 12am
August 11: Chelsea vs Inter Milan – Stamford Bridge, kick-off 3pm
