“Soft, soft, soft,” stated Thomas Tuchel, the repetition leaving nobody in any doubt about his verdict on the targets Chelsea let in at Southampton. His vocabulary – low cost, sloppy, an absence of focus, a distinct mentality, toughen up – laid naked his dissatisfaction.
Tuchel’s time at Stamford Bridge has been based mostly on a type of hardness. Chelsea had been arduous to beat and arduous to attain towards once they conceded simply two targets in his first 14 video games and simply two in seven knockout matches in a profitable Champions League marketing campaign. Their psychological power was obvious as their outcomes had been higher on the highway. They felt battle-hardened, not smooth.
If a part of Tuchel’s treatment lies in restoring that form of toughness, an intriguing half is that the opposite ingredient includes the comparatively untried. Wesley Fofana has joined Chelsea as one of many world’s most costly ever defenders. He additionally arrives as a 21-year-old centre-back who missed most of final season by way of damage, who has by no means performed within the Champions League and from a group who, even when Leicester had been competing for a top-four place, had been by no means a byword for frugality. He has solely helped hold two clear sheets since shutting Chelsea out within the 2021 FA Cup closing, however might be charged with restoring solidity.
Fofana brings huge potential, the chance of enchancment and the tempo that some others in Chelsea’s ever extra aged defence lack. There was proof of his significance at Leicester, significantly in the way in which they proved unable to defend set-pieces in his prolonged absence. A payment of £70m isn’t merely succession planning however an try and lock down a place for a decade. It can be across the cumulative quantity Chelsea acquired for Fikayo Tomori, Marc Guehi, Kurt Zouma, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. Fofana might show higher than any, with the attainable exception of the German, and the departures of Rudiger and Christensen on free transfers could have been prevented had Chelsea not lingered in limbo for months after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned. Nevertheless, the numbers look unflattering.
So do others, and in an space that was once Tuchel’s specialist topic. Chelsea have conceded eight targets of their final 4 league video games. It is greater than they conceded of their first 14 final season. Some of the failings have been with Tuchel’s stalwarts, some along with his signings, some from the outlawed: particular person errors and conceding from set-pieces.
The most egregious mistake got here when Edouard Mendy was robbed by Brenden Aaronson for Leeds’ first aim of their 3-0 win. But Jorginho misplaced the ball for Tottenham’s first equaliser in a 2-2 draw and Cesar Azpilicueta’s poor clearance led to Southampton’s leveller of their 2-1 victory. A lack of targets has been compounded by a lack of self-discipline: one summer season signing, Kalidou Koulibaly, resorted to fouling Leeds’ speedy runners and received two cautions at Elland Road; one other, Marc Cucurella, was responsible of the poor go that led to Conor Gallagher’s pink card towards Leicester.
That Chelsea have misplaced to 2 of the division’s youngest groups, in Leeds and Southampton, brings concern about their classic. Tuchel could cite psychological weak spot, however maybe the issue lies in age, even when the oldest of all, Thiago Silva, has been resistant to errors. But the expertise that appeared a bonus when a 100-year-old again line of Koulibaly, Silva and Azpilicueta helped hold a clear sheet at Everton has since seemed much less of an asset; Tuchel has felt reluctant to select his captain, whose new contract, the Spaniard stated, got here after a dialog with the homeowners. When Reece James has been fielded at centre-back, costing Chelsea his attacking excellence, it has been a vote of no confidence within the captain.
Jorginho has seemed stretched and remoted when stripped of the reassuring presence of both N’Golo Kante or Mateo Kovacic alongside him and the midfield has felt disjointed for the reason that Frenchman was injured. Koulibaly, one other thirty-something, started in imperious type however was run ragged at Leeds in a way to recommend he additionally desires safety. Tuchel’s favoured formation, a 3-4-3, offers it, however he has switched to 4-2-2-2 of their final two video games in a bid for attacking incision. But that may expose aged legs; in making an attempt to resolve one downside, he could compound one other.
Fofana and Koulibaly might look a believable partnership in a duo however Chelsea’s excellent defender this season, Silva, is essentially the most suited to a again three. The complicated a part of Cucurella’s signing is that, spectacular as he has typically seemed, the Spaniard appears a £62million improve on a participant who didn’t really want upgrading, in Ben Chilwell. He set the tone for an costly overhaul.
Fofana’s arrival has taken spending on defenders this summer season previous £160million – get Josko Gvardiol subsequent yr and the sums might attain £230 or £240million – and, to date, Chelsea’s defending has declined. A flawless collective have began to look flawed people. Mistakes have crept in as our bodies have wearied, the mix of outdated and new has not been configured as exactly as Tuchel’s Champions League winners had been. And whereas the group Fofana beat within the FA Cup closing 15 months in the past had arguably Europe’s finest defence, the one he joins now has conceded greater than Brentford and Everton. Chelsea want a person purchased so as to add velocity to settle rapidly.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk