Goodness, I am actually already getting bored of this one. Pundits and media outlets throwing us in the title race, others whispering it, but everyone at Chelsea (bar Enzo Fernandez) is refusing to be drawn into it.
The fact is though, that as long as we remain second, third, fourth, or even (dare I say it) top of the Premier League, then we ARE in a title race, even if the reality says otherwise.
But what is that reality? Well, for me it’s our defence on the whole. Not just the goalkeeper, not just the centre backs, not just the full backs, not just the midfielders, not just the attackers, not just the coach. Defending is done as a team. And defending is our Achilles heel right now.
But everyone must take responsibility for defending, especially the head coach and his coaching team.
Chelsea are adopting a bit of a ‘we’ll just score more goals than you’ setup right now, which is fine. I mean, goals are what win you games and if you outscore your opponents, you are winning games, and that’s all we need to do, right?
In essence, yes. However, it’s risky, and I believe that Maresca sees that and this is one of the biggest reasons he continues to say we aren’t there yet, which we aren’t.
I believe we are a top goalkeeper, dominating centre back, and a different striker profile to Nicolas Jackson away from being complete.
Nobody can doubt how vulnerable we are at the back right now, we see it every game. We always have a mistake is us, and I don’t have a lot of confidence when teams are attacking us. My confidence in the attack is there, I genuinely feel we can score every time we attack. But I also feel we can concede every time the opposition attack. This is where we need to improve, and that is done collectively and not just with new personnel. This is the main thing Maresca needs to coach now.
A couple of former Chelsea players have mentioned our defence this week, and they are spot on.
Glen Johnson: “Chelsea’s defence could be their downfall in the title race.”
Mario Melchiot: “What Enzo Maresca is really telling his players is, ‘guys, if you defend better, we can win this league’. That’s what he’s doing, but he’s doing it so subtle. Do you really think in the dressing room he isn’t telling them he wants to win it?”
Interestingly, they are both former defenders, so they know the importance of having a more solid defence.
We aren’t stupid, I don’t think anyone will expect us to never concede goals and to be this unit that cannot be penetrated. Of course we are going to concede goals, and we will not win every game either. But this is absolutely an area we need to solidify the best we can to really see the rewards going forward. Liverpool have conceded six less goals than us so far this season, just as an example.
I do think once this is sorted out, even Maresca will be putting us in the title race!