We are languishing in 10th, 8 points behind ‘struggling’ Man United. Defense is leaking goals, attack is largely misfiring and players are losing discipline.
The mentality has also become like that of a mid-table team. Nothing in and around the club screams world class at the moment.
I just don’t find many differences between Chelsea and say, Crystal Palace (apart from the wages and all). As fans, should we also have a mid-table mindset? Satisfied with draws against the big boys and finishing the season with 45-50 points?
To say this hurts me: Chelsea will come back in 1-2 years. They sold off all their older talent and replaced a lot of them with new faces. They have had some brutal key injuries that haven’t helped them trying to get back to winning. If Chelsea are lower than 8th at the end of the year I’d be shocked. They don’t look bad when it’s clicking but it’s just hard to get a team this new to each other and that young to just gel. Especially when your key attacking signing took knock before you ever kicked off a meaningful game.
Except that their best keeper is still Kepa, their best defender is Thiago Silva, their best attacker is Sterling.
The new faces they have have all been largely useless.
Ummm…they can’t replace all 11 starters and expect to not take on FPP breaches.
Secondly, Silva finally looks human this year at like 75 years old. Sterling no matter how old he is will still be a solid player if shep’s got his legs.
Last of all, Nkuku was supposed to be there Shadow forward this season and he didn’t get out of preseason. Also Fofana, Lavia, Chillwell, James, Gusto, Saseta, Calobah, and Chukwumeka all are current listed on the injury report. Only 6 of the players will return potentially by the new year, four then are out till next season.
I loathe Chelsea, but I’m not gonna blame Silva and Sterling who are carrying a team in their 30’s without many healthy young legs around them.