Two established teams in the Premier League, Chelsea and Arsenal faced a similar fate in the continuation of the 21st Premier League competition (11/2/23). Both teams drew 1-1 against their respective opponents.
For the second time in a row, Chelsea won a draw. The results are not so satisfying when you look at Chelsea’s path in player transfers in the winter. Chelsea is a club that spends a lot on players. In fact, Chelsea broke the record for buying the most expensive player last season by bringing in Enzo Fernandez from Benfica.
Instead of the purchase immediately having an instant impact on Chelsea’s performance, it seems that the Chelsea squad still needs time to adapt and find rhythm as a team. So, it looks like it’s not easy to put together a team of talented players.
This is also a tough job for Graham Potter on how to create a formation that matches the quality of the players he has. However, until the match against West Ham, Chelsea were still not in a promising path.
Chelsea may have dominated, but Chelsea’s playing pattern was somewhat monotonous, easily readable by West Ham players, and also inaccurate passes. Several times the Chelsea players made wrong passes. Even the direction of Chelsea’s attack was easy to read by West Ham’s back line.
Not to mention, the intensity of Chelsea’s game is so weak. In fact, it was West Ham who bit more and sometimes troubled Chelsea’s defense. Chelsea needs to find a pattern of play that really suits the character of the players. Mykhalo Mudryk, who played as a left striker, failed to shine because the game scheme did not seem to match the players who were purchased with 70 million euros or the equivalent of 1.1 trillion. The flow of the ball in Chelsea’s game looked slow so it was easy to read.
In fact, Mudryk is a player who has great speed. However, the ball flows that support the speed of this player from Serbia are not so smooth. As a result, Mudryk appeared sluggish and subpar at best.
Enzo Fernandez has once again demonstrated the quality that Chelsea’s midfield so much has come to expect. The 22-year-old player, apart from scoring an assist for Joao Felix’s goal, also managed to become a midfielder who protected the opponent’s defense and at the same time helped the ball flow to the front lines.
The challenge from Enzo when he is not accompanied by a creative midfielder who is able to provide breakthrough passes to the strikers and midfielders who can go up and down. If N’Golo Kante returns from injury, the duet of Kante and Enzo could be ideal because Kante has instincts as an attacking midfielder.
Apart from that, Chelsea really need a striker. Kai Havertz was a player who appeared gray in Chelsea’s game against West Ham. The German national team player even lost his shine from Felix, who was placed behind him. Apart from that, Havertz also did not get pass from the left and right.
In short, Chelsea’s work system is still not working well. Coach Graham Potter has to go the extra mile to find the best formula in concocting his squad according to the character and talents of each player.
Furthermore, individual actions in the middle of an opponent’s meeting game must be minimized. Felix penetrated several times alone among West Ham players, but always ran aground.
Yes, Chelsea needs a team game, and not just putting forward an individual game. If not, Chelsea’s performance will not improve, but instead will get worse. Currently, Chelsea are in 9th place in the standings while having only won 1 of the last 5 matches.
ASL
