There was a charming novelty to Lewis Hall and Trevoh Chalobah’s revelatory performances in Chelsea’s draw with Nottingham Forest. Their coquettish crosses and bullish runs further exposed the absurdity of the club’s persistence with Marc Cucurella and Cesar Azpilicueta.
With centre-back Chalobah out of position and 18-year-old Hall on just his sixth top-flight appearance, the academy products were doin’ it for themselves.
Mauricio Pochettino, who has agreed terms to become Chelsea head coach in the summer, will undoubtedly have kept a keenly critical eye on this game.
Between Raheem Sterling’s brace, Hall and Chalobah’s excellence, Noni Madueke’s lively directness and Conor Gallagher’s trademark assiduity, he can’t have missed the unmistakeable Englishness of Chelsea’s strongest performers.
This is something Pochettino would do well to capitalise on. The sluggish, subdued atmosphere inside Stamford Bridge highlights the disaffection of the match-going fans, the virulent nature of continued apathy and disappointment within a club with Chelsea’s expectations.
With considerable change still to come this summer, both Pochettino’s arrival and the necessary transfer exodus, regaining fans’ trust may not be as simple as it seems.
Crafting the Chelsea of the future around academy products and English stars would be a sure-fire way to do so, as was proved during Frank Lampard’s first tenure.
Reece James, Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount have all struggled with injury of late, but are some of both England and Chelsea’s greatest talents.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek enjoyed a renaissance under Thomas Tuchel which could well be reignited, while Levi Colwill’s return from Brighton will elicit great excitement after his strong performances on the south coast.
Even Armando Broja, Albanian by footballing nationality but a Slough born-and-bred academy product, will likely be Chelsea’s primary remaining striker if Romelu Lukaku refuses to return.
Not to discount the major role the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Wesley Fofana and Mykhailo Mudryk could still play in the Blues’ future, but Chelsea’s strong English core is already established. Playing up to it may well buy Pochettino time he will more than likely need.
The Argentine’s Spurs success was built around a similarly stable core. Let’s compare arguably the two biggest games of Pochettino’s Spurs tenure – the “Battle of the Bridge”, that ill-tempered 2-2 draw with Chelsea on 2 May 2016, and the Champions League final loss to Liverpool three years later.
Seven players started both games; Dele Alli would have made it eight were he not suspended against Chelsea for elbowing Claudio Jacob. Kyle Walker would be the ninth had the Manchester petro-billions not come knocking, while Eric Dier started at Stamford Bridge but only came off the bench in Madrid due to persistent injury.
In three years, the core line-up Pochettino relied on barely changed. For contrast, no Chelsea player started both Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest and the club’s first game after the Covid restart three years prior. The last time they kept a manager for three years was Jose Mourinho’s first stint in charge. That ended nearly 16 years ago.
One of Pochettino’s greatest obstacles at PSG was the impossibility of consistency when there are so many egos to satiate, something Graham Potter and Lampard will sympathise with on a fundamental level.
One of the safest ways Todd Boehly can ensure Pochettino will not suffer the same woes at Stamford Bridge is by crafting his squad to a coherent philosophy, something he clearly has not done so far.
While Chelsea could likely cash in handsomely on Gallagher, Broja, Colwill and Chalobah, not to mention Mount, perhaps they can still forge the future they were always supposed to. Returning to the club’s Cobham roots should allow Boehly to prove he is as smart as his billions suggest and simply undo as much of this season’s mess as he can.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/6OkiAep
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