2 Moves That Can Shape Chelsea’s Future This Season
Ever since 2003 west London football side Chelsea went from being an ok, middle of the pack EPL team, to becoming one of the strongest and most dominant franchises, not only in English football but in European football as well. As soon as Roman Abramovich took over as owner of the club, Chelsea basically cemented their status as perennial favorites for football betting picks pundits, and the 2021-22 season looks like it could be yet another one where various title contention scenarios are in Chelsea’s immediate future.
While they are fully expected to make a true run for the EPL title this season, as well as be able to repeat as UCL Champions once again and even win the FIFA Club World Cup title to be played in the UAE in early 2022, it appears that Chelsea’s plate is quickly getting fuller and fuller. So what should Thomas Tuchel’s team do to be able to shape up the best routes for their immediate future this season both domestically and internationally? Let’s take a look.
Domestically, They Must Go One Game At A Time
2017 marks the last year in which Chelsea was able to win the English Premier League title. After that, a sort of dark period came over the west London squad, with former team legend and now coach, Frank Lampard given the task to try and steer the ship back into calm, title ridden waters, after Italian coach Maurizio Sarri was unable to transform the team’s Europa League title win into further triumphs. While they have managed to put up significant numbers that have lead them to finish in the top 5 of the EPL standings in each of the seasons prior to their 2017 title winning campaign, it feels like after the work Thomas Tuchel has done to form a competitive, elite squad throughout all its lines, this season should be the one where Chelsea finally wins the EPL title once again.
With that said though, Chelsea needs to instate a more “in the moment” approach to each game in the season. A fault that has usually burdened Chelsea is the fact that they’re usually three steps ahead of their competitors, be it for good or bad. This has been seen early on this season, with a draw against Tottenham and a loss against Manchester City ruining what could have perfectly well been a perfect record thus far. Tuchel has two things going for himself and his team in this season. For one, this will be his first full season as Chelsea’s head coach, which means he has a better understanding of his players and what he can expect from all of them. Secondly, he knows that the team has a giant target on its back, but he could end up using that as the perfect motivator to get the best out of his team moving on in the season.
Internationally, Chelsea Must Dominate Defensively Like Last Season
As of right now, Chelsea is trailing Juventus for the leadership spot in Group H of this season’s UEFA Champions League tournament. While it was completely understood that all teams would be gunning for Chelsea this season, it was also expected for Tuchel’s team to continue with their winning ways this season, the same that led them to the UCL title last season. One of the keys to Chelsea’s success last season was how good their defense played once Tuchel took over the head coaching job. Tuchel, who is known to be a defensive minded coach, took the team and was able to find the perfect balance between a solid backfield with goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who has been a blessing in disguise for Chelsea and captain Cesar Azpilicueta calling the shots and a perfect lockdown midfielder like N’Golo Kante as his leader, alongside the likes of Italian Jorginho to secure matches, all while having his explosive young attacking core take care of the rest. Yes, Chelsea didn’t score many goals, but they were not getting scored on at all.
Offensively, bringing in players like Romelu Lukaku to spearhead the offense alongside players like Kai Havertz, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mason Mount and Timo Werner works out perfectly for Chelsea because of the mix of experience and explosiveness that all these players bring to the table. On defense though, no mistakes can be made, especially with players like Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva playing as the experienced counterparts for guys like Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah, and Malang Sarr. At the end of the day, the old saying that “offenses win games, defenses win championships” could not be any truer. If not just look at how Chelsea managed to score their UCL title win last season.
