An interesting week for Chelsea Football Club following the consecutive clean sheets vs Sevilla and Manchester United.
However the United game thoroughly frustrated me. Tactically I think Frank had it spot on. He nullified a fast and talented front line with a really strong back line in which Thiago Silva, Kurt Zouma (more on him soon) and Cesar Azpilicueta (more affectionately known as Dave) played fantastically.
The opposite end of the pitch however was incredibly underwhelming and I really expected more from Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.
United’s defence is nothing but shaky and we should’ve at least had a 20 minute spell in which we really go for it. Anyway, the game is done and onto three more players and what they do right and wrong in my opinion.
In the middle of our pitch…. Kovacic! Arguably my favourite chant for a long time (aside from Jooorrrghhiinnoooo) and also one of my favourite players to watch.
Matteo Kovacic adds that dynamism to midfield that I really think Chelsea lack. I think if Mason Mount played a little deeper he’d be a very similar player to Kova that’s for sure.
I remember back in 2018 when we signed him on loan from Real Madrid I was excited. He’d just been a runner up at the 2018 Fifa World Cup and had also just won the Champions League with Real.
I really felt like we had signed a super star. In that first game he played vs Arsenal that we won I felt he added a lot to our team. The following season when Frank Lampard arrived at the club he then made the loan deal permanent and we genuinely got a different version of Kovacic as he knew he was a Chelsea player and had settled into the team well.
The performance vs Watford is something that sticks out for me when I think of games where Kova really looked the real deal.
He partnered Jorginho in midfield and they both worked in tandem. Jorginho would sit back and Kova would do all the running.
This worked so well as it allowed players like Mount and Pulisic to roam free just behind Tammy Abraham upfront.
The Valencia game where he scored his first goal and the loss to Everton where he scored his second goal are two more games in which his determination and fearlessness showed he can be a really important part of Frank’s Chelsea.
I’m unsure as to why he hasn’t featured much this season as he was our best player last season. Despite my undying love for Jorginho, for me Kovacic would be the first name on my team sheet, in midfield anyway. I think he could be paramount to our success over the next few seasons.
Also, I don’t like to blame referees but his sending off in the FA Cup last season was absolutely disgraceful and should have been reviewed by VAR and reversed. I have recently been reading Luka Modric’s book and he mentions Kova quite heavily towards the end of the book. It was him and Ronaldo that suggested Real Madrid buy him. Surely with that knowledge, we should know we have a seriously good player on our hands.
Onto Kurt ‘Happy’ Zouma. Arguably our best defender so far this season when partnered with Thiago Silva at the back. As Jose said at the start of the season, ‘Chelsea don’t need a new centre half, they have Zouma’.
Jose in my opinion is spot on. Zouma has been a part of two League winning campaigns at Chelsea and also played a pivotal role when we beat Spurs in the then Capital One Cup Final in 2015.
Granted he never ever looks comfortable on the ball, but he does seem very sure when it comes to one on ones and those last ditch tackles that seem to save Chelsea the odd scare.
Most notably last season away to Crystal Palace, Benteke was clean through on goal and made a Terry-esque sliding tackle. If you caught the game on Match of the day then you may never have seen this tackle (I urge you to YouTube it) however live it was absolutely fantastic.
He’s also seemed to find his goalscoring touch this season too. Something I think we lacked last season from our defence. Obviously Marcos Alonso got us goals from the back last season as did Azpi, but gone are the days where Gary Cahill or John Terry could chip in with 15 goals between them.
I’m hoping Zouma can keep up his goalscoring form. This could seriously help this season as I do think if goals can come from all over the pitch then you can be confident to go on and win trophies.
Take Real Madrid for example, Ramos and Marcelo have always chipped in there fair share of goals in a season, this is why they have done so well in Europe. I also imagine Zouma is a fantastic team player and a player who galvanises the team. I follow him on social media and of all the footballers I follow, his account is full of positivity and I’m almost certain he’s one of the few that actually runs his own account.
I’m really hoping Zouma can stay fit this season and stay well clear of his awful knee injury that occurred against Man United in 2016. Zouma, Silva, Mendy and Azpi is for sure a great start at the back, especially with them all communicating in the same language, French.
Finally, Marcos Alonso. A huge favourite of mine and one of the most technically gifted players I think Chelsea have. Since 2016 he’s proved a few things to this Chelsea fan base.
One, he hates Tottenham, this is a fact. He loves scoring against them and he always is in our man of the match readings when it comes to the Spurs games. The away game last season at the New White Hart Lane was a great game for Frank to re-introduce Alonso into the starting line up.
He won the penalty that eventually sealed the game for Chelsea, but he also was defensively solid when defending.
Two, Alonso loves a free-kick! Bournemouth, Tottenham, Southampton, Newcastle, you name them and he’s scored against them with a incredible bending and dipping free-kick. He has such a fantastic technique when striking a dead-ball.
Whenever he steps up to take a free-kick I’m usually fairly confident if he steps up to take it. It also surprises me that he doesn’t take penalties, I’m sure he’d be pretty good at those too.
Three, he has the coolest hair in the Chelsea team. As Kiddo on the podcast always mentions without fail when Alonso comes up, his hair! The Spaniard looks like some sort of 60s movie star and has always looked cool since joining Chelsea.
Anyway aside from Alonso’s cool hair he really is a fantastic player and I do think he has a lot to offer this current Chelsea side. I do think he may be useful as a midfielder. He is yet to be tried there but with his ability I’m sure he could do a job for us in midfield.
Mainly because I really cannot see him or Emerson knocking out Chilwell. For the Alonso fans out there, check out Dude Perfect meets the Chelsea team on YouTube. Alonso, Cahill, Morata and Courtois all show off their skills. Morata was obviously very skilful, but for a left back, Alonso, was also very good.
I hope this has been another interesting read that has offered up some different views on Chelsea. Enjoy the game against Burnley on Saturday and KTBFFH!
