First and foremost. The issues surrounding Reece James this week have been yet another stain on football. After the year the world has had I find it astounding that people still feel the need to perform such shameful acts.
They are not Football fans, they are a poor excuse for people. Racism has no place in Football and it has no place in this current climate either. I know all the Fancast are behind Reece, I also know all of the supporters are too.
This is also my tenth article for the Fancast. A huge thank you to Chidge and Dean for allowing me to write about our fantastic club, and also for publishing my articles! Just a question for the rest of the Fancast, who has been your favourite Chelsea number 10?
On the topic of Reece James, I think it’s fair to say so far this season he’s had a fantastic run in the first team and I can’t wait to see how his England career develops. Based on the game against Wolves I see wing backs coming back into the Chelsea game.
Something I personally was a huge fan of under Antonio Conte.
Obviously against Wolves Callum Hudson-Odoi was our main wing back down the right side. I personally thought he played the position really well. When called on to defend he also got back very well. Now that being the key point in making Reece James a successful wing back, the all important recovery runs. We know he can attack superbly and his crossing is also fantastic. So I can’t wait to see how Thomas Tuchel develops his defensive game in terms of a wing back, instead of a conventional right back. I think a fit Reece James from now until the end of the season will be exactly what Chelsea need. As everyone knows, a strong run of games is so important when finding form.
Sadly Frank Lampard is no longer our coach. Jody Morris is no longer the Chelsea number 2. I’m going to echo what Chidge and the gang said about it being a very sad day. I know I complained about the teams performances on Twitter. Chidge even called me out on it one of the weeks.
However, the project was never going to be a liable reason to keep a manager that was failing. The current climate in Football simply doesn’t allow for this sort of time.
I’ve currently been reading Carlo Ancelotti’s book. For the record he has many good things to say about Chelsea and intended on staying a hell of a lot longer. He mentions in his book that Roman Abramovich was very quick however to complain about results not going his way. An example of this was when Chelsea beat West Brom 6-0 in the opening game of the season. Carlo outlines in his book that Roman was still not satisfied.
Now consider Roman being un-satisfied, as well as Marina being on Lampard’s case. I too believed in the Lampard project, but I now realise how naive I was. I think if the December period hadn’t been so catastrophic then we may still have Frank as our manager. Just food for thought though, I have a theory in the Frank Lampard and Jody Morris exit. In Jody’s exit Instagram post, he mentions that he left on ‘his terms’. Now call it speculation, I think there may have been a meeting including Frank and Jody whereby they agreed with the club that they weren’t ready for the job and felt it best to part ways and potentially return in years to come.
Again I stress the word speculation, but I think Frank is smart enough to suggest such a plan to a club he knows so well and loves so dearly.
He would want to make sure he did it properly. I hope he returns.
We now also have another manager. A man who I must admit I know very little about. I’ve watched a few of PSG’s Champions League games over the past few years and I also thought they held Bayern Munich pretty well in last seasons final. I should point out though he had a far stronger squad with players that rival Eden Hazard in terms of quality. So going toe to toe with Bayern Munich is potentially a must when you have such a strong squad. I’m confident in terms of his first game. I know many would say it was a boring 0-0, however, the passing was faster and Chelsea definitely had an intensity about them which we didn’t show over the December period. If he can inject a sense of intensity in the same way Conte did, then I think we may have a strong chance of a trophy this season in the form of the FA Cup.
I am however optimistic about the appointment. Call me a dreamer but I do believe that he can turn our season around. Kai Havertz for example looked far better against Wolves, showing more confidence and a great few runs forward. If Tuchel does intend on playing a fast game in which he did for PSG, I think Timo Werner will be a hugely important piece of the team. I think he left him out purposely, mainly for a rest. I won’t be surprised if Werner becomes a mainstay of this Tuchel side.
We’ve also beaten Burnley in a game which was a case of when, not if. The goals looked to be there but I was somewhat surprised who got them. Cesar Azpilicueta is always a surprise. However the start given to Marcos Alonso and then the superb volley that followed was a huge surprise.
I was pleased to see Alonso back in the team after some iffy performances from Ben Chillwell in the last few weeks. A win and draw for the Tuchel era with a seismic game against Spurs to come this Thursday.
To end this weeks article I think theres only one thing to say. There is no room for racism.
Up the Chels.
