Chelsea simply can’t appear to catch a break. After a horrendous begin to the season, the Blues appeared to have recovered after profitable two and drawing within the first three weeks of October. Nonetheless, then got here a house defeat in opposition to Brentford, which as soon as once more left the staff with extra questions than solutions. To make issues worse, their subsequent recreation was in opposition to their metropolis rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, who have been on the high of the desk and have been undefeated within the league.
Chelsea, although in probably the most Chelsea manner doable, decimated the desk toppers 4-1 away on the highway. Whereas they have been helped by the 2 purple playing cards given to Christian Romero and Future Udogie, these have been the outcomes of some sensible attacking play by the Blues.
Nonetheless, such has been the inconsistency of Mauricio Pochetinno’s aspect that even such a morale-boosting victory doesn’t assure that his staff may go on a long term of victories.
Nonetheless, what do the stats say? Have Chelsea been that unhealthy, or has a excessive involvement of luck or gamers not gelling collectively as shortly as was anticipated of them? We clarify.
Chelsea’s attacking metrics
A take a look at their stats within the attacking third proves one factor: Chelsea ought to be no less than within the high six, if not larger. Knowledge from Soccerment exhibits that the gamers have been sensible at getting the ball close to the aim. The membership are the perfect within the league relating to Gegenpressing Depth, which exhibits that they play an attacking fashion of soccer.
Chelsea even have a 63.59 per cent ranking in Discipline Tilt, which measures the quantity of possession a staff has within the opposition’s half. They again these possession benefits by being the second-best staff in taking part in one-twos and the fourth-best by way of profitable dribbles.
On high of that, in addition they have the third-best passing accuracy. Nonetheless, it’s what Chelsea do once they get right into a scoring likelihood that has been the principle motive for his or her downfall. Whereas Nicolas Jackson dropped a masterclass by scoring a hattrick in opposition to Tottenham, we should keep in mind it got here in opposition to a nine-man staff who have been taking part in a excessive line looking for a aim.
Jackson has an anticipated aim (xG) ranking of 6.72 however has solely scored 5, three of which got here in opposition to Tottenham. And never solely Jackson however any participant throughout the frontline have failed to search out the of completion. Earlier than the Tottenham recreation, the membership’s high scorer was Raheem Sterling, with solely three objectives.
The xG distinction is much more stark when taking the complete staff under consideration. Whereas Chelsea have scored 17 objectives, on the xG metric, they have been anticipated to attain 22.64 objectives. In response to the Premier League received web site, the Blues have missed 22 large possibilities, the second-most within the league.
Whereas Chelsea have splurged cash to enhance their choices within the midfield (Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo) and defence (Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana), Jackson is nice however not world-class.
What Pochettino should do to maintain Chelsea in kind?
What’s affecting Chelsea is their lack of psychological fortitude, particularly relating to seizing explicit moments of the sport. And this is among the hardest issues to show, even to world-class gamers. One nice instance was the conflict between Liverpool and Newcastle, the place Jurgen Klopp’s males scored two objectives regardless of being down to 10 males and securing victory, which Klopp known as the perfect in his Liverpool profession.
Different high golf equipment comparable to Manchester Metropolis, Actual Madrid, and Bayern Munich are additionally specialists at these. Chelsea have been taking part in properly, and with extra time and gamers coming back from damage, the standard is barely going to enhance, however will they be capable of seize these moments is a query solely time will inform.
Nonetheless, with Mauricio Pochettino, they’ve the proper man for this job. This is similar one that developed sensible gamers at Southampton and took Tottenham to a Champions League closing with minimal sources.
And that is true for all of the positions within the staff. On paper, even Chelsea’s defence ranks among the many finest within the league. They’ve conceded the fifth-least objectives within the league, the third-least photographs within the league, and the fifth-least on-target photographs conceded.
Nonetheless, similar to their assault, they’ve conceded on back-of-school-boy errors, particularly in crunch conditions. And whether or not they have found some type of psychological power will probably be found quickly sufficient. Chelsea’s subsequent 4 video games come in opposition to Manchester Metropolis (away), Newcastle United (away), Brighton (away) and Manchester United (dwelling).
Whereas this represents one of many hardest challenges for Chelsea, they’ve no less than made a robust begin. Now, it’s as much as them to maintain the momentum.
