In what was the last game of the US tour for Chelsea, the blues fell to defeat at the hands of Real Madrid.
Goals from Lucas Vázquez and Brahim Diaz condemned Enzo Maresca’s men to a third defeat in five games.
Now, we take a look at some of the issues facing the team after the US pre-season tour.
Man-to-Man aggressive press :
Pre-season games are not judged by results but the manner of defeats sometimes raise valid concerns.
The game against Celtic saw many raise questions about Enzo’s out of possession (OOP) approach and the Italian manager did express his dissatisfaction as well after he was quoted;
“…you cannot keep a high-line when you do not press. It is suicide”
Enzo seems to tweaked his defensive style a bit with the man-marking not as aggressive as it was against Celtic but the high-line remains a stable for the former Leicester coach.
Two of Chelsea’s last oppositions (City and Madrid) have looked to bait the blues and play over the top of the press with so much space to exploit in behind.
Centre back pairings :
Another defensive issue Maresca is faced with is his go-to defensive partnership.
During this pre-season, Enzo has taken time out to try different center-back pairings and now seems settled on the pair of Colwill and Badiashile as his preferred pair.
Two left-footers as a centre back pairing isn’t a scenario often witnessed but considering Maresca likes to invert one of his fullback into defence, one of the left-footed defenders would more often than not find themselves through the center and left side of defence than on the right-hand side.
The most successful of center-back pairings are often a mix of traits that best compliment one another but that also doesn’t seem to be the case with the Colwill-Badia pairing.
Both defenders struggle to match up against physical attackers and like to sweep up danger from behind rather than engage out wide.
Also, there’s barely any form of aggression or gamesmanship from either, meaning they could get bullied or rattled by opposition attackers that master the ‘dark arts’.
Mistakes in build up :
Conceding a truck-load of chances and goals from too many mistakes in build-up seems to have taken its toll on the team as they looked shaky at times during the tour.
Poor spacing, rustiness and chemistry between players are some of the causes of the ‘easy’ goals the team has given away these past days and with the season just a couple of days away, Maresca has work to do on the team’s build-up patterns.
Players joining pre-season late and at different fitness levels and wavelengths has not helped but excuses of bad pitches have not been taken well by many in the fan base, and rightly so.
Composition of the attack :
Football is a team sport and every department on the pitch have huge contributions to the attacking and defending phase.
The toughest teams to beat are the teams that defend best and Chelsea are not a solid team yet.
During this pre-season, teams have found joy attacking the Blues and that is partly due to how the attack is composed.
Having ‘luxury’ players up top could be a problem when the team turns over possession as the commitment to press and defend isn’t always present.
There has been so much speculation about the position of players like Cole Palmer, Christopher Nkunku and Enzo Fernandez but the team can not afford to have all 3 of them on the pitch simultaneously due to their defensive frailties.
All of the aforementioned points are some of the defensive dilemma’s Enzo Maresca faces as the blues round up pre-season at home this Sunday, against Italian league champions, Inter Milan.
