Chelsea kicked off their UCL 2022/2023 season with a 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb and here are the lessons learned from the game at Croatia.

◦ Team spirit at a low :

A game where Thomas Tuchel was celebrating his 100th Chelsea game, it was expected that the team’s spirit would be on a high to mark the Gaffer’s milestone as a Chelsea boss but it was rather abject performance from the men from London.

With a team compiled with mega bucks, it was the men from Zagreb who showed a better team spirit and fight to first take the lead, and then stand tall and tight to defend their previous lead.
Chelsea in their white kits looked devoid of ideas and a seemingly lack of motivation to turn things around would have irritated TT who sat on the technical looking in disgust as his team were outfought. TT certainly has a lot of motivating to do as it doesn’t get easier for the blues with a fierce London rival on Fulham up next in the premier league.

◦ Koulibaly a touch too Anxious :

A player that showed many promise after his first two games, it has been a shocking downhill spiral from Kalidou Koulibaly. The Senegal international just like many other of his teammates was very poor and his overly aggressive play was partly at fault for the concession of the Oršič goal.

Koulibaly went all in for a challenge he clearly wasn’t going to win and left Fofana exposed who didn’t recover well enough to cover up his defensive partner’s mistake. With erratic and needless fouls making Koulibaly a certain recipient of yellow cards, the former Napoli man has got to take a review of his recent performances and improve on them to the top standards we know he could give.

◦ Creativity or Fluidity?

A problem that has remained persistent since TT took the reign at the bridge has been the issue of goal scoring and with mega bucks now spent on the attack with the acquisition of Lukaku, Sterling and Aubameyang, it is time for some dividends to be paid. Here against Zagreb, Chelsea’s attackers were mostly camped in and around the opponent’s 18 yard box with very little or no penetration of the penalty area.

Here the question arises, Does TT give it all in for a creative presence in the midfield or ensure more fluidity with the present attackers? Recent matches has shown TT the need to have a creative number 10 who links up perfectly with the midfield and plays the final pass.

It remains a question as to if/when TT considers having a number 10 rather than having too many players occupying the box without sufficient supplies, and ultimately there’s a question if Chelsea have this player in their ranks or not.

In some occasions, there is not enough players in the box and in others like today there is too many but without the final ball to make it worth it.

◦ Aubameyang’s poor debut, but context?

A player TT rates highly, it was no surprise to see the Gabon international start and make his debut for Chelsea in the UCL, a competition he hasn’t played since his Dortmund days but it was a return to forget for the former Barcelona striker.

Presented with a chance after being played through by Mason Mount Auba elected to cut the ball back for Sterling when he could have shot to get off in the best possible way. Leading the line, Auba struggled to get into the game with just 20 touches after almost 60 minutes on the pitch while only completing 9 passes.

The former Arsenal man also failed to watch his line sufficiently as he got flagged offside 3 times and had only 3 touches in the opposition’s box.
TT certainly would hope his man can overcome his underwhelming debut to prove doubters wrong but there could be some context to use as we don’t know what mental or physical state he is currently in.

◦ Fofana and James, A partnership to be excited about moving forward?

On a night with many abysmal performances, it was a new formed partnership down the right that showed the most promise. Fofana started the game down the middle but after the substitution of first Azpi, Fofana moved over to the left and pushed on ruggedly in reminiscence of Rudiger.

When moved to the right in the dying embers of the game, Fofana linked up perfectly with James and both were the only players who could have their heads up at the end of the game.
With many chances snuffed out right at the source by Fofana, it’s looking like money well spent on the Frenchman and James’ new contract.

Man of the Match; Fofana, 7/10

Next up for the blues is a London derby against Fulham by Saturday’s early kick off time 12:30UK