Everything has gone so well in Chelsea’s preseason so far.
They’ve won every game, scored loads of goals, and seem to have conquered so many of their mental blocks and difficulties from a disastrous preceding 12 months.
But the problems of 2022 came back to haunt us tonight against Borussia Dortmund as they scored from a set piece – reminding us of countless moments last season when hesitant goalkeeper, poor defending and an apparent lack of organisation led to goals conceded from corners and free kicks.
We won’t read into it too much – both teams have made a lot of changes by now, and that always breaks down the flow of the match a little, and in particular it can make defending set pieces difficult.
But it’s a reminder of how quickly a nice bubble can be burst. For all the progress we seem to have made, we can revert to the bad times in an instant.