Chelsea’s early season struggles continue, but there are also some very positive signs.
Ben Jacobs has covered it all, especially the positives, in his latest exclusive and extensive Chelsea FC column for SPTC today. He also delivers some very positive transfer news on Reece James and Ivan Toney, especially if you’re a Chelsea fan and like both of those players!
EXCL: Reece James is viewed as untouchable right now. James is committed to Chelsea and Chelsea won’t consider a sale.
Full Chelsea column here: https://t.co/28p06hPvPo pic.twitter.com/t5iLAQgMEg
— Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport) September 18, 2023
But as we know, it’s certainly not all flowers and sunshine right now either, just as it isn’t all doom and gloom, and Jacobs covers it all perfectly.
One bit that he hones in on though is that certain players are still being played out of position by Mauricio Pochettino and there is one in particular that puzzles Jacobs.
Levi Colwill is still being asked to play as a left back this season when he is naturally a centre back. And this brings restrictions and also, does not bring the best out of Colwill.
Jacobs said: “I also don’t understand why Levi Colwill is being used as left-back. He was a standout left-sided centre-back for Brighton last season, and shone in the Under-21 Euros for England as well. Ben Chilwell should in my view be being utilised as left-back and not asked to play in a more advanced position.”
Got to agree about Colwill. We lose something in attack when we don’t have Chilwell bombing down the left flank.
It’s also puzzling why we don’t seem to be trying to play Mudryk in behind. With such blazing speed it makes no sense that every ball is played to his feet as he checks back—totally nullifies his greatest strengths.
It’s about height and defending set pieces. A lot of our midfielders are short/not great in the air. Every PL team needs at least 4/5 aerially strong players on the team per time.
Against Bournemouth we had Silva, Disasi, Colwill, Ugochukwu and Jackson. And Jackson isn’t exactly the best in the air. Without Colwill, we’d struggle to defend set pieces. And have few headers when attacking corner kicks.
The team (1 billion after) is still frighteningly imbalanced in terms of the player mix of the squad. This is what happens when an American investment banker with no football expertise whatsoever leads a squad building effort.