Gary Cahill did a nice interview with Nizaar Kinsella in the Evening Standard today where he gave his thoughts on this current Chelsea team, and even picked out some players he liked from the current group.
The first he named was Levi Colwill, and he’s clearly a big fan of the academy product:
“I’ve enjoyed watching Levi [Colwill], who is developing all the time,” he says. “He has got bags and bags of potential.”
We’re sure Cahill would be the first to admit that for all his qualities (and there’s certainly a lot he could teach Colwill about defending) he looks at the technical class of the youngster with some envy.
Imagine a Gary Cahill who could pass like Levi Colwill? You’d have… well, you’d have John Terry.
The former Blue goes on to name plenty of other players he likes at the club too:
“I like [Conor] Gallagher, who I think is one of the best players at the moment. I like the way he goes about his game, his pressing, his professionalism, and him just being a great footballer. I believe his attributes can rub off on the rest of the squad. That would be great.
“I think Enzo [Fernandez] and [Moises] Caicedo’s midfield partnership is coming on and getting stronger. Cole Palmer is having a fantastic season and is a shining light. I think [Axel] Disasi and [Malo] Gusto have adapted to Chelsea.
Maybe it’s just the international break talking, with the frustrating memories of the Leicester game fading away. But we’re really feeling positive that Cahill is right, that we’re going to see more and more progress with time.
SuperFrank, you appear to spend too much time enmeshed in an echo chamber of disgruntled supporters and loud-mouthed pundits trying to generate clicks with their over-stated “hot takes.” It leads to a consistent myopia on your part.
What Cahill is saying shouldn’t come as a revelation if you’d stop whining and moaning all the time about the latest result long enough to pan back and see “the forest” instead of “the trees!” Just because our place in the league is similar doesn’t mean there hasn’t been significant growth within the squad this year compared to last. And if we give Poch a chance to continue to build this project, then we can expect some very significant leaps forward in the coming year.
Look at Arteta’s first 12 months at Arsenal for a corollary. Young team. Uneven results. Calls for his sacking. Year two they begin showing they can mount a serious challenge to City and Liverpool. And now, in year three, they real contenders to win the league. None of that happens without a commitment to Arteta and his vision.