Chelsea conceded twice more last night, taking their goals to 59 against, with5 games still to play.
As TNT Sports pointed out, that puts them within touching distance of the number Jose Mourinho conceded in THREE seasons back in his first spell at the club.
Back in 2005, the Blues conceded an astonishing 15 goals, in 2006 22, then in 2007 24, for a total of 61.
This team has a dodgy goalkeeper (two, in fact), full backs who are not great defensively or not great at getting on the pitch, central defenders who are full of mistakes (or are 40 years old). Then the midfield ahead doesn’t do enough to protect them.
They’re weak from set pieces and switch off all too often. This ridiculous stat proves just how much work there is to do to get us anywhere near where we need to be. It will be interesting to see what the sporting directors do in the summer, they’ve invested heavily in players like Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile – will they back them to improve or try again? Are they really banking on Wesley Fofana and Reece James staying fit and saving us?
The case for the defence
The defence actually looked alright in the second half last night, with an interesting tweak from the coach. Malo Gusto’s absence meant that Trevoh Chalobah played at right back, and he’s much more conservative in that position than Gusto.
So Pochettino allowed him to tuck inside and almost form a 3 at the back with central defenders Thiago Silva and Benoit Badiashile. That freed up Marc Cucurella to play down the left, where he pushed forward and narrowed into midfield, which proved effective both with the ball and winning it back.
The damage was already done by then in terms of goals conceded, but it’s something to consider for the future.