Chelsea have lost 2-1 against Real Madrid in another poor preseason performance, and the only positive thing BBC Reporter Nizaar Kinsella could think to talk about was the fact that the Blues kept a “second half clean sheet.”
When you concede goals as easily as this team has done in this preseason, that idea has some merit.
There were other good flashes, of course. There always are when the players are this good, and when the opposition is still in preseason mode. But whether you’re convinced Maresca will get it right and it will all click 6 months down the line, or whether you think it’s never going to work at all, your concern should be the Premier League starting in 11 days.
FT: Chelsea 1-2 Real Madrid.
A second half clean sheet is positive for Chelsea as they have looked porous in pre-season. The search for solidity key in the remaining 11 days or so before Man City on the opening day. The US tour ends with one win, one draw and three defeats.
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) August 7, 2024
Last season a slow start cost us, and at this rate we look half as effective as Mauricio Pochettino’s team, albeit a little deeper and stronger. We look so porous and so far off the players grasping any sort of effective tactical form in either attack or defence.
An inexperienced goalie sits behind a shaky and error prone defence, the midfield ahead of them is open and full of opposition runners, and the front line is a jumble.
We really don’t see how we can be expected to beat Crystal Palace in gameweek 2 at this rate, let along Man City in just over a week.
Every friendly passes and and we hope it’s the one which sees it all click together, but we’re now just days away with no tangible improvements.
The return of the absent players will help – but the players who are out there and going to be playing season long look lost regardless.
A perfect storm could be coming
We don’t want to look down at moments like this. But it’s feasible we really do have a horrific start to the season, and we’re left with a struggling manager under pressure just months after arriving.
