It looks set to be a disappointing result for Chelsea against Liverpool at Anfield, but there are some positives to take.
The team showed heart and fight in difficult circumstances. They put in a better effort than they would have done at times over the last couple of years. Another important moment was the return of Reece James, who was a surprise inclusion on the teamsheet following an injury picked up right at the end of preseason.
The defender played at right back and made it to the 53rd minute before being replaced. He didn’t have a major impact positively or negatively, but just in pure terms of getting high intensity match minutes under his belt it was an important box ticked.
He stayed pretty solid down the right, and looked comfortable inverting in the way that his manager likes.
We can now expect to see him more and more in the intense patch of fixtures to come.
James and Gusto plan doesn’t work out as hoped
We had speculated in previous weeks that James could be used as a reserve and rotation option for Gusto on the right, but to
The problem was that Gusto was very poor on the left today. His first opportunity to get forward saw him sky his left-footed cross high into the Kop, and things didn’t improve much from there.
The idea of playing both Gusto and James at the same time, obviously tempting given they’re the two best full backs at the club, did not get much of a stamp of approval today. There’s still potential to make it work, but we would certainly expect Marc Cucurella to come back in on the left for our next league game, with Gusto and James set to alternate down the right.
