Ask most Chelsea fans what they thought of Sunday’s loss to Liverpool, and you’d get some pretty positive responses given the final score.
Compared to some games last year, it was a performance with plenty of hope and promise. In the end, the team didn’t really hit top gear and stick it to the home team, but they had their moments and could even have snatched a draw at the end when Renato Veiga headed over.
Certainly there was enough there to build on, although Rafael Benitez on Match of The Day 2 wasn’t as positive as some. He was concerned about the balance in Enzo Maresca’s team, which did indeed look shaky at the back:
“They can be proud because they were attacking, but if you want to win trophies you have to keep the balance. You have to be sure that you’re good in defence but also in attack.
“They are very good offensively, but are they working in defence? I’m not sure about that.”
There have been questions asked about goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, Levi Colwill gave away a soft penalty and his central defensive partner Tosin Adarabioyo was subbed off before the hour mark after struggling badly.
Chelsea’s “team of individuals” questioned by Walcott
Theo Walcott was Benitez’s fellow pundit on the BBC flagship, and he had related concerns:
“It’s like a team of individuals playing to their own strengths,” Walcott commented.
“It’s a team environment and I feel they haven’t quite got that – yet. At times they’re just doing their jobs but as a team are they doing a job together?”
We’re not sure we agree with that. There are certainly issues with this side, but a lack of teamwork isn’t really one of them. If anything, the spirit and character showed yesterday was an impressive upgrade on some of the mentally weak showings of last year.
Benitez’s point is well taken, especially in a match away from home against the league leaders, but Walcott is just dead wrong about Chelsea looking like a collection of individuals. The sea change we’ve seen under Maresca is entirely down to the fact that he’s brought an identity and a style that the players are clearly buying into and our ability to launch such potent counterattacks is NOT about individuals and has EVERYTHING to do with the increasing understanding among the players and their ability to anticipate each others movements and get the ball rapidly into dangerous positions.