Chelsea are deep into the second half against Bayer Leverkusen, and the game has rather broken down, as friendlies tend to do.
Both teams have made a host of changes, with Chelsea now playing without a single one of their original outfield starters still on the pitch.
It makes it hard to draw too many conclusions about Enzo Maresca’s thinking, but there are certainly some clues out there.
Maresca’s defensive decisions tell us about his plans
One of the big remaining questions in this team is who will replace Levi Colwill, who will miss the best part of the season after doing his ACL in training this week. The academy product is a left sided centre-back, and the question is how we replace him.
The briefings out there right now are that the club are happy with what they already have internally. That’s perfectly possible, but could also be a smokescreen to stop teams taking advantage of us being in a tricky situation with just a week left until the season starts.
In this game, we saw Trevoh Chalobah play there in the first half, and then Josh Acheampong and Aaron Anselmino in the second period.
What was notable was that new signing Jorrel Hato was not tried out there, despite having a fair bit of experience in the middle of the defence in his career.
Hato set for defined role at left back
We’ve been told that Hato has been signed to play as Marc Cucurella’s backup at left back. Tonight’s decision from Enzo Maresca very much confirms. that.
Despite his playing history there, Hato is not going to be used in that role. It may be Chalobah, Tosin, even Anselmino, Acheampong, Benoit Badiashile or a new signing, but it’s not going to be the Dutchman.
Acheampong and Anselmino are both ready just give them a chance . They more playing time regularly to boost their confidence plus they’re young so they need confidence strong . I hope the gapper trusted both of them and they are the future with Hato . But what I saw from the first friendly game they need one more experience CBs to cover because both fofana and badiashile aren’t reliable due to both are injury prone . Its good to see Jorgensen is confident , he can be a number 1 keeper . The squad are too young and needs rotation to avoid burnt out , dip form and injuries . They still needs Xavi Simon due to Lavia injuries and to make the squad stronger . But can the gapper makes the players happy . They all skillful and talented players , they all wants regular playing time . Plus they need a new striker to adds up if Jackson leaves . Good luck to new season and God Bless Chelsea FC .