After two weeks and six days, it was finally time for the much anticipated return to Stamford Bridge.
There would be a few new faces in and around the team, as Todd Boehly had endeavoured to spend the GDP of a small country on eight new arrivals over the last 31 days.
The entire window felt like a dream, as we moved from target to target with seemingly nobody, not least UEFA or FIFA being able to get in our way. All in all, it marked a serious, continued statement of intent from our new ownership.
Fulham at home marks the third game we’ve had this year at 8pm on a Thursday or Friday night. I’m surprised the Friday night 8pm slot isn’t used more regularly in all honesty, as it’s the perfect time to fit in local derbies and should mark a cracking start to the weekend for all involved.
Unfortunately, Chelsea being Chelsea, meant this was unable to happen.
I spent far too long yesterday racking my brain, trying to remember the last time we played in this slot. Either a painful memory has been permanently cleared from my mind, or it was in fact six and a half years ago when we met Liverpool under Antonio Conte in one of his early games. A match best remembered for what can only be described as an absolute screamer being scored by Jordan Henderson. I desperately wished that Fulham’s own João Palhinha wouldn’t be scoring a similar type goal.
Thankfully, I had nothing to worry about. The closest anybody came to scoring was Pav’s embarrassing attempts to chat up girls in the pub afterwards.
There was a huge feeling of anticipation in the days leading up to our game. With such an enormous amount of money spent, it’s almost impossible to not feel at least a bit excited having not seen the team play for so long. I was somewhat tempered in my expectations. We still had a lot of players to come back from injury, and it’s impossible to bed in that many signings in such a short space of time. Nevertheless, some progress was certainly expected.
Firstly, it would be rude to not touch on our last outing against Fulham before discussing last night’s game. It brings back pretty terrible memories in all honesty. But, a part of me does wonder whether the repetitive chanting for both Thomas Tuchel and Roman Abramovich had any impact on our following activity in the transfer market. Not even 48 hours later, we had all but signed Mykhailo Mudryk and the spending didn’t stop there. In any event, with the new structure of the club at top level, I suspect it probably. But an interesting thought either way.
My main cause for excitement, upon seeing the starting XI, was obviously the inclusion of British record transfer Enzo Fernández. I was seriously impressed by his versatility in the World Cup, and the way he forced himself into such a key role in the Argentina side at such a young age. Even more so, he brings a completely new type of body into our midfield that has not been seen since Cesc Fàbregas. There were days where I did genuinely love our little midfield trio of Jorginho, N’Golo Kanté and Mateo Kovačić. They could be a delight to watch. Unfortunately, those days are simply long gone and you’d be lucky to have the latter two fit together at any one time.
I believe the moving on of Jorginho was without a doubt the correct decision. £12 million pounds for someone who was leaving on a free in six months time? It just is a no brainer. Whilst it does ever so slightly sting to see him go to Arsenal, I also have to be realistic, hold my hands up and just accept they’re not really competing with us at this point in time. They’re 20 points ahead of us in the table with a further two games in hand.
To be honest I had no idea the gap was that big. And as I sit here typing this I now have a look of disgust on my face. Anyway, thanks very much Jorginho. I always liked the guy and thought he offered more to the team than he was ever given credit for.
Back to Enzo. He was absolutely brilliant last night. It felt strange to see someone in midfield so comfortable spraying the ball across the park. Even better, he looked mobile and clearly up for the fight. For someone who has only just celebrated their 22nd birthday, his performance was extremely mature and I would’ve surely had him as our Man of the Match if it wasn’t for the antics of another new signing.
Benoît Badiashile is the player we all thought we were getting last summer when we signed Kalidou Koulibaly. I have to say I’m seriously impressed by this transfer so far. For just under £33 million pounds, he looks an absolute steal. He only had one slightly shaky moment as he was beaten by a Fulham player, but recovered excellently in a sequence of play which I’m fairly certain could’ve ended in a Fulham penalty if other, unnamed players, were involved. The news earlier this week, of Thiago Silva signing a new contract, makes me even more excited for this guy because he’s going to get at least 18 months learning from one of the finest defenders the Premier League has ever seen.
I have literally run out of words to describe Thiago Silva. He can drop a one out of 10 for every single game we have left this season and he would still win our player of the season award by a landslide. World class in every sense of the word, he is somehow the best defender in the Premier League at thirty eight years old. So often we hear of players lying about their age to con clubs into thinking they’re significantly more developed than they are. I can’t help but feel Thiago Silva also once did this and is in fact 32. It does seem unlikely however, given that would’ve indeed made him just 12 years old when he made his debut for RS Futebol in 2002.
It wasn’t the home debut Mykhailo Mudryk would’ve dreamed off. I did think he looked particularly out of sorts and this was ultimately confirmed post-game by Graham Potter, who relayed the news that he’d been suffering from a bad cold all week. I can’t help but feel that West Ham away will present us with the Mudryk we saw in his cameo at Anfield and I’m very excited.
I wasn’t particularly surprised to see Hakim Ziyech start in a show of faith from Potter. After we completely screwed him over on deadline day it’s important that he feels he still has a place and opportunity to make impact in the team. With Aubameyang being kicked from the Champions League squad and not even making the bench last night, I can’t help but think he’d have been the person leaving in January if FIFA rules had allowed it. I’m not particularly keen on the player at this point, but it’s hard not to feel bad for his current situation.
Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher should not be deployed in a midfield three together. I’m looking forward to seeing Kovačić or Kanté take one of the slots when fully fit as I believe they’re positionally far more disciplined than the other two. I enjoyed Madueke’s debut and thought he showed some very positive signs. I thought he was older than just 20 years old and it’s said that Christopher Vivell was targeting him as a possible replacement for Christopher Nkunku at RB Leipzig. Of course we now have both…
All in all, the signings of both Madueke and Badiashile really excite me. Both were bought for similar, relatively small fees of £30 million which become almost tiny when amortized over their almost ridiculous length contracts. Very excited to see what the future holds for both.
As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Chelsea Football Club are not going to become Manchester City overnight. I think we will see serious improvement over the coming weeks. Reece James completely an injury-free 59 minutes last night and Ben Chilwell made the pitch in the closing stages. It cannot be understated how much of an impact these two have on our side when fully fit. Particularly when Spanish Joe Wicks at left back seems to take two steps backwards after every good step forward.
My overall feeling on the game from a Chelsea point of view was one of slight frustration. Ironically it feels like we’re in a Football Manager where no matter how much you throw at the team, nothing changes. I suspect a lot of these issues stem from the fact that there is simply no focal point at the head of our attacks but there’s only so many excuses you can make. Potter will be aware of this, and will have to endeavour to find a solution to make ends meet for the second half of the season and I have no doubt he will.
A draw was a fair result for last night’s game. Fulham were well drilled at the back and we continue to have the attacking incisiveness of a blunt knife. The less said about after the game the better is the reality. I have an absolutely thumping headache which I believe can be blamed on round after round of craft lager. I’m going to assume I had a fun time either way based on the multiple new additions to my Instagram following.
Up next, the dreaded London Stadium. Time to dig out the binoculars so I have some hope of seeing the game.
The Shed Diaries 