Premier League: A more expensive squad but same old Chelsea
The Premier League return failed to disappoint as we witnessed some things new and some things similar to that of last season.
Frank Lampard’s Chelsea side with his many new summer signings are still trying to find their feet. Matchday 5 of the Premier League saw the Blues draw their second game of the season and also the second time they have managed to score three and concede three goals in 90 minutes of football.
It has been a shaky start to the season for the London club who are still working to find their grove and show better consistency in front of goal and at the back when defending.
But with the many signings made you would think they’d be wiping the floor with their opponents week in and week out, as they did in their 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace in the London derby before the international break. Or actually just some sort of improvement in their overall performances.
Chelsea, in seven games across all competitions, has let in 10 goals already, suffering an EPL Cup exit as well as a defeat to Liverpool in what was the first top-six battle of the English top flight this season. This shows us nothing has really improved from last season.
Last season it took the Stamford Bridge side 10 games before they kept a clean sheet with them losing their opening game 4-0 to Manchester United. They conceded in every game thereafter before they beat Brighton 2-0.
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Was £222m spent in the wrong areas?
Liverpool could and should be used as a direct comparison to Chelsea’s transfer business. Jurgen Klopp made sure to wait on Virgil van Dijk over the space of two transfer windows, the summer to the winter and there is no denying it paid off.
Following his arrival was the most expensive goalkeeper signing of Alisson Becker from Italian side Roma at the time. After the two megamillion signings of VVD and Alisson, the final piece of the puzzle was slotted in, Fabinho’s entry from Monaco.
It cost them just under £190 on these three players to help Klopp sure up his backline. They went from letting in 42 goals in 2016/17 and 38 goals in 2018/19 to conceding as little as 22 goals the season after and 33 in their Premier League winning run.
Adding more proof that the money was spent right by the Reds… When any of these three infielders are out and missing from selection, Liverpool suffers from conceding more often than not and struggle at the back. Should Lampard and Chelsea’s board have spent more of the transfer funds on defenders and a world-class stopper rather than the attackers added?
Yes, they should have! Jan Oblak would have cost them around €90.00m, but he is proven number 1 at the highest level and would be worth every penny. Nick Pope, an established EPL stopper and playing for nothing more than to stay in the top flight, why not spend big bucks on him?
Kepa has made a number of errors that have led to goals this season. He should be getting comfy on the bench already. Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly was begging for a move and while Man City were stalling, they could have highjacked the transfer and had one of the top three CB in the game today.
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There were really some transfers that should have been made ahead of Kai Havertz and others, that should have been more in line with the Ben Chilwell transfer. The £50m on him will prove to be a great investment and was certainly a pressing area that needed fixing.
These results bring Chelsea’s summer business into question once again and it appears they will have to keep outscoring their opponents if they are to get three points from any game. Next up for Frank and Bridge boys, they welcome Spanish side Sevilla to London for their first bit of Champions League action.