The early stages of the season hasn’t really told us much about what to expect because it’s such early doors and as I keep saying, we have to give Enzo Maresca some time to get his style of play implemented and also, some of the new players time to get their feet under the table and settle in.
We keep hearing the word patience, but due to the fact the club changed managers yet again, patience at this stage is really all we can do. Ten games in, maybe that’s a different story and maybe we can all start to have some serious concerns by then if we aren’t getting results. But until then, we really do just have to ‘trust the process’ I guess, as much as I hate that term.
Having said that, I do still have concerns at this stage, but it’s far too early to panic about anything or think too gloomy. We have a talented squad, I think most of us can admit that. But can they mature enough and quick enough? Do they have enough leaders? Do they have enough battlers? Do they have the mentality? Can they pick up how Maresca wants them to play? Do we just lack experience and proven established players? Do we lack a goalscorer? Do we lack an elite goalkeeper? These are all warranted questions going through my head, and I know many of you also share these concerns.
But I also think we have some very good foundations now and you can see a lot of quality in this squad, especially in the attacking midfield areas.
It’s so tough to call how we will finish this season, but basing on all the above and the squad we have, this is what I believe we will do this season.
- We will get close to winning a domestic trophy but not get it over the line
- We will finish in 7th place
- We will go far in Conference League but narrowly miss out in the latter stages
I just think that our defence/goalkeeper is still very vulnerable, so we will concede. We will have to rely on scoring goals, and we don’t have a prolific true 9.
If we had the latter, I think we would finish higher and 100% win a trophy. Maybe one comes in for January and helps swing our season.
I just think that this league is so strong, and we are a young and inconsistent team with a new head coach. It’s going to be a big ask to get top 6, let alone top 4.
There are some fantastic teams who have been together longer than ours and have an established manager in place. We are all so new; players and manager. The squad has been ripped apart and rebuilt, and it needed to be.
The problem is though, we need Champions League football for so many reasons, mainly financial. So can we afford to miss out on it again? The club want it, that is our target once again this season. Maybe we get there by winning a cup?
In knockout competitions anything can happen, and with a bit of luck we could easily win a trophy, I genuinely think we have a chance of doing that – I mean we got close last season didn’t we? It’s possible for sure.
But the league is long and gruelling, and if you are going to finish in the top four then you simply have to beat sides like Crystal Palace at home. And this is my point, we might be able to dominate teams like this, but we have to find a way of turning that domination into wins and being less vulnerable on counter attacks. Will it come? I hope so.
Maresca can and might coach this and we might see this stamped out. We have to give him time to do that, as I said above. Maybe he can turn all of that side around and we do find ways to beat sides like Palace at home.
But we will have a lot of teams setup to play for a draw and in a low block, and it will be up to us to break that down, something we struggled a lot with last season and without a focal point 9, could still struggle with.
Yet we do now have so much quality in attack that we can really do some damage to some teams, like we did against Wolves, and that was truly encouraging.
But I am just going by my gut feeling right now and how I look and see the squad, and really and most importantly, just how good the rest of this league is. We could be good, but still lose because another team could be better or just have that more experience to carve out a win.
I think we will go toe-to-toe with many of the big sides this season, we have always been better against the top teams. It’s the lesser sides that concern me really. And then when we do go toe-to-toe with the big guns, do we have enough to turn that into a win rather than just matching them up for a draw?
We got to pick up points as soon as possible. I said I’ll start to judge where we are at with Maresca and this squad after around ten games in, but what if we get to ten games and we still aren’t getting results consistently which really, is quite plausible seeing as how new the manager and this squad is? What then? It’ll be a heck of an uphill struggle the rest of the season to even get a semi-respectable league finish.
Look, this is all what ifs, there is nothing to say that we can’t go on now to win some games and find some consistency and momentum. That will be key. Gain some confidence and these players could elevate. Maybe I’ll end up being very pleasantly surprised.
Although I have my concerns about our own squad, really it is how good the teams around us are that concerns me.
Teams like Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Newcastle are all going to be there or there abouts. And despite both of them stuttering at these early stages as well, Tottenham and Manchester United will absolutely be there too. Then you’ve got clubs like Brighton, Brentford, and West Ham who are going to be up and around us too. It’s going to be such a battle. But on the other side of this, many of these sides also have inconsistencies.
Chelsea have got a hugely talented squad, but can they adapt to Maresca’s football and mature fast enough to keep up with the pack early doors this season? That’s my concern.
