Saturday, September 28, 2024

Chelsea 4 - Brighton 2

Ready for Liftoff

3 matches into the season, and Chelsea were exactly who I predicted they would be, sitting at an uncertain 1-1-1. One month later, after rattling off 3 straight league victories and 2 wins in tournament play, in style I might add, it is now clear that we are dealing with a greatly improved team from last season.

At the heart of the transformation has been an offensive explosion. Last year’s squad scored a lot of goals, sure, but this year Chelsea lead the league with 15 goals. That’s on pace for 95 goals this season, an exercise in extrapolation I would normally mock if it weren’t for the fact that Chelsea look like they could score on almost every attack they mount.

At the end of last season, I adopted the goal differential chart below as a way to track the ups and downs of Chesea’s Premier League play, and it’s a visual I plan on turning to often this season. The attacking unit, led by Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson, are already more than 50% of the way towards matching last season’s goal differential of 14. What’s particularly encouraging is how many different players are contributing to the final score line - Madueke and Palmer have already each bagged hat tricks, Jackson and Nkunku have a combined 11 goals across all competitions, and vital assists have come from the likes of Neto, Caicedo, and Sancho.

Before I continue on with more plaudits, it’s worth taking a brief moment to return to some of my pre-season commentary and a few of the developments that have already taken place in the short time since. For starters, it speaks volumes that the recent run of performances have been so good that they’ve overshadowed an absolute bombshell of a story about the dysfunction between co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.

This story, which laid out the simmering tensions between Chelsea’s owners that have been festering for over a year, explains so much. As Liam Twomey and Simon Johnson write for The Athletic:.

”Rumblings of discontent have been audible behind the scenes for some time, but specific accusations of a breakdown in relations between Boehly and Clearlake co-founder Behdad Eghbali — the most visible and actively engaged member of Chelsea’s ownership consortium over the past 18 months — were always denied until now.”

Finally, some explanation of the constant changes in manager, the highly erratic transfer activity, and the general lack of direction this club has experienced since the takeover. Honestly, it’s just nice to have some closure after what has so often been a baffling tenure, especially given the excessive spending. Of course whether the two owners can reconcile is still to be determined. Perhaps, in a reversal of the typical order of things, stable performances can lead to stable ownership? One thing is for sure, the last month of winning can only have helped relations between the two.

Boehly and Eghbali at Chelsea’s recent 3-0 drumming of West Ham - a temporary truce?

The other development that I called out in my pre-season analysis was how to measure Chelsea’s progress, and noting that Manchester United represented an apt, if frustrating, comparison. I wrote at that time:

I think it’s fair to say that both Chelsea and Manchester United have been in roughly similar situations over the past couple years - both clubs suffering from some chaos but with plenty of money and talent around them to stay near the top of the table. So who will rise and who will fall between them?

6 games in and the divergence between the two teams has been delicious. Admittedly, watching United stumble and fail is joy enough as a rival. But the elation is deeper as I’ve watched the very nature of the clubs diverge this season. Chaos was a word I used plenty in describing Chelsea of least season and my expectations again for this season. But that label has really only applied to United, who have already struggled through multiple red cards, unconvincing performances, and only 7 points through 6 games. Most damningly, there’s a general sense of mediocrity about Manchester United’s play, seemingly a combination of an out-of-depth manager, overrated players, and an unwillingness to shake up the formula. Say what you will about Chelsea’s ownership struggles and chaotic last season, I’ve always said that the bar for excellence at Cobham has never been lowered. This season is starting to bear that out.

The Iceman Cometh

Cole Palmer is the best attacker in the Premier League. Saturday’s performance against Brighton was a culmination of everything Palmer has been doing well for Chelsea since he joined from City. It saw Brighton play an irresponsibly high line against a team that had already put 6 goals past an equally inept Wolves team earlier in the season. Whatever Brighton may have been thinking, it wasn’t simply the openness of the final third that allowed Palmer to shine, but his incredible talent. The diversity of how he scored speaks volumes, scoring with his right foot, left foot, a stress-free penalty, and an outrageous free kick (see below). He even hit the post and scored from a barely offside position as well. Perhaps what stood out most is that despite becoming the first player ever to score 4 goals in the first half of a Premier League game, he could have easily had 6 or 7.

There’s so much to say about the quality of the team performances overall, and Maresca’s management, but this game belonged to Palmer. Chelsea fans have been spoiled with legends such as Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, and Eden Hazard. What has made the last handful of years painful and disconcerting is that there hasn’t been that one player to look to. Palmer changes all of that. I can’t help but feel incredibly lucky to have a player of his caliber on the team, and at only 22 years of age(!) he has the potential to be a generational player in the mold of Mohamed Salah or Kevin De Bruyne.

I think what I like most about Palmer is his reserve, how unbothered he is by all of this. Maresca undertsandably speaks highly of Cole, having worked with him back in his City days, but what he emphasizes most is that Palmer is not someone who will let success change him:

“I know Cole from many years ago, I had him for one entire season with the under-23s at Manchester City. The best thing he has is that in the way he is today as a boy, he was three or four years ago. So goals, assists, best player of the Premier League — this doesn’t change who he is.

“He is a simple guy, a humble guy, and this for me is the most important thing.” - Enzo Maresca, quoted in The Athletic

There will surely be more challenges to come, and the next few opponents will require Chelsea to be at their best. Next up Nottingham Forest have already beaten league leaders Liverpool and will present a classic problem in the form of their defense “low block”, something that Chelsea still needs to prove they have the creativity and grit to get past. Then it’s Liverpool at Anfield, a game that already has massive implications on the title race and could be a true coming out party for a reformed Chelsea if it goes well. On the other hand, a defeat at Anfield, while not surprising, could well indicate that Chelsea require plenty of growth yet still to challenge for the top few places in the league.

Whatever the case, Palmer gives Chelsea an opportunity to be competitive in literally any match we play. I will spend more time in my next piece breaking down performances from those around him, but it was necessary to start with Palmer first, the beating heart, radiant sun, and unquestioned center of the new look Chelsea.