With a new manager at the helm, some new players joining up, and some returning faces, the Blues headed to the Wrex’ Coast for their first outing of pre-season. Of course, there is an element of rustiness to things and improvements will no doubt be made as the squad gets top players back and gets into the groove of playing again. After Chelsea vs Wrexham, here are the points of improvement we want to see from the team.
Chelsea vs Wrexham: The Blues Need Improvement
Too Prone in Transition
Enzo Maresca’s particular style of play involves a change from a standard 4-3-3 to something more akin to a 3-2-4-1 as one full-back pulls into a defensive midfield block and the other tucks in to make a back three. When out of possession this reverts to a standard back four and retains solidity.
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The big problem with his comes when the ball changes hands, when Chelsea lost possession to their lower-league opposition there was space out wide to exploit as the back three became stretched. There were multiple occasions where a quick attack allowed someone like James McClean to push forward with pace and cause problems.
While it wasn’t exploited to the fullest here, Premier League teams and high-quality wingers will undoubtedly punish such a weakness.
Inverted Right-Back
We all knew it was coming, Maresca was going to play with one of the full-backs moving into midfield as Mauricio Pochettino did towards the end of the season. This is fine when the player is capable of such a task like Marc Cucurella has proved to be. New signing Renato Veiga also seems capable of playing in midfield or as a defender so he too could fulfill the role. The problem is, they both operate on the left.
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In this contest, the right-back was asked to invert and what was obvious is neither Reece James nor Malo Gusto were fully comfortable with that role yet. If the plan is to continue inverting the right-sided player or if that’s a strategy that will be used during the regular season, both men will have to get better. James spent too much time jammed in midfield and not enough time getting back on defence to cover space, he’ll have to show more awareness if he wants to keep a spot.
Goalkeeper Build Up
Anyone who actually paid attention last campaign knew that Robert Sanchez was never going to be a perfect fit for Maresca’s preferred style of play. His short-passing game often looks panicked or he makes the wrong pass and puts a teammate in danger. Despite facing lower-league opposition, the Blues played themselves into danger one too many times during this fixture.
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Either through a new signing or more work, this is something that will need to be smoothed out before the Premier League campaign starts or top teams are going to rip this defence to shreds all season long with a high press.
Finishing Set Pieces
The impact of the new set-piece coach is already clear to see. After spending most of last term being woeful from corners and free kicks, Chelsea actually looked dangerous during this match. They really only lacked the clinical touch to take advantage of them.
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Football is a game of tight margins, being creative alone won’t get you anywhere. In practice, these set-piece routines will have to produce a viable end result. To do that, there’ll need to be a little more clinicality from the players as they get used to the routines in real match situations.
