Week 1 Match Review: Chelsea 0 - Manchester City 2
That wasn’t so bad, was it? One down, 37 to go, and upwards of 50 more opportunities to wonder if Levi Colwill knows what he’s doing. Anyway, let’s take at the good and the bad of the 0-2 loss at the Bridge on Sunday and what to expect next.
What Was Good?
The Midfield Looks Beyond Solid
Moisés Caicedo is finally feeling confident, Romeo Lavia is finally healthy, and Enzo Fernandez is… the captain? Odd, but for the most part the midfield looked strong against a City team that clearly still needs to play itself into form. Lavia was everywhere, Caicedo was one of the two most physical players on the team, and Enzo had a few good long passes even while playing further up the field. Small wins.
The Fullbacks Are Locked In
Malo Gusto is a very solid rightback who’s seen a lot of playing time as Reece James’ backup and he looked all the part of a starter in Maresca’s system on Sunday – even when having to battle against the insanely quick Jérémy Doku, who somehow appeared to play both left and right wing and as a 10 at various points throughout the game. Marc Cucurella was the only guy bullying more City players than Caicedo and was very comfortable inverting into midfield, similar to how he thrived at the Euros for Spain.
Nkunku Is Ready
Chelsea has a proper number 10 and his name is Christopher Nkunku. While he only played around 60 minutes before getting subbed off for Pedro Neto, Nkunku really served as the primary ball carrier through the middle of the field and looked completely natural in the spot. Did he create any goals? No, but just seeing him move fluidly through the opposition is a great sign for his production this year (especially against teams who don’t have Joško Gvardiol, Ruben Días, and Manuel Akanji standing between him and the keeper).
What Was Bad?
Levi Colwill Looks Confused
As I mentioned in my season preview, the Levi Colwill/Wesley Fofana pairing seems like the team’s best centerback partnership as long as both of them are healthy. But Colwill seemed a step behind everyone else – whether that was when Haaland or Kovačić scored, or any of the other 10 times it felt like City might. Colwill continued to look to the linesmen for a bailout, or lean on Cucurella to cover the gaps. Hopefully it’s just a bit of rust against the best offense in the league, but his performance did make me curious to see Tosin in action sooner rather than later.
Nicolas Jackson Still Can’t Stay Onside
This isn’t a huge surprise as Jackson was second in the league behind only Darwin Núñez in terms of offsides calls last year, but had he been able to stay just six inches further back before knocking in this rebound to even up the score, well, he’d be mentioned in a different section of this blog post now wouldn’t he? Again, it’s the first game of the season and there were visible signs of progress throughout the squad on Sunday, but this has truly gotta stop.
Cole Palmer Needs to Warm Up
No, I wasn’t expecting another hat trick from Palmer to start the season off on the left foot, but he also seemed nearly invisible throughout the game. Teams will absolutely plan differently this year against Chelsea in order to limit his chances (and no one knows him better than his old pal Pep), but it was a bit odd just how ordinary Palmer played throughout the game. Again, all of this came against City, so let’s wait to make any declarative statements on player progress after they’ve played against some more forgiving matchups, but even though it would be better for the team not to need Palmer as much this season as last, he’s still one of the key engines pushing this discombobulated train forward.
What’s Next?
Four games in the next 13 days: two matches against Servette in the Europa Conference League, away at Wolves, and home against Crystal Palace. By the time we’re on the other side of this mini sprint, this team’s identity will be a lot clearer (and the transfer window will close once again). Palace are a team on the rise, Wolves are consistently feisty if nothing else, and Servette also exist. Will Chelsea have a new striker once we're done with this stretch? We can only hope.
