We current have some time to reflect as fans as we go into another international break.
We have now played 7 league games and are sat in 4th place in the league, ahead of Aston Villa on goal difference. We are 4 points off current league leaders Liverpool.
In the domestic cups, we are into the fourth round of the League Cup facing Newcastle United. Our FA Cup campaign is yet to begin.
And we have got off to a winning start in the league stages of the Europa Conference League beating Gent 4-2.
However, we only narrowly got there in the first place, struggling past Servette to win 3-2 on aggregate after they beat us 2-1 away from home.
Chelsea are unbeaten in the league since the opening day defeat to Manchester City, and we have not lost in our last 7 games in all competitions.
We have scored the second most amount of goals (16) in the league so far vs Manchester City’s 17. And we have conceded the same amount of goals (8) as City have.
There has been some very good performances, some frustrating ones, some confusing ones, and some intriguing ones. Overall, I am very pleased with how we are at this stage, and I wasn’t expecting us to be where we are right now.
We have certainly seen some signs of Enzo Maresca’s coaching making a difference in our passing patterns, quick one-touch movements, and overall attacking play.
We have looked vulnerable at the back, and some of our games have been a little bit too open and chaotic.
I think there has been some dropped points too that we should have won, but we have also done well to win some games we could have easily lost.
My biggest concern remains around playing teams who just want to defend, contain, and play compact, and the Nottingham Forest game just reiterated those concerns for me. We thrive playing counter attacking football in defensive to attacking transitions, our team is very much set up for that, and we have the attacking players to do it very well. But I’m just unsure at the moment about defeating teams who are superbly organised and set up in a way to defend and counter attack us. I’m fully open minded to seeing how this bit develops though and how we handle it.
I’ve not seen too much ‘possession football’ yet really in terms of control, but I think Maresca is just working with the players he has and setting up in a way to get the best out of them, which shows he can be pragmatic too. I like it.
I like what I have seen from Maresca in press conferences too, I love how ruthless and to the point he is. I also like his pitch-side persona and how he is building a rapport with the fan base. Some really positive signs from the boss.
The players have a real like-ability about them and they really do seem to be fighting hard for Chelsea and for the fans. There is a togetherness, as we have seen.
I think the recruitment guys added some good, and proven (which is what we needed) players to the squad in the shape of Jadon Sancho, Pedro Neto, Tosin Adarabioyo, and Joao Felix.
I’m staying very cautious though going forward because this is all very easy to do when we are winning. But the best teams and best clubs need to keep that rapport when the chips are down, and that will be the true tests coming in for Chelsea.
The fixtures will get tougher too, and I am intrigued as well to see how we fair against the best sides in the league, as well as the lower opposition.
The signs are good, there is a lot to be positive about, and things seem to be coming together. But I am absolutely not getting ahead of myself after 7 games, far from it. We do have reasons to be cheerful in this international break though, which has been a refreshing rarity of late and I’m just going to enjoy those feelings for now!