Chelsea’s first season under Frank Lampard brought forward many positives, ranging from youth integration to some beautiful football. However, one massive weakness noted in Chelsea’s season was their poor defensive record.
Although this is a rarity for a club like Chelsea, there are reasons as to why this is the case. First and foremost, lack of ownership. Throughout all of Chelsea’s conceded goals, players often seem to be dumbfounded and shouting at teammates for mistakes.
Not once have we seen a defender admit his mistake and move on. For the team to move forward, they must be more self critical. Second, lack of communication. We’ve conceded many goals due to players not being on the same wavelength.
This resulted in our defense leaving gaps the opposition team can exploit. This is very clearly seen every time we’ve been counter attacked. However, this may be because of Frank’s tendency to shuffle his backline.
Hence, opting for a more consistent backline may go lengths to solve this problem. Third, lack of defensive support on the flanks. The amount of times Chelsea have been caught out with no defense on the sides is alarming.
We love to commit our fullbacks forward but our midfielders often fail to fulfill their absence, leaving the opposition with miles of space to play with. Lampard must tactically alter this, or buy fullbacks with more work-rate and a better defensive mindset.
Last, confidence. Any defense thats conceded a lot of goals tends to not believe in themselves anymore. This can lead to doubt an uncertainty, two things you never want your backline to feel.
The lack of confidence is most evident with Kepa, who hesitates way more than a GK ever should. However, this is something that comes after a series of good performances.
Thanks for reading this thread, like, rt and comment what you think!
