Chelsea Overachieved This Season, What Lies Ahead?
Chelsea were in a really bad place at the start of this season. Transfer ban, Hazard exit and a new manager meant a top finish was impossible. Or so people thought!
Chelsea is the only club that is in a constant state of chaos and still wins trophies. This year is no different. While everything suggested to a poor first season for Lampard as a manager, things are very different from what many pundits and fans predicted. Chelsea have qualified for the Champions League and gotten itself a place in the FA Cup final. Fans would have bitten your hands if you had given them a Top finish at the start of the season let alone a possible FA Cup.
Now that the team has gotten a Champions League place expectations are high for next season. Chelsea have already signed Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner two very talented attacking players. Chelsea’s problems, however, lie in defence. After Terry’s departure never has the blue’s defence looked solid. With Rudiger, Zouma and Christensen at the back Chelsea have shipped 54 goals. Same as 15th place Brighton! It would be better to play Europa league than to be spanked by Big teams in the last 16 in Champions League with a defense like that. Chelsea were shown their rightful place by Bayern in Champions League first leg at Stamford Bridge when the won by 0-3. If the defense is not improved from this year there is no way Chelsea could advance the top 16 even next year.
There is currently talk of Chelsea signing Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen. Despite Havertz being one of the best up and coming talent in football, there is very little he would be able to achieve at Chelsea with a defense like that. Lampard needs to sort out that leaky defense first before signing anymore attacking players. If the money spent on the likes of Havertz is spent on someone like Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli, Chelsea could become a force to reckon with.
Whatever come next, following Chelsea is always exciting. There are no dull moments. One moment you’re winning the league and next the manager gets sacked. This season has been another example of an order in the chaos that the Stamford Bridge is so famous for.
