Chelsea's August-September Progress Report

Chelsea FC have started the 2014/15 Barclay’s Premier League season in scintillating style, winning all four English Premier League matches so far, including a nine-goal thriller at Goodison Park against Everton. The Blues look a favorite to lift the trophy at the end of the season.

The only downside to the season so far are the occasional defensive lapses that result in poorly conceded goals. The goals against Swansea were both the result of either poor positioning or a lack of defensive effort, which can be easily remedied. Chelsea had the best defensive record in the league last season, however, they also played a much more compact and tight style of football in order to secure results due to poor striking options.

Now the Blues play a much more attacking brand of football. The change can be attributed to two key signings made in the summer transfer window – Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona and Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid. The signings seemed a little odd at the time, and some supporters were not sold on either of the two at the time.

However, the two Spanish internationals have shredded the defenses they’ve encountered in the Premier League so far. Diego Costa has scored seven goals in four league matches, including a wonderful hat-trick against Swansea City last weekend, a prolific strike rate that he admitted would be hard to continue.

Fabregas announced his return to English football with a sublime assist in the opening game against Burnley, when his pass to Andre Schurrle stunned the Burnley defense and football fans in general. It was an outrageous piece of skill and truly showed how dangerous Cesc can be when allowed to be a creative playmaker.

While the Champions League campaign did not get off to a brilliant start, with Chelsea allowing Schalke 04 to equalize late in the 2^nd half, the domestic campaign has been extremely good. The Blues scoring woes appear to be over with a three-pronged attack that sees the club as a major contender to be Premier League champions.

Team strengths:

Scoring goals, creative play, the link up play between Fabregas and Costa has been breathtaking so far, and looks to be as dangerous an attacking combination as any in the league.

Team weaknesses:

Defensive lapses, especially against physical strikers. Gomis was physically abusive to the Chelsea central defense for Swansea. At times the team tends to press too much or too little, as seen against the Welsh side, but Jose Mourinho’s halftime changes solved that problem.

Star player so far this season:

Has to be Costa, who is firing on all cylinders at the present time. Chelsea’s last primary striker – Fernando Torres – took 43 games for the Blues to tally seven league goals.

How did your team do in the transfer window?

Chelsea did a sterling job in the summer window, acquiring the world-class center-forward which was absolutely needed in Costa as well as two serviceable backups in returning legend Didier Drogba and Loic Remy. The decision to hand the starting goalkeeper position to Belgian star Thibault Courtois was a wise choice in my mind as well.

Best starting XI:
———————Courtois——————-
Azpilicueta—-Cahill—-JT———Ivanovic
—————-Matic—–Fabregas———–
Schurrle———-Oscar————Hazard–
———————Costa———————–

Injury concerns:

Costa has already been on the injury list a few times, however after each listing he has started and scored at least one goal. I’ll list it as a worry for now, but if it continues this way it’s not an issue.

How’s the manager doing thus far this season:

After going down early to Swansea City, Mourinho was clearly angry at his midfielders for not properly implementing his game plan. Before it became a huge problem, the manager got a hold of the players in question, gave them a bit of a talking to and they subsequently changed the game. His substitution after halftime of bringing on Ramires and switching to the 4-3-3 changed the game and saw Chelsea emerge victorious.

Biggest worry for the remainder of the season:

Defensive lapses against top level teams can lead to dropping points, and that’s the only way I see Chelsea dropping out of title contention. The draw against Schalke was disappointing when you consider that on a different day Chelsea could have easily scored four or five and put the game to bed.

Overall team rating (out of 5 stars):

3.5/5. Had the Blues hung on against Schalke, I’d list this as a 4/5. The upcoming match away to Manchester City is a barometer for the club.