Chelsea verdict: Lukaku’s attacking woes continue as Blues rely on huge dose of luck to beat Crystal Palace
IN ALL honesty, when you really think about it and look past the great success of last week winning the Club World Cup, Chelsea’s performances have been far from competent for the last couple of months.
Some will argue there has been the odd great game or two in between, but we have not been great since our 4-0 win against Juventus in the Champions League.
It’s always hard to write negatively after a victory but Chelsea were lucky to win this game and this has been a recurring theme for a couple of months now.
Chelsea have an inability to finish teams off.
They have a lack of imagination in the final third and a lack of bravery to make that through pass, to take a risk with a creative pass, take a man on, and even take a shot on.
The Blues demonstrated all of that once again in the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace again this afternoon, and it was a game that easily could have gone in either direction.
Collectively our attackers have all been poor.
Romelu Lukaku has been starved of service, but he himself needs to do more when on the pitch to get himself into games.
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But Chelsea have been slow in possession and absolutely riding their luck in pretty much the majority of the games they have played since Juventus.
Palace were all over Chelsea in the final minutes of the game and could have easily nicked a point – and it would have been nothing less than they deserved.
It would have been yet another Chelsea draw in the league and would have extended an unwanted run of just one Prem win in 2022.
If Chelsea hadn’t had won the game today they would be in danger of being classes as a cup team and they would have suddenly entered the battle for the top four.
Chelsea scrapped, scraped, and staggered their way to three points today and it was largely down to luck.
Three points is all that matters at the end of the day for Chelsea but fans frustrations are absolutely warranted and performances in midfield and attack need to improve quickly.
They can control games yes, that’s fine, but Tuchel’s side are not doing enough with that possession and are showing very little quality in attack, with Hakim Ziyech perhaps being the only one not in that category in recent games.
It’s getting a little like groundhog day watching this Chelsea side.
They don’t find that goal or don’t find that second goal to kill teams off, and then the opposition get a sniff and start believing they can get something out of the game.
This is what Palace did this afternoon and they came out fighting at half-time believing they could get something, which they were terribly unlucky not to.
Chelsea do this to themselves, they invite pressure, they invite belief, and it’s a risky way to play.
The Blues need to step up performances overall and they need to be much better in attack and play with more flair and creativity.
Despite the win, the performance was poor I’m afraid.
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