The Monday Moan: the season begins

Picture: Chelsea FC

Oh dear. I shouldn’t be complaining, three games into the new Premier League season, but Chelsea’s 3-0 away defeat yesterday, on the back of the previous Sunday's contentious 2-2 draw with Spurs, suggests that Thomas Tuchel has a lot of work to do in shaping his post-Abramovich team. Tens of millions spent so far this summer on new players doesn’t yet look like a worthwhile investment, either. No wonder there's talk of another £150 million to come before the transfer window shuts.

But hold on there, Bald Eagle. We are only three games in. Chelsea may have started doing their business late this summer, following the sale of the club to the Todd Boehly-Clearlake conglomerate, but with key targets still to be acquired, it would be churlish to write them off after just one defeat, even if the manner of it was abject.

However Tuchel frames yesterday’s miserable performance at Elland Road, and whatever explanations he applies (“Everything that can go wrong, did go wrong,” he told BBC Sport, blaming logistical difficulties getting to Yorkshire, injuries, refereeing - again - whatevs) expectations need to be managed. What about mentality, asked the press, post-match? “Not the big ‘mentality’ as a headline, please,” snapped Tuchel. His counterpart, Jesse ‘Ted Lasso’ Marsch had sent his side out to monster Chelsea, especially in midfield, where Jorginho and Conor Gallagher - so keen to prove a point about the future at his boyhood club - toiled amid a torrid onslaught. “I think you, all of you [in the media], make the mistake - and I feel it - that [Leeds] run 11km more and we lose 3-0.” No, he insisted, it was all down to individual errors.

This is football, and it happens sometimes. No matter who you are or how gilded an existence you indulge, the difference on the day between good and bad, success and failure, can simply be down to the individual. And that, Tuchel must accept, is also a facet of mentality.

Like it or not, Chelsea are still coming to terms with life post-Abramovich. The Boehly-led management has already put a smile back on the faces of those who work at the club, but the creeping uncertainties that pervaded life amongst the players as the club's future fell under threat during the spring and early summer, might linger on. The season, don’t forget, started early to accommodate the sportswashing that will be the Qatar World Cup in December. That means that there is virtually the whole of August in which the transfer window machinations grind away in the background, with some players not knowing whether they’ll be still wearing the club colours they started the month with. 

Chelsea may have gone on a new spending spree, but there are still plenty of players with uncertainty as to their short-, medium- and long-term futures at the club. Even if some, like Marcus Alonso or even Christian Pulisic should have gone by now, Tuchel has his work cut out ensuring that resentment or indifference - call it what you will - from players (some with a long-standing sense of entitlement) don’t leak low-level toxicity into the rest of the team. Hopefully, the 3-0 defeat to Leeds will have knocked some sense into them. It was only their third competitive game of the season and their first defeat, and away to a club with a point to prove, not just to today’s supporters, but to the relics still hankering after the bruising ding-dongs of Leeds-Chelsea fixtures past.

The resources Tuchel still has at his disposal are still expected to net new talent: Leicester’s Wesley Fofana remains the key defensive option still open, while Barcelona’s Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is top choice to fill the gaping hole that is the No.9 slot (that Chelsea perennial issue). But let’s not forget that the existing reinforcements need time: Kalidou Koulibaly was magnificent in defence against Tottenham, and Marc Cucurella showed a deft touch at left wingback, with Koulibaly inside. Strengthening the defence was Chelsea’s number one priority this summer: the loss of Antonio Ruddier and Andrea Christensen required immediate attention. With Trevoh Chalobah still proving his potential, Thiago Silva approaching - incredibly - his 38th birthday, and even captain César Azpilicueta considering a move back to his native Spain after ten years in West London (in the end, he didn’t), building up from the back was going to be Tuchel’s most pressing concern. 

As good as Koulibaly and Cucurella are, more reinforcements are clearly needed, as exposed by Leeds’ intensity at Elland Road. “We could have closed the game down in first 20 minutes,” Tuchel rued. I think he meant to say “We should have closed the game down…”. In the end, Chelsea’s defence was calamitous, with goalkeeper Edouard Mendy also not doing himself any favours by gifting Leeds one of their goals. miscalculating his first touch as he dealt with a backless, only to allow Leeds’ Brenden Aaronson to stroll the ball home.

The blame shouldn’t lie solely with the defence. Gallagher and Jorginho were visibly struggling to cope with Leeds’ intensity, and even their substitution by Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic did little to stir more of a response. Perhaps the missing N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic might have done more, but there are questions over whether Chelsea were simply bullied off the park from front to back. Tuchel was dismissive that his side needs even more midfield options, despite speculation that Barcelona may part company with a reluctant-to-leave Frenkie de Jong (with Alonso going the other way as a makeweight). “Another midfielder? We have Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Conor Gallagher, Mateo Kovacic.”

The hard fact is that, with just two weeks left of the transfer window, Tuchel needs to get settled with his ideal squad, and get them gelling. “We can win with this team in Leeds, everything was going well and we had goalscoring opportunities.,” he said during the post-match presser, before less than graciously adding: “It went the other way and I think it was more our fault than anyone else’s credit.”

Yesterday was only “Game Day 3”, to use the ridiculous NFL lingo creeping into Premier League parlance. There are 35 more to come, plus the new Champions League season and the domestic cups. On yesterday’s evidence, Chelsea are unlikely to make up the 20 points or so that Manchester City and Liverpool beat them by last term, even with more additions to join the squad. A centre forward would be nice, but surely Tuchel has at his disposal a squad that should be able to compete at the very top. Whether that’s Top Two, remains to be seen.