Time to assess their season so far — what to improve, what to keep, who has stepped up, and who still needs to.
asserted
who → assess → what
Which players have impressed?
asserted
players → impress → ?
Seven games into the campaign and with only five matches played in the league, the season is very young indeed.
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season → play → league
The front three of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro took just 30 seconds in the opening game of the season against Fulham to begin showing encouraging signs of a three-man strike force being formed.
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three → take → force
Between them, they have ten goals and ten assists in 19 games in all competitions so far.
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they → have → competitions
No team in the Premier League will be looking forward to trying to contain the three-man front line.
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team → look → line
Romeo Lavia has been finding his feet again in central midfield after an injury-plagued last couple of years; Pedro Neto has worked hard to learn the ropes in the new right wing-back position thrust upon him by Alonso and his new 3-4-2-1 formation.
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Neto → find → Alonso
Which players have struggled?
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players → struggle → ?
In truth, a number of Chelsea men have had difficult starts.
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number → have → starts
Playing at wing-back and also in midfield, Malo Gusto has struggled for form and consistency, as has captain Reece James.
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James → play → form
Though a real battler in the middle of the park, James’s lack of midfield expertise was exposed in the defeat at Arsenal.
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lack → expose → Arsenal
Wesley Fofana ended last season in poor form and has been unable to stop the rot, while Jorrel Hato has impressed from left wing-back in an attacking sense but been error-prone defensively.
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Hato → end → sense
He should never have allowed that ball to drop to Mohamed Belloumi against Hull City.
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ball → allow → City
How are the summer signings faring?
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signings → fare → ?
Elsewhere, Danny Welbeck has already scored as many goals in two Carabao Cup starts as Liam Delap — sold to Nottingham Forest for £50m — did all of last season in all competitions.
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Delap → score → competitions
Valentin Barco looks a real terrier in midfield, and Alonso will be pleased with his start to life with the Blues, while Maxence Lacroix began well but has since dipped, just like Chelsea at large.
Jordan Henderson’s only appearance came when Chelsea were whacked 3-0 by his former team Brentford, while goalkeeper signing Emi Martinez has certainly not repaid the faith yet.
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Martinez → look → faith
He has shipped ten goals in his first four games and not looked anything like the dominant, physical presence Argentina and Aston Villa had come to know him as.
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Argentina → ship → him
What has Alonso got right and wrong?
Alonso has given Palmer the freedom he never had under Liam Rosenior and particularly Enzo Maresca.
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he → get → Rosenior
Palmer, Rogers and Joao Pedro have been allowed to interchange as they see fit.
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they → allow → ?
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A three-man backline looks workable but is shipping far too many goals.
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backline → read → goals
Regular changes of personnel at the back have added needless complication.
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changes → add → complication
Alonso is also known to be concerned by Chelsea’s inability to maintain a high level of performance throughout the full 90 minutes of any of their league games yet.
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Alonso → know → games
But unlike a certain Italian in charge of the club rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table, he does not dig players out and has taken responsibility when results have not gone Chelsea’s way.
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results → root → way
Injuries haven’t helped.
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Injuries → help → ?
Outperforming their expected goals (xG) by more than every team bar Brighton and Newcastle evidences the elite finishing of their ruthless front three, yet they struggle to produce regular clear-cut chances.
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they → outperform → chances
Before the season started, I said they would finish fourth.
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they → start → ?
While still very achievable, that appears hugely reliant on that front three continuing to excel.
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three → appear → ?
“We have dropped our consistency, our competitive mentality,” says Alonso, who needs others to step up too.
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others → drop → consistency
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