Cesar Azpilicueta - My Chelsea Captain - Your Chelsea Captain.

Cesar Azpilicueta has had a difficult start to the season in our two Premier League games so far and has been identified as the main culprit for three of the goals we have conceded by some respected football pundits. Is he the only one to blame here?

Listen, it’s the start of a new season and Chelsea are under the spotlight as we always are, but this time because of the managerial appointment made in the summer. We all know the British press, they like to build them up and knock them back down again so with Frank Lampard and the breath of fresh air he was at Derby last season, the same journalists and pundits alike are sitting there watching, waiting for him to fail and will jump on any sort of negativity whether its in-game or away from the football pitch.

At present it’s our lack of goals and the fact that in both games so far, Chelsea have demonstrated vulnerability at the back and have conceded some sloppy goals along the way. As a result there is someone to blame despite the fact that the focus from the manager is that we go forward and defend as a team. However, Cesar Azpilicueta - up there with one of the best value for money signings we have ever made - has become the target.

In one of my Vlog posts on my YouTube Channel last season, and I believe it to have been quite early last year, I had said that it looked as though he was struggling to make the adjustment back to playing as a right-back having spent the last two seasons under Antonio Conte learning and developing his game as a centre-back, knowing that he had a wing-back (Victor Moses) outside him.

During that period of playing as part of our three-man defence, he did not have to worry about bombing up and down that right-hand side to not only support our attacking play, but to then make sure he got back into position to supplement our defensive shape. He played narrow, for the most part held his position and played well.

Under Maurizio Sarri last season and into this, Azpi has been asked to revert back to the full-back role, to get himself up and down that side of the pitch once again and he looks like he has a real battle on his hands to be the player he needs to be there but, let me just say this, I personally think that the goals we have conceded have been because of different factors and not just one single player.

If anything, judging by what people have said of the player himself, Cesar Azpilicueta places demands on himself to perform to the best of his ability, whether that is in training or on a match-day and you can tell that he is probably his worst critic anyway. He will know that personally he needs to do better, the defensive unit needs to do better and the team overall the same as a collective unit - which is something that you know is being worked on this week ahead of our trip to Norwich tomorrow lunchtime.

The point I am trying to make here is that it’s early days in the season, it always takes time for everything to fall into place so I wouldn’t jump on the Cesar Azpilicueta bandwagon just yet.

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