Chelsea holding back / showing too much respect!

Chelsea fans it's time I got back on this Blog and documented my feelings rather than rely on YouTube when I can. I want to start now by saying that I feel that we are playing within ourselves, holding back against the sides in the top four and it's driving me insane!

I get the fact we want to make sure that we remain tight and compact at the back, to not give anything away, and to work hard for clean sheets with our defensive positioning without the ball. Chelsea conceded too many goals last season so I understand the need to sort ourselves out. 

As they say, all successful teams need to work on a solid base to build on but we have seen that Chelsea re more than solid - but they are getting better!

I just want us to be much more expressive going forward against Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United to show what we can do as we did in other games this season versus Brighton, West Ham, and Wolves. 

In those games, we almost played with the freedom to go on and express ourselves, and our ridiculous talent we now have in attacking areas. The players played without fear or restriction and really showed what we could do. Just think of how Cole Palmer has played in the four games against the top four this season so far, compared to the other games, you can see what I am saying. 

If anything, another part of how we have managed the games with our style of play and substitutions has baffled me. Our play out from the back from goal-kicks is now becoming so predictable Enzo Maresca doesn't do anything proactively on the sidelines to change it! 

Why not give the players an instruction to abandon this and get the goalkeeper to launch it long every single time for the next 20-30 minutes to force the opposition to deal with a different situation? Why can we not do the same for the way we are currently playing? When we are constantly looking to feed the ball into Nicolas Jackson up top (who has struggled against these teams) or trying to play through the lines and it's clear that it isn't working? 

At the moment, the opposition defences see everything we are trying to do and build in front of them so it is easy to defend against. Can we not tell everyone to play the ball "over the top" to force the opposition to change THEIR approach and drop off defensively to cover - which hopefully opens up space for us to get Palmer, Felix, Neto, and others in behind their midfield on the ball to do some damage.  

On a final note, I need to talk about the lack of changes from the manager in the same games. Why no Christopher Nkunku until late in the game when it's obvious that the Jackson approach up top isn't working? He gives us a different option up top, someone who is much more mobile, and again, forces the defence to deal with something different. 

Then there is Joao Felix - what is happening with him? The guy is pure talent, as with Cole Palmer someone who is blessed with creative ability that can unlock the door in games such as these. Not introduced in the last two against Man United and Arsenal - why? 

I am pleased with the signs of progress we are making and our Premier League position in the table shows the same. However, it's these big games that make a difference to finishing inside the top four at the end of the season, and back into the Champions League. So far from 12 points we only have 2. 

Enough said. 

CD.