Chelsea vs Newcastle Match Report

Jackson Scores Again as The Blues Reach Stalemate with Full-Strength Champions League Opposition.

Chelsea took on Newcastle United at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in a game that kicked off at 01:15 UK time, so I’d imagine many people missed the game. Don’t worry, we’ve got you all covered again with a match report from Mauricio Pochettino’s third game in charge of The Blues. 

There were a couple of bits of headline news from Mauricio Pochettino’s team selection. Firstly, the fact that Reece James took the armband was massive and no doubt a proud moment for him. We also got to see what we’ve been waiting for as Nkunku and Jackson lined up together for the very first time in Chelsea colours. Other notable inclusions were Maatsen playing on the right wing this time, and also Bashir Humphreys partnering Trevoh Chalobah in the heart of defence. 

Newcastle United started their strongest possible lineup on paper too, a big challenge for Poch’s young blues against Champions League opposition. 

The game started relatively slowly with Nicolas Jackson looking the brightest of the 22 players on the pitch and the spotlight shone on him twelve minutes in when he got his second Chelsea goal in typically classy fashion. The Senegalese forward latched onto a beautifully weighted Ian Maatsen through ball and slotted the ball past the onrushing Martin Dubravka. Jackson continued his red-hot scoring form with this goal. 

The pass from Maatsen for the goal was as good as the goal itself and if not better. Playing off the right wing (which is not Maatsen’s natural position), he proved that he can be Chelsea’s Swiss Army Knife with his versatility being incredibly useful. 

The rest of the half was very stop/start and in truth, not an awful lot happened. We were treated to some more incredible skills from Jackson, some typically inch-perfect passes from Enzo Fernandez, and some dazzling runs from Mudryk, and Chelsea were very close to going into the half-time break with a one-goal advantage before former-Atlanta hero Miguel Almiron made the most of a missed interception from Cucurella and calmly slid the ball past Kepa. There can not have been a more popular goalscorer in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The goal did raise some more concerns about Cucurella’s game as his hyper-aggression led to him missing a ball that he really should’ve dealt with.

Cucurella is one of the only remaining players in the squad who is suited only to a back three system and for me, he’d be a good option for the chopping block. We’ve done a great job getting rid of players we didn’t need this summer but there is still a little bit of work to do as, in my opinion, Cucurella is our weakest left-back out of himself, Chilwell, Maatsen, and Hall. 

There really was not a lot to report from the entire second half. The whole half really did feel like an exercise in running down the clock. We made numerous substitutions in the second half and opted to leave some of the more senior substitutes on the bench. This was perhaps done with one eye on the Fulham game on Sunday where I’d imagine we’ll see one team play almost the entire game (which is exactly what Newcastle did today). 

In an uneventful half, there were some notable performers. Malo Gusto looked excellent again after he was introduced into the game, he was secure on the ball and made one fantastic sliding challenge on Alexander Isak which saved us from a potentially dangerous counter-attack. Conor Gallagher also played very well in the second half. He was everywhere! Conor was winning duels all over the pitch and ran all over the place like we all know he can. Both Gallagher and Chalobah played well against Newcastle tonight and it really does make you question why they’re both up for sale. 

The half really did drag and wasn’t particularly entertaining but Chelsea almost won it in added time when Ben Chilwell struck a ball that was destined for the top corner before Nick Pope somehow managed to claw it away and turn it behind. 

That save from Pope brought to an end a game where we showed some promise again but the second-half substitutes really killed the momentum of the game. But we can’t complain too much, there are more minutes in our players’ legs, and we went toe to toe with a full-strength Champions League side. 

It’s easy to get carried away with pre-season results but today’s game did highlight some key areas for improvement that can only be achieved if we go back into the transfer market. The gaps are blindingly obvious and I hope the board can secure us some new signings very soon in order to give us the best chance next season. The team that started the game for us was very good, we’re only a couple of positions away from being a very competitive side in my opinion. 

Next up, Fulham at a much more social time of 19:45 UK! 

Will Reyner