There's been some bumps in the road, but we're still on the right track

The hyper negativity about the last week's results is over the top

Since the draw against Manchester United, the reaction Twitter (or “X” as its ‘officially’ called) has been baffling in places.

We’ve just drawn away at a ground where we’ve lost for the last two seasons to a combined score of 6-2, despite not being at our best. We’re 4th in the Premier League table, above Arsenal, who everyone expected to be Manchester City’s major challengers. Yes, we’re out of the league cup, genuinely the least important competition we’re competing in this season, but overall Chelsea are doing well.

Have we played less well in the last couple of games? Yes. But some of the criticism I see on social media genuinely feels over the top to me.

Some of it IS justified. Robert Sanchez should not play for Chelsea in the PL again (he will, thanks to his support from the club and belief he will one day be a top PL goalkeeper), but if we’re serious about competing, he really shouldn’t.

However, alongside the valid arguments are the strange ones. One of the most baffling idea that playing two teams, one midweek, one for PL games, which was working for weeks is somehow bad or impacting performances after ONE bad week. That’s utter nonsense.

We’ve played in three different competitions, and in the games the entire teams changes, so the players play together in every game they play, in the main, easy enough to build chemistry. Head coach Enzo Maresca has made clear players have to earn their places in the first choice XI, and the case of Pedro Neto, who has successfully earned his place in our first choice team, shows that’s not empty words, but the truth. Its up to the players to earn their chance and take it, as it should be.

Chelsea could realistically play up to 70/80 games this season and our season could last until July 2025. The only way to remain competitive all season, in most competitions, and to avoid burnout and injury, is to rotate the team strongly. Especially in the Europa Conference League and early knockout competition stages which we should not need our first XI to win.

Our second string team had enough talent to defeat Newcastle, and we had enough shots on target and shots overall in the game to at least get a draw. Newcastle only had two shots on target in the whole 90. They absolutely did not outplay us or dominate us. Newcastle away is a tough fixture whoever your starting XI is, and Maresca trusted his B team to win, he showed faith in his players.

Nobody complained when we were winning midweek games, and yes, the level of opposition was different, but nevertheless, this was one game in the fifth most important competition (including the Club World Cup) this season. It wasn’t a big semi final game or big PL game.

The response from some on twitter smacked of a “told you so” response from certain people who’ve been skeptical of the project all along, thought we all overreacted to some genuinely good performances in the last few weeks, and wanted to brag about how they were right all along.

Based on one or two games.

No rational argument can be made based on one or two bad performances, to react as strongly as some have to these games, is either reactionary or agenda driven to me. Its not constructive criticism and doesn’t do any good.

Sadly it seems some fans actively care more about s losing just so they can be right and stroke their fragile egos, than actually supporting their team. Pathetic.

Back to the football. We didn’t play great against Manchester United. But again, Man Utd had 4 shots on target in the entire game. They hardly dominated us. We had around 12 shots and 3 on target. Cole Palmer, our biggest creator, was kept quiet which limited our creativity, and some players played badly.

Even then, if “potential to be one of the best GK’s in the Premier League” (copyright Ben Roberts, Chelsea GK guru) Robert Sanchez didn’t give away a stupid, needless penalty, we might have actually won the game and kept a clean sheet.

We didn’t play at our best, but we still got a point, which took us 4th in the PL, above Arsenal and Aston Villa, both top 4 teams last season. This time last season, after 10 games, we were 11th in the PL and had 5 less points.

We’re currently averaging 1.8 points per game, which would lead us to 68 points at the end of the season, which was 4th place last season.

Yet some people are panicking, some even calling for Enzo Maresca’s head or blaming him, some saying he doesn’t care about trophies or winning, others saying our B team are basically useless footballers. Players who play for THEIR club.

All of which is utterly laughable, not to mention disrespectful.

Yes, we’ve had a bad week and players have looked a little weary, but form is temporary. And still, I’ve not seen anyone out do us tactically in too many games this season. Maresca is the best tactical coach we’ve had since Thomas Tuchel, and we all know he sets high standards for his players, so he’ll be working on ways for us to improve.

I don’t think anyone at the club, not even the one who thinks Robert Sanchez can be the next Petr Cech, believes this squad is ready to challenge for the Premier League title. There’s very clearly still at least 4/5 positions in the squad which need upgrading.

The goal this season was and is to finish in the top 4 and win a trophy, with the Conference League always looking to me the easiest to win, and a welcome addition to our trophy collection, a trophy we’ve never won and completing the European set.

I think we have the squad to achieve this, in large part - joking apart, the goalkeeper situation IS the biggest concern - but overall, this squad can achieve our goals for the season, and it’s a squad who will continue to improve over the season under Maresca’s guidance. The players have made clear how much they respect the head coach and he can and will improve them as time goes on.

Our squad issues can and should be resolved in the summer, partially by players we already have. Estevao Willian will improve our attack, Andrey Santos and potentially Lesley Ugochukwu will beef up our midfield options, Andre Anselmino will likely come in to backup for Levi Colwill instead of Benoit Badiashile. Mike Penders will almost certainly come in as an option in goal.

According to our own Simon Phillips, it also looks like we’re scouting for a top CB, a proper LB, a GK and ST to come into the squad next season and certainly at CB, LB and ST, the names are pretty promising. We’re yet to hear about the GK options, we can only pray we target a quality starter.

By no means is it all sweetness and light, as I’ve said, there are areas of concern. But the overall progression is forward. I’d also point out there aren’t many teams soaring ahead of us. We’re one point off third place in the PL, and it's unlikely Nottingham Forest will be in the top 4 come May. Only Liverpool and Man City are significantly ahead of us on points.

Once again, to reiterate, we are currently on the same points as Arsenal and Aston Villa, both of whom finished above us last season, and who skeptics seem to think are still miles ahead of us. Yet after 10 games we’re ahead of both on goal difference. This isn’t some early season poor metric, this is a significant amount of games, and we’ve played two of the top teams in the country already, and weren’t far off getting points in both games.

This squad clearly still has a long way to go to get to where everyone wants it to be. But to be negative and write us off, and question the manager, this soon, after one or two bad performances, is way too soon.

Yes, the squad isn’t complete yet, yes, we’ve had a couple of bad games, yes, Sanchez is probably not good enough. But that’s not enough to dismiss the genuine improvement and talent in this squad, or the job Enzo Maresca has done.

So, let's keep getting behind him and the team, there’s still lots to achieve this season.

The Score