Chelsea vs. Real Sociedad, Preseason Friendly: Second Half

The Chelsea TV freeview may have turned into a hilarious 'no-view' when the servers buckled and crashed under demand, but Chelsea themselves are putting on a show, especially with new man Diego Costa wasting absolutely no time in introducing himself to the home crowd.

Two goals in the first ten minutes have set Chelsea on their way, and the Blues have kept the pressure and passing up since then.

The thing I've enjoyed the most so far is the fluidity shown in both the midfield and the attacking band of the 4-3-3 starting formation.  In the middle, Matic-Ramires-Fabregas are switching and rotating around, taking it in turns to run up and hang back, with Matic perhaps staying back most often.  It's good to see Ramires back as the "shuttler" and he really should have had a goal to go along with his assist.

Up front, the Hazard-Costa-Schurrle trio are slightly less fluid, but as Diego Costa drops off or goes wide right, Schurrle rotates to a more central role, while Hazard worries people on the left.  The movement is excellent and the interplay is only going to get better.

So good individual performances and good team performance, too in the first half.  The second half will surely bring a boatload of changes, but hopefully the substitutes will continue the precedent set by the starters.