Even before he rediscovered his scoring touch at the end of last season, (as well as in this preseason), Michy Batshuayi had endeared himself to Chelsea fans with his friendly Twitter banter and associated shenanigans.
Easy to tweet when all goes ok and your champ, not when U had a bad day and lost.. That's how it works #chinup
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) August 12, 2017
But after yesterday’s loss to Burnley, in which Batshuayi started a Premier League match for just the second time in his career, the 23-year-old took to Twitter in a much more somber and reflective mood.
Terrible performance today & a lot of things to work on, i wont hide... but its just day one & the journey to the title is long
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) August 12, 2017
After all, he just produced one of his worst displays in a Chelsea shirt, and while the match went off the rails quickly thanks to the 15th minute red card to Gary Cahill, Batshuayi’s poor touches and general lack of involvement contributed to Chelsea’s overall loss of composure in the first-half. Michy’s performance was especially poor relative to Álvaro Morata’s 30-minute run-out, in which he scored one goal, assisted another, and had one narrowly chalked off.
Thx to those who support despite everything, we will fight and make it up soon #BlueSpirit #KTBFFH
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) August 12, 2017
Batshuayi spent most of last season coming to terms with Antonio Conte’s system, and even when Diego Costa wasn’t available, he was often only on the bench. Many had expected him to head out on loan this summer, but he seems to have convinced enough to not join the exodus of other useful names (for now anyway). He started every game in pre-season as well as the Community Shield. While he’s likely to go back to being a backup sooner rather than later, the attitude shown in these tweets should bode well for his future involvement.