Chelsea’s lack of depth may be criminal and ripe for harsh exposure on the (inter)national stage as the Premier League and, soon, the Champions League get under way, the Blues do have good and proper numbers in one area of the team, central defence.
Last year’s ever-present trio of Gary Cahill, David Luiz, and César Azpilicueta have been boosted by the return of the highly promising Andreas Christensen from a two-year loan stint and new singing Antonio Rüdiger, who had been a long-term target for the club. This particular depth was tested immediately, both because of Victor Moses’s suspension, which forced Azpilicueta to switch to wing-back, and Gary Cahill’s early red card, which prompted Conte to sacrifice an attacker (sorry, Jeremie Boga!) to restore numbers at the back. Rüdiger thus started in place of Azpilicueta and played the whole game, while Christensen played most of it, arriving in the 18th minute and departing in stoppage time as Chelsea made on last push for an equalizer.
“We have to pick ourselves up and look forward to the next game. We could have taken something from this match. When we got the first goal, the belief grew and you could feel it in the stadium as well. The noise and everything just went to another level and we could have got something.”
“We’re proud of our second half, we fought well and we know we had made it difficult for ourselves in the first half. I think everyone is quite clear what happened and now we are just looking forward. We have to fight the same way. Be clever, play our type of football again and I’m sure everybody is looking forward to Tottenham next week.”
-Andreas Christensen; source: Chelsea FC
Despite Conte’s plans, the newly reshuffled defence gave up no less than three goals, two of which were eminently preventable (Burnley’s second was a once-in-a-lifetime shot from Stephen Ward). But with Cahill set to miss three games and David Luiz possibly drafted into midfield to deputize for the also suspended Cesc Fàbregas this weekend, one, if not both of Rüdiger and Christensen will be called upon once again.
Hopefully they’re quick to learn from their mistakes on Saturday. One of the reasons Conte switched to a 3-4-3 in the first place was defensive solidity. Even with new personnel, we must not lose that.
“To start the season with two red cards and a bad result is not good. Of course everyone is disappointed because we wanted to win the first match of the season at home. We need to work because next week we have a tough opponent.”
“If you have a red card early in the game it’s a shock moment for everyone but we are all professionals and we need to do better in those kind of situations. We conceded three goals too easily. We tried our best but at the end of the day football is about results and we lost.”
“In the second half we deserve compliments because you saw a team who tried when it wasn’t easy and at the end of the match we had two men less. We have to take the positives from the game, like the second half, work hard during the week and play a good match against Tottenham.”
-Antonio Rüdiger; source: Chelsea FC
As wisely reminded by Chelsea legend Didier Drogba following the loss, the league is not a sprint but a marathon. Having to take on Spurs away in the second game of the season and in the middle of injury and suspension crisis is far from ideal, but it is the fight we need to face and rise up to. Chelsea showed plenty of fight in the second half on Saturday, down one, then two men. We will need that, and more, from the first whistle to the last on Sunday.