With the third day of the English Premier League wrapped up, Chelsea fans saw a glimpse of what Conte may have to offer this upcoming season.
Goals from Eden Hazard’s penalty and Diego Costa’s 89th minute rocket were enough to get the Blues past West Ham United 2-1 and here’s three things we observed.
1.) N’Golo Kante
From Leicester City to Chelsea, I think anyone would find the immense pressure hard to live up too. But let me tell you, I finally saw first hand why this man had been regarded so highly. Kante showed up to play on Wednesday and no doubt was a huge help for the team. Throughout world football, a strong defensive midfielder is found at the core of each squad. Although given a yellow card very early on in the game, he was a non-stop engine and kept winning balls for Chelsea during the duration of the match.
2.) Conte’s Tactics
Chelsea has been traditionally seen playing with a 4-2-3-1, and that was the formation which ultimately won them the Premiership. Although, today showed the Italian lay out a 4-1-4-1 format. I was skeptical at first… but N’Golo Kante showed he could in fact protect the back four by himself and let Matic push up the field. It seemed to me that Matic was used to pressure higher up the field, and Kante pressured right in the middle of the pitch. This kept West Ham with very limited opportunities. At the very end, we even saw a 4-2-4 formation, which fundamentally led to Batshuayi linking up with Costa, supported by Moses and Pedro on the wings – deadly.
3.) Regaining Their Pride
Today I saw glimpses of the old Oscar, the old Hazard, and the old Terry; could the players finally be out of their funk? Oscar was chosen to start in front of Cesc Fabregas. I wont look too much into that decision but I thought Oscar had himself a good day. The Brazilian was heavily involved in all areas of the pitch and even (surprisingly) went into challenges with heart. Hazard was an outlet on the wing all game and even came close to scoring in the first half before his PK. The back line was superb and you really cant complain when you have such experience in Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic. It seemed, for the first time in a while, that the team might just be getting their mojo back.
