Watching Chelsea play against Dinamo Zagreb in the opening match of the 2022/23 Uefa Champions League group stages, once again, one could see clearly that their biggest problem still exists despite spending more than £200m in the summer transfer window....CONTINUE READING
Thomas Tuchel, with the backing of the new owners of Chelsea went into the market with a clear idea, sign the players that would solve the team’s problems. But, so far, it doesn’t look like the problem is fading away. As a matter of fact, it seems to be getting much worse.
Beating Chelsea now seems very easy. Teams just sit back, defend deep and allow them have most of the ball. There simply is no creativity in that team to unlock defenses. After spending so much, they have failed to address that very issue that has been there for a while now.
Watching Real Madrid against Celtic in their group opener after Chelsea, I couldn’t help but notice what would’ve been the solution to all Tuchel’s biggest problem.
When Eden Hazard was subbed on for an injured Karim Benzema in the first half, many thought Madrid would struggle to win.
But the magical Belgian was at his scintillating form as he almost singlehandedly orchestrated the win.
He was subbed on in the 30th minute and he made the pass to Valverde who assisted Vinicius for Real Madrid’s first goal, assisted Modrić’s goal for the second and scored Madrid’s third in a vintage Eden Hazard performance.
Hazard was a hazard to the Celtic team on that field. He showed his brilliance and helped Madrid to a win without their talismanic number 9.
After watching the former Chelsea star, I tried to imagine him in this current Chelsea team, in the earlier loss to Dinamo Zagreb.
To me, Chelsea would’ve won that match comfortably if they had him on the pitch. His creativity would’ve definitely unlocked Zagreb’s defence and he would’ve created something for Aubameyang and Broja who were starved of any real quality up there in attack.
It is quite unfortunate that Tuchel failed to realise that his team needed a creative player this season.
We all know that Real Madrid would’ve considered selling Hazard had they received a good offer and it would’ve been really hard to the Belgian to say no to Chelsea.
