There’s been a lot of talk of Chelsea’s new look team after their vast summer spending, as Frank Lampard brought in a mixture of youth and experience to make his side more competitive.
It’s still too early to tell if it’s worked, but the first seven results in the Premier League have been both hopeful and unsettling.
Three wins, three draws and a loss isn’t how Chelsea envisaged their campaign starting, and Canal+ journalist Jean-Luc Arribart believes the problem lies in midfield.
Speaking to Ouest-France ahead of the clash against Rennes in the Champions League, he broke down each area of the squad.
Starting with defence, he believes Lampard has, for the most part, ‘rectified their defensive issues’, and with their goalkeeper now found in Édouard Mendy, it’s all going in the right direction.
But the midfield is the issue.
He said: “That’s where the work is I think they’ll play against Rennes as they did against Sevilla, with Havertz as the 10 in front of Jorginho and Kanté, but with Mount and Kovacic, Lampard has a lot of options.
“For me, the problem in the XI is Havertz, who was bought for €80m and who has Lampard’s trust. He tends to play it a bit easy. A bit like Robert Pirès when he arrived in England, he needs to muscle his game”.
Arribart feels this constant use of Havertz without anything to show for it is ‘a shame’ as it means Mason Mount stays on the bench.
As for the attack, it’s all about speed, which has led to Olivier Giroud being the number three striker in Lampard’s plans.
Either way, they are ‘rich people problems’, and it’s a puzzle the manager still needs to figure out as the season progresses.
