It's been four days since Chelsea were run off the park at Elland Road as part of a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Leeds United. The home side ran 11 kilometres more than Thomas Tuchel's men as mistakes and sloppiness crept into their game as a result, ending in the heavy defeat.
It wasn't a sentiment that the manager fully agreed with though, believing his side were the better but gave away some soft goals. "Because we scored an own goal, gave an awfully cheap set-piece away, and conceded from it. This has nothing to do with pressing, running fewer kilometres, nothing to do with the style of Leeds. We should not confuse these things," said Tuchel.
"We were able to cope with the style, be the better team, be one or two goals ahead, but we give an own goal away, and the set-piece has nothing to do with anything. From there, it's 2-0, and the belief for Leeds is on top level and our body language, even in the ten minutes before, was not what it was like in the last match."
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It gives the German coach a mixed bag of results and performances to reflect upon in the early stages of the Premier League season, exacerbated by the fact he has a mixed squad at his disposal. The likes of Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic made appearances and yet, their Chelsea futures seem uncertain as the Blues clearly remain active in both incomings and outgoings in the market.
They have just one week to get all of their business over the line, with a number of names linked with a switch to Stamford Bridge. One of those is Everton's Anthony Gordon, who is said to be the subject of a £60million offer from Chelsea in the past week.
While the 21-year-old has impressed for the Toffees, it's a lot of money to put on the table and is a clear statement of intent from the Blues. His energetic style will likely run teams ragged, having already done so against his suitors last season, perhaps the tipping point for Tuchel to act on any interest.
However, the manager in his post-mortem of the defeat to Leeds was right: running simply won't be enough and isn't the difference between winning and losing. This is especially the case for a team like Chelsea, who enjoy comfortable possession for a lot of the time, giving them little time to chase after the ball in a way Leeds did.
The Blues can't run much more than their opposition simply because they have too much of the ball, too often. Their key problem comes from the speed at which the ball progresses through the thirds and how they use that possession to open their opposition up.
This is shown by a key stat published by Opta, which states that Chelsea striker Kai Havertz has made the most off-ball runs with 114 and the most off-ball runs in the penalty box with 37. On the list of the top five for that stat also features Gordon with 94 - tied with Erling Haaland - following by Raheem Sterling on 93.
Whilst it doesn't account for quality of run or pass to be able to find the player, it shows that there is movement in the final third, something that the Blues are looking for Gordon to bring. The issue in the final third actually starts way sooner in the build-up, linked with directness and the verticality of their possessional play.
Gordon may bring energy, but if there isn't the space given to him to be able to exploit it through slow build-up play, then his potential £60million deal solves little to nothing.
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