Pre-season is always about the performance and never about the results. And even then there has to be an awareness of what managers are looking for from each individual game: clubs can be at different stages of their physical development, or managers may be working on a specific ploy. They are means to an end. Nobody should ever read too much into pre-season. And yet, all that said, it’s impossible not to look at Chelsea’s pre-season games without a slight twinge of concern.
Enzo Maresca’s record as Chelsea manager at this stage reads: played six, won one. That win came against the Mexican champions Club América who, four games in to the new Mexican season, sit in ninth place. Chelsea have also played the champions of England, Spain, Scotland and Italy in their warm-up matches, plus Wrexham, who were promoted from League Two last season. That’s a challenging run of games. Against Manchester City they were 2-0 down inside five minutes, the result of a soft penalty and a wayward backpass. The 4-2 defeat perhaps wasn’t reflective of the pattern of the game. Mitigation can be found.
But it’s not just results. There’s also a pervading sense of chaos. After the initial splurge following the Clearlake takeover, the £1bn spent on 28 senior players, this was supposed to be when the consolidation began. They had signed young players, we were told, so that there would be less need for upheaval as the project progressed. Players would grow into stature at the club. And then this summer a further nine players arrived at a cost of £160m, with two more already in the pipeline for next season.
