Frank Lampard..
It’s fair to say the Community Shield didn’t go to plan for Chelsea.
While the Blues came just seven minutes away from victory over Arsenal, they never found top gear with less than a week until the Premier League season. It certainly wasn’t a champion’s performance, that’s for sure.
The defeat came in spite of a transfer window that has shown promise for Antonio Conte’s men and with good reason.
Chelsea have improved their squad in almost every area. Antonio Rudiger has been introduced to replace John Terry and Tiemoue Bakayoko was captured to partner N’Golo Kante in holding midfield.
Alvaro Morata, for no less than £68 million, has been captured to account for the want-away Diego Costa and goalkeeping cover has even been considered via the arrival of Willy Cabellero.
It all adds up to a decently convincing case for Chelsea retaining their title. There’s certainly no indication that they’ll suffer the same fate as the last Chelsea side to defend the league.
Not everybody is sold, though, and the Community Shield loss has added substance to the arguments of skeptics. Frank Lampard falls into this category and for one overriding reason in particular.
According to the Daily Mail, he stated: “If we're talking about quality, I still think Chelsea have that quality, but when Conte was at Juventus he used to do the same thing in the summer. He used to push the club to buy more players to move forward.
“I think he's concerned as he's going to lose [Diego] Costa, they've lost [Nemanja] Matic. They've brought players in but I think he wants more because now they're going to be fighting on the Champions League front.
“It was a strange one [to see Matic go to United]. He was such a huge part of Chelsea's play last year alongside Kante at the base. He let the wing-backs fly on and he allowed Pedro and Willian freedom to go forward.”
You can’t help but agree with the new BT Sport pundit. Nemanja Matic may have been outshone by Kante last season but he was still was an integral part of the title winning side.
Moreover, the move sees Chelsea offering an olive branch to a side – in Manchester United – already frustrated in the transfer window.
There’s definitely a potential for the move to come back and bite the Blues, no doubt. If nothing else, it applies great pressure to the shoulders of Bakayoko who has some straight-swap justifying to attend to.
Do you think Chelsea will retain their title this season? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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