As I was scheduling content for OddAlerts, I found myself looking at that Chelsea team after Raheem Sterling’s signing was finally confirmed yesterday.
There’s a really strong English core at Chelsea, and particularly down the left hand side. Before Ben Chilwell’s unfortunate injury last season, Chelsea really were flying. They soon lost Reece James for a period, too. It derailed them, and then came the Lukaku saga…
New season. New ownership. New core team at Chelsea. The players that were once breaking through now carry a lot of the weight, but they have more than enough quality to back it up. Let’s hope they can all stay fit, for Chelsea and England.
Adding Sterling into the mix on that left hand side for Chelsea is a really smart move. He arrives as a 4x Premier League champion, and a proven goal getting at this level. The latter is not something you associate with wingers at Chelsea, not the current batch anyway.
Sterling will get goals at Chelsea, aided by a strong relationship with Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount. It’s this trio of players that makes this move a solid bet from Sterling at this stage in his career. A winter World Cup approaches, and City have only bolstered an attack that Sterling was in and out of last season. He wants to know that he’s going to be a major part of any team he plays for, and why not! He’s improved so much under Pep and as I said previously, you know you will get goals from Sterling. That was not always the case, but he has this great ability to get into dangerous areas of the pitch at the right time.
I think we see a much better Raheem Sterling at club level than we do for England. This might be because of the limitations put on players by Pep. They know their role when playing for City. They must, or they won’t play. For England, there’s a little more freedom when you’re on the ball and at times I think Sterling can be a little wasteful.
Pep tries to get the absolute best out of any player he can within the context of his system. They are a part of the machine. You must do your part. It’s rare to see a City player break the rules, especially in a tight game.
So let’s see how much freedom he’s given at Chelsea. They do like to play the ball in wide areas and I’m sure we will see many Reece James balls into the box with Sterling coming across for a tap in.
James is another great English player currently playing at Chelsea. I think with this move Sterling can secure his starting place in the England team. If that left side of Chilwell, Mount, and Sterling is really working as Tuchel hopes, then why would you change that if you’re Gareth Southgate?
James from one wing, Chilwell from the other, providing for ______. I think that RW position for Chelsea is still up for grabs. They were in for Raphina but missed out on him. Ziyech is also on the way out of the club, it seems.
They couldn’t bring back Hazard, could they?
That would be romantic, but I’m not sure of the shape he’s in and he probably feels he hasn’t even had a chance to give it a good go at Madrid yet. If he is fit currently and getting a good pre-season under his belt then I doubt he’ll leave just yet.
Written by Joe (Founder @ OddAlerts)