How Chelsea could line up vs Liverpool as Pochettino leads new era and fans pray £750m side finally turn on the style
FOR NOW, Mauricio Pochettino knows his best Chelsea starting XI.
The Blues boss hinted at that after the final friendly of their pre-season tour of the United States, suggesting the team that drew 1-1 to Borussia Dortmund would likely face Liverpool.
But what exactly does that look like, and what can we expect from Poch’s Chelsea side that has had around £750m spent on it?
What formation will he play?
Poch will stick to what he knows best and go with a 4-2-3-1.
The full-backs will push high, the wingers will cut inside, the striker leading the line look to hold up the ball and spin while there will almost certainly be two energetic holding midfielders at any given time.
Poch worked on this a lot in open training sessions in the States so the players should be well rehearsed in his philosophy by now.
What will the defence look like?
The back five – including the goalkeeper – is arguably an area on the pitch that Poch does not need to worry about.
Kepa is undoubtedly his No.1, despite the signing of Robert Sanchez, while newly appointed captain Reece James and Ben Chilwell will start as full-backs.
Poch will then hope to build a good partnership between Thiago Silva and Levi Colwill in the heart of defence while the likes of Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana recover from injury and new centre back from Monaco Axel Disasi settles in.
Is the midfield a concern?
In short, yes. Chelsea so far have just two experienced senior midfielders in Enzo Fernandez and Conor Gallagher, so they should start against Liverpool.
Andrey Santos and Lesley Ugochukwu, both 19, are hardly ready to take on the physicality of the Premier League just yet.
Chelsea are still waiting to see if they can fill that area with more depth and experience, such as through Brighton’s Moises Caicedo or Leeds United’s Tyler Adams.
They desperately need one of them, if not both.
Do they have enough firepower?
Before Christopher Nkunku’s injury against Dortmund that has ruled him out until potentially December, you could have argued yes.
Nkunku scored three goals in the States, while new centre forward Nicolas Jackson grabbed two, as well as a handful of assists and looked exciting with ball at feet as well as running off it.
Mykhailo Mudryk also scored across the pond and is starting to show glimpses.
Youngster Ian Maatsen looks lively, fresh from his loan at Burnley last season.
But, Nkunku’s knee surgery means Chelsea may have to dip back into the market, again.
What issues remain?
Depth, simple as that. The starting XI is promising but look to the bench and all you see are kids, misfits and wantaways.
Raheem Sterling looks a shadow of the player that shone at Manchester City, Marc Cucurella is not in Poch’s plans.
Any more injuries like Nkunku’s and Chelsea are in serious trouble.
And all the while, Romelu Lukaku remains training at Cobham waiting for his move away. Poch has his work cut out.
How does he get the best out of what he has right now?
Full throttle Poch-ball.
We saw moments in pre-season of the high-pressing, high-speed football that won the Argentine coach so many plaudits at Southampton and Tottenham.
He will be given time to turn Chelsea around, so why not go for it and attack, attack, attack instead of trying to grind out results waiting for more signings to arrive?