The player lineup is constantly changing, why does Chelsea compete for the championship?

Written by Hanbing In just three years, the Boli era purchased as many as 49 players and released 48 players at the same time. It is not yet considered a redundant employee who has been constantly rented out. The number of first-team players circulates more than 30 each season, which is very rare in the football world. The six coaches of the Boli era all have to face the same problem: the overly large first team and the huge running-in challenge for more than half of the players in summer preparations.

Chelsea in the Boli era has always been a "outsider" who controls the decision-making power of transfers, and can only rely on players who lack experience and are constantly changing to try to win games and trophys. From Porter, Lampard to Maresca, they are also coaches who lack the successful experience of the giants. It was a very difficult and painful process, because just writing down the player’s name and positioning is enough to be dazzling. The rapid change of players and coaches has left the team with little time to build a stable cooperative relationship. Most importantly, Chelsea lacks a clear self-position in all the elements that make up a great team, including game style, locker room culture, experience, leadership and coaching strategy and tactics.

The lineup must be integrated at any time

Maresca's last season was already successful enough. A bloated but inexperienced Chelsea was brought back to the Champions League and won two trophys at the same time. After this summer, he had to face the difficulties he took over last summer. Including Simmons, who is likely to join, his championship lineup has 9 new players without experience in a giant league. Maresca has to smile awkwardly every week, welcomes strange players after strangers to join the team, but unlike last year, this year, the time left for him to get into the lineup before the league starts is even more cramped.

Last season, the average age of the Blues first team was only 23 years and 5 months, making it the youngest team in the Premier League, but with younger newcomers joining the team, the average age of the team in the new season will further decline. Last season, Maresca repeatedly emphasized that the team lacks experience and can only accumulate while playing. In the new season, such a "Groundhog Day" cycle will continue: Chelsea's first team is still crowded and can even line up two different lineups.

The real problem is that most Chelsea's summer window players lack the persuasiveness of competitive value as before. 22-year-old big center Drapp scored 10 sports goals and two assists in the relegation team Ipswich last season. Although the number of goals exceeded expectations (7.8), the low shooting accuracy made him face the greatest competitive pressure in the most expensive position of the No. 9 position.

20-year-old Gittens is a right-foot left winger, but he is also not very good at the same data as Drapp. After playing for two years at Dortmund, he averaged only 0.38 goals per game, even lower than Zilker's performance at Manchester United last season. But you have to know that he is in the Bundesliga, a league that has always attached great importance to the training of offensive players and low defense quality. Given that the offensive efficiency from the Bundesliga to the Premier League is likely to not improve, it is still unknown whether Gittens, whose transfer fee is as high as 64.3 million euros, can play with his value.

Even with left-back Harto and midfielder Simmons, these new players will not increase the upper limit of the Blues' strength at least for the time being. Last season, Chelsea's bench depth was deep enough, and it is also a question whether the newcomers can stand out in the cruel competition. What's more, Maresca also lost one of the Blues' most appearances last season.

The starting 11 players are the hardest to guess

Given Chelsea's too special locker room structure, Maresca's starting lineup in the new season is considered by the Daily Mail to be the "hardest riddle".

Last season, Maresca's Chelsea adjusted the starting lineup by 419, with a large number of top five leagues. Maresca even regarded the Club World Cup as the preseason for the Blues. Palmer, the main player at No. 10, was arranged to the right, and Simmons, who is about to join the team, will become Palmer's contender at No. 10. The Chelsea first team needs to clean up 10 players, and the Blues also hope to get Garnacho to strengthen the offensive end, and Maresca's cards still have variables.

Chelsea's American boss did not put pressure on Maresca to compete for the championship in the new season, but with the strong signing of Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal, Maresca knew that his second season would be more difficult than last season. Compared with opponents with mature technical and tactical systems, he still has to explore the secrets of success through continuous rotation. Although his formation has been fixed, frequent rotations still bring high uncertainty to the team and opponents.

Chelsea's signings basically will not prioritize the coach's competitive needs. Even if the Blues' offensive personnel reserves are sufficient, Boli still signed Drapp and Gittens, and is preparing to sign Simmons, so that the midfield and frontcourt will continue to be bloated and full of competition. However, Gittens just filled the gap that the Blues needed at least one right-footed left winger. Harto and Delapp are both versatile players who enhance the depth of the bench. When it comes to hoarding young players, Boli naturally has the idea that more, the better.

Because of the highly circulated players, Chelsea is also a very unique existence in the Premier League, and it is almost impossible to predict what kind of results it can achieve. Maresca has to constantly adjust his tactics when players rotate, and may focus on wingers, or appear on Double 10, and even double centers are not ruled out. Since Chelsea's locker room is uncertain, Maresca has to change its formation and position at any time. Perhaps this will force him and Chelsea to adapt to Boli's principle: change means stability.