What a night in New Jersey. While the final score was not what most people would have predicted, there are several things that we can learn from Chelsea’s first International Champions Cup match.
To first address the result of the match, there were several factors in play that may have impacted the final score. It’s important to point out that although the Red Bulls are considered a much weaker team than the Blues, especially their second team, they are still in mid-season form. New York have been playing for half a season now, which is something that Chelsea simply cannot say. Mourinho pointed out in the post-game press conference that the speed of Chelsea was not up to par yet.
All of this considered, Chelsea were still worrisome, missing chances they should have put away, and giving up way too many loose ball opportunities in their own box. They will need to largely improve in order to be successful in retaining their title this season.
So what else can we take away from the match in last night?
Chelsea are slowly becoming comfortable with their squad numbers. For example, Mourinho clarified his position on Bertrand Traore. The Burkina Faso International will be a Chelsea player next season.
“He’s 19; he’s a kid,” Mourinho said. “He was in Africa, he was at Vitesse, now he comes to Chelsea. He’s not going on loan. We want to keep him and we want to improve him. With the ball he has a lot of talent, but sometimes he doesn’t make the right decisions yet. But this is absolutely normal, so step-by-step. But I repeat, he is not going on loan, he stays.”
So now that Traore’s future is cleared up, we can discuss the potential of Victor Moses at Stamford Bridge. It seems to be positive with Mourinho seemingly backing the Nigerian.
“He’s strong, he’s experienced, he’s fast, he’s aggressive, Mourinho told reporters. “He has to learn how to play with us obviously, but I’m happy with his week, with his 45 minutes. The next match, 45 more minutes. Victor had an evolution over the past couple years.”
Moses looked threatening last night, looking to take defenders 1v1 and he did so successfully. His ability to create several scoring chances in the first half was easily noticeable. Perhaps his style of play would complement Hazard on the opposite wing, with both attackers being able to take on defenders.
The goalkeepers for Chelsea didn’t look quite convincing either. While Courtois was able to fight off Cech, he won’t be able to rest on his laurels with Begovic. And considering he almost gave away a pass back last night, he’ll need to do more in order to safely hold onto his spot.
Conversely, if Begovic would like to see some time during this season, he’ll need to be better as well. While there was obviously gaps in his defence, I would put the first goal on the Bosnian. He should have come with his hands, not his feet, and it ultimately cost him.
Moving on, Oscar looked quite good last night. The Brazilian made several impactful runs, looked threatening up top, and even created a few scoring chances for himself and his team-mates. Hopefully this is the beginning of Oscar’s rise to success. He has the potential, we all know that. But if he can realize it this season, Chelsea will be all the better for it.
Overall, although Chelsea suffered defeat at the hands of the Red Bulls second team, there were several positive takeaways from the match. We learned a lot about the team that will feature this campaign. It’ll be interesting to see how Chelsea step up their performance against the likes of PSG and Barcelona.
