Where are they now – looking back at Chelsea’s original B team from August | OneFootball

It’s amazing how fast the season flies past. This evening Chelsea play in the Conference Leauge knockout stage.

Do you remember late August? Things had not started well in Chelsea’s preseason friendlies under Enzo Maresca, and before the new coach had even managed a competitive games there were already doubts.

A limp 2-0 loss to Man City on the opening day didn’t help. But our first taste of the Conference League came soon after to wash the bad taste away – Maresca’s team won against Servette 2-0 in the first leg to make things feel a lot more positive, before a second leg defeat brought back the negativity.

It’s interesting to look back at the lineups from that initial game, which was the first deployment of the “B team” we would soon get used to, and see how things have changed.

Original B team struggle to make A team impact

Pedro Neto in action for Chelsea against Manchester United. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen is now the first team goalkeeper after taking over from Robert Sanchez last month – meaning Sanchez starts tonight.

Axel Disasi has been loaned out to Aston Villa after not playing much. Benoit Badiashile has spent a second consecutive season spending more time out with minor injuries than he has playing. Renato Veiga has been loaned out to Juventus. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has struggled for minutes, Mykhailo Mudryk has been suspended for failing a doping test, Marc Guiu barely played until he was needed – then immediately got injured. Tosin has been in and out, but even with Wesley Fofana and Badiashile out for a big chunk of the season hasn’t been a consistent first choice.

Christopher Nkunku has played more through sheer necessity recently, but otherwise failed to break out of the B team. Given Moises Caicedo was always an A team player filling in anyway, Only Pedro Neto and Jorgensen can claim to have broken into the first XI – and even Neto has been in and out until recent injuries made him undroppable.

Even more amazingly, Joao Felix signed the day after that first leg – wasn’t able to be registered in time for the second, and has left the club before these knockout rounds have even come around.