Chelsea’s strong start shows plenty of promise – but Blues will need more than set pieces to go to next level | OneFootball

Chelsea have gone into this September international break with two wins and a draw in the books.

It’s a good start in terms of points, and there’s plenty of justified optimism around the team heading into a second season under Enzo Maresca.

The defence has been extremely solid so far, and the physicality of the side has gone up a level with the additions made in the summer. Set pieces have turned from a weakness to a strength, and there is more quality depth in the squad than a year ago.

Good results don’t reflect average performances

Joao Pedro celebrates scoring against West Ham. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

However, there are asterisks besides all the results so far: Chelsea drew with a good team, beat a very bad team and then squeezed past a decent team in a game which hinged on a single VAR decision in their favour. Being able to score set pieces is a strength – but it will only take you so far. More attacking fluency will be needed to beat better teams.

Given the Club World Cup’s disruption of preseason, getting through these first few months of the season just putting points on the board was what mattered to the Blues. On that front, it’s so far so good. Things should come together gradually in attack as the new players settle and the squad digests the latest influx of new faces.

Maresca’s faces new challenge as expectations rise

But nobody should be getting ahead of themselves yet – there are bigger games to come, and when the Champions League gets rolling we will see Chelsea’s depth really tested. Maresca has shown many strengths as a coach, but this is a new challenge for him, and it will be very interesting to see how he quickly he can integrate the new players and get effective attacking patterns functioning against top tier opposition.