Chelsea kicked off their season with a very disappointing 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge.
There were plenty of problems to pick from for Chelsea, but perhaps the most worrying is that despite big money signings, the club found the same problems in attack as last season.
Jamie Gittens’ performance was one of the catalysts as to why.
Gittens is one of Chelsea’s biggest signings this season, and it seemed like a much needed one considering the club’s problems on the left-hand side last season.
But this game shows that those problems still persist, and it wouldn’t be fair to put that burden of the left-wing position on the Englishman.
There is potential there with the former Dortmund man, but it shows glaringly that he’s still very raw.
Gittens tried to get through the stubborn Palace defence but lacked the decision making needed to make a difference, losing possession 7 times, with him attempting no long balls or crosses either.
When watching his games in the Bundesliga, yes he had more space but he wasn’t as afraid to go at his man as he was today.
It seemed like he was too afraid to make mistakes, whereas his replacement in Estevao was the complete opposite.
Of course, it would be unfair to use Gittens as the catalyst for today’s attacking problems.
Cole Palmer returned to his quiet form, Joao Pedro couldn’t find the success we saw from him at the Club World Cup, while Enzo Fernandez showed off his fatigue as well.
But it’s worrying nonetheless that despite spending big on attacking signings this transfer window, we’re still finding it difficult to find a way through the low blocks of the Premier League.
Crystal Palace were set up very well, but unfortunately it was our lack of intent in attack that helped massively with that.
So what is the solution to this? Well that’s the difficult part, getting in someone like Xavi Simons might be an option needed for us.
But someone like Alejandro Garnacho, who had one of the lowest dribble success rates of anyone in the league last season, on paper doesn’t look like he would make a difference.
Hopefully Enzo Maresca can improve us and find a way to help us break down these low blocks once and for all, but the players we’ve been linked with will make it tough for us to accelerate that much needed attacking improvement.