Antonio Conte’s men defeated Liverpool in a preseason friendly in the United States. While this doesn’t really have a lot of bearing for the start of the Premier League season, Chelsea do seem to be in the right hands and with the tactical acumen of the former Juventus manager already on their side, the big question is do they really need to bring in a few more players.
Chelsea had a lot of stars underperforming last season and one thing that Conte will not accept is if any player does not give it their all in the side. Mistakes would be acceptable for the Italian but not giving 100% on the pitch will be an issue, apart from that, the need to do well in the Premier League is of utmost importance as the club does not have to play in any other competition.
The London club might have finished 10th in the Premier League but if Conte gets his tactics right, they could very well end up in the top four. The need to bring in some quality might be there as more often than not a new manager will bring in his own set of players but is it really necessary for the Blues?
The Blues have brought in two players for this season so far, Michy Batshuayi and N’Golo Kante, both players are young and willing to do a lot of running around and providing the energy that the Blues would need under Conte.
Batshuayi would give Diego Costa a run for his money and even if Chelsea does play with two strikers, the pairing of Costa and Batshuayi would be a tough threat to nullify next season for the best defences as well.
N’Golo Kante will provide the Blues with that extra bite in midfield, something they missed last season and more so, he will provide a lot of competition for Nemanja Matic. The midfield and attack do seem set for the time being but one position that Chelsea really need to strengthen is the defence, mostly the left-back and right-back slots.
Branislav Ivanovic can actually play as the right-back but he didn’t have the best of seasons last time around and he has been struggling to keep up his energy levels for a number of seasons. He should be moved to the centre-back slot and the likes of John Terry, Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma would be more than enough to deal with the rigours of the Premier League season.
That leaves Cesar Azpilicueta, who is the best wing-back they have, Baba Rahman and Kenedy to fight it out for the remaining two slots in defence. Cesar is a sure shot starter but Baba Rahman and Kenedy cannot be expected to play on either side of the centre-backs as they aren’t up to Premier League standards and still need a few more years to mature.
Kenedy, in fact, could be used as an attacker by Conte and that would leave the side really thin for their left-back and right-back slots. Conte though would have a few players in his mind and he will like to close a few deals before the end of the transfer window.
One thing is a surety, Conte is a crazy manager and probably one of the best in the world and Chelsea will be tough to play and beat this season. If the Italian can deal with the issue of bringing in a couple of decent defenders, the Blues will be set for one incredible season.