On the eve of a historic Champions League meeting at Stamford Bridge, Pat Nevin ponders what lies ahead in both the game and the European footballing landscape…
It was interesting to hear Thomas Tuchel delivering the ‘Don’t Panic’ speech after the home defeat to Brentford. There was more of a cool Douglas Adams in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy vibe about his demeanour than a Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army attitude. Apologies to anyone under a certain age for the analogy, but it means he wasn’t in a panic himself when he said Don’t Panic.
Chelsea fans in general currently have a decent outlook when it comes to perspective. In the grand scheme of things 4-1 sounds like nothing more than an anomaly and a minor annoyance in the current circumstances.
The run of form and results in the build-up to Saturday was impressive by any standards and we still have a decent cushion in the race for the top four, even after dropping those three points. There is also the small matter of the experiments and calculated risks the manager took for the game, most specifically going to a back four when our side is as good as there is in the business with a back three and wing-backs. It was worth another look, but is unlikely to be used again soon as a starting system, unless there are a raft of injuries and suspensions to defenders.