Chelsea had quite a disappointing pre-season and have made a bad start to the new Premier League campaign.
Under their new manager Enzo Maresca, they were only able to win one of their friendlies this summer before losing 2-0 against Manchester City last Sunday.
Chelsea defender Levi Colwill has now been discussing whether the Blues are actually getting any better under Maresca.
The 21-year-old put in a decent performance against City. Colwill’s pass success rate of 97.9% (30+ passes) was the highest recorded in the Premier League’s opening weekend.
Levi Colwill on Chelsea improving under Enzo Maresca
If you look at Chelsea’s performance against City, the team were still making some of the mistakes that they made in pre-season.
For example, Robert Sanchez kicking it straight to the opposition when trying to play out from the back.
Even so, Colwill thinks Chelsea are improving under their new boss. Speaking to Chelsea’s official website, he said: “From the first game of pre-season, you can see how much has changed and how much we’ve improved. We are learning quick. During the season we are going to keep improving and by then I’m sure we are going to be a better team than we are now.
“I’m excited for the future, and what the gaffer can bring to this team. The players around me and on the bench are all as good as each other. Everyone can tell we are building something, and it’s something positive for the future as well.”
Maresca was happy with Colwill during pre-season. It seems the two already have a good relationship.
Where Chelsea need to drastically improve
While Chelsea may be improving as a team as they continue to adapt to Maresca’s style and methods, the Italian cannot be satisfied until he has a firing frontline.
The Blues strengthened there this summer by bringing in Joao Felix and Pedro Neto. But it looks like they still have an issue with taking their chances.
Nicolas Jackson scored an offside goal and missed a couple of good opportunities in the loss to City. Maresca needs to find a way to make Chelsea more clinical, whether that happens through improving Jackson or replacing him.
Chelsea continue to be linked with Ivan Toney, but the Brentford striker could opt to move to Saudi Arabia before the end of this month.
If Maresca can get Chelsea to improve in that area of the pitch, what they do in the box, then the good times could return to Stamford Bridge.
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