It was the same old story for Chelsea on Thursday evening. Some promising moments in attack were overshadowed by some catastrophic moments in defence.
Up until Willian opened the scoring for Fulham against his old club, Chelsea looked assured and actually – for once – dangerous in attack. This was helped by Joao Felix making his debut. The 23-year-old showed bags of potential before he was sent off for a reckless challenge on 58 minutes.
When Willian did score, though, which was not helped by a couple of errors from Trevoh Chalobah, Chelsea looked rattled and their defence started to crumble. An all too familiar story for Blues supporters watching from around the world.
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One man that did not help matters, defensively anyway, was Kalidou Koulibaly. The 31-year-old did equalise for the visitors at Craven Cottage – which was a bonus – but he didn't do the basics right in defence. And, in truth, he hasn't been doing them since the World Cup break.
More often than not, Koulibaly would be caught stepping out of defence, following an attacker, and trying to win the ball in an aggressive manner. That's all well and good, but when you do that, you have to win possession back. Because if you don't, at this level, attackers will punish you.
What is also does is leave a gaping hole in defence. On Thursday, Chelsea were playing a back-three, with Thiago Silva and the aforementioned Chalobah alongside Koulibaly. The Senegalese defender was playing on the left-hand side of the back-three, so when he did step out, it forced Silva to push slightly to the left, or for Lewis Hall to cover the centre, leaving the flank free for Fulham.
Also, Koulibaly looks so sloppy in possession at the moment. His pass into Felix, which then led to the sending off, was poor. This is in no way saying it was Koulibaly's fault for the stupid challenge from Felix, but it forced a bad touch from the new Chelsea signing that led to him lunging in.
There was an instance in the FA Cup defeat to Manchester City at the weekend where he went to switch the play in a dangerous situation and gifted the dominant hosts possession back at the Etihad Stadium. The calmness and composure he showed on the ball at Napoli – and even in the early stages of this season – is not there anymore. He could do with a spell out of the side and Graham Potter has the perfect man to come in and replace him.
Benoit Badiashile. Chelsea completed the signing of the 21-year-old defender earlier this month for a fee understood to be in the region of £34million. football.london understands Badiashile has settled in really well to his new environment but is yet to make his debut for the Blues despite being in the squad for the last two games.
Sunday afternoon's home clash with London rivals Crystal Palace could be his time, though, with the game coming just three days after the defeat to Fulham. A left-footed central defender, Badiashile, so theoretically he would be the ideal replacement for Koulibaly should Potter go with a four-back formation or a three-back system.
Badiashile was signed with an eye on the future rather than the former Monaco defender coming into the first-team immediately, but with the situation Chelsea are in at the moment, a fresh face – as we saw with the 58-minute cameo of Felix on Thursday – could do the side good. The Frenchman is calm and composed when in possession, quick for his 6ft 4in frame, and an aggressive defender. Comparisons have been made with Antonio Rudiger, but that seems unfair given where they are in their respective careers.
Sunday could be the day Chelsea supporters get to see Badiashile grace the Stamford Bridge turf for the first time. Koulibaly needs some of the limelight off him. He's clearly a very talented defender, but right now, the best course of action could be a break from the starting XI.
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