Timo Werner impresses
Liverpool were sniffing around Timo Werner, but in the end it was Chelsea who paid his release clause.
After superb campaigns in the Bundesliga, the 24-year-old is one of the hottest properties in Europe and he impressed on his Chelsea debut.
It wasn’t just the goal he scored in the 1-1 friendly draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, but his overall performance.
Werner will give the Blues something different to what they already have and the pressure will be on Olivier Giroud and Tammy Abraham to push him for a place.
The 24-year-old has the ability to play up top or also out wide if needed, but the Blues will likely get the most out of him when he’s leading the line.
It was only 60 minutes for the Blues to get a look at the Germany international, but it was enough to impress.
Same old problems
The Blues might be moving into a new season, but there were still some of the same old problems for them in the draw.
The main one was defending from set-pieces, which caused them the biggest issues when Brighton got the ball into the box.
Another issue was getting caught on the break. Frank Lampard set up in a 4-2-3-1 and at times in the first half it left the defence exposed.
If Brighton had the quality of players up top then they could really have hurt the Blues and it would be an issue for the future.
The third problem was in possession, where the Blues didn’t really create a great amount of chances for the forwards to get stuck into.
To be fair, Chelsea hardly had their full complement and the issues could be ironed out over the course of the next few weeks.
The Ziyech/James combination
While Chelsea fans were eager to see the combination of Hakim Ziyech and Werner, there was another deadly duo ready to go.
The combination of Ziyech and Reece James on the right for the Blues could be a really vital partnership moving forward.
With Ziyech’s superb ability with his left foot and James’s skill to put in a cross with his right, they could cause some real damage.
James likes to get forward and overlap, while Ziyech likes to cut in from the right and cross in with his left.
Oppositions’ left-sided defences are really going to have something different to deal with in the upcoming campaign.
For Lampard it will give him another weapon and chance to create more damage down the flank.
Fans back in a stadium
While it was important for players to get some minutes under their belts, what was also significant was the return of fans inside the stadium.
Brighton were chosen for a trial run to get supporters back to matches since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to social distancing rules, fans had been unable to be at matches since the Premier League’s return.
However, if these trials are a success then fans might start filtering back to grounds when the campaign gets back under way.
There might have only been around 2,500 Brighton fans allowed in the stadium, but to the players it will be a massive boost.
We all wants fans back, and this was a start to that happening.
