Conor Gallagher became the second Chelsea captain to get sent off in a row this weekend after a silly challenge on Billy Gilmour saw him get his second booking of the game.
Chelsea are leading the way for yellow and red cards in the Premier League this season.
We have seen multiple games of our players squaring up and getting involved in tussles with the opposition during and after games.
Mauricio Pochettino has even spent time in the stands after being suspended for ill-discipline.
But, with al of that said, I am here to tell you that this actually IS a good thing.
Recently we have seen our captain Cesar Azpilicueta argue and get angry with fans at Stamford Bridge, but this right now feels very different.
We have all been screaming out for our players to show fight, show that they actually care, and show unity and team spirit.
What we are seeing from our players now is exactly that. They aren’t just throwing a strop and wanting to fight because they are angry. They are standing up for each other and being ‘together’. Those are the foundations to a strong squad.
The only thing we are missing IS discipline, balance, intelligence, and maturity. But the idea is right. We want to see fight, we want to leave it all out there, we want to see tough tackles, we want to see our players being more aggressive and winning their individual battles and duels. Those are all essential elements to winning a game of football.
But we simply HAVE to channel is correctly and right now we are not doing that. But simply, that is just down to lack of maturity in general.
I’m not saying that Wesley Fofana is any more mature than some of our other players right now, and I am not saying that he is always going to make the right decisions in these moments. But what he did in the melee and scuffle at the end of the Brighton game for me was perfect.
This is how you deal with a fight brewing. It’s not shying away, it’s standing up for your team mates but in a different way. Adam Lallana was fuming but he knew he couldn’t retaliate because really, it was just Fofana celebrating a win with his team. This was smart and actually diffused that particular situation. This is called sh*thousing and this is the kind of ‘fighting’ we should be doing.
Look how Fofana and Badiashile just laugh at Lallana, making him look like the silly party. No anger, just happiness, and that annoys the opposition even more. Love it!
This is why I wont be too mad about our discipline stats right now. We all know that this team lacks maturity, but they will grow. And with growth comes balance and more intelligent decisions.
Of course, it can be harmful right now (the two sending offs), but over time they will learn to make better decisions and channel their energy, anger, and spirit better. By the way, we all get angry, we all have emotions, players (no matter their age) are just humans and can lose it and show their feelings – that’s fine.
We are in a position now where this squad still lacks a bit of (the correct) experience, I think we all know that and see that. So we have to work with what we have.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that older players (or Poch) don’t get sent off, don’t make stupid decisions, and don’t get involved with fights, of course they do. But a lack of maturity can be one of the main reasons why players do things like that.
But as I said in the title, the fight I am seeing from our players is absolutely a positive. And I’d rather see that than players not caring and just going about their business to earn their wages, like we have seen with recent Chelsea squads before this one was assembled. But I don’t see that with this squad, I see a togetherness and a unity, and that to me is very encouraging.
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