by Nine points on the clock, Chelsea face Heidenheim, a German town of just 50,000 inhabitants, with five youths from the academy in their squad, 10 first-team regulars left at home and, for what it’s worth, not a full-back specialized.
And in truth, it probably won’t matter. At times during this Conference League group stage, the Blues looked like they could probably do without a specialist footballer.
But while this competition has showcased the strength of Enzo Maresca’s side, what with their £200million reserve forward line and all, it has also at times identified their weaknesses.
While Ben Chilwell remains on his heels until January offers another way out – the Englishman has played 45 minutes this season against Barrow and has not made the bench outside of the Carabao Cup – Maresca has not only three senior full-backs at his realistic disposal.
Among them, Reece James is sidelined with another hamstring problem and during his pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Maresca was vague on when he might return.
“We can’t say because we don’t know how long the recovery will last,” Maresca said. “He’s getting better and better every day. We’re waiting for him there, no rush.
That leaves only Marc Cucurella and Malo Gusto, who were left in London, in the lead ahead of Sunday’s Premier League encounter with Aston Villa, for which the latter is expected to be fit after missing last weekend’s win at Leicester due to illness.
This afternoon at the King Power, however, highlighted the fragility of Maresca’s current setup, with Gusto’s late-night lurgy forcing Wesley Fofana to act as a makeshift right-back and, presumably, the manager to alter his plans.
There was no customary midfield reversal, no Gusto-like run into the right pocket to appear like an overloaded No.10. Instead, Cucurella played as a conventional, overlapping defender on the left and Fofana largely left the attack to Noni Madueke on the right.
There’s nothing wrong with any of this, except we now know that’s not how Marecsa wants to play. The Italian has worked hard to carve out an identity for himself amid Chelsea’s confusion so early in his tenure and his full-backs are central to his plan.
What is clearly such a vital role to Maresca’s philosophy surely needs to be fixed when the transfer window opens.
Not every Premier League club is lucky enough to have two players competing in every position, but, for the most part, this Chelsea are.
The fact that what clearly plays such a vital role in Maresca’s philosophy is an exception must surely be corrected when the transfer window opens at the start of the new year.
Because, of course, Chelsea have options. Axel Disasi has been deputized at right-back this season (unsuccessfully, it must be said) and the versatile Renato Veiga can play just about anywhere.
Young Josh Acheampong could be re-evaluated, although for the moment his contract continues, as does his effective exile, although he has joined first team training in recent days.
But these are, ideally, only occasional (or Conference League) solutions; With James so unreliable in terms of availability, Chelsea run the risk that an injury to Gusto or Cucurella could suddenly make one of them first choice.
James’ hamstring issues have now reached the point where team planning almost has to assume the worst-case scenario. Chelsea have played 20 matches this season. Their captain was involved in four.
Even when fit, Maresca has already made it clear that the 24-year-old’s body cannot handle more than one game a week at this stage and that if Chelsea’s season goes as they hope, they will now have twice as much, almost to the end. at the Club World Cup in June and July. If they failed to strengthen for this race when they had the chance, and then lost James again, they couldn’t say they weren’t warned.
Coverage, at the very least, is necessary. A loan signing, even, which would give Chelsea time to commit more definitively in one direction or the other this summer.
For James himself, it would provide another six months to prove he can ultimately stay fit.
