1. Hazard has higher levels to reach!
Wow. What a stunning goal that was from Eden Hazard yesterday. On the back of positive comments stating that he performed better than Ronaldo, Hazard showed unbelievable talent yesterday to run past four Barcelona players and slot past Ter Stegen.
Hazard is outstanding. That is something we did not learn yesterday. However, what we learn on a gamely basis is that Hazard has even more to offer and even higher levels to reach. His desire is to be a Ballon d’Or winner and if he adds more goals to his game he could well do it this season!
2. Kenedy is a prospect!
None of us knew anything of Kenedy until last night…that has now changed after an excellent debut! Kenedy showed the lot yesterday! Composure on the ball, willingness to track back, physical strength…I could go on! He was unfortunate not to score yesterday when he tracked down Ter Stegen and showed maturity beyond his years when he stopped Suarez from scoring an almost guaranteed goal.
What is good to hear is the fact that Mourinho wants to keep him. He is confident that the problems surrounding a possible work permit will not arise and that he can join us for the coming season. For me, it was one of the most promising debuts in recent years. Again, it is important to manage expectations but with the likes of Kenedy and Troare showing real promise, it is understandable why Mourinho doesn’t feel the need to pursue a big name signing. Our fans seem to suffer from conflicting desires. Half of the time the fans are wanting to see young players progress, but then they are demanding big signings. The latter harms the former wish.
Trust In Mourinho. Does he often get things wrong?
3. Despite Cech’s departure, our goal is in safe hands.
In simple terms, no other team could happily (ok, willingly) see a talent like Cech leave the club, but with performances like last night, seeing Courtois play like he did, shows just why we could! Cech is a legend at the club and has protected our goal with such quality for a decade. I saw some fans worry that Thibaut’s standards may drop but yesterday could put those people at ease. He could do nothing about the goals scored but the number of saves made in that first half, particularly from Suarez, were outstanding and it just goes to show that our goal will be protected by another top quality keep for the forseeable future!
4. Zouma is a beast…and can play anywhere!
Ok, so we know fine well that Zouma is a beast and he showed it again yesterday against one of the world’s best strikers (if not the best!) Yesterday also showed us that he can play anywhere. Last season he played at centre back and was also placed in a holding midfield role both in the Capital One Cup final and against Manchester United. In the past two games he has played across the back four and looked comfortable. Kurt Zouma really is a machine and truly is a Marcel Desailly in the making!
5. We have a number of good penalty takers!
Against both Barcelona and PSG we won on penalties. Over the two shoot-outs only Cuadrado missed his kick. What we did see was a number of good penalties! Hazard, Falcao, Oscar, Willian, Ramires and of course Courtois! Both games meant little but it did fill us with confidence for the season ahead. Our penalty record with Mourinho is not great.
However, all of our players stepped up and finished with confidence and the only person that I thought would miss, did. What the past two games have also shown us as well is just how good Courtois is at penalties. Whenever he faced penalties last season I never felt that confident but over the past two games he has got close to more than two-thirds of the penalties he has faced. Who knows, come the 28th of May at the San Siro, he may be our hero…what a thought that is!
Thanks for reading and Up the Chels!!!
