This weekend I hit the jackpot: I was sent to the Chelsea vs Manchester City match with BBC Radio 5 Live. Unfortunately, the game did not live up to our high expectations.
The better team won, even though City were far from at their best. Chelsea weren’t bad, but they were a bit boring and lacked imagination, inspiration and creativity. Or to put it another way: Cole Palmer had a quiet game.
It was clear that they were relying too heavily on the young star, but then they bought players like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Pedro Neto to share the load this season.
City will improve once key players are back to full fitness, while Chelsea are still struggling to find their rhythm after two years and over a billion pounds of project time.
In these circumstances, it is often a good question who City would take from the current Chelsea team. Perhaps Malo Gusto as a reserve defender and of course Palmer – but that seems to be all.
City felt they had to let Palmer go last season, but I’m convinced Pep Guardiola didn’t want to lose him, which was evident from their Pep-initiated bromance at the end of the game.
The breaking news was that Raheem Sterling was dropped from the squad and a press release was immediately issued.
From Sterling’s point of view, he must have witnessed how Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah, among others, were ruthlessly dropped from the squad.
It is more likely that his removal marks the start of another heartless attempt at targeted elimination from the squad than that it is a technical decision proposed by coach Enzo Maresca.
While this may be a way to reduce the bloated squad, it does not provide a sense of cohesion to the group and can lead to a culture of fear and toxicity.
Can you really feel like part of the club when you know you’re just a tap on an accountant’s spreadsheet away from being unceremoniously kicked out?
If this is the fate of Gallagher, last season’s captain, what hope did Sterling, a decorated England international, and Chalobah, who joined the club at the age of eight, have of staying there?
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