On the heels of another excellent performance from Trevoh Chalobah for Chelsea against Brentford on Wednesday night, the applause continues to shower him rightly so.
I’ve been used to seeing negativity and hate for Chalobah, but personally for me, I’ve always thought she’s been underrated, underrated, and disrespected by sections of the fanbase. Lately he has received unfair hate and criticism, but right now he has proven to be a key player for us.
Chalobah has gotten its fair share of undeserved hate recently, and I don’t even think it was bad at all, even when this hate was rife.
He had some moments and a spell where he made some rash decisions and gave the ball away too much, of course. But he has never performed poorly. I think under Thomas Tuchel, he was ignored too much and deserved more.
It was only this summer that we were talking about Chalobah leaving. But now, he has proven to be an essential part of this team again with Graham Potter, just as he was with Tuchel in the early days.
Based on current form, Chalobah to me would be the second starting center out of all of our options, just on current form and reliability right now.
Thiago Silva has obviously been world class and is still the first name on the team sheet in terms of defenders, maybe even the whole team. For me though, as of now and out of current form, Chalobah is next.
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Kalidou Koulibaly has obviously proven to be world class throughout his career. But at Chelsea so far, although we’re seeing him stabilize a lot more lately, he’s struggled at times, and that to me makes him less reliable than Chalobah at the moment.
Marc Cucurella has been similar to Koulibaly in that regard, so it would still be Chalobah on him at the back for now.
Wesley Fofana is going to be world class, but he looks a little raw at times and will naturally take some time to fully settle in and pick up the pace. So with that being said, Chalobah also hits him for now.
Don’t get me wrong, Fofana will soon become indispensable to Chelsea, of that I have no doubt. I’m not even saying he shouldn’t start when he’s fit, I’m just saying that outside of his current shape so far this season, Chalobah beats him as of now, for me anyway.
César Azpilicueta should not be more than a reserve option in my humble opinion, with the utmost respect to our captain.
That’s why I think Chalobah, in his current form and under the circumstances mentioned above, is our second most reliable pick at center right now and deserves to hold his spot on merit.
I even think he has a slim chance of getting a shout out from England at the World Cup. I think it’s unlikely, but certainly not impossible to happen.
He has become Mr. Reliable for us and that was emphasized again last night against Brentford in Silva’s absence. Chalobah was the calmest centre-back on the pitch for us and did his best to replace what Silva brings us.
He took us to another clean sheet through the heart and through the middle of our defence, and that wasn’t exceptional, his form has been excellent of late.
Graham Potter on Trevoh Chalobah after the Brentford match:
“He has entered and has not disappointed us. Again, she gives it her all. A difficult night for him with the central forwards that Brentford have. Try different but he resisted it well. A soldier.”
I think he deserves much more respect and is a better player than some people think he is. There’s no reason why he can’t now move on, get even better and go from being a rotation option to a regular starter for Chelsea.
