My Chelsea FC Season 25/26

Blog 1: Chelsea vs Atalanta 1-2 at Bergamo on the 09/12/2026 Champions League group game. Dear reader,

As a Chelsea fan, life is hard these days. I am currently both still in love and in distress with this team! December, when will this be over?? This game was always going to be difficult! Atalanta has a great pedigree in Europe these days. They are the former Europa league champions; they are not Leeds basically! But why lose again, when we all know, you are capable of more! We beat Barcelona, PSG, Liverpool & ‘Arsenal’. Am I not supposed to expect a win here too?When is this rough period going to end? So many inconsistencies!

We’ve played better today, compared to last game, with more intention to create chances. We’ve been more aggressive in the middle. Caicedo is a ‘pitch’ of a player, the most important player of our team and it showed today that he makes the difference for us. His recovery prowess and capacity to also drive are key for our style. What a pity we will miss him again on this week end.

Captain James today was reminiscent of the player we saw against Arsenal. I was able to see his strength, confidence and desire to make things happen. Enzo played more forward, where we like him to be, and he was much better. Gittens finally showing some character, he is on the rise, hopefully he will have time to shine in our next games. Joao on the scoresheet, amazing!

Today we were tested in defence and midfield, it is now clear why we need higher profile players in the defensive positions. Not too much blame to Sanchez IMO, but no one can step up and lead! No one is capable of great defensive performances against top attacking oppositions, as we were used to with JT. Our opponents were not that dangerous, they showed up at sprints and still proved to be above measure for our defence. We need to be better organised and more intelligent at managing games.

Overall, we were beaten and I want to blame the manager. When the playing field is equal, it is the coach that makes the difference. He was found wanting today. His tactics did not help us. We need better game management too. However, for me, the team was okay today. If we were luckier, we could have won. James had the clearest chance to double the lead in the second half, if that had gone in, it would have been a smooth sailing end of the game, but the story did not end well unfortunately. I hope the next will be a win, fingers crossed.  Thanks for the read & see you next time.  Yours Owen. Thank you TNT sports for the highlights Blues Stunned In Bergamo 😳 | Atalanta 2-1 Chelsea | UEFA Champions League Highlights