Pundit points to “naive” moment where 22.5 year old Chelsea team almost threw away all their hard work | OneFootball

Pat Nevin is no longer employed by Chelsea to write a glowing and positive blog every week, but he’s still full of praise for the current project.

There was some disappointment that the Blues didn’t manage to beat Arsenal at the weekend, continuing a run without a win against the top sides in the league this season, but in writing for the BBC’s Football Extra newsletter, Nevin took the positive angle on the game.

“Speaking of Cole Palmer, he and his Chelsea colleagues are growing up very quickly, even if they are not yet totally mature. The naivety for the ‘goal’ that Kai Havertz scored, but was then ruled offside, showed there are a few things to be learned,” Nevin wrote.

“Against Arsenal, the outfield had an average age of 22.5 years of age but they still stood toe to toe with last year’s runners-up, this is good news down at the Bridge. Developing maturity while not losing the spark of creativity and excitement that youth brings is a subtle job but Enzo Maresca seems to be all over it.”

Enzo Maresca with Cole Palmer and Joao Felix. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

Chelsea team just need time

It was a dreadfully naive moment, watching Havertz saunter in space right next to our goal and sneak the ball in, only for the offside flag to save us. But Nevin is right. Just because we’ve started the season well doesn’t mean we should let our expectations get too high, and doesn’t mean we should underrate the progress that we’re making.

We haven’t managed to beat a top team yet, but we’re really competing in games against the best now, which is a big upgrade on last year. There’s only so much a manager can do to accelerate the process of learning some of these things – time is what’s needed most of all.