Manchester Metropolis claimed their first victory of their pre-season tour on Saturday after cruising to a 4-2 win over Premier League opponents Chelsea.
Metropolis have been lastly capable of put an finish to their pre-season loses after they travelled to the Ohio Stadium to face the Blues. New Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has claimed only one victory from 4 pleasant fixtures to this point, drawing with League One facet Wrexham and struggling defeats by the hands of each Metropolis and Celtic.
Maresca will hope to rewrite the tumultuous begin to his Chelsea profession when he welcomes again the likes of Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella forward of the upcoming season – who’re nonetheless lacking from the squad after reaching the Euro 2024 last in Germany.
Erling Haaland dominated the scoresheet on Saturday, whereas Raheem Sterling and Noni Madueke netted for the Blues – listed below are the three issues we realized from the Metropolis triumph.
Haaland, the Norwegian aim scoring machine, stays a continuing dependable menace in Metropolis’s assault. He fired three objectives into the again of Robert Sanchez’s internet, making it inconceivable for defenders to dam his path.
A summer time reset appeared to be simply the trick for Haaland, because the 24-year-old actually scored twice within the first 5 minutes to silence Chelsea earlier than they even had probability to implement Maresca’s techniques.
He is in midseason kind earlier than the marketing campaign has even begun, and if Saturday was something to go by, Haaland could also be one of the feared gamers within the league as soon as once more.
Chelsea have been capable of deploy nearly their first-team to face Metropolis, however nonetheless crumbled beneath the stress of the Premier League champions.
It appears Maresca has some critical work to do if he’ll flip this staff right into a critical outfit, moderately than the masters of their very own downfall. Towards Metropolis, Chelsea discovered themselves in harmful conditions, conceding objectives while enjoying out from the again.
Errors have been made – Tosin Adarabioyo allowed the ball to fall to Jack Grealish which led to Haaland’s penalty, whereas Moises Caicedo misplaced possession to permit the striker his second aim. Hopefully these are simply teething errors, however the Blues’ performances to this point could also be setting off alarm bells for Maresca.
Metropolis will probably be extremely grateful for his or her season opener towards Chelsea, if Saturday was something to go by.
Pep Guardiola will hope for a robust begin to the Premier League if he’s to as soon as once more carry the title, after beforehand predicting that the squad would possibly battle because of the absence of so lots of their stars in pre-season.
Metropolis thrived, even with out a few of their largest abilities, dominating Maresca’s facet and operating by their midfield with ease. When the likes of Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, Manuel Akanji and John Stones are again in motion, they might simply be thanking the Premier League for his or her light opener.