As West Brom went 2-0 to the good, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher hit the nail on the head. After Chelsea tweeted ‘Goal for West Brom. Robinson again,” the former Liverpool and England defender took aim at the Blues. He quote tweeted and wrote: “Exactly the same type of goal you tweet about every season!”
He was right. To an extent at least. This was a the kind of calamitous performance we’ve seen before from Chelsea under Frank Lampard.
It brought back bad memories of their 3-0 defeat at Sheffield United in July, but this was indeed worse.
The Blues were much better after the break and showed desire to fight back to get something from the game through Tammy Abraham’s later equaliser. But this was a reality check to say the least for Lampard and his players.
West Brom came into this clash bottom of the pile, having conceded eight goals. They’re among the favourites for relegation having come up via a second-placed finish in the Championship.
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The Chelsea boss has spent heavily this summer but given the problems his side faced last season, there are two questions that need answering.
Why was a new goalkeeper not a top priority? Why was 36-year-old free agent Thiago Silva considered the answer to their problems at centre-back? Both should have been addressed at the beginning of the transfer window.
Instead, Lampard has found himself trying to shoehorn Kai Havertz into his side alongside the likes of Mason Mount, something that has been largely ineffective so far in the Premier League.
There is an even a valid argument that Chelsea would have been better off spending that £72million on their defence.
Malang Sarr was also brought in but the French prospect has been overlooked and is likely to leave on loan.