FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE \u2013 Chelsea moved back into the top half of the Premier League on Sunday with a gritty 3-2 win at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, therein lies a bit of a problem.<\/p>\n The Blues aren\u2019t used to fighting for position in the middle of the pack. With an expenditure in excess of \u00a31bn since Todd Boehly and BlueCo took control of the club, it\u2019s an even more concerning prospect that they aren\u2019t competing for pole.<\/p>\n The Graham Potter experiment didn\u2019t even last a full season and Mauricio Pochettino is now the man entrusted with trying to mature a team full to the Cobham changing room-brim of young players.<\/p>\n It\u2019s quite a natural fit. Pochettino\u2019s best work in his career has come when guiding youthful sides, his worst when overpowered by a glamour project.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for\u00a0Pochettino, he\u2019s walked into a situation combining the worst aspects of both. Chelsea have been recklessly spending record sums on unproven players and assembled a squad that is still a long way away from shedding their adolescence. His increasingly fiery philosophy had only added more fuel to that inferno.<\/p>\n That\u2019s been made clear already this season and was best on display on Sunday against Brighton. Conor Gallagher \u2013 the stand-in captain for Reece James, who was sent off in last week\u2019s 4-1 drubbing at Newcastle United \u2013 received his own marching orders for two silly yellow-card offences.<\/p>\n Gallagher\u2019s red card could have derailed Chelsea \/ Mike Hewitt\/GettyImages<\/p>\n The Blues were cruising at 2-0 midway through the first half and created another great chance in the short time between Facundo Buonanotte\u2019s goal and Gallagher\u2019s dismissal.<\/p>\n Whatever Pochettino preached to his players at half-time worked. They were a team in desperate need of growing up fast and a dogged second-half display duly followed.<\/p>\n Chelsea\u00a0dropped off \u2013 not into a deep block, but they didn\u2019t exactly play the infamous Ange Postecoglou high-line either \u2013 and cut off the spaces for Brighton\u2019s tricky wingers to have much room for manoeuvre, shortened their margin for error.<\/p>\n The lighting-quick pace of Mykhailo Mudryk (or \u2018Ukraine Bolt\u2019 as he\u2019s known in some online circles) hurt Roberto De Zerbi\u2019s men on the counter, eventually forcing James Milner into a desperate last-ditch lunge and earning a penalty after a VAR check.<\/p>\n Joao Pedro eventually reduced the goal deficit back to one in added time and Chelsea needed another VAR review to have a penalty against them overturned, but this was a stark contrast to some of their other self-destructive performances in the Pochettino era.<\/p>\n With 11 men, Chelsea also displayed the characteristics of a typical Pochettino team and showed why they have historically competed well with possession-based footballing sides.<\/p>\n Brighton wanted a slow game from the off. They didn\u2019t want to be dragged into chaos. With their injuries, that\u2019s understandable, but even with their key players available it\u2019s merely a design flaw in De Zerbi\u2019s system when they do get drawn into firefights.<\/p>\n Chelsea were happy to cede possession but they were energetic and purposeful when they had it. Pochettino teams are meant to outrun you in fits of frenzy, to dominate you in physical duels. Crash, bang, wallop. Not in a route-one sense. but it\u2019s no surprise they scored two crashing headers from corners.<\/p>\n That is the blueprint for the Blues. If they don\u2019t lose the physical fight, they probably won\u2019t lose the game of football. Now they just need to stop letting their hot hearts turn into hot heads.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Conor](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/01hgrmktgx12pnshy5nv.jpg\" "\\"Conor")
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