Chelsea have had a tough start to this season, there can be no doubting that.

The fixtures themselves were tricky, and the context made them even more difficult.

The Blues had more players at Euro 2020 than any other team, and then had the UEFA Super Cup to contend with soon after. Some players were still on holiday when the competitive schedule began, let alone in preseason, let alone up to speed and familiar with their new teammates.

Thomas Tuchel won’t want to use those excuses, but it’s clearly been a major issue. Given there have been two international breaks in the young season already, and given his biggest transfer of the summer wasn’t completed until mid-August it’s fair to say that the Chelsea boss simply hasn’t had the time on the training field with these players to get them working well together yet – a pretty astonishing fact given it’s now mid-October.

Strong at the back; weak in attack

The defensive solidity that the former PSG coach was able to install right from the off upon his arrival last season has remained – if anything, the team look stronger than ever at the back. Even with Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger and Reece James out for the game against Brentford on Saturday, the Blues kept a clean sheet.

The real issue so far has been with attacking play, and that remains a major concern for the team. Scoring goals and creating chances was this team’s only real weak point once Tuchel was in charge last season, but it was easily excused. The squad was unbalanced, there was no top striker in the side, and the manager hadn’t had much time to get his ideas across.

Now we’re 9 months down the line, and Romelu Lukaku has been signed to score the goals the team lacked last season. There’s a wealth of attacking options

If you were going to place a completely no deposit free bet on where the Blues finish this season, you’d still back them to come close to winning the title. They’re top of the table as we approach November, after all. But without improving in attack, they won’t come anywhere close to it.

The ease with which Manchester City and Liverpool create chances is in stark contrast to Chelsea’s struggles going forward. This time, people aren’t blaming Timo Werner, like they were a year ago. There aren’t chances being missed; just a lack of chances. After a bright start, where he scored 4 in 4, Lukaku has yet to net again – in fact, he’s barely had a shot since.

The blame has to fall on the creative players behind the strikers now, rather than the forwards themselves.

Mason Mount and Kai Havertz have looked exhausted since returning from a busy summer, while Hakim Ziyech has continued to struggle, despite plenty of chances.

Callum Hudson-Odoi has not been given as many opportunities, but he’s also hardly forced his manager’s hand in the games where he has started. Werner has been tried up front with Lukaku in the last two games, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much to help either of them.

Formation issues

Some fans are already suggesting that Tuchel’s 343 has reached the end of the road. According to them, a system that plays 3 central defenders, two defensive minded central midfielders, plus two wing backs, will never be able to create chances in attack as fluently as more dynamic systems.

There is perhaps an element of truth to that, but it’s by no means that simple. Formations don’t tell the whole story, and there’s no reason we can’t play more aggressive football in this same setup. With the three central defenders covering, there should be plenty of license for our wing backs – who can both attack well when given the chance – to attack.

Our centre-mids should also be able to bomb on regularly, knowing that there are plenty of spare bodies staying back to cover them. As it stands, the problem is getting those players floating behind Lukaku, whether it’s Mount, Havertz, CHO, Werner or Ziyech, to link up with the Belgian.

But there’s no need to give up on that happening yet. There’s been so little actual training time since the striker arrived, and so many disruptions of various kinds, that we can still expect plenty of improvement there.

The good news

The good news is that despite all these issues, we’re top of the league, without having played well for more than a few minutes here and there. This whole team is getting results and showing its resilience despite their lack of fluency, and there’s a definite sense that they can win it all if they can click going forward.

That may involve losing some of the defensive solidity we’ve relied on so heavily, but that’s just a risk we will have to take if we want to go to the next level.