Outside of some silly fisticuffs between Levi Colwill and ex-Premier League hardman James McClean, 20 minutes of the most abject, boring football you’ve ever seen were followed by something a little more lively in the first half, with Chelsea even taking the lead thanks to a lucky bounce in the second phase of a corner. Set pieces were the only serious threat we posed, with Reece James also hitting the post with a free kick.
The second half began much like the first, but suddenly (yet again) a midfield mistake resulted in a goal for Wrexham, who took advantage of some sloppy defending: Luke Bolton finished simply at the far post.
And it only got worse from there, with Wrexham taking advantage of further poor organization and cheap errors to score a second, then nearly scoring a third in exactly similar fashion as we reached the final ten minutes.
In those ten minutes, Chelsea finally woke up and began to play. We got the equalizer, but a winner eluded us.
Overall, it was not a memorable contest, nor did it instill much confidence in what we were attempting to accomplish. There are no meaningful ideas in attack, no incisiveness in setup, and little organization in defense, which is severely exposed by any midfield turnover. Even as a preseason training practice, this was painful.
Still, things can only get better from here, right?
Carefree.
- First half lineup (3-4-2-1 possession, with James inverting into midfield): Sánchez | Colwill, Badiashile, Tosin |
- Lavia, James (c) | George, Nkunku, Chukwuemeka, Madueke | Guiu
- Second half lineup (also 3-4-2-1, with Gusto inverting): Bergström | Chilwell (c), W. Fofana, Acheampong | 4.
- Santos, Gusto | Sterling, Chukwuemeka, Ugochukwu, Ângelo | Broja.
- Nkunku and Ugochukwu scored goals, with an announced attendance of 32,724 people. The majority of supporters are Wrexham fans.
- Next up: Celtic, on Saturday, at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio.
KTBFFH