Let's be honest. Chelsea's 0-0 draw with Sevilla on Tuesday was pretty bad. Both sides were pretty underwhelming in attack and rarely looked like scoring, as you'd probably guess from looking at the scoreline.
With Chelsea looking so limp, plenty of fans have hopped on social media to aim a dig at Frank Lampard's setup, but the reality is that setup is everything supporters have been crying out for ever since the boss arrived last summer.
We all know just how bad Chelsea's defence has been over the past 18 months. It's been infamously poor. Before Tuesday, we'd seen about 20 minutes of defensive positivity since August 2019, but we got 90 minutes of that against Sevilla.
Lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Chelsea managed to limit Sevilla to just five shots on target all game and rarely looked like conceding against exactly the kind of side who would have picked the Blues apart last season.
At full-back, Reece James and Ben Chilwell were both fantastic, but the biggest boosts came with the return of goalkeeper Édouard Mendy and centre-back Thiago Silva, both of whom missed the weekend's 3-3 draw with Southampton.
With Kurt Zouma clearly feeling a little nervy, Silva did his best to keep the Frenchman composed, using that unparalleled experience that Chelsea fans had been dying to see ever since he joined from Paris Saint-Germain during the summer.
One moment which may have flown under the radar came late on. It was a Chelsea goal kick, and Silva turned to Mendy in goal and told him to send the ball long, and the Senegal international followed instructions.
It's an insignificant moment in the grand scheme of things, but it's an indication of the game management skills which Lampard has publicly confessed Chelsea lacked. After the Southampton game, the boss went as far as to suggest (via Goal) that the Blues ignored his desire to play long and tried to stick to their short-passing style, unable to judge what tactic was needed in the moment, and it cost them.
Southampton's high press swarmed on Chelsea as they tried to play the ball out from the back, which ensured the Blues remained under constant pressure until they eventually conceded the equaliser. There was no respite.
Against Sevilla, who are also pressing hard, that didn't happen. Chelsea learned from a mistake.
That's progress.
Sure, as far as an overall performance goes, it wasn't that great. The lack of attacking flair was a little concerning at times, but Chelsea have nothing to prove at that end of the pitch. They'd scored 20 goals in just seven games before Sevilla came to town. This was clearly just an off night for the forwards.
The defence, however, do have a lot to prove. Fans have been begging for some form of improvement at the back, and they got it on Tuesday.
It's no coincidence that Chelsea's two best defensive performances of the season - the 4-0 win over Crystal Palace being the other - have come with both Silva and Mendy in the starting lineup. The Blues' defenders look delighted to play alongside somebody with Silva's experience, while playing in front of a goalkeeper who doesn't inspire a state of near-constant fear obviously has its perks too.
Lampard must now use this performance as the baseline for every match going forward. This is how his team must defend. It's just a question of figuring out how to balance that with the free-flowing attack we've seen from his side as well.
Chelsea were never going to be the finished article at this point in the rebuild. With so many new players, it's just a case of letting them gel. Fans need to see proof of progress, and they got that against Sevilla.
For more from Tom Gott, follow him on Twitter!
Source: 90min
