Their system lifted huge amount of players on another level. Yeah, they weren't great in EPL overall, but in CL they put some brilliant performances barely letting opposition any chances. As Pep admitted the problem when playing this Chelsea side is they are so compact and close with back 3 and 2 central midfielders while being in the possession, but at the same time they stretch you on each side with their wingbacks and Werner who is constantly running behind the defense centrally which is why it's so hard to press them. It is also wrong to say their goals come mostly from defenders as their wingbacks operate almost as wingers in attack. Now, it's not perfect and Pep finally solve the issue last time by marking Jorginho out of the game barely letting them any possession.
I'm glad we agree with each other. Chelsea last season, post Tuchel arrival, had ok league form. Fair to them, did well in the CL. But it's a cup competition, where variance is more of a factor. Based on that, everyone assumed they were league championship caliber. That's a status that is earned over an entire season, not based on the merits of a successful European FA Cup campaign.
So going into this season, Chelsea had everything to prove in terms of showing they had the ability to put in consistent performances week in week out, as City and Liverpool have demonstrated over the last 4 years.
Which is why I keep on going back to this idea that "Lukaku is disrupting an otherwise great system". We don't know if that system is great honestly, there isn't enough evidence. All I see is their attackers (sans James and Chilwell, I concede that point) misfiring, and their xG behind their other 2 competitors (one of which doesn't have an actual striker) That's not a Lukaku problem, that's a Chelsea problem.
In any case, Werner can obviously be upgraded. But, Lukaku was a bad fit for that amount of money imo. He just doesn't press that hard, nor he stretches the defence the way Werner and opens the space for those behind him (Havertz/Mount mostly). What they needed is Luis Suarez type of striker which is well, problem to find, but it is still wrong to spent so much on Lukaku who has so much limitations. I can only assume Haaland said no to them and they went with for him.
But we know Lukaku's strengths and weaknesses already. He's shown them for Inter and United. And he's definitely no Werner. So two questions:
1. Did Chelsea expect to slot Lukaku in and expect things would hum along as usual, without rejigging things to suit Lukaku's strengths better (like Conte did at Inter)?
2. Forget Lukaku for a moment. What elevated Chelsea to league favorites above Chelsea and City? Why have they been granted that status (which Lukaku is supposedly holding them back from now)? What is their true level without Lukaku? My contention is that it's behind Liverpool and City until proven otherwise.