That was a good and interesting performance. Some really good performances, some to give hope and a couple to confirm what we pretty well knew. Team performance was excellent, especially in attack, it was non stop from all over the pitch. Back 3 pretty shaky at various times, but improved. No surprises there. Midfield looked good all match,front 3 also good. Not the cohesion nor did they provide the front runners with the chances our 1st 11 would, but still some brilliant individual play.
So lessons learned? This is a very personal opinion, no doubt others will see things differently.
Bergovic did extremely well including an amazing reflex save. Ivan was poor initially, got skinned for speed a couple of times but did improve and got into the game later on. JT for mine, sad to say, was just a weak link. Slow, ponderous, missed tackles and caused a lack of cohesion at the back. Zouma played as if he had had a year out, and didn't gel with the central defender for some time. Funny that. But he got going, got better, showed some nice passing and grew into the game. Big plus.Cahill had to mop up for the others a couple of time and so played with a little less attacking spirit, but played his usual 100% game. Fabregas also played well, held things together and tried to help the front men at every chance. Chalobah was full of spirit, very skilful, and remarkably composed. Great display in a "new" lineup".
Loftus Cheek looked impressive, commanding and also started to gel with his teammates. Solid and encouraging. Michy never stopped, had a few positioning problems, scored a slick goal but maybe lacked the sort of service Costa gets with the "1st" Team. Pedro and Willian were immense, full of speed, skill, positional sense and plain class.
My final thoughts are all the kids have a big future and, played in the 1st team as individuals, are close to being totally ready. Ivan needs to play in a formation that is more traditional, probably elsewhere, and JT I believe, is no longer able to hold a place in our 1st 11.