Young N Balling! The only other way is up for World Champions Chelsea.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

You were all of us, Andros Townsend. I sat awestruck, crazily impressed and glued to my sofa as I watched Chelsea comprehensively beat Paris Saint-Germain 3–0 with so much swagger in the Club World Cup final. I almost even forgot I had dinner going!

The stage was at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Enzo Maresca, the director, set his cast, comprising a 22.7-year-old average age squad — with Cole Palmer as the lead actor — on an impossible task: to take King’s Landing. Just kidding. It was to beat PSG. Although, considering how the current French and European champions have blazed through leaving almost everyone in their wake — conceding just one goal — discarding Real Madrid in the semis without breaking a sweat, and beating Bayern Munich with nine men, the task was analogous to taking King’s Landing — Daenerys Targaryen had a better chance though because of her dragons.

Such was the task in front of the young Chelsea team, and boy! Did they do it with much aplomb?! They even did it in front of a man who can be considered a Targaryen by hair, and he joined in the trophy lift!

Considering how nobody gave them a chance — a picture of the whole ESPN cast tipping PSG to win coming to mind — this was a shocking masterclass in tactical organisation, positional play, and mental preparation. This match had all the hype. It wasn’t because anybody expected much of a match — anyone that wasn’t a Chelsea fan or me expected Chelsea to be well beaten, there were even jokes about how many goals PSG would score and how there were fights in the PSG camp about who would score the most goals — it was because Chelsea fans are loud and are terrible hate-watchers, so imagine the joy in the hearts of Man Utd and Arsenal fans, especially, to now get to hate-watch Chelsea.

Even they would’ve been both shocked and impressed. Haters became fans at least for that night.

They did not just beat PSG. They dismantled them. They outthought, outfought, outplayed, and simply just out-wanted-it-more-than-them. Enzo Maresca, in his debut season at Stamford Bridge — might I add — had masterminded a performance for the ages.

Chelsea, under Todd Boehly, had become synonymous with confusion. A billion-pound transfer outlay had earned them little more than ridicule. There’s a popular meme of Chelsea being mocked for the options they have in their team after spending so much on buying young players who are still so far from their prime. My roommate even refers to them as the Interhouse Sport Team. But on Saturday night in New York, we didn't see a bunch of kids running around and representing the blue house; we saw Men in Blue, seasoned athletes, give us a world-class spectacle.

There wasn’t chaos. There was cohesion. There was clarity. There was structure. There was maturity. There was Gusto, Palmer, Caicedo, Reece James, the Pedros, Colwill, Chalobah, Enzo, Cucur-hair-lla, and very surprisingly, Robert Sanchez. Chelsea played like a team. They came of age.

I must talk about Maresca’s tactical brilliance. His tactical evolution from coaching and winning the Championship with Leicester just a year ago to tactically outclassing a seasoned coach like Luis Enrique in a cp final is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Chelsea lined up in their familiar 4–2-3–1, but as the game unfolded, it became clear this was no static setup. In truth, Chelsea morphed constantly between structures. Out of possession, they pressed in a compact 4–4–2. Palmer and Joao Pedro pinched in to protect the central areas and shield Caicedo and James, while picking smart moments to press PSG’s full-backs.

The press was synchronised like a Swiss watch. Palmer and Neto checked their shoulders constantly before engaging, ensuring full-backs Gusto and Cucurella were in position to pounce. This pressing web caused PSG to repeatedly turn the ball over, forcing them to sometimes launch hopeful long balls that Chelsea easily mopped up. PSG are the most elite team I’ve seen in a while in terms of relativism. The players are not in themselves all match-deciders, but when allowed to relate to each other, they're breathtaking. Maresca ruined that all over the pitch, and so PSG had no answer.

What made it all work was the bravery of the centre-backs. Colwill and Chalobah stepped high, following runners into midfield — Fabian Ruiz, Dembele, even Kvaratskhelia. It’s a high-risk approach, but Chelsea rotated seamlessly, passing off markers and maintaining coverage.

In possession, the Blues transformed into a fluid 3–2–5. Gusto pushed up like a right winger, Palmer drifted centrally, and João Pedro roamed the channels, always available. Even Sanchez, often a scapegoat, played like an auxiliary centre-back, calmly inviting PSG’s press before firing precise diagonals to Gusto or Palmer. He had a Petr Cech-esque performance.

The first goal was a direct result of this orchestration. Sanchez launched a ball to Gusto, who beat Nuno Mendes, squared it, and Palmer slotted home. The second came from a similar pattern — baiting the press, Colwill sliced a beautiful pass through the lines to Plamer, and Palmer disguised a pass to the overlapping Gusto to fool Vitinha, faked a shot to fell Beraldo, before slotting in a low finish to Donnaruma’s right. The third goal was a thing of beauty: Gusto’s decoy run froze Mendes, Palmer dissected the defence with a pass, and Joao Pedro delivered a composed lobbed finish.

Even when PSG found joy down the wings, Chelsea fell into a proactive 5–4–1 mid-block, with Palmer tracking back and Neto doubling up. The team’s tactical flexibility allowed them to shift from high press to low block without losing intensity.

Looking ahead, though, winning the Club World Cup was an impressive achievement — but now, Chelsea must build on it. Consistency should be the next challenge for this young side. The likes of Man City and Liverpool are known to have that consistency, and it has seen them win league titles — Liverpool being current champions — and Maresca’s side must quickly morph into that consistent force to chat to those sides.

To achieve this, I believe they still require three key areas: creative midfield depth to cover for Palmer (Morgan Rodgers of Aston Villa is being touted), a long-term partner for Levi Colwill, and a cover for Marc Cucurella at left-back. The squad must be trimmed — no more room for passengers. Most importantly, recruitment should reflect Maresca’s tactical vision, not market trends. They have already had Estaveo, Gittens, Pedro, and Delap come in during this transfer window (the latter two even joining and contributing to the CWC triumph), but their business shouldn't end there.

Chelsea’s victory wasn’t just a night to remember. It was a template.

The Premier League. The Champions League. The domestic domination. The expectations. The squad knows it, and players like Reece James, Palmer and Colwill have spoken about it.

This team has the markings of something special. They’re all still so young, so this is only the beginning. A Chelsea fan said, “It's gonna be scary, but not for us.” I couldn’t agree more.