These are dark, inexplicable days for Chelsea fans. As the Premier League goes into an international break, it could not have come at a better time for the Blues following another shock defeat at home, this time a 3-1 loss to Southampton. To the sheer glee of the fans of the other 19 clubs in the league, Chelsea currently sits 16th in the Premier League table, having already lost more matches this season after only 8 fixtures than it did during their entire title-winning campaign. So as we have a few more days until the next match, what better time to look at what has gone wrong and what Jose Mourinho can do to fix this surprisingly-challenged squad.
Players’ Loss of Form
Amazingly, Chelsea’s best five to six players from its title-winning team have all been, how do I put this nicely...pretty crap this season. It starts at the back as Branislav Ivanovic (right back) and captain (leader, legend) John Terry (centre back), both of whom were voted to last season’s Premier League Team of the Season, have struggled immensely during the first part of this season and have seemingly aged half-a-decade over the summer. Terry has struggled to keep up with the quicker center forwards during the first part of the season and his lack of form led Mourinho to send Terry to the bench for a few matches. Although the fans were chanting for Terry’s return after the club’s away defeat to Porto, his return against Southampton was anything but triumphant. Terry was badly outplayed and outmuscled for the Saints’ second goal by Sadio Mané. So, perhaps the fans are not as smart as they think they are.
Ivanovic has consistently had players on the wing dashing past him with ease, making him a tremendous liability on the right side of Chelsea’s defense. And yet Mourinho continues to put him out there, even elevating him to captain when Terry is on the bench. The Serbian has also not been nearly as effective going forward this season, as his crosses have failed to connect as well as they did in years past. Ivanovic’s struggles have been the most high-profile of all of the Chelsea players so far this season.
Satna Clause Beard or a sign of Ivanovic's rapid aging? Photo: metro
Moving to the midfield (sadly we’re not done yet), the anchor of the midfield last season was the dynamic partnership of Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas. Matic was the defensive stalwart who not only protected Chelsea’s back four, but allowed Fabregas to push forward and thread the needle with passes to Diego Costa, making Cesc the league leader in assists. This season, both players have been a shadow of their former selves. Matic has lacked the pace and physicality to impose his will in the middle of the pitch and Fabregas’s late season struggles have carried into this season. Fabregas looks like a completely different player and his lazy passes and defending have cost Chelsea on numerous occasions this season. He repeatedly fails to track back or cove on set pieces and gives away the ball far too easily, allowing the opposition to spring on the counter. Yet much like Ivanovic, Mourinho continues to send out the Spaniard match after match despite his appalling form.
This is really funny, but painful. Photo: Twitter
And finally, Chelsea’s two best attackers, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, have also failed to impress this season. Costa’s been more famous for his histrionics on the pitch than his goal-scoring and Hazard, last season’s Premier League Player of the Year, has been a ghost this season. He has yet to score a Premier League goal and has not taken over matches this season as he did in years past. Perhaps he is struggling under the weight of the expectation that he will take his place alongside Ronaldo & Messi as a truly elite player, but whatever the reason, Hazard’s lack of form has been devastating to Chelsea’s season.
So to summarize, their defense, midfield, and forward attacking options have all been sub-par. Other than that, they’re great.
Thibaut Courtois’s Injury
This has gone under the radar, but Courtois has been badly missed between the posts for Chelsea. While Asmir Begovic is a solid keeper, he is not nearly on the level of Courtois. While we will never know how many goals Courtois could have kept out, it is reasonable to assume that he could have stopped a few of them which is enough to make a major difference in Chelsea’s fortunes. While he is apparently making good progress in his rehabilitation, he is expected to be out at least another six weeks, which is devastating news for Chelsea.
Managerial Inflexibility
While everyone seems to focus the blame for Chelsea’s struggles on “the Special One,” it is hardly his fault that so many of his top players have inexplicably lost form so far this season. But as my bitter sarcasm above notes, he can be criticized for continuing to send out the same players match after match in the same formation. Although many of Chelsea’s promising young players are out on loan, they do have Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Kenedy, Baba Rahman, and Papy Djilobodji, among others, on the first-team squad.
Although [Mourinho has promised that Loftus-Cheek will start the next match against Aston Villa, it is particularly frustrating that Mourinho will not give Baba Rahman a start at left back, which would allow Cesar “Dave” Azpilicueta to move to his natural position of right back, sending a clearly overmatched Ivanovic to the bench. Mourinho claims that Rahman is not ready to start in the Premier League, but he made 31 appearances in the Bundesliga last season, so how much time does he really need to get acclimated? And could he really be any worse than what we have seen so far on the pitch???
Mourinho has also so-far resisted the urge to tinker with his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation except when Chelsea is behind and he has to throw on additional strikers. In his previous stint with Chelsea, Mourinho utilized a 4-3-3, so given the struggles this season, perhaps pulling out an old strategy could do the trick. By playing Loftus-Cheek, Oscar, and Matic in the middle three, with Hazard-Costa-Willian/Pedro up front, it could open up the midfield and attacking options that have so far been lacking. I’m not much of a tactician (my results on EA Sports’ FIFA franchise sadly speak for themselves), but even I can tell that what the club has been doing so far this season has not been working.
So what does it all mean?
Perhaps it’s the optimist in me, but I do not expect Chelsea to continue to hover around the relegation zone for the entire season. But, it would be nice if the announcers could stop referring to how these results affect Chelsea’s “title challenge.” Stop it. It is early, but past history indicates it will take an incredible run just for Chelsea to finish in the top 4 to secure Champions League football next season.
It has been such an odd season for Chelsea fans: given I went to the University of Virginia and support the Washington Redskins and other DC sports, I count, nay, DEPEND on Chelsea to be my source of positivity in my sports fandom. Anytime the Redskins have had more bright spots than Chelsea in a season...you know something is rotten in the State of West London.
Hopefully Chelsea’s players will turn it around and begin to resemble the gentlemen that won the title last season. And if they do not, then hopefully Mourinho will begin to give the younger players a shot to prove they can be the next great generation of Chelsea superstars. Either way, we will all be watching.
Follow Mike Smith on Twitter @thefootiegent
The words describing Chelsea’s struggles came all too easily for this True Blue Supporter.
