With the season all but ready to start this weekend, many soccer pundits predict it is going to be one hell of an exciting roller coaster ride of a season for Premier Leagues fans and for football across the globe.
There have been major managerial changes for a number of Premier League teams with the most interesting ones being across the top three EPL teams. These managerial changes should give Arsene Wenger and Arsenal the edge in the title challenge, but most pundits have tipped Chelsea to win the the title come May thanks to the return of the ”Special One”, Jose Mourinho.
Jose Mourinho celebrated his return with some decent youth signings in Marco Van Ginkel and the versatile Andre Shurrle. The addition of experienced goal keeper Mark Schwazer is a clear indication of the manager’s undeniable hunger to wrestle the PL title from Manchester back to West London. The manager has also decided to to send Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne back on loan, though he see them as a part of his long-term plans.
The current Chelsea squad has strength in numbers to compete in all competitions. I have been following the club’s pre-season tour of Asia and America closely, where the team have played seven games,three in Asia and four in America, recording six victories and one defeat. The manager was trying players in different positions in attack, midfield and defence, switching tatics from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 in matches and in different games.
The strenth of this Chelsea side is the midfield, specifically the attacking midfield where the likes of Oscar, Juan Mata, Edin Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Victor Moses and Shurrle will be going head-to-head for the three attacking positions behind the striker in the Boss’s favourite 4-2-3-1 system. This creative attacking trio will be tasked with creating chances for the team from free flowing attacking football, which they have shown glimpses of in our various pre-season games.
The Manager also employs a traditional number 10 behind the the striker and a right footed winger playing on the left who has the freedom to cut in on their stronger foot and a left footed winger on the right who will also cut in onto his favourite left foot. Mourinho as we all know, likes to have a very compact and tactically disciplined back four with two midfielders sitting infront of the back four to give them the much needed protection – one been a central defensive midfielder and the other a deep lying playmaker. Chelsea strength clearly lies in the attacking midfield where those little men on their day will cause defences problems and make things happen for the team.
Since Didier Drogba departed the bridge last summer after what was a successful finish to the season, Chelsea have struggled to replace him. Fernando Torres has been a shadow of what he was in his Liverpool days and January import Demba Ba has not lived up to expectation. This is a position Chelsea is currently very weak at and the manager’s pursuit of Wayne Rooney despite Manchester United insisting he is not for sale proves it all.
Despite so many chances created by the three amigos at midfield, we have lacked a lethal striker up front to finish them off, which makes the team struggle to score goals against top class oppositions who are well oraganized – just like we saw in the pre season game against Real Madrid.
The Manager hasn’t given up on Rooney, so time will tell whether that position will be strengthened for the start of the season. I think that is the one element preventing Chelsea from being the out and out title favourites. Until then I still believe the team is weaker in that position than any other.
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