Where to even begin? Chelsea lost yet again last night, played off the park by an enthusiastically brilliant Leicester City squad 2-1. The Blues were again found wanting, and just when you thought they can’t hit another low, they found a way to do so. They and Manchester United are the two greatest enigmas in world football. United’s flaws are more evident, but how do you fix a problem like Chelsea’s?
The Foxes’ comprehensive beating of the Blues leaves them in 16th place in the Premier League, with nine stunning defeats already this campaign. The 3-0 capitulation at the Etihad; the 3-1 humblings from Everton, Southampton and Liverpool and now a defeat at the King Power to name but a few, teams come to Stamford Bridge expecting to leave with points, something previously unheard of. The rest of the league are laughing at Chelsea, with no apparent end in sight.
For all the criticism of United and their attack (having only scored 21 goals), it’s important to remember that the Blues themselves have only scored 16 goals whilst conceding 26. It’s not pretty reading. Diego Costa seems more concerned with starting fights rather than finishing off attacks. His conduct has embarrassed the club time and again — even if it has helped them gain a few points — and his future will increasingly come into question with only three goals in 1105 minutes of Premier League football this season.
Eden Hazard has become a shell of the player who dominated the Premier League last season, and has now not scored in over thirty seven hours of football. That is pitiful, when you also consider it’s almost Christmas and he has only two assists to his name and is not even contributing as much to the team’s general play. Willian is the lone bright spark in attack, scoring free kicks for fun and often carrying the attack and team when they have not fired. There’s no doubt they’d be eliminated from the Champions League if not for his contributions.
It is Hazard who has been the fulcrum of the team since he joined the club, but the Belgian is yet to take that next step and carry the Blues to win or through a tough period of games when they need him this season. That’s what the very best players in the game do. In fact if you take away his penalty total from last season (six) and 19 goals become 13. Alongside 11 assists (in all competitions) all of a sudden it doesn’t look quite as impressive as it did before. Hazard simply hasn’t reached the top level yet; the one saved only for the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
With Financial Fair Play restrictions eased somewhat in the past close season, Roman Abramovich might have to break out the chequebook to allow Jose Mourinho to rebuild a squad that only last season won the Premier League title. The club lacks a true replacement for the outgoing John Terry, who looks older with every performance. Gary Cahill is no better and Kurt Zouma is still too raw to rely on week in, week out.
Cesc Fabregas looks as if any interest he had in proving himself as a top level footballer ended with last season’s title win, whilst Nemanja Matic has been exposed this season and has not shielded the defence the same way he did before. Have Chelsea been found out, or are they perhaps complacent after a summer standing still in the market? The reality is, the answer is both.
Then of course there is Jose Mourinho himself. The Portuguese has humiliated himself and his club time and again this season, with press conferences bordering on that which you’d expect from a child after you’d taken away his favourite toy. Any goodwill he had built up since returning to England with the media and opposing fans has now gone, as everyone outside the club is now making fun of him. Fans have gone as far to create the Jose Mourinho excuse generator, such is the farcical nature of his interviews nowadays.
It might appear funny, but it’s a serious problem. In a money driven league and a rebuild potentially on the way, is Mourinho the man to lead it? He’s spent over €1 billion in the last decade alone, and to his credit has found great success doing so. However, he is in his third year (of his second spell) at Stamford Bridge and three year effect might be more than just myth. How else can you explain such a historic collapse: the worst by any defending champion in Premier League history?
So can you trust Mourinho with the money it’s going to take to get the Blues back on track? Nobody has the answer, and ultimately it doesn’t really matter because it’s Roman Abramovich’s decision to make and his alone. He’s shown the willingness to sack Mourinho before and the longer this crisis goes on the more he will have to consider doing it again. Dropping from first this time last year to 16th now is simply unacceptable, let alone from the end of last season.
It’s not good enough and it’s fair to say at this point that it might just be that the players have tuned their manager out, which, given his behaviour, is understandable; the same happened at Real Madrid. He’s thrown everyone under the bus this season except himself, so why would they show him any loyalty? Why would they want to go the extra mile for a manager who will sacrifice them to protect himself? There are so many questions that require answering with constantly ineffective and spiritless performances being put out weekly.
With Paris Saint-Germain looming in the Champions League round of 16, fans are naively dreaming of another run that would echo the club’s 2012 run when they won the competition despite finishing sixth in the league. Unfortunately, the sad reality is lightning doesn’t strike twice. 20 points behind in the league and in a position from which nobody has ever made it back into the top four, Chelsea have a lot to figure out, and they’re running out of time to do it.
