It’s much easier for anybody to criticize the Chelsea team now after a streak of poor performances. I will not go into how bad our players are and what could have been simply because it is the same set of players that got us the double last year. I have faith in the ability of our stars to do well. But yes, even I will admit that the league title is definitely out of our hands and we must fight for a champions league qualification for the next year, while trying to go as far as possible in the two competitions we are still alive in – the FA cup and the Champions League.
It is rightly said that to be at the top you need to invest more and more money. You need to buy the right kind of players. One example I always come across is a Juventus manager making major changes to his team even after winning the league. You need to induct new faces in your team. It need not be wholesale changes like Real Madrid or Manchester City does, but something more like Barcelona bringing in David Villa, or Manchester United buying Javier Hernandez. Chelsea has failed miserably in this respect.
Back when Roman Abramovich took over the club, he infused over 100 millions to build up a team. Even today we have almost the same set of players. And this summer, a few of them were allowed to leave. While that was a good move to let older players, who have huge pay checks and play lesser, to move on, the failure was in not covering up with good substitutes. Caravalho, Ballack, Deco, Joe Cole were all left out. Caravalho was Terry’s partner at the back most of the last season. Mourinho plays him as his preferred defender even now. And who did we get to cover up for the experienced defender? Well, we put our faith in the young Bruma. He might be a promising young lad, but you cannot expect him to replace Caravalho. And with Alex injured, Ivanovich has to play at center – he was playing right back earlier. And if Terry or Ivanovic decide to rest, we are forced to bring in Bruma.
If we care to look at the midfield, you’ll find Lampard, Essien, Mikel, Ramires, Benayoun and Zhirkov. I think this is a good enough midfield. Sadly though, Benayoun and Zhirkov have been sidelined for long period with injuries and Ramires hasn’t yet come to terms with the physical style of play in England. He gets dispossessed very easily. And when Lampard was out as well, we were forced to bring in McEachren.
The point I am trying to highlight is that compared to the bench strength of last year, we hardly have any war hardened campaigners this season. Considering the financial stability and a good youth system to feed promising young lads that the club is aspiring for, this was to be expected. Carlo Ancelotti must have been ready to see a couple of players injured, but to have Terry, Alex, Lampard, Zhirkov and Essien all on the treatment table at the same time was improbable to think of. Unfortunately, it came to that. And to make matters worse, we learn later that during those days Drogba had been playing with malaria.
Given all the injuries, a few losses is acceptable. Manchester United drawing a lot of matches played in our favor. But what hurt us later was a loss of form of these star players. I suppose in sports self belief is very important. When you are one to one with the goal keeper, you need to believe that you can put the ball past him. This is what is missing in our strikers right now. Malouda, Drogba, Anelka (that he should be kicked out is a whole different story), Sturridge and Kalou all fail to finish. Our mid field is doing relatively well enough to have lots of possession, but it’s the final third where we fail. And the only way to correct this is to go out, try to score some goals and get the confidence back.
A right blend of youth and experience is the key to success. Until recently Chelsea were the pensioners. This is the first time they have really tried to bring in younger players from their youth academy into the top flight. There are bound to be difficult days during the transition period. But once done, we shall be able to find a system like Manchester United’s and get things working smoothly. Until then we need to be patient. Look at Arsene Wenger’s team. For quite a few years now have they gone without any trophy, but the effort of drafting in youngsters is paying dividends now. Not only have they got a youthful team who are damn quick at counter attack, they also have made financial profits in the previous season.
So instead of calling for sacking or making some drastic change, we need to have patience and put our trust in the current manager. He has won the Champions League with Milan and got the double in his first year in charge at Chelsea, he knows the players very well and he surely is the right man to pull us out of the slump.
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