Potential Chelsea FC Lineups for 2014/15

Jul 12, 2012; London, UNITED KINGDOM; Aerial view of the Stamford Bridge stadium. The venue is the home facility for the Chlesea football club of the English Premier League. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

Now that Jose Mourinho has stated Chelsea FC will no longer be active in the transfer market, it’s time for everyone’s favorite pastime: deciphering where and what players Chelsea FC will field to start the 2014/15 season.

If you polled 100 supporters you could very well get 90 different starting lineups for Chelsea, based on formation and their own beliefs of where players fit best.

Here I’m going to put on my tactical thinking cap and detail what a few formations could look like for Chelsea next season, based on our recent purchases and the formations Mourinho deployed last season.

4-5-1
—————–Courtois—————–
Azpilicutea—-Cahill—-Terry—-Luis
——————Matic——————–
———-Fabregas——-Oscar———-
Willian———————Hazard—–
——————Costa——————–
4-2-3-1

—————–Courtois—————–
Azpilicutea—-Cahill—-Terry—-Luis
———-Matic——-Fabregas———-
Schurrle——-Oscar——-Hazard—–
——————Costa——————–

Unlikely, but possible

4-4-2 Diamond
—————–Courtois—————–
Azpilicutea—-Cahill—-Terry—-Luis
——————-Matic——————-
Willian———————Hazard—–
——————-Oscar——————-
———Torres———Costa———-

I’m hopeful that this season we’ll also see some youth players in the first team for some matches, most likely in the League Cup or FA Cup against lower league teams.

Some players we are most likely to see include Marco Van Ginkel, Nathan Ake, Kurt Zouma, and Mohamed Salah, who are all listed as being on the first team on the official Chelsea FC website.

While Chelsea FC has a system of sending young players on loan, Mourinho hinted the club will also try to bring three or four young players into the first team this season saying

"“We also want to bring to the first team, three or four under-21s, we are going to develop players and are happy with this balance we have.” Jose Mourinho"

I’m hopeful this isn’t just a smokescreen, because I truly believe the Chelsea Academy can produce some excellent youngsters for Chelsea, not just Vitesse Arnheim.

UTC

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