Chelsea FC fans must be going through mixed emotions while watching their team play in recent times. With the majestic Eden Hazard ripping apart defenses much to the awe of us fans, it is equally nerve wracking to watch the Blues defend against opposing teams.
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While a majority of top class managers in contemporary football rely on attacking football. Jose Mourinho is one of the rare ones who relies more on a defensive security rather than a free flowing gameplay. Mourinho teams are known to be extremely rigid and well drilled defensively. The Chelsea FC side of 2004 and 2005 and the treble winning Inter Milan side are the best examples of the Jose philosophy.
But the present Chelsea FC side, although 7 points clear at the top of the table and seem to be running away with the title, looks far off from what a typical Jose Mourinho team should be. Major defensive lapses, huge amount of space between the central defenders allowing space to run behind the defensive line are some of the common happenings which can be noticed in current Chelsea side from the past few weeks.
PSG scoring two goals from headers even with 10 men is one of the main examples which show that, while Chelsea are adapting to a new and much more attacking gameplay with the new attacking talents which they have at their disposal, in that process they are losing that defensive security and stringency which is resulting in the conceding of cheap goals. (Excluding Charlie Adam’s stunner)
There can be many reasons as to why suddenly Chelsea are lacking that defensive stability. One of the main reasons which I feel is that, due to the lack of rotation in the squad. The back four of Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry and Azpilicueta has hardly been changed all through the season. Yes, Cahill was replaced by Zouma when the Englishman was going through a dip of form, but the other three have been playing week in and week out. Especially, I have noticed that Ivanovic is going through a rough patch in terms of his defending.
He is spending more than half of his time in the final third of the pitch, while he is finding it difficult to track back when needed. Terry has been the best performer as a defender for me this season, but he is also on the wrong side of 30, which is resulting in him being a bit leggy in certain circumstances. Fast and agile forwards are able to run off him with considerable ease.
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Another case can be said regarding Thibaut Courtois and his tendency to come off his line which is resulting in him getting beaten in recent fixtures. You have give a huge applause and credit to Charlie Adam for a wonder strike from 65 yards, but also on the other hand you have to think as to what was the need for Courtois to be so far off his line even if his team aren’t under pressure.
A goal keeper of Courtois’s standard shouldn’t be beat from 65 yards. He is an excellent keeper nonetheless, and that triple save against Hull is the proof of that, but I think he is getting a bit complacent as he knows that he is Mourinho’s number one. Jose Mourinho should do with Thibaut, what Pellegrini did with Hart when the English goalkeeper was going through a bad phase last season. We have one of the best keepers in name of Petr Cech. Jose should make Courtois sit for a fixture or two and select Cech, just to make Courtois realize his own mistakes and come back stronger and sharper.
At this present moment, goals seems to be drying up for Chelsea, but I still feel that the attacking aspect isn’t the problem, but the main quandary seems to lie in the matter of how to protect the score line once the team is in the lead. Chelsea must gear up and tune their defensive shape otherwise they can face a nervy end in what is seeming to be a done and dusted title race.
Photos by @cfcunoffical (Chelsea Debs). On Twitter and at cfcunofficial.com