Chelsea FC’s 2014/2015 Season In Perspective: The Negatives
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The Negatives: Lack of squad rotation
In spite of his obvious managerial brilliance, Mourinho has his flaws and one of them is tendency to put personal success over the good of the team. Chelsea have been recorded as the team that has so far featured the lowest number of players in the league this season. Mourinho has fielded just 23 players in the Premier League, with Ivanovic, Terry and Hazard having played every game so far. And even among the players who are considered as substitutes, only Ramires has played over 1000 minutes of football.
While this could be attributed to the fact that the team had suffered few injuries in the course of the season, the fatigue associated with the constant playing time was largely responsible for the drop in performances of key players in the second half of the season, with the lack of a winter break during the festive period also not helping matters. Matic, Fabregas and Oscar were the main players affected as they struggled to impact games as the season tailed off and it was left to Courtois, Hazard and Terry to bail the team out on numerous occasions.
Mourinho’s decision to sell Schurrle and loan off Salah to bring in Cuadrado (who has so far failed to make any major impact) also didn’t help matters as he further weakened an already stretched squad. So it’s no coincidence than Chelsea found it difficult to see out games after scoring first as the players could not maintain the momentum for the duration of games.
Fabregas continued his seasonal loss of form in the second half of the season, adding just 3 assists to the 15 he got in the first half, while Oscar found it difficult to impact games as he did earlier in the season. Matic was also not left out, as he found it difficult to deal with the responsibility of covering up for Fabregas’ defensive lapses on his own. Even Diego Costa was unable to continue the form that saw him score 10 goals in his first 9 games, although in his case, it was largely down to injuries.
Next: Elimination from F.A. Cup and Champion's League