Chelsea FC’s 2014/2015 Season In Perspective: The Negatives

Credit: CFC Unofficial https://www.flickr.com/photos/cfcunofficial/16614894858/

Elimination from F.A. Cup and Champion’s League

Chelsea’s exit from the Champion’s League in the first knock-out round was difficult to take because the team did not lose a single game in the tournament before getting eliminated. Due to some lethargic performances by key players, the team could only manage a 1-1 draw against a weakened PSG side in the first leg at the Parc de Princes when they should have killed them off.

As would become customary, the team scored first from an Ivanovic header, but then contrived to lose the lead a few minutes later due to some shambolic defending by Ivanovic and Cahill. That PSG did not end the game with the 3 points was largely due to the heroics of Thibaut Courtois, who made several outstanding saves to deny Ibrahimovic and Cavani.

And then in the second leg at Stamford Bridge, the team let the lead slip twice due to poor marking from set-pieces, with Ivanovic, Cahill and Terry being the culprits again. It was even made worse by the fact that PSG were forced to play for over 90 minutes with 10 men after Ibrahimovic was wrongly sent off in the first half of regulation time for an attempted tackle on Oscar. Chelsea’s over dependence on Eden Hazard was brought to the fore as the team found it difficult to make any headway in the attacking third due to the number of fouls committed on him by the PSG players.

But for me, Chelsea’s elimination from the F.A Cup by Bradford was the lowest point in the season. After going 2 goals up, the team suffered a second half melt down, spearheaded by the underwhelming Gary Cahill who was given a run-around by Jon Stead, allowing the Bantams to score 4 second half goals. What made it even worse was the fact that the defeat occurred at Stamford Bridge, a ground considered to be a fortress. It was even worse than the 5-3 defeat suffered away at Tottenham on January 1st (again after the team had taken an early lead).

Next: Disciplinary Issues