Chelsea FC at West Bromwich Albion: Post-Match Reflections

Captain, Leader, Legend… History?
The major talking point from Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat to Man City last weekend was Mourinho’s decision to take John Terry off at half-time (which apparently was the first time Mourinho had made such a move in the 177 matches John Terry had started under him).

Many claimed the move was just another mind-game/strategy by Jose to indicate to the board that defensive re-enforcements were needed in a bid to push the club to make proactive steps to sign his preferred target, Everton’s John Stones. Some pundits even tried to make it look like Mourinho had shown a lack of respect for Terry’s years of service to the club (like he isn’t being paid big bucks to do the job!).

Sunday’s game against West Brom was the clearest indication that Terry’s substitution against Man City was mainly performance related! Zouma was clearly mandated to mark out West Brom’s lone striker, Salomon Rondon (I cannot express how grateful I am that Saido Berahino was not selected to play the game!), which he carried out to good effect (more on that later…). But the few times Rondon managed to isolate Terry, he set up the first goal and was later fouled by Terry when through on goal, forcing the referee to issue a red card to the Chelsea captain.

Chelsea have been criticised for their tendency to park the bus at the slightest opportunity, but it is clear from the start of this season that Mourinho is trying to get the team to play more expansively to utilise the team’s attacking strength and only use the tactics when really necessary. Playing expansively entails the Blues pushing higher up the pitch to close the distance between attack and defence.

Unfortunately, this is an area where Terry’s key weakness becomes exposed… his lack of recovery pace… and it has come to play in every game the Blues have played so far… Gomis against West Ham, Aguero against Man City and Rondon against West Brom.

Terry is a master at anticipating opposition players and his positioning helps him mop up developing chance situations before they become threatening. But he is only effective when the team backline plays closer to goal and he has adequate cover in front of him.

Since Fabregas isn’t defensively adept and Matic has become too cocky for his own good, Terry has been left exposed to the onslaught of attacking players and he has suffered a lot. The three match ban may just be the tonic to push Abramovich so sanction the signing of John Stones.

Next: Tactical Discipline