Chelsea FC v Southampton: Post-Match Reflections
Jose’s Blame Game
In his post-match press conference, Mourinho attempted to blame the referee for the defeat, citing Falcao’s blatant dive in the 18-yard box to win a penalty (for which he was rightly booked) as the turning point of the game. But if his head wasn’t so high up his a**, he would have realised that his decision to field Fabregas and Ramires as the cover for the back 4 was tantamount to pointing a loaded gun at his own foot!
Forcing Ramires to play as the deepest-lying midfielder brought his limitations to the fore as he lacks the positional discipline and passing ability to effectively protect the back 4 and create attacks from deep. He was nowhere to be found for Southampton’s first goal and all his attempted long balls from deep failed to reach a blue shirt. Playing him deep also meant that his major strengths (his energetic box-to-box running, pressing and long range shooting), which have made him Chelsea’s in-form player (along with Willian) could not be utilized.
Fabregas has also shown himself not to be tactically proficient defensively, which has made his ineffectiveness in the team even more pronounced as he has also been unable to re-enact the creative nous going forward that made him Chelsea’s go-to guy last season. Using such a weak central midfield core to protect a sluggish, aging backline (with the calamity prone Ivanovic manning the right side of defence), was a huge risk which back fired spectacularly.
In response to the boos he received for his decision to substitute Willian midway through the second half, he claimed that the Brazilian had suffered a bout of vomiting at half time, which made his decision to take off Ramires for Matic even more baffling. Why wasn’t Willian taken of at half time and replaced by Matic? To make matters worse, he then took the Serbian off just after Southampton’s final goal and replaced him with Remy in a bid to bolster the attack.
Next: Officiating