Chelsea Tactics and Transfers: Win over Crystal Palace typifies season
Chelsea deserve to be in fifth place. Considering the way they have played this season, a spot above that would be a spot higher than they deserve.
Manchester City have been phenomenal. Manchester United have been lumberingly effective. Liverpool are getting dangerously better. Tottenham are the best they have been in a lifetime. Chelsea have been injured, timid, slow and inconsistent.
The Blues have lost matches to teams they simply need to beat in order to play in the Champions League. The truth is, this team (and they would never admit it, such is their bravado) does not deserve to represent England in the Champions League.
I have gone on and on about how the players are the problem, not Antonio Conte. Starting in 2002, Chelsea had an unbroken streak of qualifying for the Champions League. That ended in 2016. The Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard version of Chelsea could potentially miss the Champions League twice in three years.
That should be a black mark on each of their careers and those of the entire squad. Such is the disconnect between them and reality they will not see it that way, but it is the truth. It might not be their talent, but something is wrong.
Chelsea’s match against Crystal Palace showed that exactly.
On Saturday, Chelsea were able to beat the 18th placed team in the league. A team that has a grand total of six wins (one of those was against Chelsea) and 15 losses. If Chelsea were worth even half of their £224 million wage bill, they would have won this game by more. But this is the simple truth: They just are not very good.
They are mentally weak and ill-disciplined. There was a moment when the young Danish center back, Andreas Christensen, lost his concentration. Rather than hustling back into formation with his defensive partners he found it more important to have a strop about it. Only once he had finished his appetizer, main and dessert did he get back to doing his business.
Alvaro Morata should very well have been sent off for his childlike behavior and slapping the flag out of the referee’s hands. Hopefully he receives some retrospective punishment. For the good of him and the game moving forward, it is necessary.
Simply put, this is not the behavior of a team of champions. It is the behavior of a team that deservedly loses to Burnley on opening day, and several times since.
To only beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at home says everything that there is to say about this club at the moment. They are just not who they should be. It is a sad thing if only because it is likely the wrong people will pay.
The attitude that is the difference between good and great, memorable and historic, is what is wrong with this Chelsea side. That hint of something special that lives in the ether between moments that stand the test of time is simply not there. Few, if any, of this squad will ever find it. They probably celebrated the win against Crystal Palace when that is one that they should be winning in second gear. 2-1 is a joke.
They should be furious they did not score more or kept a clean sheet. 4-0 should be the scoreline and anything less should be unacceptable. But, again, they will not see that.
That is why they lay outside the Champions League. That is why none of them will be spoken of 60 years from now to grandchildren and mimed by young footballers in the streets of Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Saint Petersburg or Paris.
Antonio Conte is going to be held accountable for having trouble disciplining and moulding a squad that he has had no say in making. At this point, many years of negative reinforcement over their behavior.
Next: Chelsea's record at Camp Nou offers an odd brand of hope
2-1, at home, to Crystal Palace. It is what it is and it is not good enough. The Champions League would be better off without these boys next year.