Chelsea’s season has been an absolute rollercoaster. Highs and lows all along, but mostly lows after the winter break. The team’s performances and results have been far off from the levels expected.
Chelsea’s 2018/19 campaign has been more about individuals than the team. Excellent performances by certain players and vile performances by others. Egos hindering decision-making, and inability to adapt to the Premier League’s demands.
Maurizio Sarri is in the headlines all the time and mostly for strange things he has done or said during his time at Stamford Bridge. Sarri has a vibrant and standout personality. He is honest and clear about his thoughts and never holds back. But that comes along with his stubborn refusal to drop Jorginho, his redundant substitutions, unexpected lineups and predictable tactics. These have dealt a big blow to Chelsea.
Against Manchester United, where a win could have made a top-four finish a lot easier, Sarri dropped Ruben-Loftus Cheek and picked Mateo Kovacic. A defensive approach with Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Jorginho against United, who had been struggling, saw the Red Devils take the game to Chelsea and end in 1-1 draw. The Italian’s confidence in his tactics is there in every press conference, but his decision-making has been questionable all season.
The poor decisions have affected the Blues, but some players have still shined in the system, showing their class. Eden Hazard has been leading Chelsea with his performances and having his best season with the club, scoring 19 goals and 13 assists in all competitions. Without the Belgian’s match saving performances, Chelsea would be out of the top-four race.
Hazard was the only player other than a Manchester City or Liverpool player to be in the PFA Player of the Year nominations, which just shows how good he has been this season.
Playing out of position under Sarri, Kante has also achieved his best offensive stats in a league campaign with four goals and four assists. Kante proved himself the best holding midfielder in the Premier League in the previous three seasons. Now he has adapted to a new role on the right side of the midfield, and is showing promise as a box-to-box midfielder.
Kante, in all the mess of this season, has discovered his attacking abilities and could develop into an even better player.
Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have done exceedingly well with the chances they have had. Loftus-Cheek, with his hat trick against BATE Borisov became the first Chelsea player to score three goals in a European fixture since Didier Drogba in 2006. Eventually, even Maurizio Sarri had to change his mind and put them in the starting XI late into the season.
Chelsea’s long struggle to replace Diego Costa has not been resolved, but Olivier Giroud has done more than enough to earn at least the place of a starting striker. Giroud’s 10 goals so far in the Europa league makes him the only Chelsea player to reach double figures in a single season of European competition. That should be enough to warrant a starting position in the squad. Alvaro Morata’s and Gonzalo Higuain’s Chelsea goals combined this season fall short of Giroud’s tally.
While there have been some excellent performances and milestones achieved by players, some have fallen from grace or entirely struggled.
David Luiz and Marcos Alonso have been shambolic for the majority of the season, with both defenders pulling off no more than a decent performance here or there. The amateur performances and basic rules of defending the pair have seemingly forgotten are serious concerns.
Alonso was the only Chelsea player in the penalty box when David De Gea made the gracious error and the Spaniard scored the equalizer for Chelsea. Kudos to Alonso for the goal. But he is out of his defensive position too much of the time, which has been a cause of troubles for Chelsea.
Mr. Reliable Cesar Azpilicueta’s performances have dipped in the later stages of the season, but that could be a case of tired legs as he has played the most minutes for the Blues in the Premier League.
Jorginho is Maurizio Sarri’s most trusted man on the field. Every Chelsea fan was waiting to see his talents in the Premier league. After all, the former Napoli man replaced Cesc Fabregas.
Fans are still waiting to see him get his first assist. Adjusting to Premier league standards is a tough task, but Jorginho has been overrun by almost every other midfielder put against him.
All in all, Chelsea’s season has been one of individuals rather than the expected ‘Sarriball” unity, the one that started with the promise of a team working in harmony and everyone putting in the same effort.