Chelsea holding on by a thread and no one seems all that bothered

Chelsea are holding on to a place in the top four, thanks to their rivals more than their players. For how long will the club let this go on?

Chelsea are down to a three point lead over Manchester United after playing like a newly-promoted team against Bournemouth. Nothing was good about Chelsea other than their Spanish connection. The Blues’ hopes of earning the Champions League spot seems to be in everyone else’s hands more than their own. Even Frank Lampard must be wondering how on earth his inconsistent team is holding the fourth spot.

Chelsea is relying on the sudden form and occasional heroics of some very specific players. If they perform, then they win. Otherwise it is all just passing and handing goals to the opponents. Looking at some recent patterns, the Blues tend to concede not long after scoring one themselves.

This side do not deserve to be in top four, but other than Liverpool no club is performing consistently. The rest of the teams in the top six are doing what they can to allow Chelsea to ignore their immature players, a non-functioning defense and a chaotic bag of midfielders.

The one thing Frank Lampard has somewhat sorted out is the “striker curse,” at least up until Tammy Abraham fell injured.

He had to rely on Abraham a lot because he was dealing with the most uncreative midfielders in recent history. Remember, there was a time when Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien were enough to give Chelsea the upper hand against any team. The striker and the midfielders worked together, rather than one covering for the other.

These days, Lampard is dealing with Jorginho, who is busy getting yellow cards while he has only scored four goals and assisted two others.

This should not be expected nor accepted from a £57 million player. He was already experienced and this is his second season in the Premier League. He is good at keeping the ball and supporting Chelsea in possession, but creativity is missing entirely from his game. Most of the times he is just a liability: he cannot shoot from distance, not sure if he can head the ball, no defense breaking passes but, yes, he can score penalties, which Stamford Bridge rarely get to see.

If the midfielders are in that state, what can we say about the defence?

Chelsea should stop this farce, call up their development team players and give them a chance. Other than Cesar Azpilicueta, none of the current squad deserve a chance of representing the first team.

One can feel happy that a leftback is scoring goals, but all Marcos Alonso does is highlight how the standard of the team is not up to that of the prestigious competitions.

A fine example of creativity and standards were shown recently by Manchester City against Real Madrid. City did not even have a proper striker, but the money they have spent on the midfielders came good, as it has for the last few seasons.

It’s too easy to blame the transfer ban. Chelsea have not had a functional squad for a while. They have been riding their luck, even after making bad decisions on players like Kevin de Brunye and Diego Costa.

And in recent times, no manager has able to exploit the resources properly. Even Frank Lampard is realizing the importance of Olivier Giroud and Marcos Alonso. The club need to find a way to build consistency and a squad which they can rely on. The recurring demand for quick titles has crippled the club. It is impossible to find glory season after season, but raising the bar for performances – which will lead to titles and trophies – is always within reach.

No one fears this Chelsea side. In recent years, opponents had least feared Eden Hazard or Diego Costa, if not the rest of the squad.

Frank Lampard needs to make big changes this summer. All egos must be kept aside and everyone involved must put in the work if this club is to ever be better than this.