ROYAL
CHARGE:
CHELSEA
NEED RADICAL CHANGES FAST
The
Chelsea versus Arsenal community shield match may be viewed by many as a mere
pre season match or a glorified friendly cup match, both assessments of what
was a genuine big team tactical matchup could be seen as correct but matches like
this serve to prepare the fitness of a side
and provide succinct evaluations of the preparedness of a team for the upcoming season. On the balance of play of the game and not based on the result, it is obvious that Arsenal tick all the boxes key to winning the English premier league and Chelsea is staring at a potential regressive season. Arsenal controlled the game from the onset, pressing and hounding the Chelsea players up the pitch, playing intricate one-two passes against a Chelsea team that was comfortable in maintaining a low block very close to its box. It was the classic Arsenal vs. Chelsea match stereotype of the last decade.
(Oxlade-Chamberlain scored the winner for Arsenal as they captured the community shield).
Arsenal attack and Chelsea counter the attack from a defensive position, this was the arc of the game until the 24th minute when Alex Oxlade Chamberlain the pacey Arsenal #15 scored a superb team goal taking advantage of a rare Cesar Azpilicueta positional error on the left side of the Chelsea rearguard to rifle an unstoppable shot past Chelsea Keeper Thibaut Courtois. Arsenal in the past would have maintained the tempo flooding the opposition box as much as possible but Arsenal 2.0 led by the irresistible Santi Carzola simply sat back and let Chelsea come to them hoping to take advantage of the pace of Walcott and Chamberlain on the break against a not to pacey Chelsea defence. Arsenal had chances on the break but mostly in the second half and they were thwarted every time by Courtois who unlike his team mates had a good performance. Chelsea’s performance was unimpressive. Despite having 57% of the ball they struggled to create clear cut chances with Cech making only one significant save in 90 minutes albeit from an Oscar free kick. In open play Chelsea failed to test Cech, to make matters worse, their two strikers standing in for the frequently injured striking behemoth Diego Costa failed to show any sample of confidence in their abilities. Remy was caught offside a whooping 4 times while Falcao struggled to dispel the fact that his best days are behind him with a wretched performance synonymous with the travails of one Senor Torres.
and provide succinct evaluations of the preparedness of a team for the upcoming season. On the balance of play of the game and not based on the result, it is obvious that Arsenal tick all the boxes key to winning the English premier league and Chelsea is staring at a potential regressive season. Arsenal controlled the game from the onset, pressing and hounding the Chelsea players up the pitch, playing intricate one-two passes against a Chelsea team that was comfortable in maintaining a low block very close to its box. It was the classic Arsenal vs. Chelsea match stereotype of the last decade.
(Oxlade-Chamberlain scored the winner for Arsenal as they captured the community shield).
Arsenal attack and Chelsea counter the attack from a defensive position, this was the arc of the game until the 24th minute when Alex Oxlade Chamberlain the pacey Arsenal #15 scored a superb team goal taking advantage of a rare Cesar Azpilicueta positional error on the left side of the Chelsea rearguard to rifle an unstoppable shot past Chelsea Keeper Thibaut Courtois. Arsenal in the past would have maintained the tempo flooding the opposition box as much as possible but Arsenal 2.0 led by the irresistible Santi Carzola simply sat back and let Chelsea come to them hoping to take advantage of the pace of Walcott and Chamberlain on the break against a not to pacey Chelsea defence. Arsenal had chances on the break but mostly in the second half and they were thwarted every time by Courtois who unlike his team mates had a good performance. Chelsea’s performance was unimpressive. Despite having 57% of the ball they struggled to create clear cut chances with Cech making only one significant save in 90 minutes albeit from an Oscar free kick. In open play Chelsea failed to test Cech, to make matters worse, their two strikers standing in for the frequently injured striking behemoth Diego Costa failed to show any sample of confidence in their abilities. Remy was caught offside a whooping 4 times while Falcao struggled to dispel the fact that his best days are behind him with a wretched performance synonymous with the travails of one Senor Torres.
For Mourinho this defeat, the first in 14
matches against Wenger should be seen as a blessing and not just a mere
friendly match loss. The match exposed major flaws in his Chelsea team: a lack
of adequate creativity in the centre positions; lack of quality squad depth or
even an adequate squad cover and a blatant lack of Plan B in big matches.
Chelsea’s prime attacking midfielder is Oscar a deceitfully strong lanky player
with flair and work rate a product of the modern #10 expected to both create
and defend from the front. Oscar though is usually on the bench in most Chelsea
big matches away from home. In the community shield match Oscar started on the bench
again, coming on in the 54th minute, his only major contribution was
a free kick shot which drew a good save from Petr Cech. He was anonymous for most of his time
on the pitch. For a player expected to be the major creative outlet of his team
Oscar is really wanting. In three years Oscar has created just 15 goals in the
premier league. In that same time frame David Silva who is Manchester City’s
chief goal creator assisted 25 goals while Santi Cazorla created 30 goals in
that time. To increase creativity through the middle a key requirement for a
big team like Chelsea, the club does not need to invest in the transfer
market. Chelsea already have a supremely
talented #10 in Eden Hazard, a nimble deceitfully dexterous player whose
ability to beat a man in the most nonchalant way is sheer beauty, Hazard is also
very creative, he created 101 chances last season in the EPL, the most by any
player in the league despite his tactical positioning as an inside forward
rather than a playmaker. Hazard came
into prominence operating in the hole behind the striker but has largely operated
on the left of a three man attacking midfield band since he arrived in
Chelsea in 2012 . (Eden Hazard playing the no10 role at lille).
Moving Hazard into the centre of the pitch should be a no brainer, he is aptly creative and the move will ensure that Mourihno maintains his first love a sturdy defensive shape. Hazard has shown in the last three years that for his incredible prowess going forward he is a huge liability in positional defending. Arsenal consistently attacked the left channel Hazard operated in, and at times Azpilicueta had to mark not one but two players in Oxlade - Chamberlain and Hector Bellerim. Chelsea needs to move Hazard to the middle fast and replace him with a winger who will not only attack but defend. Moses and traore may do a decent job but they are not of the calibre of Hazard or even a Willian and an Oscar.
There is a considerable lack of world class wingers available in the market but Chelsea should be looking at buying a quality winger to play on its left wing and compliment the artistic magic of Hazard and the guile of Willian. Chelsea need to act fast and hijack players like Pedro Rodriguez who is set to join Manchester United or the supremely gifted Xherdan Shaqiri whose qualities are much useful for the premier league than the slow tempo Serie A. Chelsea risk falling into the same trap that Manchester City found themselves in after winning the premier league in 2014. Quantity was prioritized over quality but Man city could point to financial fair play restrictions as a foremost factor that negated their ability to buy proven quality players.
Chelsea cannot claim such excuses, lauded for their swift decisiveness to fill structural gaps in their team in last summers transfer window, Chelsea have taken a curious turn this year. The club has inexplicably failed to improve their squad depth, a major flaw that almost undermined their season last year. Last year Chelsea finished the campaign with a first team that read: 2 goal keepers, 6 defenders, 8 midfielders and 3 strikers. A 19 man squad that was badly stretched last season leading to fatigue and a lack of rotation due to injury and suspension to certain players towards the end of the season. This precipitated some bad performances that contrasted with the incredible team performances of the first half of the season a period where injuries were low and squad rotation although minimal was possible in cup competitions. Chelsea’s first team currently has 18 registered outfield first team players.
This includes Diego Costa who is out with injury; there are only 5 defenders with 4 of them centre backs and the last player a converted right footed right back playing on the left. They have failed to provide adequate replacement for the over worked Matic with the sorry Jon Obi Mikel retaining his first team status to the contrary of sound judgements. Juan Cuadrado has been written off since last season and will be the back up to the back up and Mourihno’s lack of complete faith in players under 20 will surely mean that players like Bertrand Traore and Loftus Cheek will be used sparingly. This makes Chelsea’s lack of incoming transfers baffling. Falcao may be an upgrade on Didier Drogba in terms of workrate but that does not take into account Drogba’s real job description last season which was to offer leadership, winning attitude and appropriate motivation to the Chelsea team last season.
Drogba was even credited with boosting morale in the dressing room when Chelsea lost its winning mentality in February and March last season. It has also been forgotten that Drogba actually scored more goals than Falcao last season., Remy a scorer of the crucial goals in Chelsea’s run to title last season is a good poacher but as a target man or an advanced forward or even deep lying forward a requirement for Mourihno’s counter attacking teams he has flattered to deceive and Costa, a genuinely world-class striker and warrior has the most untrustworthy hamstring ever seen in football. Chelsea has been in this situation before. Back in 2010 after winning the league with a record 103 goals, the team failed to reinvest, releasing Ballack, Deco and Joe Cole, the three most creative players in the team and replacing them with Ramires.
By January 2011, Chelsea had been on a winless streak in the English premier league that stretched from October 2010 and had to make 71 million pounds worth of purchases to remedy their previous summer mistake. The fate of the two players cannot be forgotten so soon. Chelsea is in the process of repeating past mistakes. They may not have sold their creative stars but they have lost two never say die winners in Drogba and Petr Cech and have failed to bring in players that will put their current crop of players like Ivanovic and Cahill on their toes. The transfer window is running out and Chelsea need to make big financial decisions fast even though it will be a slap on the face to Jose Mourihno who had lambasted other championship contenders for buying big. Chelsea must buy quality and buy it fast. A new right back, left back, a new winger to accommodate Hazard’s movement to the Trequartista position must be priority moves before Chelsea visit Man city in two weeks. The blues may have lost the Arsenal match by a goal, but Man city will not be as forgiving as Arsenal.
Moving Hazard into the centre of the pitch should be a no brainer, he is aptly creative and the move will ensure that Mourihno maintains his first love a sturdy defensive shape. Hazard has shown in the last three years that for his incredible prowess going forward he is a huge liability in positional defending. Arsenal consistently attacked the left channel Hazard operated in, and at times Azpilicueta had to mark not one but two players in Oxlade - Chamberlain and Hector Bellerim. Chelsea needs to move Hazard to the middle fast and replace him with a winger who will not only attack but defend. Moses and traore may do a decent job but they are not of the calibre of Hazard or even a Willian and an Oscar.
There is a considerable lack of world class wingers available in the market but Chelsea should be looking at buying a quality winger to play on its left wing and compliment the artistic magic of Hazard and the guile of Willian. Chelsea need to act fast and hijack players like Pedro Rodriguez who is set to join Manchester United or the supremely gifted Xherdan Shaqiri whose qualities are much useful for the premier league than the slow tempo Serie A. Chelsea risk falling into the same trap that Manchester City found themselves in after winning the premier league in 2014. Quantity was prioritized over quality but Man city could point to financial fair play restrictions as a foremost factor that negated their ability to buy proven quality players.
Chelsea cannot claim such excuses, lauded for their swift decisiveness to fill structural gaps in their team in last summers transfer window, Chelsea have taken a curious turn this year. The club has inexplicably failed to improve their squad depth, a major flaw that almost undermined their season last year. Last year Chelsea finished the campaign with a first team that read: 2 goal keepers, 6 defenders, 8 midfielders and 3 strikers. A 19 man squad that was badly stretched last season leading to fatigue and a lack of rotation due to injury and suspension to certain players towards the end of the season. This precipitated some bad performances that contrasted with the incredible team performances of the first half of the season a period where injuries were low and squad rotation although minimal was possible in cup competitions. Chelsea’s first team currently has 18 registered outfield first team players.
This includes Diego Costa who is out with injury; there are only 5 defenders with 4 of them centre backs and the last player a converted right footed right back playing on the left. They have failed to provide adequate replacement for the over worked Matic with the sorry Jon Obi Mikel retaining his first team status to the contrary of sound judgements. Juan Cuadrado has been written off since last season and will be the back up to the back up and Mourihno’s lack of complete faith in players under 20 will surely mean that players like Bertrand Traore and Loftus Cheek will be used sparingly. This makes Chelsea’s lack of incoming transfers baffling. Falcao may be an upgrade on Didier Drogba in terms of workrate but that does not take into account Drogba’s real job description last season which was to offer leadership, winning attitude and appropriate motivation to the Chelsea team last season.
Drogba was even credited with boosting morale in the dressing room when Chelsea lost its winning mentality in February and March last season. It has also been forgotten that Drogba actually scored more goals than Falcao last season., Remy a scorer of the crucial goals in Chelsea’s run to title last season is a good poacher but as a target man or an advanced forward or even deep lying forward a requirement for Mourihno’s counter attacking teams he has flattered to deceive and Costa, a genuinely world-class striker and warrior has the most untrustworthy hamstring ever seen in football. Chelsea has been in this situation before. Back in 2010 after winning the league with a record 103 goals, the team failed to reinvest, releasing Ballack, Deco and Joe Cole, the three most creative players in the team and replacing them with Ramires.
By January 2011, Chelsea had been on a winless streak in the English premier league that stretched from October 2010 and had to make 71 million pounds worth of purchases to remedy their previous summer mistake. The fate of the two players cannot be forgotten so soon. Chelsea is in the process of repeating past mistakes. They may not have sold their creative stars but they have lost two never say die winners in Drogba and Petr Cech and have failed to bring in players that will put their current crop of players like Ivanovic and Cahill on their toes. The transfer window is running out and Chelsea need to make big financial decisions fast even though it will be a slap on the face to Jose Mourihno who had lambasted other championship contenders for buying big. Chelsea must buy quality and buy it fast. A new right back, left back, a new winger to accommodate Hazard’s movement to the Trequartista position must be priority moves before Chelsea visit Man city in two weeks. The blues may have lost the Arsenal match by a goal, but Man city will not be as forgiving as Arsenal.
MR PRINCE (@don_donroger)
Don't forget to join our Fantasy League, Name: FootyonPaper Code: 600603-149636
Come on lads lets have a good time.
Don't forget to join our Fantasy League, Name: FootyonPaper Code: 600603-149636
Come on lads lets have a good time.
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