Why Chelsea won’t win the league this season under Mourinho – expert analysis & opinion
English football expert Seth Williams explains why Chelsea will not win the title under Jose Mourinho…
Jose Mourinho doesn’t know his best team…
Even at this point in the season, the Portuguese boss is juggling his starting lineup.
The
key to his previous title winning sides at Chelsea (the first time
around), and Inter Milan; was deploying a consistent, small tight-knit
group. While he did rotate his squad when managing these sides, any
football fan could predict virtually the exact lineup Mourinho would
turn to for must-win matches.
Now, there are essentially only
three or four guaranteed starters in the Blues squad: Ramires in
midfield, Petr Cech in goal, Branislav Ivanovic in defence, and maybe
Eden Hazard as an attacking midfielder.
Apart from that, Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic are fighting for the
centre-back slots, Ashley Cole has been dropped at left-back for
probably the first time in his career, Frank Lampard is rested every
other week, and Willian, Oscar, Juan Mata, Kevin De Bruyne and Andre
Schurrle are fighting for two attacking midfield slots alongside Hazard.
Up top, Mourinho doesn’t seem to rate either Fernando Torres, Samuel
Eto’o or Demba Ba very highly, and he loaned out Romelu Lukaku, who’s
scored more league goals than any of his current forwards.
It’s impossible to keep a group that size happy…
While squad depth is important, especially considering the many
European and cup fixtures the Blues will have to play, Chelsea’s squad
is almost too good.
As discussed earlier, the attacking
midfield talent is just phenomenal. But unlike last season, where squad
players fought to play alongside Mata and Hazard, now every player has a
legitimate claim for a starting spot. Andre Schurrle cost £20m and is
bagging goals for Germany at international level. Willian cost £33m and
scored a wondergoal against Norwich. Oscar is Brazil’s no.10. De Bruyne
shone in the Bundesliga last season. Mata has won Chelsea’s Player of
the Year award for two years in a row. This is without mentioning Eden
Hazard, who seems the only player Mourinho completely trust as a
guaranteed attacking starter.
How on earth could any manager keep that much talent happy?!
His defence isn’t half what it once was…
During his first stint at Chelsea, the Blues finished the season with
the best defensive record in Premier League history. He never rotated
his defence, and based it on a brilliant Terry/Carvalho partnership, in
front of Cech, protected by Claude Makelele in an anchoring midfield
role.
This season, Mourinho has chopped and changed his centre-backs, and Petr Cech has even looked prone to a mistake.
Ramires
has played well, but he is more of a box-to-box midfielder than a
purely defensive force, so doesn’t provide the protection that Makelele
once did.
While this all makes Chelsea’s football a lot prettier to watch, it hasn’t been entirely conducive to results this term.
Chelsea have no width…
Arguably, this is Chelsea’s biggest problem. All of their attacking
midfielders prefer to operate from a central role. Oscar is a no.10,
Mata is a no.10, and Hazard and Willian both like to start on the left
but cut in on their right-feet.
While this is not uncommon to
modern day football, it has made the Blues one dimensional at times. If a
Premier League side sits very deep, it becomes difficult to break them
down through the middle, as matches against Everton, Newcastle and West
Brom have already showed this term.
Robben and Duff excelled at
Chelsea during Mourinho’s first stint as exciting dribbling wingers.
Both were capable of cutting inside, but vitally, could also take the
fullback down the outside. They would similarly be happy to hug the
touch-line and stretch sides.
Chelsea’s current attacking midfielders have a tendency to drift inside in search of possession rather than stay wide.
Of
course, the Blues could prove me wrong, as they could arguably win the
title with two different starting lineups! No manager has ever managed
to keep that many attacking players happy though, and if Mourinho
doesn’t establish a regular defence, the Blues will finish 2nd or 3rd
this term.
source: http://www.fanatix.com/news/why-chelsea-wont-win-the-league-this-season-under-mourinho-expert-analysis-opinion/163570/
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