adminWouldn’t it be embarrassing for Jose Mourinho if he blew the title and gifted it to that “specialist in failure” Arsene Wenger? Would the Special One be able to show his face in English football again after such humiliation?
It’s a big call if you think the Gunners will win the title, but history suggests there is a chance Chelsea could implode. This time last year Mourinho was reeling from an unlikely 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa. That day at Villa Park Chelsea huffed and puffed, Ramires was sent off, and Mourinho was charged by the FA after he went on to the pitch to question referee Chris Foy.
They went on to drop points at Crystal Palace and at home to Sunderland and Norwich. In fact, in the world of hypothetical football that we all scoff at but all think about, if you add on even less than half the points Chelsea dropped in the last nine games of last season they would have won the title.
A year on, Chelsea are huffing and puffing again, dropping points again, and Mourinho went early with his campaign against referees.
Will history repeat itself, or has Mourinho learned from his mistakes?
The Chelsea team looks knackered, doesn’t it? They’ve made a habit recently of drawing home games, and that cost them dearly in Europe. Why is it happening?
Youth and energy are missing, and I’m thinking of three players in particular who might have made a difference, either off the bench, or pitched in to games here and there to energise the team.
Those players are Kevin de Bruyne, Patrick Bamford and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Mourinho has won a lot of praise for his transfer dealings and I can see why. In simple terms, he has improved his best XI and balanced the books at the same time.
Chelsea may well go on to win the title and that has to be a successful season for them. But how can Mourinho explain that Champions League exit? How does he account for the lethargy his players have been displaying for the past two months?
The answer lies in the quality of his squad – or rather the lack of it. And that’s down to errors made by Mourinho that have almost gone unnoticed. De Bruyne has been on fire for Wolfsburg this season to maintain their position as closest challengers to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.
I can’t help thinking he might have provided some energy and quality at this stage of the season. Mourinho’s decision to sell seemed to be made in haste – the Belgian made fewer than 10 appearances for Chelsea. There was a suggestion that issues off the field could have forced De Bruyne out. I cannot believe that, not with Mourinho’s skills as a man-manager.
Letting him go doesn’t look good on Mourinho and hindsight is a wonderful thing of course – but Jose is paid a lot of money to be the “Special One” who spots the kind of things ordinary mortals cannot.
I’m also a little sceptical of Jose’s insistence that he will put youth in the team some time soon. When he made that promise recently he was referring to academy product Loftus-Cheek, who has had game time for Chelsea this season of course, but not much – roughly 10 minutes in total. Even with Nemanja Matic out, deep playmaker Loftus-Cheek didn’t get a look in, Mourinho instead preferring to put a centre half in that position.
Mourinho says the only reason he hasn’t seen more action is because Chelsea have been under pressure to win lots of games in different competitions. I would have thought that would be the perfect reason to use a player like that rather than keep him on the sidelines.
And what happens next season when Chelsea are competing on all fronts again? Will he be ready then?
Strange logic from the Chelsea manager, and the fact they failed to make the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season proves that he didn’t get it right.
The reliance on Diego Costa up front has cost Chelsea. Loic Remy is decent enough, but looks like he needs to play regularly to be truly effective in the Premier League, and Didier Drogba will always be a club legend, but won’t always be the answer coming off the bench.
When you need energy, a striker who has just turned 37 isn’t likely to be your best plan. Did you see young Chelsea striker Bamford score two brilliant goals at the weekend on loan at Middlesbrough? His second came after a truly world-class piece of imagination that had me out of my seat. The ball came to him just inside the Ipswich half, he had his back to goal. -Daily Mail Sports.
He spun round, without the ball, deceived the bewildered defender, then chased the ball into the box and fired home.
Remember the Pele moment in 1970 when he dummied the keeper? It had a hint of that about it. It was that kind of quality from Bamford, except the youngster finished the move off with a goal.
It was the kind of creativity Chelsea have looked devoid of in recent weeks.
This kid has done his time on loan in the Championship before this season, so why send him back there? Surely his presence at Chelsea would have been no bigger a risk than re-signing an ageing Drogba? You could argue he’s too young and inexperienced – you could even suggest he might not be good enough. The truth is we don’t know if Bamford could have contributed to Chelsea’s push on four fronts this season. But we do know the striking options Mourinho went with were definitely not good enough.
Has Mourinho done his mate at Middlesbrough Aitor Karanka a favour at the expense of his own club Chelsea?
I’ll believe Mourinho’s commitment to the Chelsea Academy when I see it.
De Bruyne, Bamford and Loftus-Cheek could have provided something currently missing from the Chelsea team. Two of them are doing it elsewhere, another is receiving high praise at Stamford Bridge, but has gone missing. Of Sunday’s outfield players who started for Chelsea only one – Oscar – was under the age of 24.
If Jose’s tired team make the same errors in the run-in as last season then the title race is still wide open. – Daily Mail Sports
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