Why Chelsea’s first win of the campaign throws up more questions than answers
When deciding Chelsea’s starting eleven, there are three major decisions to make. Firstly who to partner the ever present John Terry with at the heart of the defence. AVB chose to go with Alex for the second successive game. Alex subsequently made a mistake for the West Brom opening goal and was hauled off during the second half after a lacklustre performance in place of Ivanovic – who has made more than a decent case for being the one who should partner Terry.
When David Luiz regains fitness he will push for that place, and on the back of excellent performances for the majority of last season deserves a chance to make his mark again. Chelsea’s defence is still better than most, and when looking at the problems that may arise due to injury to Cech, this is something that cannot be helped, and whilst unfortunate is just something that Chelsea will have to cope with and hope that Hillario can man the posts in his absence. Against Norwich this should not be a problem, but should Cech fail to recover in time for the match against Manchester United, this may be a problem.
Secondly, who should support the main striker up front. Again AVB seems to prefer Kalou, yet most people would agree, whilst Kalou makes a decent sub, he is not really one for starting a game, and does not really offer enough over the course of a game to warrant a place instead of Malouda – who was put on in place of Kalou just after half an hour had passed. Clearly AVB realised he had made an error, and Malouda should have started the game. Once the French man came on, Chelsea looked brighter – which is not saying much – with Malouda the scorer of the winning goal.
Finally, the debate that has all Chelsea fans crying with boredom. Torres or Drogba? With Torres the chosen one yet again after a positive performance during the opening game of the season, the big Ivorian was on the bench. No matter who you feel should be starting up front for Chelsea, the fact of the matter is Torres needs to build up his confidence and be shown support from the club and management. By starting him, AVB obviously succeeds in doing this.
Where he then went wrong was by subbing the Spaniard after 59 minutes for Drogba. This shows such a lack of faith in the striker, who whilst did not score again, looked lively and like he was becoming more confident. By replacing him this will undo all of the above, and again leave Torres focusing on the fact he has still failed to score. If AVB choses to start with Torres he at the very least owes the player the chance to have at least 70 minutes on the field in which to attempt to make himself cost less than £50 million per goal.
Continue onto page 2…
What is clear is that Torres is improving, yet still suffers due to the style of play Chelsea employ. Whilst their passing and movement suits a striker in the mould of a Drogba, it does not exactly assist someone like a Berbatov or Torres. If Chelsea wish to play Torres as their main striker, in order to get the best out of him they need to change how they play. By bidding for Modric and Mata (and getting their man in the latter case) the club are clearly trying to do this and become more creative and accommodating for Torres.
Another major factor and worry for Chelsea is Frank Lampard. For a player who has been so important for Chelsea, giving 20 goals per season before last term’s injury hit spell, the decline in Lampard’s form is alarming. In pre-season and the opening couple of games in the Premier League, he has looked slow, lethargic, unable to score and like he has not fully recovered from the injuries he suffered last campaign. Whilst it will hurt Chelsea fans to criticise a player who they have taken so far into their hearts during his time at the club, even Super Frankie’s most ardent supporters have to admit he does not look the player he once was.
From Chelsea’s perspective he needs to either improve or be replaced. It is again unfortunate for Torres that Lamps had his best seasons before he joined the club, with Gerrard being so vital to Torres’ success at Liverpool – a player so similar to Lampard it is virtually impossible for them to play for England together and someone who could have linked up with Torres and provided the creativity and passes he so deeply craves.
What is clear is the fact that Chelsea need to buy and improve their once great midfield. The injury to Essien has hit them hard, with Mikel slowing the play down and stopping the flow of passing from midfield to attack. Whilst Ramires has done well so far this season, constantly improving, he is still young and cannot provide the goals and creativity needed. Chelsea badly need a couple of players for the centre of the park, and Luca Modric is not a bad place to start. Nor is Juan Mata, who will fit in well up top with Malouda and Torres.
This season it may well be that we see the slow transition away from the core of the Chelsea team who have been ever present since the glory days of the Special One. Players like Anelka, Drogba, Lampard and Terry are not getting any younger and Chelsea need to face the fact they are not going to be at the top of their game for ever. The key to the success of teams like United is the fact they evolve and are able to replace outgoing players with young, upcoming ones. The purchase of players like Phil Jones, Javier Hernandez and Ashley Young is testament to that, and this is something that Chelsea need to acknowledge.
AVB’s reaction to the performance displayed by his team on the weekend was to confer with Di Mateo and crouch on the floor in despair. Unless performances improve Chelsea fans will be hoping the floor opens up and swallows him in it. Whilst a lot can be said for winning ugly and grinding out a result, this cannot be the case for ever, and better teams will punish Chelsea for their defensive failures and also their absolute lack of creativity.
Unless new players are bought, this does not look like happening, and when you compare the performances of Chelsea to that of Manchester United and City who are off to what can only be described as a flyer, Chelsea incapable of challenging for the title. More worryingly for blues fans, should Chelsea draw a Real Madrid or Barcelona in Europe, they should be more than a little concerned of being comprehensively outplayed. What we are seeing from Chelsea at the minute is simply not good enough, and AVB will be hoping that they improve drastically very quickly. When considering his predecessors lost their jobs for winning titles but not in style, he should be very worried indeed.