Chelsea kick off their season against Burnley at Turf Moor on Monday. It is a season that will put Mourinho’s position under serious doubt if they don’t win any major trophies.
Last season, when the Portuguese vehemently reiterated that Chelsea would not win the League, describing his squad as a young horse not yet ready to race; a lot of people thought he was up to his usual mind games. And when they didn’t win it, the statements changed to accusations that he was trying to make excuses and reduce the blame if he fails to lift a major trophy for the second consecutive season.
No one knows what Mourinho was thinking when he made those comments, its not impossible that the manager was rightly pointing out some weaknesses in his team that he sincerely thought would prevent them from winning silverware. Now the conditions have changed, after a quite brilliant transfer window, Chelsea and Mourinho have no excuses not to deliver success an expectant fanbase and owner.
Last season was an interesting one for Chelsea (which one isn’t). Upon the announcement that Jose Mourinho was returning “home” the was a whole lot of expectation from the Chelsea faithful that the move will be quickly followed with a return to the dominance the club had when he was first in charge. Expectations that were quickly shot down by the man who spent the whole of the season playing down those expectations.
The Mourinho that most believe is a man more interested in short term successes was talking about building a team, and stability and long term dominance. One couldn’t blame him though, the squad was not a team full of world class players at or close to the peak of their powers like the last time. This was one full of talented but still developing players. The fact that it was a squad that was severely imbalanced should also be taken into consideration. None the less the team still managed to make something out of the season and despite what others may say that is a good achievement.
Last season heralded the return of Chelsea to being genuine title contenders for the first time since Carlo Ancelotti left the club. Despite finishing third they managed to finish a respectable 4 points behind City which is better compared to finishing 14 or 25 point like they did in previous seasons. Chelsea also made it to the Champions League semifinal, losing to Atletico.
Overall it was a decent season, but there was still an aura of disappointment towards the end as Chelsea relinquished top spot by losing to the kind of teams they should be beating after winning games that they would have been forgiven for losing. The reason for this was that the team was setup to hit opponents on the break, something that suits games against the bigger sides who will attack them more.
In the games against the smaller teams when Chelsea had to build, they toiled. They struggled to create chances and the few times they did, they couldn’t score. The very organized teams took advantage and gave them problems on the counter. This was Chelsea’s biggest problem last season and prevented their good season from being wonderful.
Overall, the purpose of last season was to bring stability to a once troubled club and see it through a transitional period. Chelsea and Mourinho sacrificed present successes to try and build a stable team that can challenge for years. And they seem to be heading in the right direction.
Chelsea, over the transfer window, acted quickly and decisively, signing Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Felipe Luis, and Didier Drogba. And Kurt Zouma joins up with the team after a 6 month loan spell at St. Etienne right after signing for Chelsea. Out the door were Frank Lampard, Romelu Lukaku, Demba Ba, and Ashley Cole. The brilliant thing about Chelsea’s signings was that they are signings that directly attack and solve the biggest reasons Chelsea could not create against deeper sides; which was the biggest reason they did not win the league. Against deeper teams, Chelsea’s fullbacks barely helped the attack, midfielders were not creative and the strikers were poor.
Felipe Luis at left back will add a lot of attacking impetus to the Chelsea’s left and will allow Azpilicueta move to the right and do the same, as Ivanovic is just not suited to an offensive role at right back. Fabregas brings to Chelsea, the kind of creativity from deep that I am not sure has been seen before. His ability to create opportunities from deep and his distribution are brilliant, and if teams make the mistake of sitting deep, he can absolutely split them.
Diego Costa comes to Chelsea with the promise of being Chelsea’s first world class striker since fellow signing Didier Drogba left the club. The Spanish international, is a strong, quick player that is quite intelligent with his movement and runs he is well capable of linking up with the players behind him and wont give opponents a moment’s rest. And most importantly, he is a lethal finisher.
The addition of these three players to the starting XI means that the tactic to concentrate on Chelsea’s attacking midfielders will be futile as there are threats all over. This could create space for the attacking midfielders. Didier Drogba and Kurt Zouma are players that add to the squad with both players on opposite ends of their career.
Overall Chelsea made signings to tackle their problems and as a result have massively improved from last season. This season should also be the season where some Chelsea players make the leap into world class players. The likes of Eden Hazard and Oscar, at the beginning of last season were the backbone of the team creating chances and scoring. But towards the end, their influence began to fade, which affected Chelsea’s results. While their mentality, fitness, fatigue and injury issues were big factors, Chelsea’s tactics were also a big factor. When Chelsea were pressing high, it suited them and gave them a bit more freedom. And when they won the ball, there was space for them to operate before the opponents closed them down. But when Chelsea dropped the high press, the attacking midfielders now had to track back more often than not which had an effect on their offensive output. The fact that they were not aided by central midfielders, fullbacks and strikers put all the attacking pressure on them. As such they were always marked men with little space to work.
This season though, the addition of dangerous players to the midfield, fullback and striker positions mean that the attacking midfielders will have a lot more space to operate. There are a few things Mourinho has to solve for the season to go well. Deciding between Cech and Courtois is a point of controversy, it’s a good problem to have, but the thought of a quality keeper on the bench is not nice. Hard choices will have to be made.
How the defense respond to a change in tactics is one of them. For a while last year Chelsea played a high press, this suited the attack but left the defense exposed, which meant the team conceded some poor goals and lost some winnable matches. The 3-2 loss to Stoke was the final straw, and a change to more conservative tactics combined with the mid season arrival of Nemanja Matic turned Chelsea’s defense into a brick wall.
This season, will probably herald another attempt at expansive tactics and how the defense responses will be interesting. The hope is that Chelsea score a lot of goals quickly (similar to Liverpool) so that it wont be a factor. Chelsea’s midfield is also a sensitive spot. This time last year, it was in shambles; the midfield was incapable of shielding the defense and were poor distributors and creators.
The addition of Matic was a breath of fresh air. He brought structure and stability, shielding the defense while helping transitions with his smart passing. But still the link between the midfield and attack was not strong there was no one that was a specialist at breaking defenses from deep with his passing. With Fabregas, Chelsea finally have that player. But in the matches against bigger sides Chelsea are different. Mourinho values strength over technique in those games and it has not failed him. He used Luiz and Matic in midfield last season to wonderful effect and achieved great results. He may not fancy Cesc in that position for big games, and Luiz has left. Up front Chelsea could also have problems if Costa gets injured as Drogba and Torres may not be up to the task of leading the line. While it’s entirely possible that Chelsea’s inability to create chances made the strikers look worse than they are. I’m not comfortable with the risk as it could turn out it was the striker’s movement that made the midfielders look worse, at which point it could be too late.
Chelsea last season already showed that they have a solid defense and that their problems last season were beating the smaller teams not the bigger ones. In a brilliant window they have gotten the personnel to solve both. Which makes them favourites for the League and contenders for the Champions League. Mourinho has no excuses this time and all eyes will be on him as he looks to end a 2-year trophy drought.