Jose Mourinho and Chelsea Football Club. A topsy-turvy love story that began in 2004, took a wrong turn four years later but the Portuguese manager returned “home” last summer, vowing to stay for a long time. One thing has stuck with Jose Mourinho in both periods spent with Chelsea, he wants to build the best possible squad, one capable of dominating Europe for years to come.
2004/2005:
Let’s start way back in 2004, when Jose Mourinho joined Chelsea just after leading his beloved Porto side to a Champions League triumph. The self-dubbed “Special One” was appointed by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, with the goal of leading The Blues to success for a long stretch of time.
As Mourinho came into the club, he brought along Portuguese and Porto stars Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho. Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, Petr Cech, Thiago and Mateja Kezman were among the many others that joined the new look Chelsea.
Jose Mourinho obviously had plenty of choices regarding formation and starting XI but the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 would be the foundation for Chelsea’s success for the rest of the season. An extremely consistent lineup with rotation of course made Jose Mourinho’s side almost untouchable in the Premier League. Jose’s side usually had this sort of look:
Petr Cech was a stalwart in the Chelsea goal, setting the record for most clean sheets (12) in a single season (a record that would be matched by Edwin van der Sar 4 years later). The best goalkeeper in the league behind the best defence in the league, led by skipper John Terry, resulted in the Blues back four setting a record for the fewest goals conceded in a season (15).
The midfield consisted of Claude Makelele, an excellent defensive midfielder, Frank Lampard who is arguably Chelsea’s greatest ever player and Eidur Gudjohnsen, both very attacking minded.
An array of quality wingers were available with Damien Duff and Joe Cole starting most games while Arjen Robben starred whenever he was fit. Didier Drogba was the big man up front, bullying defences and scoring key goals with Mateja Kezman waiting in the wings when Drogba was injured. An almost perfect team from top to bottom, with every position having a solid 2nd choice.
2014/2015:
How about this season? Jose Mourinho declared last season that his team were not ready to win the title until this current campaign and his team is looking scarily similar to that 04/05 title winning side. Over the summer we saw Frank Lampard (A personal hero), Ashley Cole, the 3 strikers from last season, Eto’o, Torres, Ba, and David Luiz all depart from Stamford Bridge.
This meant it was urgent that Jose Mourinho signed big players that would fit into his ideal plan. Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Thibaut Courtois, Loic Remy, and Filipe Luis all joined Chelsea, while Didier Drogba returned to the club since leaving after the Champions League triumph in 2012.
So far this term, Mourinho has adopted the exact same formations he so loved in his first stint at Chelsea, favouring the 4-2-3-1. This season, it’s become quite easy to predict the usual starting XI, which is:
Jose Mourinho set out to build his perfect squad over the summer and it looks as though he’s pleased with his job. Thibaut Courtois returned from his loan at Atletico Madrid to demote Petr Cech to the bench while his teammates Filipe Luis and Diego Costa also joined, the latter taking the league by storm.
A solid back four that has kept Filipe Luis out of the starting XI is also the best defence in the Premier League. Nemanja Matic has proven to be one of the best midfielders in the world while Cesc Fabregas has taken the role of handing out assists to everyone.
An attacking trio of Hazard, Oscar and Willian is something we saw last season, proving a handful to any team in world football. Diego Costa is usually the lone man up front but already has 12 league goals this season, showing his worth early on at the club.
Comparing the two sides is fairly easy in a certain sense. Petr Cech was just 22 in his first season at Chelsea, the same age as Thibaut Courtois in his first season as a Chelsea player. The defences that protected the two goalkeepers in each respective season are just as good as the other, with 2004/05 just edging it currently. The only consistency is the Blues captain, leader, legend John Terry marshaling the back four in both campaigns.
Similar to Claude Makelele, Nemanja Matic has emerged as possibly Chelsea’s most important player, bossing the midfield in each and every game. Frank Lampard was by far and away Chelsea’s best player in 2004/05 and produced one of the most influential seasons in the club’s history. Now with Fabregas playing in a similar role, the Spaniard has been fantastic for Chelsea, maybe not to the standard of Lampard in terms of goals but his assists have been key.
Eden Hazard has the potential to be one of the best players in the world, similarly to the situation Arjen Robben was in whilst at Chelsea. Similar types of players that play/played very important roles at the club. Damien Duff, Andre Schürrle, Joe Cole and Willian are all comparable whilst occupying the other wing in the respective teams.
Oscar now fills the role Eidur Gudjohnsen took in 2004/05, scoring goals and controlling the game in the attacking third, the only difference may be that Gudjohnsen was more of a striker while Oscar also loves to track back and defend. Didier Drogba is still at Chelsea, but the current first choice forward is Diego Costa and the ex-Atletico Madrid striker is an exact replica of Drogba in his prime.
Both very physical, love to get under the skin of the defender and are clinical in front of goal. All in all, both teams possess a world class goalkeeper, a rock solid defence, quality midfielders, pace and brilliance on the wingers and a goal-scorer that loves to bully defenders.
After roughly comparing each position, the teams, as a whole, are both bound for glory. The 2004/05 side may have underachieved, besides winning the Premier League and Carling Cup, in the sense that they were favourites for the FA Cup and were also unfairly knocked out of the Champions League (refer to the “Ghost Goal”).
This current side are top of the Premier League table by 3 points at Christmas, have reached the Semi-Final of the Capital One Cup and are still in the FA Cup and Champions League. What they will win is yet to be known and we can only decide who is better at the end of the season but what we do know is Mourinho has once again, built a team to excel at the very top of European football.