The Chelsea Calamity

The club from West London which strolled to the title with remarkable ease and ruthless efficiency last season is now struggling to compete even against weaker sides like Bournemouth and West Ham United. No one would have foreseen such a weak capitulation by a side that won the league with 4 games to spare last season.

But Chelsea are struggling, and although I'm no football analyst, this is my point of view on why they are. Various small reasons have built up to make the Blues look like any other ordinary side and not one which has the likes of Eden Hazard, Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa and Oscar, not to mention Pedro, Willian, Matic and John Terry. 

➡️ Different preseason strategy used by Jose Mourinho: Last season we had a lengthy preseason in which Jose made sure every player was fit, in form and match ready. We played dazzling football in the first half of last season ripping opposition defenses apart. But, due to a lengthy preseason, many players witnessed a dip in form( Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, Oscar, Matic) in the middle of the season. But the defense in the first half of last season was a bit leaky, the games against Everton(6-3) and Swansea(4-2) a few examples. In the New Years Day match against Tottenham when we were beaten 5-3, Jose Mourinho realized that all out attack wouldn't take us all the way and so we became more defensive, winning matches by slender margins and riding on Eden Hazard's consistently sparkly performances. 

To avoid this mid-season dip in form, Jose went for a different strategy going for a shorter preseason and knowing that we will have a slow start but hoping that there'd be no midseason slump and that we'd peak at the right time. Unfortunately, thanks to the players taking lengthy holidays with complacency creeping in, Jose had no idea how unfit really his squad was. Diego Costa literally had a belly and Hazard, already a notoriously slow starter was even worse off. The defense was defending like it didn't know how to defend and Fabregas, Oscar looked like they had run out of creative ideas. 

In the game against Swansea, they scored the same 2 goals that they did last season but we scored only 2 unlike the 4 that we did last season thus drawing the match. Manchester City had a fit, in form squad and they used our weakness, thrashing us 3-0. 

➡️Lack of pace in the defense: 3 of our defenders, John Terry, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic are extremely slow. All the opposition needed to do was outpace them which wasn't a tough task. Add that to their not being in form and it became a party for the opposition. Worse yet, Ivanovic was still going forward, and he's in the worst form amongst the defenders and couldn't track back or tackle the opponents. He literally gave crosses away and didn't at all look to tackle or block them. No one could have expected this from the best right back in the premier league of last season. John Terry is aging and Gary Cahill already doesn't have much pace. Zouma and Azpilicueta provide some hope. Perhaps Jose was not expecting Everton to hold back John Stones and didn't give them the rigorous training that they needed?

➡️Inexistant defensive line by the midfield: In the early season, there was literally no protection offered by the midfielders for the defenders. Once we lose possession in their half, they could easily counterattack, with no one to stop them but Matic whom we heavily depended on last season and who is one of the main reasons for our defensive frailties. Nobody else even tried to challenge the opposition and whenever Fabregas tried, he was dribbled past way too easily. Eden Hazard and Willian looked too much into attack, Cesc Fabregas may be a brilliant attacking option, but he isn't the same defensively, Nemanja Matic was totally out of form too.

➡️Diego Costa's bad form: The whole teams bad form could be attributed to in terms of poor defensive performances but in attack, even though Cesc Fabregas and Oscar aren't in form, Eden Hazard is always a notoriously slow starter and that didn't affect the team much last season, plus Willian is in the form of his life creating chance after chance which Diego Costa isn't making much use of. Unlike last season, when Diego converted half chances into chances and took them, he isn't able to do that or even take good chances. Your whole team suffers especially when your striker isn't in form as if you can't get the goal, you can't win the match even if you play well. 

Currently, the whole team is getting back to form and making some good progress. Hazard once again looks hazardous to the opponent and Fabregas looks like he has finally got some ideas but again, Diego Costa's bad form isn't helping the Blues. Even if you create a million chances, you won't win the game unless you score as evidenced by the team's excellent performance in a losing cause against Bournemouth last weekend. Unless we score goals, we won't win the very important knockout Champion's League tie against Porto at home in a couple of days from now and that could very well mean the end of Jose Mourinho if we fail to qualify, as already we've crashed out of the League Cup, the Premier League is out of our hands. The Champion's League and the FA cup are the only trophies which we can realistically achieve this season. So, come on you Blues, don't disappoint fans again.