Stamford Bridge is in turmoil. It hasn’t happened all at once, but little by little. Mourinho’s men are struggling, and they are doing so very obviously and across the board. They have lacked confidence, consistency and at most times class.
But what is the origin of Chelsea’s struggles? Has it been the manager’s fallacies in picking a team, preparing the squad for a match or the individual performances? Perhaps. However, I feel that their struggles date back to the lack of transfer activity this summer.
To further explain this, let’s take a look at Chelsea’s most glaring issues — starting with, of course, Ivanovic.
The Serbian has been out of form, and everyone, including Mourinho, knows it. Other than stubbornness, Mourinho justifies his continued presence because he feels Baba Rahman isn’t ready to cover the left side, which would allow Azpilicueta to play on the right.
This is where my issue comes in. Chelsea allowed Filipe Luis and Ryan Bertrand – two players brimming with class – to permanently depart in the last two transfer windows. Bertrand was a Premier League Team of the Year defender and Luis is a world class left back. These two talents were allowed to depart, with Azpilicueta being the preferred option at left back.
Fine, but then how were Chelsea prepared for Ivanovic or Azpilicueta to get hurt or dip in form. If Baba Rahman isn’t ready, he can’t be relied on. What would Mourinho do if it wasn’t form, but injury problems? If he would have held on to one of these world class left backs, then he wouldn’t have a problem.
Furthermore, if he would have signed a backup right back, or allowed Kenneth Omeruo or Tomas Kalas to stay, Chelsea would have depth options. Instead, Chelsea signed Baba Rahman, and Mourinho refuses to trust him.
In the midfield, Chelsea are struggling for a true playmaker — granted, they signed Pedro. But without another CAM or a CDM, Chelsea are struggling. Fabregas is being forced to play through poor form because who is there to replace his deep-lying creativity?
Should Chelsea have signed Pogba, or Christian Eriksen, or even Isco, the Blues would have more options. Both Oscar and Willian have already been injured. If these type of injuries continue to occur, it limits Chelsea’s options to Hazard, Pedro and either Kenedy or Ramires. Chelsea needed to sign another playmaker this summer, and they are now suffering the consequences – especially considering Manchester United and Manchester City signed about three each.
Furthermore, Chelsea needed another forward this summer. As we can already tell, Chelsea are worse when Diego Costa isn’t playing. While Remy is a quality forward, he represents a major drop off in talent up top. He offers something different, but not equivalent. Furthermore, relying on Falcao is just ignorant. Therefore, Chelsea needed another striker, especially considering the knowledgethat Costa would be missing several games this year due to injury or suspension.
Therefore, although the current Chelsea players don’t have it this season so far, some of Mourinho’s challenges can be traced back to his lack of quality options, due to their hesitancy in the transfer market this summer. Now, he’s forced to play the kids for a newer outlook, and he would be better off doing so. However, it would have been even better to have more experienced senior options, but Chelsea dropped the ball this summer.
