GIVE YOUTH A CHANCE
Not only should we have the biggest names but we should be able to blend them with our developing youngsters. Everyone knows we have a staggering amount of young players out on loan in this country and across Europe, but a number of those are good enough for our first team. The only academy player being given a chance so far is Ruben Loftus-Cheek but if the star players aren’t delivering then more youth players should be given some playing time.
I’ve already mentioned the number of defensive players out on loan and I’ll not count former first team players like Juan Cuadrado, Mo Salah, Marko Marin and Victor Moses. Beyond them though we’ve loaned out quality youngsters who right now could perhaps perform better than their senior counterparts given the chance. Patrick Bamford is proving to be a great young striker it’s hard for anyone to make a case that Falcao deserves to play over him on current form.
When we’re struggling in the centre of the park and having to resort to playing John Obi Mikel why are players like Marco Van Ginkel and Nathaniel Chalobah out on loan? In attacking midfield, we could have kept Lucas Piazon and Christian Atsu as options. We have great youngsters who are never given a chance and not just under Mourinho either. I feel we should have a manager who has the guts to play these youngsters to turn them into young stars rather than loaning them out for a couple of seasons then selling them for a profit.
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
Mourinho’s final failing for me is his inability to take responsibility for our predicament. If we lose it’s down to the referee. If we draw it’s down to the referee. Weeks ago we had the excuse about the electronic pre-match presentation equipment not working. Of course, the FA has a vendetta against him too and so does the press.
He used to be a manager that rival fans would begrudgingly like or at least would like to have in charge of their club, but now he’s turned everyone against him. I’m not sure if he’s unravelling or if he’s doing it on purpose but the blame game of pointing the finger at officials all the time is getting ridiculous. Yes, quite often decisions don’t go our way and we don’t get the penalty we should have and the player doesn’t get sent off that should have been but if you’re playing well enough and scoring goals none of that matters.
Every team has at least one or two incidents in every match where they can say a decision didn’t go their way. His constant moaning about the FA and referees has turned us into a laughing stock both on and off the pitch now. People used to hate us (and that’s fine) but now they just laugh at us. Another thing that frustrates me is that I saw a lot of these issues coming and discussed them with others on social media before the summer when we still had a chance to put them right.
It frustrates and even annoys me that I, a simple fan with a bit of football knowledge, can see the writing on the wall for things like Ivanovic’s defensive frailty, needing a leader to replace Terry, how playing Terry is affecting our attacking game and Costa’s discipline and yet our manager who is paid handsomely to do so doesn’t. Either that or he did see it and did nothing in which case he is equally at fault.
THE X FACTOR
When Manchester United had their implosion under David Moyes after Sir Alex Ferguson left at least we could see why. For a while, the team had been fading but opposing teams had faced them looking at the name of the team and the manager rather than the eleven players on the pitch. Once Moyes took over and they suffered their first defeat it was like everyone saw that the team was beatable after all.
Then everyone went at them and it’s taken a new manager and a quality set of players to get them back to winning ways. It’s much harder to see why we’ve dropped off the rails so much, but now that we’ve lost so many games the players seem to lack confidence and commitment for the fight. It’s not a situation Mourinho has faced much in his career and I don’t think he knows quite how to deal with it. His managerial style just doesn’t seem to lift and motivate the players. There’s something not working, but it’s hard to tell what.
SO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
For me, the time has come to say goodbye to Jose. If we have to have an interim manager to get through this season then so be it but someone needs to pull the team together and lift the spirits because Mourinho doesn’t seem able to. For those fans that want him to stay, I wonder where they personally draw the line.
How many defeats before they think it’s enough? Just how much time can history buy? Someone said to me the other day that it appears that Mourinho’s already given up and wants out but not without the pay-off he’ll get for being sacked. He’s certainly not deliberately losing, but his off-field antics certainly seem to be challenging the club to cut their ties with him.
Time will tell and I’m sure in the next couple of days we’ll know one way or the other. If he goes then the next discussions will surround who replaces him. If he stays then the speculation will die down until the next defeat before reaching fever pitch again. All I want is to see my side winning with style and I can’t see that happening with Mourinho.
I’m not the kind of fan that’s happy to ‘win ugly’ all the time (although I agree sometimes you have to) and feel that a title winning side needs to look like they deserve to win in the way that they play rather than scraping wins to achieve the result. I thought after winning the title last season that way (certainly after New Year) we could kick on this season and maybe add some attractive football to our game but we’ve gone the other way. Hopefully, we can have a change that can bring that back for us. We are Chelsea fans and we love our club. Whether we want Mourinho to stay or to go we want the best for the club in our own way. In time, we will all be as one again, undivided and enjoying the success we crave.
