When you think of Chelsea from years gone by, there have been plenty of things that have changed.
Fortunes have gone from good to bad, managers, players and titles have come and gone from the four stands of Stamford Bridge, but one thing remained paramount throughout the Blues’ recent history.
That was to be proud of our defence. Tough to beat, resilient, strong in the tackle, are just some of the ways that you could’ve described the squad throughout Roman Abramovich’s reign at the club.
You only have to look at the standard of players that have graced the back four. Ashley Cole, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferrera, some of Europe’s finest during the peaks of their careers. Partnerships were built beside the long-standing John Terry, who still, to this day is the club’s best defender and holds the key to stability in front of the goalkeeper.
What was once something that the club could pride themselves on, is nothing short of becoming a shambles as defensive errors that have span across last season and this, continue to cost us valuable points in the Premier League.
Call it parking the bus, but the Blues managed to see off one Europe’s strongest teams in the form of Bayern Munich, in their own back yard with two injured central defenders and a make-shift back four, if there is anything we’ve been consistently good at over the last decade, it’s defending when we’ve needed to.
Napoli at home, Barcelona away and Arsenal away in our title-winning season all spring to mind.
Chelsea’s board have failed to identify an ageing defence that has needed reinforcements for some time now.
On the 23rd October, 2011, Chelsea travelled to Queens Park Rangers and lost 1-0, a game remembered for Didier Drogba receiving a red card, but that’s not the talking point we want to focus on. The back four that day? From right to left: Branislav Ivanovic, David Luiz, John Terry, Jose Bosingwa.
Nearly five years later, three of those players remain at the club, one may have left and re-signed, but that shows no signs of progression. The defence, back then, may not have been a problem, but not many Chelsea fans would’ve predicted they’d be seeing the same faces, in the same line-up.
The sudden drop in form started towards the end of our title-winning season in 2014/15, but really touched the surface in Jose Mourinho’s third season and under Guus Hiddink.
Serbian defender, Ivanovic, highlighting the club’s fall from grace at the back. After being one of the club’s stalwarts in defence over the last decade, fans were calling for him to leave the club after a string of bad performances at Stamford Bridge.
His performances have also highlighted the poor transfer decisions made by Chelsea and their staff, who have failed to find replacement full-backs ever since selling Ryan Bertrand in 2015.
They club have had three transfer windows since he left the club and we’ve seen both Filipe Luis and Baba Rahman come and go before signing Marcos Alonso from Fiorentina. Who knows how long the Spaniard will last?
The lack of forward thinking, coupled with the uncertainty over the futures of the likes of Andreas Christensen, Jake Clarke-Salter and other young defenders who currently find themselves out on loan, must fill any Chelsea fan with worry when thinking about the day when Terry eventually hangs up his boots for good.
It had been hoped that by bringing an Italian coach, like Conte, a man who is renowned for the way his team’s defend and defend well. In the end, it may be Conte that manages to turn the squad around at the back, but regardless, that will take time and the former Juventus man will need to be given that time.
