Chelsea
Chelsea Going Nowhere Slowly
Arnautovic's Goal
By Gary Watton
November 9 2015
So Chelsea proved against Stoke to be as impotent without the presence of Mourinho, as they do when he is perched on the bench. Speaking of bench, maybe the serious scrutiny needs to be re-directed at the real villains in the continued demise of the champions of England, in other words Mourinho's right hand and left hand men. Just what the hell do Baltemar Brito, Rui Faria, and Steve Holland do to justify their existence at Chelsea? Answers on a postcard please! I think that a postcard or a postage stamp might be of a sufficient size to list all the virtues and qualities of this hapless trio.
Clearly Chelsea's coaching staff is so low in confidence that they don't back themselves to develop our young talent which is why they are constantly shipped off to other clubs to "develop". Can our coaching staff not develop players? From what I have witnessed of late, they seem to specialise in deteriorating their playing staff, as opposed to developing it. If I was Abramovich, I would call Mourinho's bluff. I would state that I am firing his three stooges and seeking replacements. If Jose retorts that "if they go, then I go too" then this would run at variance from his post-Southampton stipulation that he will not be running away and that "they will have to sack me". If Roman is foolish enough to ditch Ray Wilkins five Novembers ago, then surely the seemingly less effective trio of Brito, Faria, and Holland should be forced to walk the plank. There is clearly something amiss with our coaching and our strategy which has resulted in defensive frailty in early season followed by a distinct lack of goals in recent weeks. What on earth do these coaches do all bloody week? All we ever see is Chelsea players running on the training ground, full of smiles. If that is the length and breadth of our pre-match preparations, then no wonder Chelsea are currently relegation strugglers. Then, to make matters worse, a different Chelsea player is wheeled out to face the media, be it Ramires or Matic or Terry, and we are promised big things for the next match. Unfortunately their talk is the usual hot air about how they are resolved to make amends, let's just keep the faith, and we will soon turn the corner. Well, it's proving to be a bloody large corner!
Of course I get accused of being plastic because I am not 'on the terraces' half-inebriated and singing abuse about opposing players or rich enough to be paying for a seat at the weekly fiasco. I'm not a true fan apparently, because I'm not loyal to Mourinho, unlike the real supporters, most of whom were not supportive of Grant or Benitez, so their loyalty too is selective. See, no supporter really has the high moral ground, and no Chelsea follower emerges from the current debacle with an unblemished record. Generally speaking, support for the manager has wavered according to the choice of appointment, and yes the next incumbent will be met with a lukewarm response from the Mourinho apologists who refuse to blame Jose for anything. They are terrified of being ridiculed by opposing supporters that they do not want to preside over another change of manager. It's funny how it's okay to change a captain or the goalkeeper two or three times in a season, but hey if you change the manager, this will lead to instability and the sky will fall in on us. Stability in management is totally overrated. A manager who is struggling, and Mourinho has been doing do so for three months now, needs to be replaced by someone with fresh ideas and fresh tactics, and the latter are much needed.
Take last Saturday's latest goals famine. In the first half there were several occasions when Chelsea simply didn't have bodies in the box awaiting chances from the dominant midfield. At most, we had Costa in the penalty area, but although I'm sounding like a broken record here, he needs a striking partner. We still have far too many players behind the ball, ready to race back to our penalty area. With that kind of negative mindset, we aren't likely to pile on the goals any time soon. Worse still, in the second half, Costa dropped off, even into his own half, and started playing really deep, as if he was Wayne Rooney. Just how stupid is the coaching staff?
Elsewhere, the much-maligned Hazard ran rings around stubborn Stoke and did everything but score. He has been made a scapegoat for our recent failings, but I saw little wrong with Saturday's efforts. Similarly Matic did his best. Regrettably, Ramires was all over the place, in more ways than one. It was astonishing that he survived the double substitution, before he was rightly hooked in favour of last resort Remy. The latter gets few opportunities, but he did come close to equalising when he rounded the goalkeeper, only to fall over in the process of shooting at goal. This moment of slapstick summed up a luckless outing for Chelsea. It is true that they did everything except score. It's hard to know whether it was a case of rotten misfortune, or ineptitude in the final third. Certainly Pedro hit the post with a decent shot, but alas when you're behind, those attempts have to go in. Pedro is handsomely rewarded to put such efforts into the net. Hitting the post from the edge of the penalty area is a case of not doing his job properly and leaving his employers and paying supporters short-changed. It's no use slotting home such chances when you're three or four goals ahead. When you're in desperate need of an equaliser, those shots simply have to find the back of the net.
Furthermore, Willian may be a direct free kick specialist, but the delivery from his indirect free kicks got worse as the match progressed. Worst of all, Baba Rahman looks increasingly likely to be the latest in a growing list of big money flops. I thought that he had a stinker, and although it is early days, players will not be granted months or years to find their feet. If players don't hit the ground running, they will be sidelined. Similarly, our coaching staff need to earn their obscene salaries and fast, or be sent packing. Chelsea supporters are suddenly tolerating mediocrity and under-achievement. Hopefully, the club owner won't. There's nothing remotely plastic about elbowing the coaching staff or manager out of the picture. If people are failing in the cut-throat world of professional football, they need to make way for genuinely special replacements, assuming that they can be recruited!
Stoke City 1 CHELSEA 0; half time: 0-0.
CHELSEA team: Begovic; Rahman; Azpilicueta; Terry; Zouma; Matic; Hazard; Ramires; Costa; Willian; Pedro. Used substitutes: Fabregas; Oscar; Remy.
CHELSEA LEADING SCORERS:
Willian five goals
Costa three goals
Ramires three goals
Oscar two goals
Pedro two goals
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09/11/2015 13:43
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