By Gary Watton
April 1 2018

Well it did have to happen eventually! Oh well. Look out Europa League. Here comes Chelsea. The outgoing champions of England are I'm afraid going into decline. Having climbed to second in the league table before Christmas, Chelsea have been almost in free fall since the turn of the year, both struggling to score and struggling equally to keep clean sheets. With this double whammy, any team is going to be in difficulty - and so it has proved. It's true that the Blues could finish a car crash season with FA Cup glory, but many average teams have won the FA Cup, so any such success would not be an indicator of progress.  

Whilst Tottenham trophy dodgers celebrate a famous triumph, the hosts are little short of a shambles. Yes they didn't play terribly against the trophy dodgers, and indeed they have played much worse in recent months. However this summer is going to be one of drastically required upheaval. The sulky manager will probably depart. It would be a matter of some surprise if the Belgian duo of Courtois and Hazard don't exit as well. Pedro will probably be offloaded to economise the wage bill. Maybe even Willian won't accept a season of less than glamorous Europa League football against Moldovans and Finnish and Icelandic also-rans on Thursday nights.

Furthermore a newly-appointed team supremo will probably not want half of the nine signings from the last two transfer windows. This will mean even more shuffling of personnel. Unfortunately our recruitment policy is farcical. Has Rudiger been a big improvement upon the departed Ake? Has Bakayoko been any kind of improvement upon the departed Chalobah? Is the Fabregas and Kante duo good enough? None of our midfielders seem capable of scoring any more. If Hazard, Willian (or Morata) doesn't score, Chelsea don't score. Gone are the days when every player in the team was scoring goals. Gone are the days when Chelsea were blessed with goal scoring midfielders like Ballack, Di Matteo, Essien, Lampard, or Poyet.

The next temporary manager will have to pull a few rabbits out of the hat. However it would be naïve to think that every Chelsea manager will hit the ground running. Scolari and AVB were bad choices, so there is no guarantee that Conte's successor will arrest the depressing decline.

CHELSEA 1 Tottenham Hotspur 3; half time: 1-1

CHELSEA goal scorer: Morata

CHELSEA: Caballero; Christensen; Rudiger; Azpilicueta; Kante; Alonso; Fabregas; Moses; Morata; Willian; Hazard. Used substitutes: Giroud; Emerson; Hudson-Odoi

CHELSEA leading scorers:

Hazard fifteen

Morata fourteen

Willian thirteen

Batshuayi ten

Alonso seven

Pedro six

Bakayoko three

Rudiger three

Horrible, Inevitable Result

Discussion started by Chelsea FC (IP Logged), 01/04/2018 17:29

Chelsea FC
01/04/2018 17:29

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