Chelsea’s problem revealed! The true story! by Tushar L.Kuzhi
People can debate all life long whether Ancelotti could had done a better job at Chelsea, would Hiddink have been a better option than AVB, whether Chelsea would had lifted the Champions League if Jose Mourinho was still the manager. But the real deal is, the managers aren’t the one’s who’s supposed to bear the full deal of blame. For me, the manager is worth of maybe just 40% of the blame. 40% lies with the players. 20% lies with Roman Abramovich himself. I’ll explain my views.
Take an instance of Barcelona and Manchester United (keep your hatred for the clubs aside for now). They both have a good manager. But do they always get things right? Barcelona has flirted with experiments ever since. I’ll give a combined list of where both teams have flirted. CM at CB, CB at RB, Winger at ST, CM at ST, youth player starting a big game, ST at CAM, CM at RB/LB. They have used the central midfielders almost everywhere. Chelsea, luckily were blessed because only maybe once or twice had to make such alterations in recent times. The difference? Barca and Man UTD won almost 75% of the games where they had made such alterations. And Chelsea lost or drew in all.
Debaters can debate all they want about the decisions AVB takes. If he leave Frank Lampard on the bench, they say the manager has problems with the seniors. If he plays Frank Lampard, they say he is afraid to replace the old guard and so starts the underperforming stars everytime (yes, that goes to all, all of our old guard has lacked consistency, maybe Ashley was the most inconsistent of them all).
If he plays Drogba, why is he not playing Torres, if he plays Torres, why is he not playing Drogba. Drogba is certainly not the player he once was. He once said he felt disgusted to come to Chelsea because he wanted to stay at Marseille, but gradually he became our heart and soul, but that heart and soul is now old, and less viscious. He decides to play a pass to a nearby player rather than shoot selfishly, he decides to come back to defend, he has lost his predator skills. That doesn’t mean he is bad but he is not the REAL DORGBA. Terry and controversies have become a habit now. the media hates him so much that they don’t fail to exaggerate any small stories. Actually they hate all of Chelsea, always looking for our downfall and failure and negatives.
When a manager sets a team into play, whatever formation, whoever plays, the players representing the club of Chelsea’s calibre must know what they are supposed to bring on stage. Against teams like West Brom, Swansea, Fulham, etc. we cannot be expected to have our full first team on the pitch, still we have 70% of the first team at least, still we lose ground, is it the problem of the manager? I don’t think so, it is surely the players. The current crop of players don’t know what is expected of them, they are clueless of what to do next, maybe the manager doesn’t motivate them enough, but experience is a thing Chelsea never lacked. Still we lose, draw.
When I said Roman is at blame too, I want to say, firstly I’m so proud to have him our owner. He cares for the club, he spends for the club, he desires success for the club and not just the profits. The real problem is that, whenever there is a problem in performance, instead of backing the manager with more firepower in form of classy players, he decides to stick with the players and fire the manager. Ancelotti once justified Roman by saying, “It is easier to change one manager, than a whole team.” But how long will the same team play? How can a manager create tricks from a pack of cards the whole world is well aware of. They know what we can do, what we will do, how we play, how we defend. Roman is like a rich dad with spoilt kids, the kids are not only the players, but the fans too. Roman listens to the fans desires to bring someone in, to sack the manager or something else.
But again, even if I like AVB, I’d want Roman to solve his differences with Jose Mourinho and bring him back, for a long long spell this time. It doesn’t relate to any problem I have with AVB, but to the relation of the club with Jose. Chelsea loves Jose and Jose loves Chelsea, what else does a fan need?