I am utterly disgusted by the insipid Chelsea performance last night against Man Utd. In a game, which was arguably the most important one of the season thus far, the players and the coach turned in a hapless performance and thoroughly deserved to be humiliated by a classy Man Utd team! And mind you, I am not one to easily praise Man Utd! Felipe Scolari, I believe, is really testing the patience of the Chelsea management. However, I do not think it is solely based on his recent results. I am officially pissed off at the situation at Chelsea so let me offer my insights. Scolari, I hope you are reading!
From the moment he took on the squad, he should have realized that the two gaping flaws of last season's squad were at right-back and left winger. He only got one out of two when he signed Jose Bosingwa from Porto. His other signings so far have been unnecessary, and needless to say, underperforming! Deco was not needed in a midfield that already boasted Mikel, Lampard and Ballack (more on him later...). Only a suitable backup was needed, not another large ego in an already full midfield! The midfield imbalance caused by this one signing, I think, is the biggest reason for Chelsea's woes this season.
Chelsea's most successful formation for the last 3-4 years has been 4-3-3 with two out and out wingers (the likes of Duff, Robben and Joe Cole) serving a center forward (Drogba). Scolari, understandably, has accepted this and did not seek to immediately change the formation of the side. That's good but the personnel now does not fit this scheme! Duff and Robben are long gone, Wright-Phillips was rightfully sent away after failing to impress, Malouda has been a colossal waste, and Salomon Kalou and Scott Sinclair have not been given enough chances to stake their claims. This leaves Joe Cole as the only true winger in the side. Against Utd, Scolari played Deco out on the left wing, as he has done several times this season and it backfired! Deco is a creative playmaker and is best when controlling play at the center of the park! That's where he enjoyed all his success with Barcelona and Portugal. C'mon Scolari, you should have known this!
So, the team was set up without a balance on the left wing from the start. In addition, he benched this season's EPL top-scorer (Anelka) for a forward who is yet to regain full match fitness after returning from injury recently (Drogba). Why choose to do this in the most important game of the season? The result...Drogba sulked and whines his way about for 90 mins, only managing a comically mishit volley that dribbled out for a goal kick and a woeful shot that went out for a throw-in on the opposite sideline! Now, I have adored Drogba in seasons past and he has been a terrific asset for Chelsea before, but he just hasn't been the same this season. The transfer talk and his constant injury worries have limited his playing opportunities and he has failed to really impress in the few games he has played. So, how could you bench the most effective striker in the league for such a crucial game? Bad gamble there, sir!
Ok, so he made some mistakes with the starting lineup. Fair enough. Now, what did the World Cup winning coach do when Utd took the lead just before halftime? He replaced Deco with Anelka and switched essentially to a 4-4-2 formation with Lampard on the left of midfield. Another blunder! Lampard has to play through the middle because that is where is most effective! Anyone could tell you that. However, the larger issue was that the player that needed to be replaced (and has been poor for several games now) was Ballack! Once an effective central midfielder, Ballack has now lost all his speed and just is not able to orchestrate the midfield as well as he used to in his younger days. Matched alongside Darren Fletcher and Ryan Giggs (neither of whom are the fastest midfielders), he was simply unable to match them for pace and movement. In my opinion, the better substitution was to replace Ballack with Anelka and stick Anelka on the left wing, moving Deco inside alongside Mikel and Lampard. Still not balanced on the left, but at least you got rid of the worst player on the team!
The second substitution was even more baffling. Scolari replaced Bosingwa with Belletti. What was the purpose of this like-for-like substitution at right-back when your team is losing? At that point, either the woeful Drogba or Deco should have been hauled off. Kalou could have been used and shifted out to the right flank, while bringing Joe Cole into central midfield. Clearly an attacking formation! Instead, Scolari waited till 82 mins and a 2-0 scoreline to replace Joe Cole with Franco Di Santo. An acceptable switch but far too late in the game to have any serious effect, other than lead to the final Man Utd goal.
As a Chelsea fan, I can accept poor team performances. Everyone has off days. But the coach and the management have to act responsibly and intelligently! I don't see this happening at the moment and that's why I am frustrated. The squad is not bad, it just needs one missing piece...a quality left winger. Stewart Downing could be a possibility, but our erstwhile coach has gone on record after the Man Utd game to declare that no new players would be bought! How can you continue to ignore blatantly obvious flaws? That's not a good sign, and I feel Scolari should be let go at the end of the season since I do not see the team winning anything with the current squad.
Let me end on a positive note noting what can be done to alleviate Chelsea's issues. First and foremost, go out and sign a left winger. Stewart Downing, perhaps even Elano although he's not a true winger, or give Kalou and/or Scott Sinclair more chances with the first team! Get rid of the malcontent Drogba and replace him with a younger striker, perhaps Amr Zaki or Luis Fabiano. Bench Ballack for Deco in central midfield until Essien comes back and then bench both! Success is achievable, but someone at Chelsea is going to have to realise that there are problems and find ways to solve them! For the sake of fans, please get to it!
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