5 reasons why Chelsea struggle

1. IVANOVIC IS PAST HIS PRIME: I’ve said this so much I’m beginning to sound like a broken record. Branislav Ivanovic is no longer the player he once was. Until last season, I’ve always rated the Serb as slightly ahead of Man City’s Pablo Zabaleta in my top-two English Premier League’s best right-backs but this season Ivanovic had been anything but that.

On the opening weekend, he had a torrid weekend against Swansea’s Ecuadorian Montero who tore him to pieces as the Swans claimed a deserved 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge. The following week, same Ivanovic was dragged all over the place, first by Raheem Sterling and then Samir Nasri in Man City’s 3-0 bashing of the Blues. They struggled to overcome a stubborn West Brom 3-2 but, again, Ivanovic was directly culpable for at least one of the goals as well as a generally uncharacteristically lethargic performance against the Baggies.

And on Saturday, this was what the BBC had to say about Ivanovic’s performance: “Branislav Ivanovic has struggled for form so far this term and Palace targeted the right-back, with 50% of their attacks in the first half coming down that side of the pitch. Palace appeared to pick out Ivanovic as the weak link, focusing most of their attacks – particularly in the first half – down the full-back’s side of the pitch. Crucially, Ivanovic was caught out when Sako was allowed to provide the ball for Ward to score the decisive goal.”

For someone who has been a pillar in the Chelsea defence for the past eight and a half seasons, you will notice when they have a single bad day. When they have been this pathetic in FOUR games, the roof will come crashing down and that’s what’s happening to the 31-year old.

2. OVERDEPENDENCE ON HAZARD: Prior to the start of the season, I was asked what was the one single reason that may stop Chelsea from defending their Premier League title and I didn’t hesitate to say that would be the undue over-reliance on the magic and creativity of Eden Hazard.

The Belgian was pivotal in Chelsea’s run to the league title last season and it was obvious the whole team looked up to him. Man City capatain, Vincent Kompany was aware of Hazard’s influence on Chelsea’s game that he said before their meeting two weeks ago that: “You’d almost hope that Eden Hazard would have diarrhea. You can’t underestimate the impact he has on Chelsea. Last week, against Swansea, when Chelsea were reduced to 10 men, he was the only one who was dangerous because he ran past three or four defenders. You can have as many tactical plans as you want; if Eden starts running it’s chaos. He’s at a level where he decides how good his team are.”

Of course, being a fellow Belgian, you cannot fault Kompany’s evaluation of Hazard’s ability. What rival managers have done is to simply read the manual book: if you want to stop Chelsea, stop Hazard. The reigning Premier League player of the year has there found himself a marked man this current campaign with as many as three-man tag-teams keeping vigilance on him even before he gets the ball and, because Chelsea have come to over-rely on him, the team has found it difficult to play well because star boy is not on top of his game.

On Saturday, against Palace, Hazard failed once again to raise his game and it was new buy Pedro who provided the creative outlet for the Blues and created as many chances (five) as Hazard and Willian combined.

3. ZOUMA/CAHILL PAIRING NOT WORKING: Last season, John and Gary Cahill commandeered Chelsea’s central defence and where so imperious in the team’s march to the league title that Terry played every game and easily walked into the league’s team of the season. The duo struck an understanding that easily reminded one of the tag-team of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand at Manchester United in years gone by.

Sadly, that pairing is a year older now than it was last eason and a year is such an awfully long period of time in the life of a footballer. Terry is a bit off-pace and Mourinho, like all good managers would do, has been cracking his brain about how to fix that defensive frailty. He brought in youngster Kurt Zouma at Man City after 45 minutes and Terry’s red card in the next match has kept the young lad in the team but, sadly, his pairing with Cahill is not working as much as Mourinho and the club would have hoped.

Zouma is not Terry and has certainly got a long way to go to replace the Chelsea captain. Cahill has always been a player who needs to be guided on what to do and how to do it, a position Terry was filling nicely in the past.

What you have now is a Zouma who’s trying to adapt to life in the shoes of a legend and a Cahill who’s perpetually looking for direction now playing together in a relentless league such as the EPL where the smallest mistake is punished ruthlessly.

If you couple this Zouma/Cahill uneasy marriage with Ivanovic’s dodgy form and also remember that Cesar Azpilicueta is NOT a left back, then you’ll understand why Chelsea are currently in sixes and sevens.

4. MATIC/ FABREGAS YET TO CLICK: It was my considered opinion last season, and I recall making it known on this column, that Nemanja Matic was the best player in his position in England and among the top three in Europe. He was particularly adept at shielding the centre-backs from attack, breaking up the opposition play and then launching rapid cross-field passes to Hazard and the forward line for counter-attacks which resulted in a lot of goals for the Blues.

Further afield, Cesc Fabregas was usually on the prowl, looking to make that telling final pass to any of the attackers which resulted in him making the most number of assists in the Premier League in just his first season back in England.

The team’s fortune, as far as the midfield was concerned and in relation to both the defence and attack depended largely on this two players who were outstanding and made Chelsea looked a bit better than they actually are.

However, all these have been lacking so far and neither Matic nor Fabregas has been able to replicate anything close to the dazzling heights of last season and this has contributed in large parts to Chelsea struggling this term.

5. MOURINHO’S WAR WITH THE WORLD: This, perhaps, is no news to anyone who has been on planet earth in the last few years. Jose Mourinho will pick a quarrel with an ant for no other reason than the fact that it is an ant. The list of those he has fought in his time as a manager will stretch from Mainland to Island but he’s been cuddled and tolerated because he’s so good at what he does. Geniuses are allowed their tantrums now and again.

However, Mourinho’s predilection for picking up unnecessary controversy will ultimately reflect on his team and that explained why he said last week after the hard-fought 3-2 win at West Brom that “many people in this moment are not happy with this result. People want to see Chelsea lose.”

People do not necessarily want to see Chelsea lose as much as they want to see Mourinho put in his place and each time he loses or draws a game, another piece of his enigma is chipped away by his traducers. So every manager and players playing against Chelsea have extra motivation to do well and make life difficult for the Blues.

Finally, and by way of addendum, times are changing in the Premier League and the gap between teams is forever shrinking. The influx of television money into the league has ensured that more teams are able to attract quality players into their folds which means yesterday’s basement boys have become today’s battlers for points. Stoke, for example, may not be able to splash £40million on a single player like Manchester City or Chelsea will do but they have been able to use that same amount of money to buy three or four players who have strengthened their team in deficient areas.

Moreover, most people will point at Chelsea’s inability to bring in more players of quality, bar Pedro, to fortify their team but Mourinho claimed his team was good enough to last for a decade so we have to take his word for it that Chelsea will eventually come good at season’s end. Afterall, he’s the Special One, isn’t he?

August 31, 2015