December was not a good month for Chelsea FC. The year before that was no better, as Chelsea fell to Stoke in the Premier League, and Sunderland in the Capital One Cup. Those games prompted Manager Jose Mourinho to forget about offense and concentrate on defending for a while.
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This season, it was a little worse. Chelsea went into the last day of November — an away game against Sunderland — with a commanding eight point lead over third place Manchester City. After a draw at Sunderland, a loss to Newcastle, a draw at Southampton, and then, most recently, a humiliating 5-3 loss to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, the two teams are tied in every category. Chelsea lead the table only on alphabetical advantage.
The Blues’ headlines went from Invincible talk to damage reports. What happened?
First of all, lets get this out of the way; Chelsea are fine. They aren’t in crisis. Everything will be okay. Calm down.
Certainly, Chelsea looked bad against Spurs. They haven’t looked that bad since that shootout with Stoke. Neither team defended convincingly the entire game — not just Chelsea. Spurs were poor at the back as well, but Danny Rose escaped criticism after he scored a goal and left injured.
What was most shocking about that game was that Chelsea’s defense had been so good all season. Other than the 6-3 win at Everton, Chelsea have only let in more than one goal twice — against Swansea (another weak defensive team) and Newcastle. Chelsea have conceded 19 goals in the league this term, 12 came in four games (Swansea, Newcastle, Everton and Spurs).
Newcastle handed Chelsea their first defeat of the season in December.
So the defense isn’t in some sort of downward spiral. They’re simply tired.
Which brings me to the next point; the Spurs loss wasn’t a disaster because Harry Kane was brilliant (he was), or because John Terry and Gary Cahill were amazingly poor (they were). It was a disaster because Mourinho mismanaged the team.
He has stuck with the main XI throughout much of the season. John Obi Mikel, Mohammad Salah, Andre Schurrle, Filipe Luis and Ramires have been rotated in, and youngsters have gotten debuts. But Mourinho has chosen to rely mainly on that XI.
Here’s the problem: since Monday the 22nd, Chelsea have played four games, in just 10 days. All four were tough, including trips to Southampton and Spurs, as well as hosting top four West Ham.
During that period, Mourinho used much of the same roster. The squad that played against Spurs was that same core XI. It was also the same squad that played against West Ham on Friday. Eight of the 11 faced Southampton on Sunday, when Mourinho was supposedly “rotating,” and 10 beat Stoke on Monday. So eight of the starting 11 played every game in the 10 days.
Terry and Cahill have never had much pace, Kane exploited that spectacularly, but that shouldn’t be reason to go buy Mats Hummels and Raphael Varane. Terry may be aging, but Kurt Zouma is a great replacement. All Cahill needs is some rest.
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However, I do believe that the defense does need some reshaping. Branislav Ivanovic is a great attacking right back, in fact, one of the best attackers on the team in my opinion. But defensively he is destructive. He leaves gaps open all the time, and when Nemanja Matic isn’t on his game, Cahill and Terry can’t swing out to fill in, leaving the right side wide open.
Jose needs to drop Ivanovic, and move Cesar Azpilicueta, a much better defender, to the right, his natural position. Then bring Filipe Luis — who hasn’t impressed amazingly, but is better going back than Ivanovic — and play him at left back.
That would allow Branislav to back Terry and Cahill up from the bench, and Mourinho could save him for moments when a little more offense — but not too much defending — is needed.
It would also allow him to start Schurrle or Salah, instead of Willian. Willian is very defensive, but with Azpilicueta covering, the more offensive Schurrle, or Salah, could have the license to help break down teams that park the bus.
Look, Chelsea had a bad month. Compared to the way the season started, it was a really bad month. But they aren’t in some sort of crisis. The team doesn’t need an overhaul. It needs depth, and some rest. Chelsea’s XI is the best in the league, and City can only compete by going to their bench.
Mourinho needs to take opportunities to rest his players, and save them for the Premier League and Champions League, the competitions that really matter.
Tomorrow’s FA Cup tie with Watford gives Mourinho the perfect chance to rest players for 10 days, before they host Newcastle next Saturday. Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Matic, Terry, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic and Courtois all need to be rested. Cesc Fabregas and Gary Cahill need it badly as well, but some of the starters must stay, as Watford is not an easy draw.
Mourinho needs to decide what he wants, because right now, Chelsea don’t have the depth to compete in four different competitions. Rest is needed, and needed badly.