Listening to Jose`s post match comments confirm what most of us already realize. The senior men`s team of Chelsea FC is now in crises mode. When our manager who is usually the epitome of confidence uses the terms “loss of confidence” and “bad luck” repeatedly in his post match comments then you know we are officially scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Various govt agencies and big companies all have a manual on crises mode operation. It is time Chelsea FC deploys theirs and I as a concerned fan I will just proffer a few suggestions and ask the rest of the blue nation to chime in because the pro footie world in general and the BPL especially is like a pool of blood thirsty sharks. Let us not deceive ourselves we will get no mercy nor favors from anyone out there. It was all fun and games when we did the domestic double last season but right now we are the hunted. Every team out there knows we are vulnerable and in a state of crises and they all want to take advantage and take their pound of flesh. That includes Maccabi tel-Aviv who we play next at Stamford Bridge. If our side were anywhere close to its innate potential that match should be an easy 3 points in the bag but with our state right now any scenario imaginable can happen if this team of ours does not make some changes and fast!!!
Now I doubt that jose has any time to read what we fans have to say on our web forums but just in case he does if were to offer suggestions as to a way forward I would offer these 7 steps;
1. The entire team top to bottom is badly underperforming so Jose will need to make tweaks and changes everywhere but any smart footie expert knows you build teams from the back forward not the other way so let us start with the goalkeeper situation. Begovic is an excellent back up but we are kidding ourselves if we think Blackman (who has no championship not to mention BPL experience) is a safe no 2. The FA and UEFA regs allow us the option to obtain an on loan keeper in circumstances like this and we actually did get one ( I forget the guys name) when Cudiccini and Cech were both out injured back in the day. Chelsea FC need to go get a half decent no 2 goalie on loan now. We would be wise not to wait till another disaster strikes our goal keeping ranks before doing this or we will be badly disadvantaged and exploited in seeking a replacement if Begovic picks up a knock and clubs at that point see us as a desperate team ripe to be mercilessly financially exploited.
2. Jose is the defensive genius..what-ever else ails us he needs to get back to what he knows best. Setting up his teams to first and foremost hard to beat. I have my ideas on this but he is the expert..changes need to be made some of which are obvious like making sure Ivanovic never plays RB for us ever again but Jose has to make not conceding the first priority going forward. Securing a few 0-0 draws and getting a few single points would be much better than where we are right now where every tom, dick and harry team can virtually be guaranteed to score at least two goals per game against us. Fix the defense Jose..any positive development must start there even if it must mean parking the bus literally and even changing to a back 5.
3. As regards the mid field whatever else is wrong there our first priority must be to set them up to protect our floundering back 4 and I mean that creativity and scoring from the mid field must take second gear to protecting our behind. This means in my mind that some competent assistance needs to be found for matic because he cant do this alone and we all know Fab aint it. The candidates I see are Willian, RLC, Ramires and Mikel in that order of preference. I place Willian top because he has the required skill set; he is a hard worker, fast, good tackler and had a good defensive mind frame. Pushing him back wont impact our goal scoring to any degree as we all know he isn`t a significant goal threat. His passing and decision making in the final third is generally poor and his shooting is even worse but in the middle of the park beside Matic would put him in a place where he could mightily help the team and honestly at this point what do we have to lose? Jose you need to discover your bold side and make the changes that are needed.
4. Regarding our striker situation I wont over complicate this. Clearly our strikers are underperforming . Let us make this simple, in my mind the most efficient of a strikers right now (Loic Remy) has not been allowed to play even one minute and that is on Jose. Furthermore isn`t it about time Jose got a clue and decided to deploy two striker formations for a change? Look at little everton..they started out with two strikers in Kone and Lukaku and when they had an unexpected injury rather than capitulate Martinez showed the intent that wins games by bringing on a third striker in Naismith who won him the game. Another example, away from home City started two strikers in Bony and Arguero even though they are the only two senior strikers the team has. Even when Arguero got injured Pellegrini continued to show intent by bringing on a youth Striker Kelechi Iheanacho who secured all three points for them. If we are to have any hope of winning matches we need to score more goals; Jose the 4-2-3-1 you have been playing is just not getting the job done. Start out games with two striker formations for goodness sakes whether it be the age old 4-4-2 or the 4-4-1-1. Even a 4-3-3 would be better than this stale 4-2-3-1. For goodness sakes Jose give Remy a fair chance..he cannot be much worse than Falcao and Costa have been and may actually be better. BTW despite playing no single minute so far this BPL season Remy has as many goals to his name as the other two guys since the pre season began (namely one).
5. Let all this nonsense talk about sacking jose stop forthwith. Roman hopefully knows better. The greatest example of why patience is a virture is staring us right in the eye at City. Pellegrini messed up last season with the best quality and deepest squad in the BPL winning no tournaments. Based on his performance (or lack thereof) he became a dead man manager walking..honestly Pellegrini needs to thank the fates that Pep Guardiola was not available because if he had been I am certain Pellegrini would have been gone. The point however is that with the City top brass forced to be patient they actually provided Pellegrini big time transfer window reinforcements and he has found his groove and is now making excellent decisions while realizing the full potential of his multitalented squad. While Jose has his faults in this mess can guys for a minute see things from his view point. Pellegrini achieved nothing at all last season and yet his board trusted him enough to provide for him essentially all he asked for in the transfer window to reinforce his already deep, high quality squad. Our manager won a domestic double and provided to our board his list of needs by April 30 this year and we all know how our board absolutely botched the transfer window. Would it have been too much to get our manager at least one marquee player in this window? would it have been too much to ask for Roman to have backed Jose in insisting Cech was not sold to the gunners? ( see how Everton handled the Stones situation when Martinez insisted he did not want the player sold at any cost), also see how Manu handled the De Gea situation. They essentially screwed the guy over; they made sure the deal for him to join Real was botched on the last day of the window and then bullied him to sign a new contract clearly all at the behest of LVG. This is how you back your manager and let us be clear our board did not exactly back up Jose in this window and that is the gospel truth no matter what guys may think and say. look at the two CBs we ended up with on the last day of the window; both clearly not jose choices. It is too late to cry over this now but hopefully our board have now got a clue after this mess and make sure that in the January window they actually earn their keep and actually back the manager who won this side the last two pieces of silverware we have.
6. Jose must evolve..only he can do this. Time to develop a little humility and to toss the stubbornness..it is really getting old and clearly is no longer working. We need results and he needs to do what it takes to get them including doing things that he may not typically do like tossing untouchables to the bench, actually implementing a real meritocracy as the sole criterion for his team selections, actually developing a rational real team rotation policy, actually trusting and using the youth talent at his disposal rather than paying lip service to them which is getting us nowhere. A quick example ..Bamford is wasting away at crystal palace ..he has not had a even one minute of playing time yet and we have floundering strikers here at home. How about we recall this young man come January and actually trust him as our 4th striker because clearly we will need the resources. Let me not even get started on how we treated Victor Moses.
7. Finally and this is not a joke Jose needs to mend his fences with Eva Carniero and Jon Fearn. This side desperately needs a win however small..any little positive that can change the foreboding ambience descending on the club. Jose needs to swallow his pride and be the bigger man. If he is unwilling I would go so far to say Roman should wield the big stick and make him do it. There does not need to be any public apology but what needs to happen is for jose to meet with both medics of record and let each side say all they have to say and end this fraticidal mess once and for all. Let all end all the inuendo of lawyers getting involved and att the end of it reinstate the two medics to the side lines of our team where they belong and where they were last season when we were at our best. Make no mistake this would be a huge psychologic boost for a team that jose himself now admits is in a crises of confidence.
The man is a card carrying Psychologist..he needs to evaluate this dispassionately and do what is best for Chelsea FC not what is best for his ego. Whether we want to admit it or not Eva and Jon probably have some players on that team who feel bad and are sympathetic about how they have been treated ( i would say mistreated). That means even if only on the level of mind set our team players are not all on the same page. It is time to bring the whole family back together again. Also for those who care for such things there is such a thing as karma. The last time I remember we were in such a shambles as now Karma wise was when Roman sacked RDM and then got Rafa instead. We followed a glorious double trophy winning season (including the FA cup and champions league) despite having a much less talented squad with losing in all the 6 trophy opportunities we had in the following season. RDM was manager for only one of those 6 losses and we ended up 3rd in the BPL and with just the Europa league trophy. Changing club ambience is important..having a positive , something to celebrate rather than more bad news is important and just ending the Eva and Jon Saga positively will be one win for Chelsea FC we can get done asap
I will close on this point. Winning is a contagious habit. We are double champions from last season and we must not lose this habit. In my opinion the BPL title is already lost but what must not be lost is a thirst for winning and a drive for it so what that means is that starting from now Jose needs to change focus. A top 4 finish in the BPL is a sine qua non but huge priority must now be placed on trying to win at least one and honestly even both local cup competitions. Lifting the capital one cup and the FA cup would make the bitterness of losing our BPL title far less stinging and will ensure that the winning culture is sustained and nurtured. This is not minor, Wenger finally figured this out. His gunners since going nearly a decade without winning anything by winning the FA cup 2 yrs ago flipped a switch and have now developed a winning mentality that has seen them since then win one more FA cup and two community shields. They are also the most credible threat City now have to romping to a 3rd BPL title this year. We should by all means aim to give a good account of ourselves in the Champions league but any realist knows that it would take a repeat of the Bavarian miracle run of 2012 for us to have any prayer of winning it this year and I am not holding my breath expecting that. Honestly with the way we are playing now I would be glad if we can just escape the group stages.
Well there you have it guys. Have your say. What would you suggest be included in our club`s crises mode play book? I have made my suggestions, lets hear yours and as a hard as it is to do right now, KTBFFH.
Share this article
