Chelsea’s stuttering Premier League season suffered another damaging blow today with a 2-1 loss at West Ham.
The reigning champions seem to have lurched from one problem to another, both on and off the pitch. They find themselves eleven points off the top spot, currently held by Arsenal, and only five points clear of the bottom three.
With this in mind, here is a list of five things learned from the loss, and from the season so far:
1: Mourinho has turned from the Special One to the Angry One
Pretty much since the opening day of the season, Jose has spent most of his time at war with the world. Whether the victim of his verbal war has been Eva Carneiro, the former Chelsea physio relieved of her duties in September and considering legal action, long standing rival Arsene Wenger, who Mourinho called a ‘specialist in failure’, the FA who slapped him with a £50,000 fine and suspended stadium ban for comments made following the 3-1 loss to Southampton, or the match officials, who he claims have a agenda against Chelsea when it comes to awarding penalties, Mourinho has spent just as much time this season picking fights as he has picking the team. Maybe he needs to focus on getting his own house in order before worrying about others.
2: They need reinforcements up front to take pressure off Costa
Diego Costa is a fine player, there is no doubt about that. But he is prone to missing game time, both through injury and of his own temper, which can sometimes get the better of him, as we saw against Arsenal. The Blues do have Radamel Falcao, but he has done nothing of note so far, as was the case last season at Manchester United. Loic Remy does not get enough game time. Which puts more pressure on Costa to produce the goods. Falcao has been linked with a move to Italy in January, and Chelsea need to make bringing in more firepower a genuine priority.
3: Too many loan rangers
Chelsea have an astonishing 34 players out on loan currently, all across Europe. Thirty-four. That is enough for three starting eleven sides. Is there really a need for that many players to be out on loan? Surely some of these players deserve game time at Stamford Bridge to show that they can help guide the club out of his mess.
4: There seems to be a lack of on-field leaders
With Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba long departed for the MLS, and John Terry’s defensive leadership seemingly on the wane, some of the other more senior players need to stand up and make their voices heard. Which leads us on to point number five…..
5: Dressing room mutiny?
Reports of a dressing-room mutiny against Mourinho have certainly not helped the Blues’ cause. While Mourinho insists that all is well, and that all the players are alongside him, the players themselves have been reluctant to speak out, although Costa did speak this week about the positive atmosphere at the club. But there were reports a few weeks ago that the way Mourinho treated some players including Gary Cahill and Nemanja Matic, sent off against West Ham, did not set well with other players. The dressing room needs to be one hundred percent, without exception, behind the manager in these testing times.
by Steve Osborne @BlizzardSteve75
