Debates, Season Review - Written by BlueChampion on Thursday, June 7, 2007 1:27 | 2,518 Views | 22 Comments | Add Comment
Big Debate: How & Why Chelsea Lost The Title This Season
During the season, we always talked about why this was a completely wrecked campaign. We’ve experienced all those Murphy’s laws in just one season. I’ve just grouped below the major reasons in my opinion, that have resulted in Chelsea ending up 6 points lesser than Man Utd. Also I’ve made this a sticky post for some time.
Injuries
The most popular, most logical and most correct reason. I once took the entire squad list to see how many did not get injured this season. I could count with my fingers in one hand. People say that we are not the worst hit by injuries as there was also Newcastle etc but c’mon, they could climb by two spots at the max. I know that injuries are part and parcel of football but what happened to us looked like to be a curse by a red nosed witch. There were quite a few times this season I thought ‘god! this is unreal’ - especially, when two goalies were knocked off within 90 minutes, when Bridge got injured without even seeing his effort cross the line, when scott sinclair got injured etc. The red nosed witch put the spell so perfectly that even the ex-Chelsea players such as Gallas, Duff, Gudjohnsen etc got injured badly (may be the code was slightly incorrect!). I dont think even the non-Chelsea fans would deny the fact that there is no English club team can beat a fully fit-Chelsea. I’d even extend that to the whole of Europe.
Insufficient/Inadequate back-ups
This is just a corollary of the earlier point. The second choice will never be as good as the first choice and that’s why first choice is first choice and second choice is second choice. The quality of the back ups in the team was good but not good enough to sustain for long periods of time with consistency and certainly not good enough to get us 90+ points. The maximum points lost per game was under Hilario’s goalkeeping. He did quite decently and played as well as you would expect him to. The lack of trust on Hilario’s goalkeeping pulled back the defensive line and it did impact Chelsea’s game. When we are on all-out attack, we are almost unstoppable and we saw that many times this season. Psychologically, there was an air of caution and fear in everyone’s mind which restricted Chelsea’s game and there was no surprise that whenever we were pushed to the wall, the real Chelsea came out blazing.
The ‘Just Arrived’ Club
It’s not uncommon to see five players playing in their first season for a club in another league. What could be uncommon is all these players having to play crucial roles and play/start lots of matches and be disturbed constantly by injuries. In the order of their success - Ashley Cole, Ballack, Shevchenko, Hilario and Boulahrouz - all had a challenging season. There were instances where all these five had to play in the same match. Though few of them were all meant to be first teamers, I would not put all these players in the same team, time and again in the first season itself. But Jose had no other option and he had to do this. It certainly impacts the team’s playing style, mentality and team chemistry. Compare this with Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal. How many first season players, the other clubs had to play in the same match and for long did this continue?
Man Utd played well (grrrrr. . .)
Yes, credit to them. I always thought they would crumble under pressure. They played well together as a team and they played with a mission to accomplish. They had their slices of luck, which we will discuss later, but I’d never be able to say that they did not deserve to be champions this time. Remember, the same 89 points would have still kept them as runner-up in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Like they say in Cricket, ‘it was not a winning total’. Luckily for them, when they improved their tally, we helped them by slipping about 10 points.
Fixtures, penalties, favours from buddies, brothers, uncles & aunts
The ‘randomly’ generated fixtures list was so damn dubious that it looked superbly handpicked by a Man Utd well-wisher. Mostly they played before we did and put pressure on us and when we got a chance to play first, we won and they lost. FA allowed the premiership dates to clash with FA Cup dates and had to move the Stamford Bridge match against Man Utd from mid April to May. Had we beaten them in mid-April, anything could have happened. Truly, Cristiano Ronaldiver was in supreme form in all those unique skills of his. He had a great season but he knew what to do when things dont go as planned - just race through, do flip-flap, feint-double feint and when the defender gets closer enough, fall down like he was shot by a sniper. Can anyone compute the worth of his dives this season? Wouldn’t it be more than 6 points? We gotta read Howard’s contract to know why he didn’t keep against Man Utd. May be, he is too straightforward in his approach and thus may not have been helpful. May be he should learn from Phil Neville. Looks like the Neville family was keen on winning the title, while one Neville couldnt even dream about it atleast he can help the other Neville lift it. For a defender, that was a superb finish. Well done bro!
The Chelsea Civil War
The mid-season confusion on Jose’s future was the second worst thing to happen this season after our injuries. It took the minds of players and staff away from where they should have been. Players rallying around the coach and also expressing concern about the happenings. I’d never be able to concentrate on my work if I’m unsure of what might happen to my job next week. The ego clash or ‘I am the boss’ exercise also meant there were no reinforcements in January when we needed them the most. Finally, it was all clarified by Kenyon few months later, by which time the Press had eaten Mourinho’s head.
The Quadruple Dream
This was the secret dream of many Chelsea fans. We had the team that can do it and the coach that can lead them to do it. Due to the injuries, the squad size shrunk to two-thirds, which was simply not enough to win four trophies. In the last 4 weeks of the season, you could see that Chelsea slipping away only because of the fatigue factor. At hindsight, it would be easy to say that we should have played for only two or three of the competitions. With all these trouble we have still won two cups and came close in the other two. Not bad for all that had happened this season. May be with some luck, we could have had it all. If the first team players had played only in Premiership matches and Champions League matches, I bet we would have won both, but again this is hindsight and this is biased guess in a hypothetical situation.
Next season, I’m curious to see which of the above would not repeat. Point 5 could repeat as it has done for more than a decade. I dont think the other points could repeat for Chelsea the next season. It was a peculiar season which even by the law of averages should not repeat in the near future. If these do not repeat for Chelsea next season, you can image what we can accomplish!
22 Comments
1. Anonymous
2. Maysam
1 - injuries
2- Manchester was very well prepared.
3. Manish
I agree that we were badly hit by injuries but I think we were just not well equipped in central defence…our over reliance on Terry cost us dearly…and I
think same is the case with LB position…Diarra is in learning stage and we need
someone more experienced…but guys if you remember we still had a chance in last stages but we blew it away against Newcastle and Bolton….and I think main reason
for it was lack of width in our play due to absence of Robben and JCole which hampered us entire season….if we can iron out these shortcomings we will be champs again.
4. Alby
I think that this season we lost a lot of points in Stamford Bridge with some not so big teams and this because of the injuries!!!
5. Adonis
I hate to keep hearing about the injuries… I’m just trying ot forget how horrifying they were. Whenever two of your players face death on the pitch in one season, you know it’s way too much. But we’ve overcome, and I think this season will help us tremendously with our confidence and desire to win…
I also think that we just never seem to score more than two goals. I don’t remember scoring four or more goals in one match the whole season. We need to attack and play with a little more flare next season, because this year, even with havoc in our back line, we still had the least goals conceded in the league (and therefore, seemingly the best defence). But next season is going to be tremendous! I’m so excited 
6. bluewinner
That picture for #4 is incredible. Would that I had the skill to find stuff like that. The sad fact is the injuries get every team from time to time. This just happened to be our year. We did get to discover a lot about our players in reserve (the few we had) this way. The question that begs an answer is: whither Salmon Kalou? If Robben moves will Kalou head wide? If Robben stays where will Kalou fit with Pizarro, Sheva and Drogba?
7. walelgne mekonnen
Jose Morinho is the only man in the worled after che because of talking the right words about foot ball(your mission must be winning)the you intertain
8. RomanHoliday
When doea the new season start and when can we start reading the match fixtures list and what is everybody at the club doing at the moment ? Any news anybody ?
9. Jagreets
Looks like this is complete picture.
I think one mistake by JM was letting both Huth,Gallas as well Gudy & Duff.
As Cole was Injured and Robben is too prone for injuries[one of Duff & Gudy should be kept]
One of Huth/Gallas was required as a utility player who can play at CD,LB or RB.
Asley can only play at one position LB and for same position we had 2 very good player Bridge and Cole.
Some other matches/moment which put pressure on blues were
Own Goal By Essien: against Reading.
Mistake by Hilario:-Goal from Arsenal guy….
Disallowed Goal against SPURS[refree Poll]
10. joeblue
The players are all on holidays at the moment , and the coaching staff as well , July 1 wld be the date we all shld watch out for , thats when Pizarro and Sidwell will be joining us , but the real scare is Manu making such tremendous signings , and r not stopping , they r looking for 2 more strikers, and one of them is rumoured to be Tevez on some freaky loan deal!!!Hope not!!!!
We shld sign atleast 3 more players , a winger or creative midfielder(JM is after Maluoda but Rafa might snatch him , so Quaresma is my bet) as Robben and Joey r too injury prone , and i think when the Africa nations cup starts JM shld move the formation to 4-3-3 with only one striker upfront and 2 wide players!!! Also we need a utility defender someone strong , powerful and versatile (Alex shld be checking in any day), and a RB who shld be quick and attack-minded , but a good defender as well (JM has his eyes currently on Alves , Micah and Miguel) though i wld personally prefer Miguel for these reasons: 1.He’s portugese , 2.He wld cost cheap , 3.He’s a much better defender than the other 2 , 4.He has the experience at the highest level of football!!
11. Adonis
Well said, Joeblue… Miguel’s also my pick for the RB we absolutely need next season.
12. danski blue!
indeed a RB is needed but dont forget the return of glen johnson this season, JM has stated late last season that Glen will play a part next season after a solid season with the “poor-mans Chelsea” Portsmouth. I think JM needs to consider his options and think about his options and who is availiable. Miguel is a class act and i have watched him in a few games but its not as easy as waving the cash at the guy, he may have ties or other reasons for wishing to not cross a few borders. i think we’ve got enough continental talent now, i think malouda is a must for us as what kinda of connection would the WORLD-CLASS Drogba linked up with a close friend who have played with each other in the apst….i think if JM misses out on him he should kick himself….and hard!
13. RomanHoliday
How good is Pizarro guys ?
14. blue champion
Sorry guys! My internet connection is gone again. Please bear with me.
15. GP
I think the referees did it for Chelsea. I agree with JM that there is a rule in English football that is taught to referees “Give Penalty to Man U” when they appeal….Chelsea..oo…let them fight even without deserving penalties and by disallowing hit goals. I have seen so so many occasions where Man U were given easy penalties.
16. GP
and please please Roman and JM…sign one electric, pacy player like Tevez or Torres. Tevez should certainly been hired. This would have made Chelsea matches more exciting. Barca have Ronaldinho, Man U have Ronaldo….then why not Chelsea…Tevez is the answer. It will confuse and impose fear in clubs like Man U…I am sure like we fear that what if Man U hire Tevez
17. Midfield_Decider
GP,
Jose doesn’t like creative players so forget them.
Chelsea will be imposing fear to other teams by Jose’s prematch conferences lol
18. robbenfan
i donno about rb u all talking about, but must good crosser 2,like ferreira
19. Midfield_Decider
If I were in Jose’s place and Abramovich would be willing to give big (though not limitless) amounts of money and if it was only me who decides whom to buy and whom to sell my team for the next year would be this:
4-4-2
…………………….Cech……………………
Dani Alves….Carvalho…..Terry…….A.Cole/Bridge
…………………Essien…………………….
J.Cole…………………………..Robben/Quaresma
……………….Van der Vaart…………………
……………Drogba…….Saviola……………….
Bench: Cudicini, Hilario, Ballack, Shevchenko, Kalou, Mikel, Sidwell, Ferreira, Ben Haim, Ben Sahar, Alex.
4-5-1
……………………Cech………………….
Dani Alves…Carvalho….Terry…..A.Cole/Brigde
…………..Essien………………………..
……………………Ballack………………..
J.Cole………………………….Robben/Quaresma
…………Van der Vaart………………………
…………………….Drogba………………….
Bench: you already know.
As you see I would sell Lampard to Barca and buy Van der Vaart from Hamburg.
Now this team has everything: flair, creativity and solidity.
What would be your team for the next season if you were to choose and add on what we already had from the last season? Your signings should be realistic ones.
20. Adonis
Interesting, M_D… here’s my team.
4-2-3-1
……………Cech……………..
Miguel….Carvalho..Terry…..A.Cole
……….Essien…Mikel…………
J.Cole……………………Robben
…………Ballack……………..
…………Drogba………………
Bench: Cudicini, Quaresma, Bridge, Da Costa, Alexandre Pato, Ferreira, Diarra, Sheva, Kalou, Sidwell, Ben Haim.
Seems like a large group, but that starting eleven would be fantastic, both strong defensively and potent offensively. I’m counting on Ballack to be the old, unstoppable Ballack, naturally. But Van der Vaart seems like a good choice as well.
21. Midfield_Decider
Thanx Adonis,
Your 11 is terrifying too! I would like to have that kid Pato too but he’s only 17 so it’s unlikely that he will join our first squad immediately after signing.
Respect!
22. Anonymous
CHELSEA SUCK!!!!
i think that picture says it all, when terry has to play goal, its not a good sign. However, i think when we still had a shot later in the season, i think mourinho didnt do his best managing when he needed to.
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