Chelsea no longer a one man team
Chelsea’s start to the season with four successive wins in the opening fixtures of the Premier League and the impressive 17 goals in just those four matches suggest that the Blues are off to another trophy winning season.
Their last season started and ended in a similar manner, with Ancelotti’s side winning the Premier League with a phenomenal 103 goals and the FA Cup – completing their first double. Striker Didier Drogba, claimed the golden boot, and, goal keeper, Petr Cech, shared the golden glove with Liverpool’s Pepe Reina.
Even though Chelsea conceded their first goal of the new season against West Ham last Saturday, they still managed to claim all three points with a 3-1 win. The first half of the game was slow and uneventful and it seemed like the Champions had lost their winning touch, but a lack of concentration by the Hammers in the latter part of the game resulted in the Blues taking charge and scoring goals. It seemed like Ancelotti’s side could have scored a few more past Robert Green had the referee Chris Foy not blown the whistle.
Chelsea seemed like a different side after the half time break, it was either Ancelotti’s locker room talk or just the disintegration of the hosts, who did enjoy considerably decent spells of possessions, but failed to make anything of it as they had all their efforts saved or cleared. It was Scott Parker, who finally breached the tight Chelsea defence, with a brilliant side footed volley, which left Cech helpless. However, the goal was World class and if Chelsea only let in such goals, then it will be a while before the Blues lose their dominance.
West Ham weren’t the first Premier League side to suffer a defeat at the hands of Ancelotti’s side, the Blues destroyed West Bromwich Albion and Wigan Athletic 6-0 each and Stoke City suffered a slightly less embarrassing defeat as they stumbled to a 2-0 loss at Stamford Bridge. It’s not necessarily the number of goals or a consistent starting XI that makes the Chelsea wins scary, it’s the fact that Ancelotti rotates his players and they still manage to maintain a certain performance. This gives hope for the future, in case one or more important players suffer an injury and are made unavailable.
This Saturday, however, the team was without their talismanic midfielder, Frank Lampard, and their inform winger, Florent ‘The Predator’ Malouda. Most people expected Chelsea to not perform at the same level that they had previously, mainly due to the exclusion of these two main players. However, all the people who doubted the team and called it a two player team, were left biting their tongues.
The team performed just as good as it would have on any other day, Chelsea went on to score three goals. They looked solid for the most part and the absence of Lampard and Malouda was not felt by the team at all. The team, however, managed to concede their first goal of the season, but that is something that the two of them could not have prevented either way, considering defending is not their strongest asset.
However, what this weekend’s game has done, is show the depth that Chelsea possess. Most people assumed and believed that it would be impossible for Chelsea to operate without Lampard and Malouda, however, clearly that is not the case.
Chelsea is a well rounded team and Ancelotti knows it won’t be long before most of the senior players leave the team after they retire. This is why the manager has started to incorporate the younger players into the squad. Players like Gael Kakuta, were handed their Premier League debuts and if they manage to get the right guidance from the current squad members, then Chelsea could be set for the future as well.
Tags: