Football Special Report: The reason behind Chelsea's decay
Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea may find themselves 9 points adrift of the league leaders Manchester United but the manager still remains hopeful that his side can turn around the deficit and somehow pip United to the title.
In recent times, Chelsea have found themselves terribly off the boil and have put in some pathetic performances against lowly oppositions. People have blamed Carlo Ancelotti for his tactics and team selection but if truth be told the roots of the problem
lie way beneath Carlo’s tactics.
Chelsea’s demise is not a thing that just occurred overnight rather it is a manifestation of a slide that took years in the making and is a direct result of some poor administration and neglect by the owners.
If you look at it closely, all roads lead back to Roman Abrahamovic. Last year, when Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by Inter Milan, fingers had started pointing towards the Russian oligarch. Chelsea were terribly out of depth then but perhaps
there was a rift between the team and the owners as they appeared to be at crossroads. The general perception was that in the coming summer, Roman will invest with serious intent into the team to stop the inherent decay.
The end of the season came and the London Blues were crowned the champions of England and won the FA Cup as well, a triumph that masked the squad’s long term problems.
For the first time in 5 seasons, there were no English representatives in the final four of the Champions League; perhaps it was a sign of decline in the quality of the English teams.
Chelsea were so overwhelmed with their triumph in that season that the summer came and went and there was no worthwhile additions into the squad. Ramires and Yossi Benayoun were added to the side but since then, Ramires has failed to establish himself in
the side and also to adapt to the pace of the English game.
To make matters worse, there were some high profile departures from Stamford Bridge with Michael Ballack, Joe Cole and Deco leaving London for various destinations, without being replaced.
Carlo was left with a squad that was still the English champions but plagued with problems.
The spine of the team was weakened with the onus for performance in the coming season lying with the stalwarts like Terry, Lampard, Essien and Drogba, thus ignoring the age of all these players.
That season, Lampard played in 63 games, Drogba 58, Essien 60 and Terry represented Chelsea in 59 games. Of course, it was to take its toll on players' fitness.
Chelsea made a swashbuckling start to the season dispatching Wigan and West Brom in the first two games by a whopping 6 goal margins and that took away the focus from the prime issue.
When Chelsea lost Terry, Alex, Essien and Lampard to injury two months into the season only then their frailties were exposed to all and sundry. But, it was already too late by then. The transfer window was still 4 months away and the squad did not have
enough depth to replace the quality of these players.
Chelsea lingered on but when Drogba got injured in October and goals from Nicolas Anelka dried up, only then they realized what they were missing but the rot had already started.
Sunderland went to Stamford Bridge and tore the homeside’s defence to shreds coming away with a 3-0 win, Chelsea’s heaviest defeat in three seasons. That game was the beginning of a rot that is still going on and Chelsea have now gone on for 9 games with
only two wins, 3 losses and 4 draws.
Ancelotti is helpless here. He cannot do anything with the injury and age problems that he has in his squad. Until Roman Abrahamovic invests heavily and brings in some quality players, the decay is not going to stop. The fault is not Carlo’s its Abrahamovic’s
and the worst part is that the oligarch is not even willing to address it.
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