The Emirates Diaries: The Chelsea Perspective – part 2
As suggested in the previous part, the game between Chelsea and Arsenal was nowhere near the low tempo game at Old Trafford where Alex Ferguson’s side displayed its usual discipline. Whether one commends the Red Devils for being able to grind out a result
at the cost of playing a touch defensively is best left to subjectivity of opinion. The United boss featured 5 in midfield in order to keep the Arsenal midfield in check and to break their play. Compare that to Chelsea who opted to play Malouda and Kalou in
advance positions so as to support Drogba and ended up paying the price as the Gunners took their London rivals apart in midfield – Could Chelsea be accused of ‘wanting’ to play attacking football?
Arsenal won the game in midfield; there could be no two ways to the argument. Mikel was below par to say the very least and Essien’s performance wasn’t much to brag about either. It is perhaps justified to be critical of the Ghanaian’s performance seeing
as his workload was nearly cut in half on the creativity bit as Lampard made his return back to the starting eleven for the first time since August. Perhaps the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 international was rusty after being on the sidelines for a considerate amount of time.
While it was the Chelsea defence that lacked a key figure in the form of Alex, the central defender, the Blues could be put under the spotlight for being poor in midfield. There would be few Blues out there who’d disagree with the fact that on the night,
Chelsea played their strongest available midfield and were still taken apart from a free flowing Arsenal bunch that was passing the ball for fun.
It would be fair to say that the Chelsea players did not show up and the Gunners did.
Things are going from bad to worse at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786. Up next, the manager’s stay at Stamford Bridge is being subjected to a lot of speculation. However, when asked about his position at the club, Ancelotti said that he was relatively confident about the matter:
“I am not. This is a question you have to ask the owner. I'm confident.”
Ancelotti is obviously under pressure and if results still continue heading south, the Italian might be on his way out. Who would have thought about this just 6 months ago when he guided the club to its first league and FA cup double? It is amazing how fortunes
in football change.
Speaking from the viewpoint of a regular Chelsea fan, it is not the Manager who is at fault but the players who are not performing well. These are the same players who scored goals for fun last year and now the same players are craving to have the ball in
the back of the net. The sacking of Assistant Manager Ray Wilkins has been the turning point as the bad run coincides with the sacking of the master tactician. Surely there is a state of unrest at the club.
Chelsea also lacks quality on the bench. Having offloaded player in the summer, Chelsea has not brought in enough talent to keep on the bench. The youth academy players have had to fill in, to be realistic. The Blues have missed the likes of Ballack and
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Joe-Cole-c18694 who provided options in the middle of the park and on the wings, and Carvalho who provided them the much needed stability in defence. The beliefs seems to be gone for now.
With the January transfer window a matter of those, things could still turn up for the holding champions... It’s best not to lose faith – Roman’s Army, forever!
Stay tuned for the Arsenal Perspective.
The article is based on the views of a Chelsea fanatic
Tags: