What went wrong with Carlo Ancelotti’s Blues? – (Part 1)
Defending Premier League and FA Cup champions Chelsea started off the season with a bang; they were the leading side in league in terms of goals scored and matches won. Carlo Ancelotti’s men maintained their lead at the top of the English Premier League
table, and were doing well in the Champions’ League group stages as well. However, the sudden departure of assistant coach Ray Wilkins, and injuries and suspension of a few key players changed their season completely. The Christmas and New Year’s period saw
them win just one out of nine games.
Chelsea are currently fifth in the English Premier League table - nine points behind Manchester United - and despite finishing top of their group in the Champions League, they are not expected to do too well in the competition. They face Ipswich Town in
the third round of the FA Cup, and Ancelotti’s main concern is whether he will be able to rest some of the senior players for the weekend fixture. There are a number of reasons as to how the Blues ended up in fifth place from being league leaders, and how
their seemingly perfect squad at the start of the season now suddenly lacks depth.
It can be assumed that the problems were there from the start, and the cracks had not appeared after winning the double. Some crucial players left Stamford Bridge in the summer and not enough players were brought in to replace them. That can be attributed
to the lack of communication between Ancelotti and Blues owner Roman Abramovich, and the amount of money Abramovich was willing to spend on transfers. Some of the most experienced players such as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Deco-c10735 and Juliano
Belletti left Stamford Bridge. While only http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ramires-c30523 were brought in to replace them.
Once a number of key players were injured, after a good start to the season, it emerged that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 didn’t have enough quality players to replace them. As the season progressed their performance dropped, and that meant that the Londoners dropped crucial
points. Their dependency on certain players was also a key factor which added to their sudden decline. Since the Jose Mourinho era, there has been an over dependency on Ivorian striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Didier-Drogba-c11044. The Blues forward has been very important to Chelsea’s success,
and they have struggled during his absence.
The other striking options at Chelsea are French striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-Sturridge-c10076. So far Anelka has only impressed during Drogba’s absence, Kalou earned himself a short-lived reputation as a
super-substitute, while Daniel Sturridge has just been an impressive bench warmer. This goes to show that the Blues depend far too much on Drogba, who missed some important fixtures this season because he was sidelined with malaria. When he realised his side
could not manage without him, the Ivorian international returned to play for his side despite not fully recovering from illness.
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