Take Notes Jose Mourinho: Changes That Can Make Chelsea a Better Team

Chelsea are in utter disarray. If there’s something that is going right, then it is actually nothing. And nothing refers to null as the London club, who had claimed the title in sublime fashion has been in tatters, to say the least. Their third consecutive Premier League loss to Stoke City was a game which just wasn’t meant for Chelsea’s winning. They created a fair share of opportunities to come back in the game but still ended up conceding a 1-0 defeat. And if this isn’t shocking enough, the Blues are currently just 3 points away from the relegation zone and as many as 13 points away from the top four.

And things demand a positive change. Something that can reform things and get the club back on the right track. Because looking at how they’re sliding, the only way forward is upwards. So, here are some changes that can transform Chelsea’s season.

 Play Fabregas alongside Matic, if only the Serbian is defensively sound

Cesc Fabregas was on fire last season and had struck up a deadly pair with Diego Costa up top. He had the ability to rip open defenses at will. And he played as a central midfielder, alongside Matic. He never felt the need to track back, nor did Mourinho or the team. Matic was doing his job exceptionally well and all Fabregas had to do was find people with the help of passing and vision, with the whole attack laid in front of him.

This season, Matic has looked shaky, changing Fabregas’s overall game and forcing him to come deep and do the dirty work. He’s averse to doing it and he’s not good at it too,  and it’s a reason why Chelsea have conceded so many goals. Now that Matic is slowly beginning to come good again, Fabregas needs to be played slightly deeper, rather than as an attacking midfielder.

Defensive recruitments

The Chelsea back line apart from Cesar Azpilicueta has been in shambles. People go past their defense as if it hardly exists and they’ve found it easy to score against a defense that looked as tough to break down as a shard of a diamond. And all this has happened because Jose Mourinho hardly made any significant defensive signings. He knew Branislav Ivanovic was their only right back, excluding Azpilicueta who is deployed at left back, but didn’t make any first team worthy defensive signings. Baba Rahman was brought in to slot in at right back and he’ll take some time to gel, Papy Djilobodji isn’t good enough and Michael Hector has been sent out on loan.

And defensive recruitments, or the lack of them, have made it difficult for the aging centre-half pairing to cope up with pacy attacks. Both Terry and Cahill look like old men and as soon as January approaches, a versatile defender would be needed. Or someone who can play centre-back and right-back.

Stop playing Kurt Zouma at right back

I’d completely agree with you if you say that Kurt Zouma is one of the best young defenders in the world right now. The former St. Etienne teenager has come to grips with the Premier League very well and has done well, in terms of performances too.

But he’s being used more as a utility back-up than as a regular centre-half. Mourinho has used him at right back, barring his usage in the defensive midfield last season. He needs to realize that Kurt Zouma isn’t exactly a footballer right now. He’s a young lad, strong and physical but isn’t very good on the ball. And a right back needs to have these attributes to succeed at that position.

This would lead to the betterment of the club’s attacking vigor and would do a whole lot of good of Zouma’s future.

Recall youngsters from loan

If you start counting from the morning, the amount of players Chelsea have sent out on loan, you’d end up getting to know about the last player by evening. The Blues have sent a total of 38 players out on loan, most of them youngsters. Replacements in the defense is what they needed and Mourinho failed to realize that.

They’ve got decent young defensive players such as Andreas Christensen, Nathan Ake and Tomas Kalas out on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach, Watford and Middlesbrough respectively and all three of them have been doing well too. Young players’ inclusion makes the team forget about their worries, bringing freshness and a new hope into the side. And if they’re defensive-minded youngsters, they’d help Mourinho a great deal.

Attacking recruitments

Goals win you games in football, and Mourinho is known to be a propagator of this philosophy, especially when his sides’ resort to an all out defense and smash and grab tactics. And quality forwards is what they lack. Diego Costa is not performing to his lofty levels and has been out of sorts- getting himself banned and being more into wrestling than football. Radamel Falcao was a signing Mourinho knew would take time in coming back to his best and then there’s Loic Remy, who isn’t quite Chelsea quality.

Kenedy is a bit too young and probably needs a loan spell to a Championship club to flourish himself. Chelsea need a more consistently goal scoring forward than Remy and Falcao, someone who can bang the goals in, during Costa’s continual presences.

Mourinho has to stop going into self-destruct mode

Whatever Mourinho has done this season, of the pitch, he has only one person to blame for all that- himself. He’s doing things a manager isn’t supposed to do if he doesn’t intend to get the sack. He’s been skipping press conferences, bashing up his players publicly, sacking physios, blaming referees and getting sent off, if a fine for the whole club isn’t enough.

All of this, as a whole, is annihilating the morale around the club that is already floundering unfathomably. He could’ve apologized to Eva Carneiro for his actions, but he didn’t and all of that has led to his mind being taken off to things which don’t have a bearing on the pitch. His mind is getting distracted to off the field nonsense that can well be avoided.