Jose Mourinho clearly did not anticipate an inspirational win by a League 1 side at Stamford Bridge when he made a rather awkward comment by admitting that it would be a disgrace if Chelsea lose to Bradford City. Bradford went on to win 2-4 in a fairytale style and Mourinho admitted that he and his team must be ashamed of this loss. Well, who is to be blamed for this game? Certainly the players and then the manager as well. Chelsea were not a team with chemistry as they faced Bradford. The individual quality of the players doesn’t matter finally, if the team is shambolic.
Chelsea first raced to a 2-0 lead and it was all normal. Then they conceded a stunning goal. Well, it was still acceptable as they were playing a rookie Right Back. Then they let in three goals in the second half in rather quick succession. That was appalling. Chelsea’s back four and defensive midfield had no chemistry whatsoever to deal with a united Bradford team. Ramires-Mikel have never played at the pivot this season while Cahill was shifted to a side where Terry played with Azpilicueta and Zouma and Christensen made up the right side. This defensive 7 including the keeper were playing for the first time in a knock out match. That was a risk Jose Mourinho took as he trusted them to beat Bradford, which they would have had they been more understanding of each other’s roles.
The caliber of the players on the pitch is well known to the world. Didier Drogba, a veteran. Oscar, a regular for the Premier League leaders, Salah, a talented youngster who would vouch for a starting line-up in most of the Champions League clubs, Ramires, a full International and a usual regular for Chelsea, Mikel, a long term Chelsea player and Remy, another International. These are players who would win most matches even in the top flight but faltered in the FA Cup.
Had Mourinho made half of these players play more regularly, then this outcome would not have been there for the Blues to see. Remy, a player bought to be a back up for Costa has barely got any minutes and so is Mohamed Salah. They have struggled to get playing time even as substitutes. Ramires has been in and out of the team because of fitness issues and has been used in too many positions as a substitute. Kurt Zouma could have easily been given more game time in some lighter Premier League games. Had there been a well rotated team that faced Liverpool and Bradford in three days time, we would have seen Chelsea winning both the games.
The whole team must be in strong momentum. On the weekend Chelsea’s first team batters Swansea 5-0, the midweek sees the same team defend deep and play out a draw away at Liverpool and then we see the substitutes faltering like a pack of cards. And the proof of lack of chemistry is the way in which Chelsea conceded. The goals were from tap ins or lose balls and lack of proper pressing and reading of the game as a defensive unit. Chelsea’s first team is usually a strong defending team because of the mentality of the unit and how they play by reading the game and interpreting the opposition. But the second team is virtually inexperienced on the pitch, I mean, how many times have Salah, Remy and Drogba played with each other in their lives?
Well, we can understand that we can’t rotate every week in order to maintain the momentum, but having a regular substitute pattern would improve the confidence of the player as well as the competition for spots. Someone like Andre Schurrle has been getting regular 10 minute bursts to ‘prove’ himself while Salah hasn’t even been getting that. Chelsea’s first team on its day usually demolishes their opposition, but despite that, a bench player, especially someone raw like Salah must be given the chance of at least 15 minutes once every other game so that he gets the chemistry and understanding with his teammates rather than being hopeless on the pitch whenever he is thrown on.
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