The Problems With Chelsea

Boo Hoo

I’d be remiss in getting all depressed about Liverpool without acknowledging that there are other clubs sniffing around the top of the EPL that have some troubles too. So why not take a moment or two to catalog the issues surrounding a rather tired-looking and uninspired Chelsea team?

In less than a week, Carlo Ancelotti led his side to an ignominious CL exit and a devastating 1-1 draw at Ewood Park during an EPL round that saw United and Arsenal pick up fairly comfortable wins. Since January, they’ve dropped 10 points in the EPL, and 16 points total this season from winning positions. That’s surely enough to get the Italian fired, right?

But I digress. Ancelotti’s not the only one experiencing anxiety at Stamford Bridge.
We Led With Ancelotti, So We May As Well Finish Our Point
The Italian manager oozed cool during his first few months at the helm, flexing his considerable continental pedigree and guiding the team with ease. Once the locker room was organized, he imposed the midfield diamond and let it do its job. The diamond can be wonderful if you have the right personnel, and I was never quite convinced that they did. Still, Ancelotti had it ticking over smoothly with Essien or Mikel in the holding slot, Malouda and Ballack working wide (or Mikel instead of Ballack if Essien was holding), and Lampard driving the gem from its front-most point.

However, over time, the age of the Chelsea midfield coupled with some crucial injuries within the First XI has led the manager to flail a bit to find a solution, and the Blackburn game showed he still hasn’t figured it out. As I noted way back in August, Ancelotti has always loved the diamond yet seems unsure or unwilling to make effective formational shifts adjusting for available personnel. Take the Inter game last week; eschewing his precious stone in favour of the 4-3-3, the Blues were run ragged at home without a cohesive midfield, giving Wesley Sneijder plenty of room in advanced areas of the pitch to take advantage.

Injuries to Jose Bosingwa and Ashley Cole, as well as the continued fitness struggles of Michael Essien, have further dulled the manner in which Chelsea can execute the 4-1-2-1-2. Without effective, menacing full-backs to provide much-needed width, the diamond only serves to create a packed midfield in which no-one can really operate. Florent Malouda loves to get wide, but never has the time due to defensive duties, and as such, any counter-attacking is stifling by the natural bunching that occurs in the center of the pitch. Mikel is too indisciplined to run the holding position without plenty of help from “wide” midfielders like Ballack and Joe Cole, and as such, they’re unable to join attacks as quickly because of their average starting position.

This is a conundrum that Ancelotti hasn’t shown the ability to solve, at least not yet. With Drogba and Anelka becoming increasingly unwilling to drift towards the flanks to create width, most competent zonal marking teams are able to handle the Chelsea side by packing their midfield and defensive bands close and keeping the Blues confined to central areas.

How he figures this out in the coming weeks will likely define whether or not he retains his job for the 2010/11 season.

Lack Of Managerial Continuity Breeds A Lop-Sided, Shallow Squad
If we have a separate measure for dog years, we should create another kind of time measurement for Chelsea managers. Carlo Ancelotti is the fourth manager since Mourinho left in September 2007, joining Avram Grant, Luis Felipe Scolari and Guus Hiddink as managers who had little time to rebuild the squad. Granted, on face value, the squad is loaded with talent, but with a little bit of examination, there’s cause for concern.

Ancelotti’s formation isn’t the first Chelsea have had to adjust to (Mourinho loved the 4-3-2-1 and the 4-3-3, as did Hiddink), and yet, they barely have enough of the right players to make it work. You’d think such issues would have been addressed in the transfer windows, but as it stands, plenty of players aren’t suited to the system.

Chelsea have a slew of “point” midfielders — guys who could serve as the DM or AM in a diamond.

DM: Mikel, Ballack, Essien

AM: Lampard, Ballack, Deco, Joe Cole (who is much better with a centralized attacking position as opposed to being restricted to a flank)

This leaves really Yuri Zhirkov, Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou (could add Gael Kakuta in there) as outright wide players, all of whom have a preference for the left side. With injuries to fullbacks, Zhirkov reverts back to left-back, meaning that Chelsea just don’t have the ammunition to keep things fresh in midfield. Their bench against Inter last week was a prime example: of the players listed (Taylor, Carvalho, Joe Cole, Kalou, Sturridge, Belletti, Bruma), only Cole or Kalou provided a midfield option. The depth just isn’t there.

Up front, the same issues prevail. Without Drogba or Anelka, the inexperience shows in Sturridge, Borini, and the on-loan Franco di Santo, all of which leads me to my next point…

An Old Squad Is a Squad That Will Need To Be Replaced Quickly
The first-team squad for Chelsea has an awful lot of experience, but with the bulk of their players rounding 30 or much higher, the decline is to be expected. Ballack, for example, has the ability to adapt to playing a wide midfield position in the diamond if needed, yet turning 34 in September, he will find it difficult to keep up with the rigors of the game and the level of coverage needed across midfield.

Breaking it down further, we see the age everywhere next season:

Turning 30: Florent Malouda, Ashley Cole, John Terry

32: Ricardo Carvalho, Frank Lampard, Nicolas Anelka, Paulo Ferreira

33: Didier Drogba, Deco

34 or older: Michael Ballack, Juliano Belletti

While it’s disingenous to suggest that their decline is imminent at such an age — athletes have more and more ways to stay in game shape and extend their careers in the modern age (see: the Milan lab) — it has an increased probability considering that most players begin their fade around that time.

So, that’s a lot of talent to replace, and in fairly short order. Cech, Ivanovic, Kalou, Mikel, and Zhirkov give them a solid base of mid-20s talent, but the drop-off from them to the reserves is pronounced. When you factor in that the transfer marker is increasingly becoming a seller’s market (less teams are forced to sell talent and can hang on for better prices), the cost of a rebuilding effort could be sky high for Roman Abramovich.

In short, yes, I know my Liverpool is in dire straits, but as this cathartic analysis of Chelsea shows, they’re not the only ones.