The Norwich game all but sealed our fate in the title race, a goalless draw at the bridge followed scenes of despair,regret and ultimately a feeling of ‘what if’.
Those games against Aston Villa, West Ham, Crystal palace and Sunderland have cost us dearly. A potential of 12 points dropped, this would of seen us cross that line first and become crowned champions for the first time since 2010.
So what needs to be done? A new striker is a must, a big name such as Costa could revive this team and make us unstoppable in my opinion. But what does that mean for Fernando Torres, Demba ba, Samuel Eto’o and Romelu Lukaku. I think Torres will be sold along with Ba. Eto’o will leave on a free agent and Lukaku will be kept by the club.
So this in my opinion will be fate of our strikers – a fresh start for the strikers and new era for the club.
Recent speculation around Eden Hazard is all hot air in my opinion. Mourinho has laid down the gauntlet for players that won’t give 100 percent for the club. The press these day seem to think that a manager trying to motivate one of his players can be an excuse for the media to question whether Hazard is in josés plans for the future.
Their is very little chance that Eden will leave and even if the club was to sell him an incredibly large sum of money will be paid.
The goalkeeping situation is a very tricky situation for the club to handle. Thibaut Courtois of Petr ?ech. Looking forward to the future of the club the obvious choice would be Thibaut, however cech still has a few years in him and in my opinion is a slightly better goalkeeper than Thibaut, but let’s not forget that Courtois is still very young for a goal keeper.
So what will happen? Atletico are obviously desperate to keep him for another year on loan- or perhaps use him in a deal to sell Diego Costa? Chelsea want him back next season as preferably a back up to Cech, even though he has stated that he doesn’t want to be sitting on the bench next season.
What the club will properly do is loan him out for one more year- maybe in the BPL or back to Atletico in La Liga?
As brilliant a tactition as Jose is, I think Hazard’s recent comments about Chelsea being set up to counterattack are spot on. That would help explain why Chelsea have great success against top clubs but too often fail against smaller sides. The smaller teams defend so tenaciously and risk so little that counterattacking football is impossible against them. Playing with two holding midfield players against a team like Crystal Palace is farcically conservative in my opinion. Throw two strikers up front to stretch those defenses thin! Some tactical diversity should definitely be in store next season.
On the point of strikers, I think it’s time Chelsea brought Lukaku right into the fold. He has the size, power and nose for goal that Chelsea have been lacking since Drogba’s departure. Having a big target man up front who can compete aerially with defenders and fashion chances for himself and the attacking mids behind him is crucial. Not to mention, pairing someone like Lukaku and Schurrle up front in a two-striker system could be lethal, with a big man like Lukaku able to play flick-ons and through balls to someone with Schurrle’s breakout speed.
Defensively, I’d like to see a new fullback brought in as well. Azpilicueta has been excellent on either side, but I believe Ivanovic should play as a center back, as he wastes so many crosses, and his physical strength and stature often get him into trouble against small, pacy wingers.
In goal I think Cech still has to be the #1 choice, and loaning Courtois again seems a wise move, because selling a young player of his caliber would be ridiculous. In a few more years he could be the best keeper in the world.
The biggest question mark player for me would actually be David Luiz. Is he best as a center back, a holding midfield player? He has great talent for sure, but he seems an apple in a team of oranges at times, with his risky runs and frequent long balls. Jose needs to figure out what his plan is with Luiz, and for god’s sake, stop him from taking all the free kicks. I don’t care how many he scores on the training ground, his free kicks almost never hit the target, let alone beat the keeper.
Never have i read a reply with the perfection of yours, the ending Luiz paragraph was something i could not have typed better…
While Hazards comments might be spot on for one part. I don’t like that he speaks when he was so poor defensively. He says he wants to be like Messi and Ronaldo, I can’t help but feel that if Messi or Ronaldo was in his position for those 2 goals where he offered no defense especially the first goal vs Atletico, I’m sure they would’ve try to defned instead of just standing like he did. Not that he always does it because he was doing much better earlier on. It’s Champions League Semi, He should have tried a little bit harder. We do have the team to be more attacking so we should be the ones making the first move instead of counter attacking.
David Luiz is a very good player but what hurts me is seeing him give away the ball and then watch him stroll back while the team is under attack. The partnership between Luiz and Matic really pleases me but I think we gotta cash in on Luiz and let him become someone else’s problem.